70 years of CPL,
70 years of stories
Meet Joan Leonard
My name is Joan Leonard. I was born in
Brisbane in 1945. My family moved to
Cairns. I was the eldest of two children.
We moved back to Brisbane when I was
about four years old and lived in Wynnum.
When I first started with ‘the League’
(CPL - Cerebral Palsy League), we didn’t
have any buses or taxis to get to school. I
remember my mum used to bring me up
from Wynnum every day on the Council
bus to Norman Park and we would then
catch the ferry over to New Farm Park and
she walked with me on her hip from the
ferry to the “new” and only Spastic Centre
(that is what it was called in those days) at
New Farm. This was a one hour trip each
way.
My family moved from Wynnum to
Gaythorne when my Dad went into the
Army, and I continued going to New Farm
CPL from Gaythorne – another long trip
daily.
6
I attended school up to
the age of 14 at New Farm,
then went into the group
K for about 2 years, and
then to the workshop.
Looking back at the ‘50
years of CPL’ commemorative book to
write this has been a walk down memory
lane. There are quite a number of photos
of myself and of mum attending New
Farm and other CPL events and functions.
In 1974, when I was 24, my family moved
to Moorooka and my association with New
Farm continued.
As my parents became older, I made the
decision (when I was 35) to move from
home to CPL’s facility “Sevenoakes”,
where I received residential care. Many of
you will now know this as CPL Fig Tree
Pocket. I lived at “Sevenoakes” for about 11
years.