Last week, one of Nambucca Heads’ most-loved volunteers, Irene Mayon, retired from her role at the iconic Marion’s Red Cross Tea House.

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After sixteen years of volunteering four days a week at the Tea House, Irene, now nearly 75, has had to turn her attention to looking after her husband who is in poor health.

With no successor to Irene’s role available and volunteers in short supply, the future of the Red Cross Tea House is also in question.

“I really liked the idea of the Tea House and began volunteering here sixteen years ago as I just love meeting people and talking to people,” Irene told News Of The Area.

“That is what I will miss the most, and I love the work here but at 75 it’s getting hard.

“We just can’t get volunteers any more to help us keep the place going.

“We used to get them through New Start, however that seems to have finished up.”

Irene’s welcoming personality has made her very popular with locals who visit the Tea House on a regular basis.

Many tourists call in each time they are in the Nambucca Valley to catch up with Irene over tea, coffee and freshly prepared food.

“The Tea House, this marvelous woman, and all the volunteers she has taken under her wing and groomed into friendly, eager and talented staff will be hard if not impossible to replace,” regular Tea House customer Monika Schuhmacher told NOTA.

The Red Cross Craft Shop that adjoins the tea house will continue operating and Irene considers it likely that she may try to find time to volunteer there one day a week.

Irene’s years of selfless volunteer service to the Red Cross has been an asset to the Nambucca Heads community and she will be missed by many.

Despite a recent social media comment declaring that the Tea House had closed permanently, Nambucca Valley Red Cross secretary Lesley Smith told NOTA, “The Tea House will reopen.

“We have worked too long and hard setting it up to lose it, so once we work out a way forward with getting it operating again, it will be back in business.”

Tuesday 13 August marks 110 years of the Red Cross.

The Tea House will be open on the day for anyone who would like to drop in and have a cup of tea to mark the occasion.

By Mick BIRTLES