"Looking for refuge from the nighmare pain you've known?
Shelter from the lonely wind among the cold rocks and the stones,
No stairway up from the dungeon depths of self-blame and the shame,
You medicate and reframe yourself, but the wounds stay much the same.
No witness to your suffering, no-one to stop the wrong,
and few companions last on the long road from nowhere you belong
and your busy head and helpless thoughts question going on,
but see!, that flickering light among the tanglevines of doom
where soul music and laughter dance from an open-hearted room.
Come in!, they seem to call, we know the sort of spaces you've been in,
Your tears and pain are welcome here, but we throw self-blame and shame in the bin.
The Winners Surviving Social Club are backing strength and new life in."
Winners Surviving Social Club. Michael Constable copyright 10/3/2024. 

An orgniser of the Victorian Survivors and Supporter lunches, Michael Constable has captured in his lyrical and evocative poem, the very essence of our gatherings.

Out next lunch is tomorrow at the Sandringham Hotel from 12pm, to enable as many members of the Beaumaris and wider Melbourne communities, to join us.

An opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate how the collective voices and actions of survivors and supporters amplified by relentless investigative journalism (thank you Russell Jackson), can force governments to act. Regardless of what the Victorian government does or doesn't do, after the Board of Inquiry into into historical child sexual abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and certain other government schools, it is important to recognise the power of communities standing strong together.

The Sandringham Hotel is accessible via public transport, a short walk from the Sandringham Railway Station. There is also off street and undercover parking, plus it is wheel chair accessible. There is no minimum spend requirements either, nor is there a booking fee, and there is an express menu available from 11:30 AM - 3 PM midweek, that is a main and dessert for $19.

We have booked a table on the outside balcony, to be Covid and virus safe, as much as possible.

You can turn up on the day, but if it is possible please RSVP beforehand via the Facebook event link below, thank you.
https://fb.me/e/4KeUCMTLl
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Thank you to all our supporters, and please don't hesitate to share your thoughts on the Board of Inquiry recommendations with us too, via our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/CSA3193

We are stronger together.