My Man in Long Trousers - by Joan Dent (a digital story from the Lake Illawarra MAP Project)

MENTOR FILM MAKER: Sandra Pires
SYNOPSIS: A tribute to Joans man in long trousers and the life they shared around Lake Illawarra.
SCRIPT: There was swimming and there was prawning on the Lake, and then there was the Progress Hall. It was the centre of the community, the movies played there, there were dances on Saturday nights, and most couples held their wedding breakfasts there.

My father was the secretary of the progress hall and he ran the dances. My job was to keep the floor shinyfor the dances, so the shoes could move, even though I wasnt allowed to go.

In 1953, the Christian Endeavour Group was about to begin at the Progress He said you can go if there are no boys in long trousers (laughs). Hall. I was fifteen and this time I really wanted to go, and so my mother and I asked my father. He said you can go if there are no boys in long trousers (laughs).

Ill never forget he said that, because on the first day there, I met a boy in long trousers, his name was Charlie, and he became the love of my life.

We married three years later.

When we were dating my father told Charlie sternly that he was to bring me home when we went out. We went to the movies at Port Kembla most weeks, and Charlie lived at Port Kembla, so you can imagine the travelling he did by bus and by pushbike when he missed the last bus home! He must of thought I was worth it because he still kept coming to visit me thank goodness he did.

I had spent most of my time as a child playing and swimming on the lake, but now it was different. On Sundays, Charlie and I would go for long walks around Lake Illawarra and this is where we planned our future, our house, our family. We talked for hours and we spent a lot of time day dreaming. The Lake was our freedom.

When we had children, Charlie would take the kids on the boat and they would go fishing on the Lake.

In 2003 Charlie was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. On Christmas Eve he began Chemotherapy. Now, it was the kids turn to take Charlie fishing on the Lake. When he was sick, fishing on the lake helped him to forget about his cancer.

Sadly, I lost my guy with the long trousers but I have my memories, of the best times of my life.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Lake Illawarra
• digital story
• grief
• dancing
• progress hall
• family