By Aaron Cordy
WHEN Margret McNeill suffered an unfortunate accident that left her immobile for four months, she didn’t know it would lead her to discover a new passion and help her become the only second person in the Goulburn Valley to achieve a Dark Horse Venture badge.
The Dark Horse Venture (DHV) is an award scheme for Girl Guide Trefoil Guild members aged 50 years and over. Participants choose an activity that they have not seriously tried before. They set themselves targets or goals within their subject and must continue to undertake their venture for at least 12 months.
DHV participants can choose one of five categories, Giving and Sharing, Active and Creative, Peoples and Nations, Tomorrow’s World and History and Heritage. Margret chose Active and Creative and art, as her focus.
Margret lives at Lifestyle Villages, which has an art studio, where she set the ‘dark horse’ of her creative side free as she worked for 12 months toward earning her DHV.
“I was out of action. I had a fall, I had five fractures, so I couldn’t move when I first was in hospital and then at home. So that took four months to finally get me moving,” said Margert. “I thought, now that I’m mobile, what can I do? But I’m still sitting a lot, so it’s really only village activities. I thought, I can’t draw to save myself, so I’ll turn up.”
Under the guidance of her mentor Dianna Reeves, the only other Goulburn Valley DHV, Margret received her official DHV badge on Wednesday, March 12 at the Girl Guide Mullana Trefoil Guild meeting in Shepparton.
