Maxine Mazzuchelli (WABC 1000th Member)
WABCs 1000th Member
The mid-February 2010 Management Committee meeting recorded a significant event. They ratified the 1000th person to join the club since its official opening in 1974 - Maxine Mazzucchelli. Appropriately, Maxine was intimately involved in the move of our club to its new premises two years ago.
It happened like this. Maxine has lived in Swanbourne and suburbs round about for over 40 years. She’s always been involved in the local scene. At first it was the P & C when her two children Jane and Justin were youngsters. The she was the inaugural secretary of the Friends of Allen Park Bush Care Group. When Nedlands Council set up a Community Committee to research the use of the whole Allen Park area, Maxine joined it to represent the Allen Park Tennis Club. In 2003 she stood for and was elected to the Nedlands City Council as a Coastal Ward Councillor.
A pressing issue at the time was the use of the building and greens of the old Swanbourne Bowling Club. The Rugby Club, already a resident of Allen Park, was pushing its claim and the Council was sympathetic. But the Council was also negotiating with the WABC who was considering a move from its old premises on the corner of Adelma Road and Waratah Avenue, Dalkeith. For the Council, parking there was a big problem. For the Bridge Club, the land value outweighed the value of the building so renovation seemed a poor choice.
A number of options were possible. One was to lease the Bowling Club greens from the Council and to build new clubrooms.
Maxine was a member of a Council Working Group set up to look into the issue. The idea of leasing the Bowling Club land to the Bridge Club appealed to her from the start and gradually the idea gained favour with all the participants. The Rugby Club hoped to fund the renovation of the old Bowling Club building; the WABC sold Waratah Avenue so they could finance the Club's new building and invest the balance as a nest egg for the future
The Rugby Club couldn't raise the money required and the old Bowling clubhouse was demolished. The WABC went ahead with its plans, the new building took shape and was completed in 2008. Membership which was 550 in 2007 has reached 1000 today. Maxine is thrilled that the germ of an idea which she nurtured over the years has helped bring about todav's flourishing and successful club. All the more so since last year she retired from the Nedlands Council and has a little more time to indulge her own interest in the game of bridge.
So what of our 1000th member?
Maxine King was born in Goomalling and has spent most of her life living in WA. She met Don Mazzucchelli in the 1960s and they were married in 1968. Maxine had worked as a secretary the stockbroking and insurance industry but decided as their children grew up, take a TAFE course in fashion design. She set up a small business creating special occasion dresses and Don, as always, gave her his wholehearted support. When he sold his interest in the family jewellery company and focused on their South Sea Pearls wholesale company,
Maxine closed her dressmaking business to support him.
No matter what her private workload, Maxine continued to find time for local community activities and a week ago (2010) the Nedlands Council honoured her long and generous commitment. They announced that she had won the Premier's active citizenship award and we congratulate her wholeheartedly.
There's a little more time now though for personal indulgences. Years ago Maxine and Don took bridge lessons from Nigel Rosendorff. Fifteen years later she joined friends having lessons from Peter Smith. But there was never time to play. Now Maxine is itching to get going after again taking lessons from Peter. Don will follow and plans to join the Club himself very soon. We welcome them both and hope to see them around the bridge tables as often as they can make it.
Published March 2010 Edition of Trumps Plus
