Kate Brennan is planning to move on from her role as Coordinator Glebe TreeHouse, based at Glebe Public School.

Kate Brennan Glebe TreeHouse
Kate Brennan, Glebe TreeHouse

Those of you who know Kate or have worked with her will be only too well aware of how much she contributed to the Glebe community over many years. The Society sent Kate a letter of appreciation and best wishes for her move to Tasmania ‒ here is an extract.

For Glebe, your move will be a significant loss as you have given so much and made real a difference in our community. We appreciate all that you put in place and the deep networks you have built to develop the special services provided by Glebe TreeHouse.

Without your support for and guided restructuring of the management at ‘Centipede at Glebe Public School’ this important community building service may have foundered. You have appreciated the role Centipede plays in facilitating early educational objectives and contributed to improving the future educational opportunities of many a Glebe child.

You leave TreeHouse in strong position through with strong community connections in place and the wonderful team you have developed around you. The support provided by this service to young local children and their families is nothing short of amazing. It has continued to evolve and develop over the years to meet changing needs.

Your passion, energy and commitment has been an inspiration. Most importantly TreeHouse has had a positive impact on the lives of many. You have touched people across the Glebe community and made them feel valued, supported and recognised their potential. Importantly you have helped them to feel empowered.

The Glebe Society appreciates your involvement within the broader community. You have always been there to generously partner with other Glebe community organisations – such as Glebe Youth Service and local NAIDOC organisers, where you were a key contributor to the outstanding local NAIDOC celebrations. Your acknowledgement of Robyn Kemmis’s contribution to the Glebe community at the Council of Sydney’s 2016 memorial service for her was very memorable.

We appreciated you sharing your views on ‘Future Glebe’ for a panel discussion at the Society’s Community Festival last year to celebrate our 50th anniversary. You say it the way it is, are always respectful and look forward to how things need to be in the future.

We also remember you being our guest speaker at the Society’s AGM in 2016. So many people were inspired by the theme of your speech on ‘community spirit’. You referred to a quote from Professor Andrew Markus – ‘Social cohesion is not a destination: we do not get to the destination and say ‘we’ve done it! It’s something we need to work at’. This quote seems to reflect the focus of your work within the Glebe community over many years.

You have touched the lives of many people in Glebe and have always given so much – we are extremely grateful. Thank you!’

Read Kate’s inspiring 2016 AGM speech.

Kate responded to our letter on 16 March 2020:

Thanks so much Janet for that very generous and thoughtful letter.
I’m afraid under the circumstances evolving at the moment – a sense of duty may have me hanging around a little longer than I thought, to support the transition into the next few weeks as the community comes to terms with CV19.

Thank you again.
Kate Brennan

Article by Judy Vergison