By Violet Li
Voices of Casey manager Paulien George stepped down on Monday 15 April after almost a decade developing and leading the community choir.
A cosy and warm retirement service was held at night during the choir’s routine rehearing hours to reminisce and farewell.
The community choir commenced operation in 2015 and the now 82-year-old Berwick resident was one of the founding members.
Looking back, the start was a beautiful opportunity.
“Opera Australia decided that they wanted to put a performance in the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in the city and have a lot of community choirs involved in it,” Paulien recalled.
“They approached a lot of the councils around Melbourne and Casey Council ran a project choir for that.
“Casey sponsored the choir, but they only did it for two years, and then they ceased sponsorship.
“But a lot of us had really enjoyed being in it. We said let’s start a community choir and keep yourselves going. So we did that in September of 2015.”
The choir later hired a conductor and a pianist and adopted a membership model. The rest was history.
Over the years, this culturally diverse choir has strewed voices all over Casey and the surroundings.
They performed at the Cranbourne Secondary College, Hampton Park Baptist Church, The Amazing Grace Cranbourne, Bunjil Place, Wilson’s Botanic Park, Cranbourne Uniting Church, Hallam Secondary College, and Dandenong RSL Anzac Day services.
In 2017, it performed at the opening of Bunjil Place and was the host choir at the City of Casey drought relief Casey Sings Concert in 2018.
During November 2018 and 2019, the choir hosted a family violence concert on White Ribbon Day at Bunjil Place.
For someone who was there for almost 10 years from the start, it was a hard decision for Paulien to say goodbye, but she had to.
“I’ve been toying with it [retirement] for about six months,” she said.
“Physically I can’t do that anymore. I’m pretty fit for my age, but after the last sausage sizzle for fundraising that we had back in November last year, it nearly killed me.
“And I thought, no, I can’t do this anymore.
“The committee got a shock when I said I was going to retire because that was the last thing that they were thinking of.”
For Paulien, retiring from her music group did not equal exiting the music world and never looking back.
Immigrating to Australia from Holland with her family when she was around 17, Paulien went through a lot to build up a life down under. She commanded a new language, started in hospitality, went into an office job, moved around for a living, and eventually settled in Berwick where she still resides.
Music was immediately a new addition after she came here.
“I learnt to sing when I was very young. I went to church, and I joined the choir, and I started to realise then that I really enjoyed singing,” she recalled.
“My brother and my father sang in the choir as well because they both have very good voices, as well as my mother.
“I’ve been involved in the musical industry for a while. Whilst I was in the advertising business, I didn’t have time.
“But after I retired, I went back into it, and I still have singing lessons today. I do a fair bit of solo singing myself.
“So, keep the voice going.”
