Starting over isn’t easy

Walter Davies, better known as Nugget, has had to ‘start over’ a couple of times since moving into Leith Park in July 2012. When he and his wife, Margaret, first moved in he thought he would go mad working out how to fill the days. But the couple did start to build their new life away from the home they had left in Whittlesea. They kept old friends and made new ones.

Fourteen months later, in October 2013, Margaret died, and Nugget found himself once again having to start over. This time without Margaret, his wife of 49 years. It was a very difficult time, even with the support of his four sons and daughter, and their families, who all live fairly close to the St Helena village.

Now, when he looks back on those months after Margaret’s death, he realises that moving in to Leith Park, was a ‘blessing’. He lives in a unit overlooking beautiful parkland filled with trees and birds. There’s a playground almost at his backdoor and each Monday and Thursday he picks up his six-year-old grandson, Tom, from school in Diamond Creek and the pair wile away the afternoon in the playground or kicking the football. Nugget has 11 grandchildren aged between 6 and 22 years and he likes to share his time between their varied sporting and other activities.

Nugget, 74, enjoys the company of the other residents, but spends a fair bit of time visiting his children or sharing important moments with them. A builder by trade, he spends a bit of time helping his daughter maintain her 100 year old house at Diamond Creek. He also enjoys going to the races with another son who has an interest in a race horse.

There’s also plenty to do locally, including the Greensborough Probus Club, which Nugget joined six months ago. Several people from the village are also club members and they enjoy outings such as a recent Corio Bay cruise. He plays pennant bowls every Tuesday at the nearby Montmorency Bowling Club and goes with Tom once a week to the Bundoora driving range.

“Moving in here was a good thing for us to do, though I found it hard at the beginning. Now I enjoy the people, the things to do in the village, like the monthly barbecues, as well as all the things to do in the nearby town,” Nugget said.

“And each morning I wake up to this view, the smell of trees and the sounds of birds. In the evening the sunsets are something. t’s just beautiful.”

“I’m pleased now that we did it and that I live here.”