Viv Elford has always been someone who creates.
Growing up in the country, she attended a regional school and later spent two years commuting more than an hour each way by train to continue her education. After finishing school, she began working at the local hospital as a ward maid before marrying and moving into dairy farming with her husband.
Later, when the couple returned to town, Viv turned her love of sewing into a thriving dressmaking business. For 34 years she worked as a dressmaker, building a successful career doing something she loved.
“I’m so proud to call myself a dressmaker,” Viv says. “My great grandmother was the first lace maker to come to Australia.”
After decades of work, Viv and her husband spent the next twenty years travelling around Australia by caravan, exploring the country together and even crossing the desert.
“Travelling across Australia by caravan was a wonderful time in our lives,” she reflects.
When declining health led them to move closer to family, Viv and her husband moved into care together in 2016. Today, Viv lives at Regis Drysdale, where she has built new friendships and continues the passions that have shaped her life.
A passionate gardener, Viv began tending the home’s gardens, slowly transforming the space with colourful plants and cuttings shared by family and employees.
“Taking cuttings from family and employees and seeing the gardens grow made me happy each day,” she says.
Creativity continues to fill her days. Viv enjoys knitting and crocheting for family, friends and charity, and her room at Regis Drysdale is often transformed into a small painting studio.
Looking out over the garden she has nurtured, Viv says the space brings her a deep sense of peace.
“As I look outside my self maintained garden I feel content and happiness.”
