A start in life - By A Start in Life

27 February 24

At A Start in Life’s 100-year anniversary event this year, a previously supported student named April gave a very moving speech. Through passion, humour and sincerity, she shared how the kindness of strangers and organisations such as A Start in Life not only help overcome misfortune but also pave the way for the most amazing successes.

I’m here to tell you my story and what this amazing charity did for me.

Up until I was nine years old my childhood was incredibly happy. I had four fun and very annoying sisters, parents that I had never seen fight and the world’s greatest grandad. My world was flipped on its head in 1988 when my father left our family for another woman, completely blindsiding my mother.

Mum took the abandonment quite badly, as any woman with five young children would. Divorce and marriage breakdowns weren’t very common back then, so it felt like we were outcasts. And I am quite certain Mum felt deep shame. We only survived that first year due to the kindness of a wonderful neighbour and the support of my grandfather.

After my father left, we were pretty poor. Mum hadn’t worked since before she was married, as was the way back then and found herself with a mortgage and all the expenses that went with raising five girls. Around this time, as tempted as naughty 9-year-old April might have been to ‘borrow’ coins from Mum’s wallet for sweets, I knew that the last two dollars meant a loaf of bread and lunches for all of us for two days. I never dared to borrow it.

My Grandad, my hero, my idol, the man who I still measure every man up to, became our Dad. He did all the Dad things with us and was quite literally a bit of a superhero. Grandad was a mason, like his father and grandfather had been before him (in fact we have masonic certificates dating back to 1883). I knew very little about what masons did back then, but it was through him that my family reached out to what was the NSW Masonic Youth Welfare Fund.

The fund changed our lives. It’s as simple as that.

I finally felt normal. I was wearing less hand me downs, I could afford to go on school excursions and camps, I was able to buy a trumpet and move up to 1st trumpet in the school band. I no longer felt shame when I had a simple vegemite sandwich and homemade popcorn for lunch. My sister and I could afford to do gymnastics, that my wonderful grand- father would take us to. We all continued to play netball and enjoyed being part of our small community as we had before the divorce.

But it wasn’t just the financial benefit we received. I felt supported. My beloved Grandad passed away when I was fifteen and I was lost without him. But a new hero entered my life. His name was Bruce Whittet. Bruce was the CEO of Masonic Youth Welfare fund in the 80s and 90s and soon became a mentor. I worked hard at school, I won academic awards, I was elected as school vice-captain, I played in the band, I did public speaking, I performed in the drama club, I represented the school in all sorts of sports. And getting a letter in the post or receiving a phone call from Bruce was all the reward that I needed. I wanted to achieve greatness to show I wasn’t a wasted investment; that I deserved the support and encouragement that I was receiving. I also just wanted to make Bruce proud.

I’ve always had wild dreams. When I was at school, I was determined to win a best actress Oscar! I went to university after high school but realised an arts degree wasn’t what I needed and left to go to acting school. I longed to be a musical theatre actress (ignoring the teeny issue that I could absolutely not dance!) and after acting school and saving money I took off to London for my first great adventure.

It was here that I found myself living another dream, working in the West End theatres. I of course wasn’t on stage but worked front of house and got to watch performances every night. In fact, while working at the English National Opera I thought I was James Bond with a microphone in my sleeve. Being a part of this creative world, I felt like my soul was exploding and rays of creativity were entering me. It was perfect.

But the truly ground-breaking moment was when I helped my talented flatmate with a short film. I did all sorts of jobs, wardrobe, props, camera assisting, and it was this moment – during these days filming that I realised where I belong. It was behind the camera. It just made so much more sense, plus I didn’t have to learn how to dance!

Returning to Australia a few years later, the planets aligned and I got a job at a production company that made TV commercials and corporate films. I started at the very bottom, worked there for five years, moving my way up to be Head of Production before I took a leap, hoping to land in the world of film.

I didn’t. I fell into television. Which was the greatest thing that could have happened. I started at the bottom, as a coordinator in post production and after a few years of hard work, I moved up to be a Post Producer. I worked on shows like I’m a Celebrity Get Me out of Here, Love Island, The Voice, Australian Idol, My Kitchen Rules, and many more; and after ten seasons on MasterChef, I am now Co-Executive Producer. I run post production with my EP, leading over 100 people, overseeing 50 odd episodes, guiding the creative with producers and editors. And I bloody love it! I’ve found my home.

During my TV career projection, I was obsessed with Marvel films. I wore Avengers and Iron Man shirts to work every day. When I saw that Thor Ragnarok was filming on the Gold Coast, I asked the universe to help me land a job on it. It was the ultimate (and what I thought unrealistic) dream, but the day that I printed my contract with the Marvel logo firmly placed on top, I cried. I got a job working in Visual Effects and it was a mind blowing, crazy and wild ride. I remember vividly the first day of shoot and standing on set watching Chris Hemsworth in all of his Thor glory; it was a pinch me moment. One I will never forget.

Career has always been a huge priority in my life and I think a part of me deep down might still want to make Bruce proud.

I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world and see the most wondrous of things. I’ve looked into the eyes of a silverback gorilla as he stormed past me in the Rwandan jungle. I’ve been chased by an orangutan named Mina in North Sumatra. I’ve heard lions roar as they hunted a wildebeest while I was camping in the Serengeti. I’ve swum with sea turtles in New Caledonia. I’ve eaten moussaka overlooking the Acropolis in Athens. I was in Cuba as Fidel Castro handed the reins over to his brother Raul. I’ve climbed the Eiffel Tower, cried at the Colosseum, caught a gondola through the Venice canals, driven across volcanos in Iceland, sobbed in the snow in Central Park New York, held hands as I climbed the Swiss alps. I’ve worked in South Africa, Fiji, Spain, and lived all around the UK.

I have an incredible career, my family are complete lunatics but we’re all still incredibly close, I have incredible friends, I met the love of my life at age 41 and am completely, madly and over- whelming in love. Life is what one might call pretty perfect.