As part of their Seniors Week celebrations, The Royce has chosen to give back, hosting a barbeque in correlation with fundraisers for the World’s Greatest Shave and Panthers on the Prowl.
The morning of Wednesday, March 27 kicked off with staff member Jodie Raynsford getting the big chop.
“I recently met with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, and she told me she’d been diagnosed with a type of blood cancer, and that it took a long time to diagnose it because of the lack of research,” she said.
“I thought that maybe I should do the Greatest Shave, and then I asked if [The Royce] would get behind me, and they’ve supported me.”
Admitting she prefers her hair short, Raynsford said she had no reservations about cutting it off.
“I’m happy, I’m excited,” she said.
“Everyone’s feeling a little bit nervous for me, but I feel good.”
Opting not to get rid of all her hair, Raynsford’s hair was cut and styled by The Royce’s onsite hairdresser, HWA Studio. Including the funds donated on the day, Raynsford smashed her $3000 goal.
After this, it was Darryl and Barbara Honeysett’s turn to present a cheque to Panthers on the Prowl, along with The Royce’s social committee.
After owning honeybees for nearly 20 years, the Honeysetts decided to donate a crop of honey to The Royce when they moved in.
Over the past three years, they’ve been able to involve residents in the process of extracting and jarring the honey, which is then available to purchase.
“The residents all get involved,” Barbara said.
“They get their gloves on, and they’re actually scraping all the frames down for the extraction which is pretty good. And we have a morning tea, to make it a real community event.”
Each year, the money made selling the jars of honey is donated to a charity.
This year, it’s Panthers on the Prowl.
“We try and do something for the local community, and obviously everybody here supports the Panthers, and we knew about the Panthers program in the local schools from friends who are teachers, and what a great job they do,” Barbara said.
Darryl, Barbara, and other representatives from The Royce presented a cheque to Brad Waugh, who thanked them for their support of his initiative.
Now three years down, Darryl promised he’s not planning on stopping the donations any time soon.
“We’ll keep going for as long as we can,” he said.
“We’re not going to be able to keep the bees forever, because it’s quite physically demanding, but there are a couple of other gentlemen and ladies here who have had bees before, so they help us out quite a bit.”
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.