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By Arthur Rutter & Hawkesbury Gazette
Rituals give rhythm to our lives. Some are ancient, marked by ceremony or faith. Others are simple, quiet habits that help us stay connected. In our modern world, few rituals are as universal as the morning coffee. It’s the drink that wakes us up, keeps us going, and, perhaps most importantly, brings people together. Coffee has become the shorthand for connection. A reason to gather, to talk and to remember.
For a group of retired linesmen and tradesmen from across the Hawkesbury, that ritual takes shape in a humble café in Richmond on the third Thursday of each month. They call themselves the Third Thursday Morning Coffee Club, and their regular meet-up has become a small but meaningful tradition. Part social catch-up, part history lesson, and part remembrance of the mateship forged through years of hard work.
The Coffee Club with Deep Roots
Every month, around 9 a.m., the men trickle into the Park Mall Café on Richmond’s main street. They nod to one another as they make their way past the front counter to the back room, where a long table is always waiting. The order of seats changes, the stories sometimes repeat, but the purpose remains steady: to share a cup and a conversation among friends who once shared the same tools, trucks, and trenches.
These men are all former employees of Prospect County Council (PCC), once responsible for the electricity distribution west of the Hawkesbury River. Many of them worked out of the old Windsor Depot on Argyle Street, maintaining and expanding the power network that kept the region’s lights glowing from the mid-1960s onward.
When Prospect County Council took over on January 1, 1965, it inherited an area previously served by the Hawkesbury Development Company and the Windsor Municipal Council’s own electricity department. From then on, the Windsor Depot’s crew , about 80 strong worked across the Hawkesbury and Colo Shire, erecting poles, stringing wires, and keeping the current flowing.
From Colleagues to Companions
The Coffee Club’s story began in the early 2000s, when Ray Smith, a leading hand linesman from Windsor, started sending out friendly reminders to a few old workmates Colin Hall, Tony Pattinson, and Dave Lean to catch up for coffee. What began as a casual chat soon became a cherished fixture.
Now, two decades later, the list of attendees has grown. Ray still sends out the reminder, these days by text or email, and sometimes more than twenty men show up.
Remembering the Work, and the Workers
Their conversations drift between stories of long shifts, storm repairs, and the occasional mishap that’s funnier in hindsight than it was at the time. They talk about the challenges of working with high voltage before modern safety standards and the satisfaction of keeping the lights on when storms brought chaos.
But woven through the laughter is a softer thread. The shared knowledge that, as the years go by, there are fewer of them left to tell these stories. The coffee, in that sense, becomes more than just a drink. It’s a ritual of remembrance.
A Living Link to the Hawkesbury’s Past
For the people of the Hawkesbury, the powerlines that run along our streets are easy to overlook. But for these men, they are symbols of a working life, of early mornings, teamwork, and pride in a job that mattered.
Each third Thursday, as they gather around that long table in Richmond, they keep a small part of that history alive. It’s not a grand ceremony, but like all good rituals, it’s rich with meaning. A connection not only to each other, but to the community they once helped to power.
