April 13, 2016
The Quota Club of Kingaroy celebrated its 40th birthday on Monday with a special dinner at the Pioneer Lodge Motel in Kingaroy.
The evening also served at the changeover to swear in the club’s office bearers for 2016-17.
The club’s first president, Lila Perkins, is still an active member of Quota after 40 years and shared some memories of her time in the club with the guests present.
“Forty years … sometimes it seems a long time and sometimes it doesn’t seem long at all,” she said.
She recalled that she first heard about Quota when her husband was a member of Apex, and the couple had travelled to Toowoomba for an Apex event.
There she met the president of the Quota Club of Toowoomba, which had just been founded.
“She spoke about it and the work it does and I thought, if it ever comes to Kingaroy I want to be a part of it,” Lila said.
Fast forward a few years, and Lila’s husband “at the ripe old age of 40” became too old to be in Apex and had to resign.
Lila started to miss the events which she had been attending as a “Henpexian”, the Apex Club’s then-nickname for wives of members.
“I saw in the local paper that Quota was going to form in Kingaroy so I went along,” she said.
That was in October 1975.
Lila said people volunteered for various roles in the club but “no one wanted to be president”.
As she knew a bit about Apex, she put up her hand.
“June Woltmann was my secretary and her husband was in Rotary,” Lila said.
At first, Kingaroy Quota was run along the lines of “well, in Apex they did this … in Rotary they do this …”
The pair soon found out that Quota was a lot different.
“June and I had a big learning curve,” Lila said.
During the club’s first year, it became apparent that there was a need in Kingaroy for a stove so girls with a disability could learn to cook.
Quota Kingaroy organised a golf day to raise funds.
Two traditions began at the moment … Quota’s Kingaroy golf day has been held every year since then, and the stove sparked the start of what later became Endeavour Biscuits (now Kingaroy Kitchen Biscuits).
Lila said anyone interested in joining Kingaroy Quota should come along to the coffee mornings which are held on the first Monday of every month in the Kingaroy Coffee Lounge in Kingaroy Street.
This is a social morning for members and prospective members.
Lila then joined with the club’s latest president Vikki O’Brien to cut the club’s 40th anniversary birthday cake.
 |
 |
 |
 |
