General News
12 July, 2026
Mondays make memories and new connections
MARTIN Grogan is proof that people can be connected and laugh together without mobile phones and social media.
MARTIN Grogan is proof that people can be connected and laugh together without mobile phones and social media.
Three months ago, he put the word around Newbridge for a weekly, informal get-together on a Monday.
From an early base at the town’s hall to a shift across the road to Newbridge General Store after a few weeks, Martin’s dream of social connection in a telecommunications blackspot has become a weekly hit.
The store’s open fire giving off warmth as the outside frost melted was the backdrop for a game of scrabble, jigsaws and coffee.
In another room, some of the town’s “foreign legion” was generating an energetic heat playing table tennis on the table acquired by store owner TJ Joshi and his nephew Bivek or the one-hole mini-golf course made by the group. “A table tennis table was cheaper than a billiard table,” TJ said.
Will Emmett came to Australia from Holland as a nine-month-old and shifted to Newbridge 27 years ago to “live at the Paris end of town - that’s the other side of the river”.
He’s handy at scrabble but says fellow Monday grouper Chris McLean gets the most points, adding “it’s a fluke really”.
Joyce Braydock, who spent 12 years living in Canada, before coming to Laanecoorie, said: ”We all pretend we can’t spell but everyone is good at the game.”
Will and Joyce spent years living in Melbourne’s western suburbs while Colleen Young hailed from Sandringham before her move to the Loddon River town.
“The group has become a great place to connect and to network for those that aren’t connected to the internet or social media. We find that playing board games and card games has been helping us with keeping more mentally alert,” Colleen said.
“It started as an idea of one man - Martin - and has become a regular place for us to attend.
Joyce added between laughs on Monday: “We look forward to our Monday mornings ... everyone is welcome from any of the towns around.”
“And we yack a lot,” quipped Will as he placed another tile on the scrabble board. “Some times we don’t even know each other’s surnames but that doesn’t matter.”
Colleen and TJ said the Monday group was connecting community.
“There’s so much positivity and we’re connecting people in the community. It’s great,” she said.
Read More: Newbridge