Meryl’s a girl on the go

FOR someone who spends most of her time outdoors, Meryl Waterhouse’s Pakenham home is surprisingly clean.
In fact, it’s virtually spotless.
The 65-year-old revealed keeping her house clean was an easy task for her, because she doesn’t do it herself.
“I have a lady who comes in and cleans my house,” she said.
“I’ve actually got a bad back so she comes and does some of the cleaning for me. It’s not really my thing.”
Those who know her wouldn’t be shocked at the revelation at all, as Meryl is involved with so much that she almost seems to be in many different places at the same time.
She’s on the committee for the Pakenham Garden Club, she is the chairperson of the Cardinia Diabetic Awareness Group, she has been a volunteer with the Red Cross for more than 10 years and she only recently stepped back from volunteering with Deep Creek Landcare Group.
To top it all off, she is also on grandparent duty every week for her four grandchildren, Joshua, Bethany, Hannah and Matilda.
It might sound like a huge work schedule, but Meryl said she was involved with everything for one reason – because she loves everything she does.
“I enjoy everything I do – I think it’s good to do it and help people less fortunate than me,” Meryl said.
“I think when you feel good, and you have your health, it keeps you young. It’s good being busy too – I could never say I’m bored.”
Meryl has always been heavily involved in the community, right from when she and a friend started Pakenham Playgroup in 1974 for her children Brad and Jodie.
“We thought it was a good thing that a few kids and mums could get together and meet up each week and play and it was quite successful,” she said.
“We probably had about 20 mothers or so, we used to meet in the Army Road Hall and we had a lot of equipment and stuff that we managed to raise money for and purchase.
“When the kids grew older I left. You sort of do your kinder time then your school time.”
Kindergarten was the next step for Meryl, who was asked to be on the committee for the building of the Andrews Community Complex and then to raise money for an early intervention program at Homegarth Community Centre, where she and a group of others raised about $76,000.
She then moved on to schools, where she was on the school council at Pakenham Consolidated School, in parents and friends groups and also manned the canteen.
“I enjoyed all of it because it was interesting seeing what was going on in the schools,” she said.
“There was always something interesting going on and you always knew what was going on at the school.”
She has also been involved with Scouting and Make-A-Wish and was a member of the Yakkerboo committee and the Pakenham Hall Committee in the past.
When Meryl discovered she had diabetes last year she did the most logical thing and joined the Cardinia Diabetic Awareness Group to learn more about it, and was roped into becoming the chairperson.
“I joined in February last year and the girl who formed the group sort of wanted a bit of a break from it so I got lumbered with the job – they put my hand up,” Meryl laughed.
“It’s an enjoyable group and we have about 40 people at the moment. We’re all helping one another – it’s a good support group and I think I’ve learned heaps more since I’ve joined.”
Meryl recently wrapped up 10 years of involvement with the Deep Creek Landcare Group, where she helped plant more than 120,000 indigenous plants around the area.
“My knees tell me that I’m not able to be down on my hands and knees planting as much as I used to.”
Meryl was one of the people responsible for planting the trees along Pakenham Road, outside her house.
She said it was fantastic seeing all the trees she planted growing.
“It’s amazing seeing all the plants now, I drive along the roads and think, gee, we planted those,” she said.
“I used to be able to see across the road before and now I can’t. It’s not only beautiful to look at, it also blocks out the noise. It’s a great sound barrier and just looking out the window, you wouldn’t know that road was there.”
Meryl spends a considerable amount of time most days tending to her garden, which is filled with flowers, trees and vegetables.
“When we came here, I was only going to have a small garden because we would be doing other things, but now we’ve moved the fences four times, outwards,” she said.
“It’s just been like a mushroom, it’s just grown, but we won’t be moving it again because we’d be moving into the back paddock next!”
She and her husband Keith recently took part in Open Gardens, where people from all over the place were invited to look at their garden.
Almost 300 people passed through over two days, which Meryl said was fantastic.
“I couldn’t believe it, Brad was down the driveway, he was the parking attendant. Keith was down there too and at one point I told them to come in for tea but there were so many cars coming through that they didn’t have the chance to,” Meryl said.
“They were coming in our driveway and we were sending them out my neighbour’s driveway and it was just a constant stream of traffic.
“I so enjoyed it, it was really good.”
Despite her hectic schedule, Meryl has no problem finding time to go on holiday. In fact, she and Keith go somewhere at least once a year.
“We’ve had some great holidays, we’ve travelled around the world to England, Italy, France, Greece, Singapore, right across America, Hawaii and New Caledonia and we’ve travelled extensively in Australia too,” she said.
“We haven’t done the west yet but we’ve done the centre and Keith’s oldest brother lives in far north Queensland, near Cooktown so we go up there.”
Planning for the trip for this year is in its works, though Meryl admitted she had a host of other things to arrange.
“This year I’m planning a tour to Tasmania for our garden club, we’re having an eight-day trip this November so I’m not sure where our holidays will be this year but we’ll have another one probably in May or so.”
Even on holiday, Meryl does slightly unconventional things, such as gardening.
“Would you believe when I go to far north Queensland I garden?” Meryl said with a laugh.
“They own a caravan park and so I do the garden.
“Often, when we are away on holidays, we do look at other gardens and things like that. I think it’s enjoyable because you can do a lot of walking in gardens.”
In the meantime, Meryl has found a great solution to avoiding the heat.
“On days when its 40 degrees and I can’t go outside, I like to sit inside with a book and watch the cricket.”