Their hearts belong to Tatura

Bruce has been a Lion for 40 years and his wife Glenda for 25 years, and they’ve always been behind the barbecue or working in other volunteer capacities when something’s on in town.

Glenda reckons her husband has probably barbecued millions of sausages over the past few decades, which probably isn’t too far from the truth.

As for Glenda, she can easily knock over 30 or 40 dozen eggs for more than 300 members of the community at any event alongside her fellow Lions — bacon and egg rolls are the hot ticket at the moment.

You can tell immediately the McLeods are Lions when you arrive at their house, by the brass bas relief of a lion’s head affixed to the front door.

Inside, three walls are covered in commendations and awards for service to the community — and that’s after Glenda had a cull to de-clutter the place.

Perched on the back of Glenda’s armchair, looking over her shoulder, is a stuffed toy lion, and overlooking both is a drawing of the king of the jungle that Bruce found at an op shop.

When Bruce joined Lions 40 years ago, it was a men’s only club. But 26 years ago when the Lions changed that policy, Glenda became the second woman to join the Tatura sub-branch.

While she hasn’t been a Lion for as long as her husband, Glenda has been involved in community service for as many years through the Ladies Auxiliary, helping out at the Tatura Hospital, her church and in the community.

Since then they’ve both spent a year as district governors, looking after 73 Lions clubs across Victoria. They’ve both been Tatura club president — twice — and Glenda was the club’s secretary for 11 years.

For the McLeods, the Tatura Lions are still the same 40 years later, with nothing changing in the way they serve their community. What’s changed is the town.

Glenda came to Tatura to do a hairdressing apprenticeship when she was 18, and ended up falling in love with a handsome local bloke and never left.

The McLeods are of a generation that valued community service — it was something everybody just did.

“Because you're in a small community, you worked for your community,” Glenda said.

And being a young family, they even used to take their kids along with them.

“They grew up Lions. They'd come along to functions and help flip sausages as well,” Glenda said.

Her son Malcolm went on to serve in the Air Force as a mechanic where he received a commendation for his service. Malcolm’s medal is on display in his parents’ lounge room next to his grandfather’s medals that he earned serving in the Pacific theatre during World War II.

Bruce is now 75 and Glenda is 74, and for 54 years have lived in the house they built when they were married, the house they raised their family in.

Theirs was the second house in Hilltop Estate and the first house on Stonehaven Rd. They have watched Tatura grow up around them, literally.

The McLeods used to have an old FJ Holden they used to drag a hose behind to water the trees on the golf course for a dollar per tree when they were first planted. Now 50 years later, the trees are at least 18 metres high.

They’ve been in Tat so long they even pre-date modern plumbing, with a dunny out the back.

“I'll never forget one day (our son) locked me in there, put the little latch down, and thought it was a great joke, ‘I’ve locked mum in the toilet!’,” Glenda said.

“So we always say he grew up on the thunder box.”

Just like the trees on the golf course they watered 50 years ago, the McLeods have watched the houses spring up all over Tatura over the decades.

And all that time they’ve served the community.

They’ve laid footpaths, provided flood relief and cleaned up after disasters. They’ve helped seniors renovate their houses and cooked tonnes of food and raised money to support the community.

“Wherever there’s a need, that’s our saying, ‘wherever there’s a need there’s a Lion’,” Glenda said.

They have always served their community, and Glenda says it’s in their hearts to do so for as long as they can.