We are fortunate to have a beautiful blue and white peacock themed quilt to Raffle on the night of the Aussie Hero Quilts Annual Thank You Dinner.
As with many quilts this one has a story. It was made by Mrs Lee Leahy. If that names sounds familiar, Lee's husband is Lieutenant Peter Leahy AC Retd who was the Chief of Army from 2002 until 2008.
This is the story of the quilt according to Lee
"The fabric was purchased by Janet in some type of kit form
many years ago. Before her death the quilt was given to me by her niece,
Heather Sheridan nee Cochrane. The package included the plan (sort of)
and fabric. I got the top pieced before Janet’s death. She asked
that the quilt be put to a good use.
Heather Sheridan served in the Australian Army as a nurse,
married John Sheridan who was in the Infantry Corps. Heather went on the
deliver medical services at Duntroon Hospital until the Defence contract was
moved to Aspen. At that point she took a position in the APS and
continues to work at Russell in the medical section. Many serving people
will have come across her at either Duntroon or Russell.
‘ Janet Cochrane was born in Holytown, Lanarkshire,
Scotland in 1931. She studied nursing at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and
finished her midwifery at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
She joined the British Army and served as a Nursing
Officer in the Queen Alexandra Royal Army Nursing Corps. Her service took
her to Egypt during the heightened tensions over the Suez Canal. Gibraltar,
Malaya during the Malayan emergency. She served aboard the Troop Ship
Dunera which was transporting soldiers and their families to Cyprus, East
Africa and to the Caribbean. She also served in the UK reaching the rank
of Major before she resigned her Commission and married LCDR Peter Dale RN.
They came to Australia on a posting for Peter who worked
as a missile engineer at Woomera before settling in Carwoola, NSW. Janet
passed away in June 2017 and is survived by her husband Peter."
What a wonderful story for this quilt and how special for us to be allowed to raffle it.
The tickets for the Aussie Hero
Quilts Annual Thank You Dinner on 2 November at Old Parliament House are
available from TryBooking via this link
We hope you will join us in thanking the volunteers who give
their time and materials so selflessly all year. On the night there will be both live and
silent auctions, including more beautiful quilts and laundry bags and the right to commission a quilt and bag.
Till next time... keep spreading the word and happy stitching!
Jan-Maree
Lovely.
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