At the recent meeting of the Maclean Lower Clarence Hospital Auxiliary Dom Bennett, who is the Acting Nurse Unit Manager, addressed members. He expressed appreciation for the work done by the auxiliary to help the hospital. The position of Nurse Unit Manager, to replace Anne Farrell who has retired, is being advertised. A new member, Leigh Crowe, was welcomed and also a visitor, Kaye Shaw. The correspondence included a donation in memory of the late Anne Farrell (not our nurse) for the palliative department. The Maclean Bowling Club and the Yamba Bowling Club both gave generous donations as did the Chatsworth Island CWA. The Yamba Day View Club sent an invitation to a movie day at the Yamba cinema on Friday September 9 to see “Bridget Jones’s Baby” at a cost of $15. There was also an invitation from the RSL Ladies Auxiliary to a semi-high tea at 10am on Friday September 16 in the River Room at the Maclean Services Club. Ring 6645 1005 to book. Members are asked to give Margaret Annand their email addresses and if they have not received their trolley rosters ring Margaret on 6645 3513. As Judy Brown and Vera Montague have health problems, two new patrons have been appointed, Gwen Dowling and Joyce Bell. Both ladies are past presidents and held in high esteem by members. As this was National Hearing Awareness Week, the guest speaker was Susie O’ Brien, a community hearing advisor, who works for Australian Hearing which is a government run organisation. She does entry level screening for hearing problems and spoke about the way hearing deteriorates with age. Hearing aids retrain the brain to understand sounds. She will be in attendance at the hospital on Tuesday August 30 from 12 noon to 3pm for anyone who needs advice. An appointment is necessary. She will also be available in Yamba at the Jim Agnew Community Health Centre in Treelands Drive. The next meeting will be at 2pm on Monday September 19 in the conference room of Community Health at Maclean District Hospital. New members are welcome. Maggie Combley