Saying thanks to Ray Canobie. From left, Windermere chairman Carl Strahan, Windermere supporters Dorothy and Ian Thomas, Ray and Dianne Canobie, and Cardinia mayor Bill Ronald.STAR News Group director and Windermere supporter Ian Thomas, during the naming of the Ray Canobie Centre for Windermere, Pakenham, said Mr Canobie was a professional in everything he did.
And what a great joy it was, particularly for Ray, to have Ian Thomas back from the abyss, to pay tribute to his lifetime friend.
Ian said he had known Ray for 47 years.
He highlighted wonderful speeches Ray had made over the years in his neverending plea to seek support for children in crisis.
Some I have heard.
Ray told us of things we prefer not to hear, but could not ignore.
On this occasion as a tribute to Ray Canobie and the way he handled his work we publish ‘His view’ of what can happen at Windermere.
“I remember sitting on the floor of a caravan on a wet, miserable winter day during a visit with Julie Spiers to see a client.
“Here was a 22yearold mum with four kids and heavily pregnant with a fifth.
“She had an intellectual disability.
“The boyfriend was lying on the floor under a bed cover — there was no bed.
“He had little inclination to work on a day like that or on any other day.
“A little baby with runny nose, dirty nappy and sores all over him crawled across to where I was seated.
“I was being constantly told to ….. off by the figure under the bedcover and the stench inside the caravan was unbearable.
“The unintelligent murmurings of the mum who had her first three children removed from her by court order made me realise how unfair it was that some kids were born into such a world.”
Ray spoke also of Danny: “Danny had been violently shaken as a baby, leaving him with an intellectual disability.
“Later, he received cigarette burns inflicted by a deviant defacto intent on maximum sexual gratification.
“I was the sole male at Windermere in those days and spent time with him every week to rebuild his trust of males.
“We used to take his socks off, roll them up and play kick to kick in the passage.
“We couldn’t afford much in the way of toys in those days.
“I remember how the Pakenham Gazette, on hearing of this little tacka’s plight at our Grand Final dinner in the city, arranged some goodies for him.
“The thing he treasured most was a little plastic membership card to the Wally Wombat Club.
“He could at last prove that he belonged to something — proving to himself that he wasn’t brain dead after all.”
