Les’s road to recovery

By Jade Lawton
AFTER a serious health scare that nearly killed him, youth worker Les Twentyman set himself a goal on his recovery: to stand and speak at a lunch for the Cardinia Foundation.
The fund-raiser, which raised money for 4C’s Food bank and other community projects, was booked just before Mr Twentyman entered The Alfred for a lap-band operation.
Surgeons uncovered a double hernia while he was on the operating table, and Mr Twentyman then suffered a series of infections, twice coming close to death.
He is now on the mend.
“Just two weeks ago I tried to stand for 15 minutes and I was buggered. I’m a bit worried about coming here because I’ve been using this to get out of doing the dishes,” he joked.
“It’s a bit like a first football game – I have set this in my mind.”
Les Twentyman grew up in Braybrook, in Melbourne’s West, where “if you paid your rent on time, the cops wanted to know where you pinched the money from.”
He was a Physical Education teacher before becoming involved in youth welfare. He stood as an Independent for the Victorian Legislative Council twice, was awarded the Order of Australia in 1994 and is a former Victorian of the Year. He founded the 20th man fund, which raises money for pro-active programs that aim to help troubled kids stay out of trouble.
Mr Twentyman also has some dubious records. He was once voted by 3AW as the second worst dressed man in Australia and said he also had the honour of spending the most ever consecutive days in The Alfred’s intensive care unit.
He said the biggest problem in the outer suburbs was isolation.
“In some small country towns you might not have a library or cricket team. It really impresses me that the Cardinia Shire has buses with youth workers on them to go to remote areas.”
Mr Twentyman said sport was a great motivator in keeping kids out of trouble, which was why he began a homeless youth football team.
“In 1990, 600 kids went through the Sunshine Court, and only one of them had a sporting background. There is a link between sport and staying out of trouble,” he said.
Mr Twentyman also motivated the guests to help those struggling in the community.
“Jeni (Mathison) was telling me that of the 50,000 population, 10,000 accessed the 4C’s last year,” he said.
“We are in 2009, and we are seeing homelessness as bad as ever and poverty has never been greater.
“Societies fall apart when good people do nothing. The very fact you are here shows you have a great community.”