St Vincent’s Care residents rock and roll with vintage cars

Aged care residents at St Vincent’s Care Arundel in Queensland have welcomed the chance to jump in a time machine and to relive their ‘rock and roll past’ when a fleet of vintage and antique cars visited the aged care centre recently.

With 10 classic and vintage cars arriving at the facility – courtesy of members of the Gold Coast Antique and Classic Auto Club – the aged care facility resembled an extravagant car show with an array of collectible vehicles which have all been lovingly restored.

St Vincent’s staff also got into the swing of things with their best rock and roll outfits and were joined by local rock and roll performer, Gina Mitchell who belted out a few classic songs.

The idea and the event are a first for St Vincent’s Care and was the brainchild of one of its staff members, Donna Robertson, who became aware that several residents were fans of vintage cars.

Most notably, the event was a belated birthday present for St Vincent’s resident Lionel Golder who turned 92 the day before the event – reviving memories of his own personal car collection from yesteryear when he owned and raced several cars including a Jaguar, an MG and a Mini Cooper.

“ It’s fabulous to see all these amazing old cars and really takes me back to my younger years when being a mechanic and fixing cars and racing vintage cars was a big part of my life,” says Lionel.

“It brings back some wonderful memories for me. I used to go cruising when I was a younger bloke – we used to drive around a bit and even went to the big Bathurst 500 (as it used to be called) back in the late 50s. But these I’m too told to go cruising.”

Fellow resident Hans Benzin is also a car afficionado – fostered by his father who was a mechanic, who was always “bringing old cars home and doing them up, especially Mercedes because I grew up in Germany,” he says.

For resident Beverly Cooms, it was the arrival of a classic Holden that stirred old and happy memories for her.

“We had two boys and if we went somewhere, we used to put them on the backseat. And if we were travelling longer distances I’d put a mattress on the floor and make it into a bed and they’d lie on that and go to sleep,” she says.

“You would do that then because there were no seat belts in those days. It was the golden years when Holden was king!!”

St Vincent’s Care Arundel Facility Manager David MacDonald says:

“Caring for our residents takes many forms and at St Vincent’s we take the time to really know and understand the individual residents, their history and their story and what brings them joy. And we discovered that couple of our older residents have a real passion for vintage cars.

“So we thought this would be a fun and meaningful activity for residents and staff to enjoy something pretty special together.”

Gold Coast Antique and Classic Auto Club president Richard Brown says he and his members derive real joy from taking their vehicles out to community events.

“We love it actually – it’s nice to put a smile on the dial of the aged care residents. It’s great because we get to share our passion with people who remembers many of these vintage cars. I was just talking to a resident who used to have a car like my Vauxhall,” he says.

“The initial approach came from one of your lifestyle workers, Donna Robertson, who asked if we could bring one or two cars – but then it snowballed from there and it’s great that we were able to have 10 members and their vintage and classic cars here.

The club, which has been running for almost 60 years, has around 250 members. They usually do four or five community events each year and love it when they see that their passion for antique and classic cars brings joy to aged care residents.

There’s now talk that the rock n roll and vintage car day will become an annual event at St Vincent’s Care home at Arundel!