I would like to introduce myself. My name is Sharon McManus and I am proud to be the Village Manager at Oak Tree Retirement Village Darling Heights.

I am proud to have been born and raised in Toowoomba and can easily say I have spent the best years of my life here. My mother, born a local to the area, lived here all her life and knew it was the best place to raise her family of five children. To this day, myself and my siblings, several of whom are still located in Toowoomba, share our mother’s affection for the town.

I completed my schooling at the Newtown Primary School and Harristown High school and spent many years involved with the Newtown Football Club and the Lions Touch Club where I enjoyed playing touch football. I later met and married my husband in my early adult life and began a family of my own raising two children here.

I worked as a sales representative for Cadbury Confectionary travelling to areas such as Roma, Dalby, Taroom and Kingaroy. For a short stint we left Toowoomba to relocate to the Sunshine Coast, but as the saying goes, “home is where your family is” so I returned to Toowoomba and have never looked back.

I now enjoy spending time with my daughter and son-in-law who are busy raising their three sons. My grandchildren are my pride and joy and funnily enough, life has gone full circle and they are attending my old primary school.

The work I carry out at Oak Tree Retirement Villages is the most rewarding I have ever done. I take great pleasure in seeing our residents blossom and enjoy this new chapter in their lives, making new friends, trying new activities, enjoying the more free time. I enjoy travelling to other villages and meeting interesting people along the way.

Professionally I manage the village but deep down to me this feels like more than just a job – Oak Tree is like one big family and we all belong.