Housie moves after 45 years

After 45 years at St Mary's Hall in Ettalong, the Woy Woy Catholic Parish Housie is moving to the Peninsula Community Centre.

The final Housie session at Ettalong was held on Saturday, February 2, with the first session at Woy Woy to be held on Saturday, February 9.

The Catholic Parish of Woy Woy was established in 1946 and, soon after in the early 1950s, Parish Priest Dr Walter Baker started a Housie to raise funds and provide a social night out for the locals.

The Housie was held in a basic building with a thatched roof and was located opposite the existing Ettalong ambulance station.

Some of the funds raised over the years were allocated to build a new Housie hall and, after the land was donated, the new St Mary's Hall was opened on the corner of Ocean View Rd and Murray St in 1967.

Since then Housie has been held every Saturday night, and sometimes midweek during summer holidays.

"In 2013, the Housie is still achieving good attendance and the prize money is now the highest it's ever been," said Woy Woy Catholic Parish Housie co-ordinator Mr Robert Graham.

"A dedicated team of volunteers operate the Housie, some of whom have been there since almost the start.

"It has been noted that in the early years the tickets came in long sheets and the old table for sorting these old tickets is still set up in the back room and crayons for marking off the tickets were kept on permanent trays on the players' tables, some of which are still there.

"The technology has improved over the years with the tickets now in book format and new computerised calling machines; some players even use electronic tickets (pets)," said Mr Graham.

With the decision to build the new Catholic Church at Woy Woy, parish owned properties in West St, Umina, Patonga and St Mary's Hall needed to be sold in order to provide enough funds for the new church and adjacent parish centre to be built.

The sale of St Mary's hall was the last property to be sold and, by January 2010, developers had purchased the property.

The Housie then had to start looking for a new home and, with many options available, ran a survey with the regular players.

"It was decided to keep the housie independent and go with the Peninsula Community Centre, which was most logical due to the central location on the Peninsula, air conditioning and capacity for 500 people," said Mr Graham.

"The plan to move, however, was put on hold as the developers at Ettalong had no plan to develop for a few years, so the Housie leased the old hall back," he said.

In January, the developers gave notice to vacate the property and so preparations for the move from Ettalong to Woy Woy began.

Email, 25 Jan 2013

Robert Graham, Woy Woy Catholic Parish Housie