What were you doing on 19th March 1978?

Were you even born?? Well, Maria Koumides knows exactly where she was: at Mitchell Street on the day it first opened its doors!

In March, 2017, 39 years after she first started and at the ripe old age of 77, Maria officially finished up with MCCCC. Maria’s warm nature, cheerful disposition and genuine love and affection for the children in her care will be greatly missed by MCCCC’s families, children and staff.

MCCCC has produced a special publication all about Maria: her childhood and young adult life in Cyprus, her expulsion from her homeland after the Turkish invasion in 1974, her earliest memories of Mitchell Street and what lies ahead in retirement.

It’s well worth a perusal! The publication can be downloaded here.

We would also like to thank the Moreland Council for hosting an event to honour Maria and her contribution to the early childhood education sector at Moreland Council’s Civic Centre on 23rd May. Guest speakers included the Major of Moreland, Cr Helen Davidson, Shane Lucas, ex-MCCCC parent and current director of the Early Learning Association Australia, and Anne Jorgensen, Chair, MCCCC Committee of Management. MCCCC director Gillian Barclay was on hand to MC the night and the Brunswick Women’s Choir added a lovely, musical note to the evening’s proceedings.

Thank you Maria for your efforts and remarkable contribution over the past four decades.