As the years went by, Maxine and I decided we wanted to do volunteer work overseas, and while we were still operating our butcher shop in Black Rock, we thought that the time was right.
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We looked at various agencies, including street children who lived with Down syndrome and were abandoned in Buenos Aries.
We also looked at an orphanage in northern Argentina, but we came across a family-run school program in central Peru called Peru Luz de Esperanza — meaning Peru Light of Hope.
It was in a town called Chupaca, which was 10,000ft high in the Andes and an eight-hour bus trip from Lima.
This was a non-governmental, and a non-religious, organisation that established a school program for children of very poor families while their parents worked in the fields until dark.
We established five schoolrooms in farmers’ houses over a few squares miles and had about 50 children in total.
We would pay the farmer a couple of dollars for an afternoon in his house, which was usually on a dirt floor.
While the students were learning English, we were learning Spanish, so it was a win-win situation.
We felt that if the students learnt basic English, in future they could put their language skills to the test and assist any backpackers or tourists travelling through their district as an extra bit of income.
We came across a lot of family violence and felt helpless, as this was beyond our purpose of being there, but I feel we did make an impact on some lives by showing understanding and care.
Although not in any way involved in a medical capacity, we took with us outdated bandages and antiseptics from Australia and handed them out to mother groups to attend to cuts and other minor injuries in their families, as they had no access to doctors or hospitals.
We saw some terrible infections from simple untreated skin cuts.
On one of our trips we were given about 100 knitted items for children, from tiny infants to three- and four-years-olds, from a knitting group in Benalla and Greta South.
These were a great hit and the faces on the mothers and their babies is something that we will never forget.
Over 10 visits we were able to establish a strong bond with our hosts and local leaders in various villages, and following our set time of working with them, we ventured further afield into remote mountain areas and had unbelievable experiences.
Not all of it was the perfect scenario, though.
We came across numerous pickpocket attempts, were mugged in Santiago, Chile, made to stand on a tarmac on the border of Argentina and Bolivia and searched for drugs, surrounded by gangs and intimidated to hand things over.
Twice on our bus trips we drove through roads blocked by students wanting better education facilities who threw rocks.
We also encountered a group of heavily armed soldiers dressed in black with covered faces looking for bandits who were making things uncomfortable for the local population.
Probably the event which really stands out was once we flew from the UK to Buenos Aires and on landing we were locked up in a small room as our travel visa was not valid.
We were to be returned to the UK on the next flight but after a long wait and intervention from British Airways we were allowed to stay.
Some of our highlights have been to walk on glaciers, stay on Argentine estancias (farms), discover mountain villages 15,000ft high in the Andes that time had forgotten and walk the stone staircases in buildings built by Spanish conquistadors in the early 1600s.
I also got to ride horses through villages in northern Peru with Maxine, and with my daughter Cassie in Patagonia to the border of Chile in the Andean lowlands.
As the years have progressed we have stopped going on adventures in South America, but we still stay in touch to see how things are progressing.
Unfortunately, COVID had a huge impact, and I doubt if the school has fully recovered.
In November of 1999 I sold my butcher shop in Black Rock and retired to Benalla, which was great for two months.
Having an active life, I still had so much to achieve and was always thinking of new ventures.
We did the travel thing around various parts of Australia with a caravan, which was terrific, but my yearning to be in business was still there.
So to fill in time we purchased a couple of older properties in Benalla and over four years renovated them to sell.
From this point on I helped out at Benalla Newsagents part-time and also at our old butcher shop at Hook and Spoon in Carrier St.
At this stage of our lives, our daughter Cassie and son-in-law James had moved from Yarraville to an orchard up in the Strathbogies, at Ruffy.
It has been our outlet to help on their beautiful property.
Our son Chris and his wife live in Mentone, with our three grandchildren, all of whom will be in secondary school next year.
My cousin had been running a lovely antique shop in Camperdown and after a while, when we got to visit, we somehow always took down collectable items to sell in her shop.
We always found the time to look after it while she and her family took a holiday.
After a few years of constant driving down to the Western district to visit them, she and her husband decided to move across the bay to the Mornington Peninsula.
So our trips down to this wonderful area were about to come to an end.
I knew I would be left with boxes of all these beautiful pieces
After one of their visits to Benalla, she suggested I open a small shop, on a part-time basis.
After a serious deliberation for about five seconds we all said why not.
In the past few years we have visited the UK and France on two occasions, with the main purpose to obtain stock and get ideas of how to present our little shop.
On April 1, 2022 while everyone was in COVID mode, I opened the door of Piccadilly Laneway Vintage and Collectables.
To Maxine and I, this small venture is way beyond anything we imagined, as it has opened up a whole new world, which enables us to embrace people from all walks of life, including getting to know locals I previously only knew by face.
We also have a large support base from every surrounding town in the north-east and beyond.
We have also sent freight to every state in Australia.
My philosophy in life is to create a dream and follow it with enthusiasm and passion — and don’t look back.
Sure, at times you will feel that things can’t get any worse, but that is part of life, so believe in yourself and take small steps at a time.
— Rob Roach.