AT 80, qualified welder and great-grandmother Clara Westhorpe (pictured) was the oldest woman honoured at Thursday’s Hobsons Bay Inspirational Women’s Awards. In the 1950s, she started her own business, selling welding equipment and supplies in Williamstown. “When I had to provide for my family, I thought, well what I would like to do would be sell consumables and demonstrate machines. And so, I went [to] TAFE and did a welding course and I did metallurgy, engineering and drawing.” Ms Westhorpe was the first woman to join the Rotary Club of Altona, becoming its first female president in 1996. “I was very proud of our club that they were one of the first clubs to invite women to join.”
Hobsons Bay 2013 Inspirational Women Awards winners:
■ Lorraine Bedella
■ Nyssa Bradsworth
■ Rhonda Collins
■ Lor Davis
■ Julie Enright
■ Edith Grinham
■ Jill Hennessy
■ Jenny Hickinbotham
■ Barb Johnson
■ Ann Marie Kelly
■ Margaret Kidd
■ Wendy Kostraby
■ May Kotsakis
■ Nikki Kotzagiannidis
■ Kate Leslie
■ Jennifer Lund
■ Samantha Martin
■ Rebecca Nikau-Biddle
■ Tracy O’Hare
■ Cathy Paleologoudias
■ Milly Parker
■ Angelique Petrac
■ Kim Reilly
■ Julie Richards
■ Elisabeth Ridder
■ Wilma Robarts
■ Elizabeth Ryan
■ Fatoum Souki
■ Jacqueline Travaglia
■ Grace Vanilau
■ Fiona Ward
■ Clara Westhorpe
■ Jennifer Williams
■ Carol Willis
■ Nancy Winder
