Archives for 2013

It’s the time of the year to deck the halls with boughs of holly – or in this case, strings of fairy lights!

In the true spirit of both Christmas and community, residents at Seachange Village Arundel, Queensland’s most awarded active over 50’s lifestyle resort, have lit up their village with the annual Christmas Street Lights competition.

To celebrate the month long display, Seachange opened its gates last week to over 100 invited guests to view the spectacle. Not only were the Christmas lights turned on, but the faces of guests and a number of grandchildren were also lit up with joy!

Project Director Phil Goodman said the night’s guests were extremely impressed at how safe the Village was.

Many said they would not feel safe walking their own neighbourhood streets at night, but loved the secure environment of Seachange’s gated community.” “Guests loved seeing the strong community spirit at Seachange. Our residents of like-minded people were socialising, singing carols and even dancing in the street,” Phil said.
“Residents were proud to be able to show off their community and their hard work.”

The night’s guests included many people and their families who had currently purchased at Seachange whose homes were under construction, who came to see their future community in action.The lights are a focus for the many festive season celebrations at Seachange. The three Village precincts and individual streets are holding street parties throughout the month, culminating in a community party held in the Village’s own 5-Star Country Club.

To reflect the great commitment of Seachange residents to the Lights competition, this year included more prize categories, including “Best street”, “Best Home” and “Most Artistic”.

Days before the event an unexpected hail storm caused damage to a number of the home light displays. In an example of true community spirit, onsite construction staff volunteered their free time to help residents make repairs, ensuring the show could go on!

The Newport home, in recognition of its popularity has been redesigned for Stages 4 and 5 of the village.

The Newport offers a balance between traditional and contemporary living with separate lounge and dining areas and large kitchen.

The new design has been developed following the recommendations of focus group discussions with existing home owners at Seachange.

The kitchen is now much larger and more functional with more drawers and cupboards, it is also plumbed for ice maker and water dispensing fridge and features Bosch European wall oven, cook top and slide out range hood.

The homes electrical layout has also been upgraded to deal with increasing demands in a digital world with more power points, two telephone and two television outlets.

The home has had a second alfresco area added to the front of the property, which enhances modern Queensland design promoting indoor-outdoor living and choices. Three bedrooms are standard in the design with all featuring built-in robes. Bathroom and ensuite feature Villeroy and Boch drop in china bowls, Grohe mixer tap and Villeroy and Boch WC’s with soft close seats. New colour choices and upgraded tiles are now also standard.

The design now features an additional six windows to maximise light, ventilation and outlook and to take advantage of the 2.7m ceilings. The garage complete with remote control panel lift door includes a storage cupboard.

Ducted air conditioning is standard and all bedrooms and living areas feature ceiling fans.

The recent annual club bowls championships held at Seachange Village Arundel, saw everyone ‘bowled over’ by the community spirit.

Boasting 89 members, almost half of the Village residents are members of the bowls club. Some residents are just learning the ropes and have taken up the sport since moving to Seachange.

Former commonwealth games lawn bowls champion, Rob Parrella is a Seachange resident and has been a great motivator for making the bowls club so popular. Seachange is proud to have six pennant bowls players who are residents.

Novice players are given the basics, drills and tips from both Rob Parrella and club member Norm Johansen.

“We run free lessons for the novice players each Monday. Once they feel they can play confidently they join our regular club social games, play in the novice competition and then potentially can move on to inter club competitions,” Rob said.

Novice player, Bob Pamenter who only took up bowling since moving to Seachange won the Novice Singles title at the club championship. He was also a finalist in the Men’s Open title, won by Albert Klaverstyn. Jan Aitken was the winner of the Ladies Open title.

In appreciation of the popularity of the Bowls Club, Seachange Village management assisted in the supply of printed club shirts to all members.

“Our players love wearing their Seachange Village bowls club shirts and take great pride in the team image we present when competing at inter club matches,” Seachange Project Director, Phil Goodman said.

