A century of stories and memories

NEXT week marks a major milestone for Geelong local Holly Carew as she celebrates her 100th birthday.

Netball has been the centre of her life for decades – including when it was still called basketball – taking up the sport as soon as she could and playing, umpiring and being part of different committees.

Ms Carew has been an important part of the Geelong Central Netball Association, with a room at Kardina Park now named after her.

“You just take off on a Saturday, straight down here to Kardinia Park and this is where all the action was and that’s where I was,” she said.

“I’d give advice when I could and then I gradually worked my way up.

“You get your teeth into it and you’re there with them, it’s very lovely to be able to give advice to the young ones.”

Ms Carew has a lifetime of stories, many stemming from her days as an umpire and manager of the Under 21 Victoria squad, when she travelled around Australia.

“I loved playing, I really did, and after you played you would umpire, it all fitted in, I enjoyed every minute of it,” she said.

Her love of sport is deep, and she sometimes only showed up to school on sports day.

“I was shocking at going to school, I’d go down the beach or somewhere like that, but it didn’t hurt me anyhow,” she said. “They thought the best way to punish me, because I’d only turn up on sports day, was to keep me out of the netball – well, that broke my heart.”

The threat of not making the team was enough to make Ms Carew start attending school on a more regular basis.

Ms Carew credits making it to 100 to her active lifestyle, as well as the good friends surrounding her, saying she’s lived a very “fortunate” and “beautiful” life.

“When you’d come down here [Kardinia Park], I know it’s all about the netball, but when I’d come down here it was lovely, you would be with friends and you’d sit and have a chat,” she said.

Even now, Ms Carew still enjoys heading down to Kardinia Park and watching the netball.

“It’s nice to come down and talk to people and just look around, it’s company and it’s young company,” she said.

Off the netball court, Ms Carew had two children and spent her days working at Valley Mill as a mender and later at Myer.

With the help of her carer, she still lives independently, enjoying going for a drive and pottering in her garden.

“I like to go out in the car, I don’t like to stay home – just as well I haven’t got my car,” she said.

“I’ve got all sorts of things in my garden. I’d like to have a lot more, but I have a friend that won’t let me have any more till those die off.”

Ms Carew’s birthday and her commitment to netball will be acknowledged at the Geelong Central Netball Association’s 100th-year celebration this Sunday, October 13.