The idea for the retirement village in the seaside town, 138km southwest of Melbourne’s CBD, was born in 1973 when the Lorne Lions Club formed the Elderly People Homes Society.
Six Lorne Lions members and six holiday homeowners including John Dooley, Garth Harry, and Alf Nicholson raised sufficient funds for the local council to grant more land than first sought. In March 1975. the council approved the project but said it had no funds immediately to contribute to its building.
A local committee of volunteers built the first eight units from its own resources, helped by a bank loan from the CBA for $60,000, secured by local benefactors Michael Hickey, Lloyd Hinton, and Roy Jones.
Government funding arrived in late 1978 when Units 1 to 8 were occupied. When opening Lorne Village in May 1978, Federal Member for Corangamite, Tony Street, stated “… he had never experienced a project with so much community involvement”. He paid tribute to the community for “…having had enough faith in themselves to go ahead”.
By August 1980, the CBA loan had been discharged and six more (Units 9 to 14) had been built and opened. By 1991, Units 15 and 16 were added.
Lorne Village has been run and managed by volunteers, some serving for over 15 years. However, time and energy prove finite and by 2019, it was decided a professional retirement village management team was needed.
Sirovilla, which operates villages in Highton (64 units), Anglesea (18 units)] and Point Lonsdale (16 units), was chosen and signed a contract last month. The current Lorne Village Committee will continue to support all existing residents, with new residents with their tenancy protected under the Retirement Villages Act.
New residents will enter under the policies and procedures governing the operation of Sirovilla’s existing villages at Highton and Anglesea.