Today’s retirees want to be actively involved in a community and are very open to learning new skills. At Seachange Village, Queensland’s most awarded over 50’s lifestyle community residents enjoy a huge range of social activities, events and classes available at their own five star County Club.

Queensland’s most awarded over 50’s lifestyle community, Seachange Village Arundel, has been recognised yet again in the 2013 HIA Gold Coast and Northern Rivers Awards as the winner for ‘Special Purpose Housing’. This Award recognises excellence in housing design and construction that meets the needs of a specific group in the community.

Seachange Village was recognised in front of 220 industry leaders at the Gala Awards event held at The Glades Country Club on Friday 11 October.

Judges were impressed with Seachange’s huge selection of designs for single level homes that were highly energy efficient and functional yet maximised quality and aesthetics to suit the specific needs of people aged over 50.

The Village has a clear vision to deliver quality housing and lifestyle for baby boomers with attention to detail, flexibility of design to accommodate the evolving needs of residents and development of high quality community facilities.

The centerpiece of Seachange Village is the multi-million dollar five star country club, which includes one of the most extensive selection of social, recreational and educational facilities available in any over 50’s lifestyle community resort.

Seachange development manager, Phil Goodman said this latest HIA award was further recognition that the community was at the forefront of evolving the over 50’s village concept.

“Seachange has found the perfect balance of lifestyle, facilities and security, all set amongst lush, landscaped gardens with resort-class facilities.

“It’s not just the design of the village and the homes that’s makes it so special, it’s the likeminded people who live there which make it so extraordinary – no other over 50’s community comes close to what Seachange offers.”

Residents at Seachange Village Arundel were treated on Saturday night to a concert by renowned performers, tenor Daniel Mallari and soprano Bernadette Fisher.

Their special show “Broadway and Popera to Pavarotti” is usually performed at major theatre venues, such as Twin Towns Club. However the Country Club theatre at Seachange Village Arundel, Queensland’s most awarded over 50’s resort, has proved to be versatile enough to host a major concert performance to around 200 guests.

“When we designed the facilities at Seachange, we did not foresee the community’s social committee would have such grand visions for the Country Club,” Seachange Managing Director, David Pradella said.

“Thanks to the genius of Social Club Coordinators Brian and Diane Dawson, residents at Seachange are able to see top quality shows without even leaving the village,” he said.

“Putting a major event like this together relies on our wonderful group of 110 volunteers, “Diane Dawson said. “Everyone at Seachange works together to ensure events held at the Country Club come together without a hitch. The community spirit is amazing, with every resident bringing some special ability or talent to the Village. Jobs including ticket design and sale, furniture set up, ushers and operation of the bar are all arranged by our volunteers.”

Resident’s comments on the night included, “We have only just shifted into Seachange and I cannot believe these types of shows are on our doorstep. What about the glass of bubbly and the lovely welcome from the Hostesses at the door – what a nice touch” and “My brother is a professional light and sound technician, he has to come to the next show and experience the professionalism of our Seachange Theatre. I could not fault it. We were a little way back in the theatre and I thought we were in the front row.”

Popera is an immensely popular cross-over genre of music that is a fusion of Pop and Opera, giving popular classical music a modern edge and pop music a classical approach in a fresh, exciting and contemporary production.

Tenor, Daniel Mallari is a multi-award winning performer who represented Australia in the USA as winner of the Fast Track to Fame National Talent Search. He has played alongside Rob Guest in the Australian premier of Jekyll and Hyde, the musical.

Classically trained soprano, Bernadette Fisher has been singing since the age of eleven. She has played lead roles in West Side Story and Godspell and performed in concerts alongside Rob Guest. She has also toured Europe and UK as guest soloist with the Sydney Welsh Choir.

Saturday night’s show was the sixth concert style performance held at the Village this year.

Other events held at the 5-Star Country Club this year, to name a few, have included The Biggest Morning Tea, Art Exhibition, Abba Revival Show and The Two Tenors. The next big event at Seachange is the resident’s Melbourne Cup lunch with around 240 guests expected to attend.

At Seachange Arundel Village residents have plenty of opportunity to be “fit, fabulous and over 50”.