Helensburgh's Robyn Paynter shared her story with Jessica Nelson.
My name is Robyn Paynter. I recently turned 60 years of age and I have lived in and loved Helensburgh for 30 years.
Martin and I came to Helensburgh in 1991, after we purchased Helensburgh Butchery. We wanted to work and raise our family in a country environment. We were welcomed and supported by our local community for close to 16 years while operating our business, supplying meat to many other businesses including Helensburgh Workers and Bowling Club, our local supermarket Clancy’s, Stanwell Tops conference centre and Leo’s kiosk at Stanwell Park, just to name a few. Helensburgh Butchery also supported many local sporting clubs and events.
Two years after we arrived in Helensburgh our world stopped. My daughter was very happy and attending the local preschool, Kids Korner, and I was heavily pregnant with my second child, Lincoln. On 23rd of June 1993, Lincoln decided to come into our world three weeks early. A simple C-section was all that was needed to save him, however, due to medical negligence, that didn’t happen. Our son was on life support for two days until we let him go to a higher love, a peaceful place. The Helensburgh Anglican Minister at the time, Tim, was by our sides while we made that very final decision. Tim is always in our thoughts for his kindness and compassion.
I battled for the next eight years to have another child, it wasn’t meant to be. Those years taught me how precious our children are, and every child is a blessing. There was overwhelming support from so many people in 2508 who shared their stories of loss, and I soon realised that I wasn’t alone and there were many kindred spirits in our local community, and life goes on.
While we had our business, I wanted to give back to the community so I became a volunteer with NINA, visiting the elderly and learning so much history about the early days of the South Coast. I also escorted them on the community bus shopping trips.
My daughter was at Helensburgh Public School before I knew it, and I then became a canteen mum once a month.
Floods and fire came to our town; we tried to do our bit by feeding the rural fire and emergency services, opening the shop at all times of the night.
We sold the butcher shop and I went on to be an aged care nurse, working five years with dementia residents at Goodhew Gardens at Woolooware. It was a very rewarding job looking after the vulnerable elderly while sustaining their dignity.
I wanted to work in my own community and I moved on to Kennett Home on the clifftop at Stanwell Park until my own parents both became very ill and were unable to care for each other. I went on to nurse them in my home for the next decade.
After my dad had passed, and during the many long nights while I was up giving mum her treatments, I thought about the next chapter of my life. My heart was in childcare not aged care any more.
I started to create and renovate the whole downstairs level of my home; it was in the making for two years prior to opening. Before Mum passed, she helped me name it – Rainbow Cottage 4kids. Mum always said to me: “Whenever you see a rainbow, you see me watching over you all.”
Rainbow Cottage is my passion to provide the highest level of care to hard-working families living in 2508. Parents can go to work knowing their child is happy and being cared for in a safe and loving environment.
