Coastal Caring Clowns

PROFILE

I was born in London, England the year that Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, it was also the
last time that the River Thames froze over - so a memorable year in more ways than one!
As a young girl of 6 I joined a singing and dancing troupe that entertained in old people's
homes and so my love of making old people happy started at a young age. I was educated in
Essex, England and on leaving school became a legal secretary - which I still am! I was
married in 1972 and emigrated to South Australia in 1974. I returned to the UK in 1987 due
to my husband's career but after 19 years there returned to Australia with two children and
three grandchildren who all live here on the Sunshine Coast.

I have led a very full and interesting life, travelled throughout Europe but am really a home
"bod". I worked part time as a steward at a large football club (Arsenal) in London. One of
the highlights for me was in 2006 when I was chosen to meet the Queen. The Queen was
coming to officially open the new 60,000 seater stadium and I was one of a few chosen from
1000 stewards to be the one to greet her upon arrival. Sadly the Queen injured her back the
previous day and her husband Prince Philip took her place, nevertheless it was still exciting
for me.

I joined CCC in February 2008 after seeing them at a parade in Buderim on Australia Day. I
have been an active clown since April 2008 and have enjoyed every minute of it so far.
Being a volunteer clown, cheering up the sick and elderly is so very rewarding that my life
has been enriched by it.

MY FIRST CLOWNING EXPERIENCE

On Sunday 1 June 2008 I was very privileged to attend the Nambour Hospital for my first
clowning experience as a fully fledged Coastal Caring Clown. Luckily for me my associates
were the very experienced Twaddles and Pockets and so the job was easy!

We started in the children's ward and fortunately it was fairly quiet, it can never be good to
have a children's ward full now can it? The young children we saw were so happy to have
clowns visit them and even a couple of 18 year olds had a good laugh along with us as
Twaddles and Pockets did their usual routine and I managed the odd song here and there.

We moved on to an adult's ward next. They were a little harder to please but we still
managed to get some laughter out of them. One patient was having a birthday and had lots
of visitors who told us that our visit had made the birthday complete for their
Wife/Mum/Grandma/Great Grandma! We got to sing our Happy Birthday song backwards
much to the amusement of everyone in the ward.

The nursing staff thanked us profusely and said how wonderful we were to visit them, it
made a difference to their working day and they looked forward to our visits. What a terrific
feeling it is to be appreciated so much.

At the de-briefing afterwards we all agreed that it had been a good visit and I certainly felt
that it had gone particularly well for me, especially as I was in such a state of flux when
getting ready in the morning that I forgot to paint my nose or take any 'props' with me!

I would highly recommend a children's ward as a first clowning experience to all new clowns
as it is a great way to 'warm up' and I would especially like to thank Twaddles and Pockets
for their wonderful support and encouragement for this my first clowning experience.

In August 2010 I was voted in as President of the Coastal Caring Clowns and have enjoyed
that role immensely so far.

Christine Rule (aka Flutter-Bye)