Shirley Towner remembers that through Christchurch, New Zealand, in a topless pink Limousine full of women named Shirley in flamboyant clothes that waves trucks, screamed and waved a Giller.
Why? Because that is what you do when you are a member of the Shirley Club.
It is a club open for the same name for everyone named Shirley, with branches in Australia, New Zealand and America.
Act Shirley Club acting coordinator Shirley Towner says that the only thing that members have in common is their name. ((ABC News: James Tugwell))
“We have nothing in common than our name,” said Mrs. Towner.
“Somehow that is like a glue that has connected us together and we have had a great time.“
Shirley Brown started the first Shirley Club in 1996 in Perth After she had tea with two friends named Shirley and an advertisement in the newspaper that all the other Shirleys would like to share a Cuppa.
There were 62 Shirleys during the first meeting of what the Shirley club would be.
Their motto is ‘fun, food, friendship’.
Shirley Towner is happy to be a member of the Shirley Club for 24 years. ((ABC News: James Tugwell))
A Guinness World Record
Mrs. Towner said that the group had everything about pleasure – through local monthly meetings and national and international Shirley conventions.
“We make our own entertainment,” said Mrs. Towner.
The ACT club performed a sister act dance routine dressed in Non’s habits during the Shirley Convention of 2003 in Melbourne.
Act Shirley Club members who act as nuns during the Melbourne Shirley Convention 2003. ((Delivered: Shirley Towner))
The final included one habit that was open to reveal an apron decorated as the hairy chest of a man.
“It was an absolute Giller,”
Said Towner.
About 180 Shirleys settled a Guinness World Record at the same convention, Towner said, for the largest meeting of people with the same name.
The record was overshadowed in 2005 by 1,096 Mohammeds in Dubai.
A world record breaking number of Shirleys gathered at the Shirley Convention 2003 in Melbourne. ((Delivered: Shirley Towner))
Difficulty in cafes, but no name tags needed
Mrs. Towner said that the club always had problems ordering restaurants and cafés, where staff asked for a name for orders.
“We tell people who we are, and they don’t believe us, they realize that we actually tell the truth,”
she said.
Mrs. Towner once invited a so-called “non-shirley” for a Shirley convention.
“She thought it was so great, she is thinking about adding Shirley to her name so that she can come to the 30th birthday in Perth next year,” said Mrs. Towner.
Shirley Towner has been to various Shirley conventions around the world. ((ABC News: James Tugwell))
However, membership within the Shirley Club is exclusively for those who bear the name – last names.
Shirley Kenney from the Act Shirley Club said that was what the club made unique.
“You can’t be old Tom, Dick or Harry,”
Said Mrs. Kenney.
She said it came with many positives.
“You don’t have to remember everyone’s name,” she said.
‘You may not have seen them for a while. It’s okay.
“They are certainly Shirley.“
Mrs. Towner and Mrs. Kenney met 24 years ago when the Act Shirley Club started this week and gathered again to celebrate the club’s birthday.
Learning the name
Shirley Scholte heard about the Shirley Club in West -Australia and placed an advertisement in its local free Canberra -Krant in 2001.
Act Shirley Club founder Shirley Scholte never thought the club would be just as popular as it did. ((ABC News: James Tugwell))
That day her phone was bombed with Shirleys who wanted to participate.
And so the Act Shirley Club was born, with 46 Shirleys who attended the first meeting.
“I never thought it would be that big,” said Mrs. Scholte.
It changed the world of Mrs. Scholte.
“I hated the name Shirley until the Shirley club came. It changed thoughts. Before I cursed my mother – seriously, what did she think?
“Now I love it.”
Act Shirley Club Inaugural members Shirley Kenney, Shirley Cramp and Shirley Scholte. ((ABC News: James Tugwell))
The group reached nearly 70 members at its peak and met monthly.
It reflected an era in which Shirley dominated the most popular baby name lists.
Shirley was the fourth most popular maiden name in America in the 1930s, when film star Shirley Temple stormed from Childhood Hollywood.
Shirley was the second most popular girl -baby name in 1935 and 1936 in Australia and was one of the top 100 of the baby names until the sixties.
Die out
But the popularity has lost weight.
Babycentre reports that Shirley was the 2,438th most popular baby name in 2024.
A graph that shows the popularity of Shirley as the name of a girl in America. ((Source: Social Security Administration))
“It grew out of fashion and it did not come back as some of the other names have,”
Said Towner.
The ACT Shirley Club met monthly, but now meets every two months because it is becoming increasingly difficult for the aging members of the Shirley Club to go to the meetings.
Most members are over 70, with the oldest in their 90s.
The Act Shirley Club has been gathering for 24 years, but the future does not look so rosy. ((ABC News: James Tugwell))
National conventions that were held every two years became annually “because we don’t know how much time we have,” said Mrs. Towner.
“We are a dying club.
“We have a few Shirleys dying every year and nobody calls their daughters Shirley.“
The idea that the club could disappear forever is devastating for Mrs. Towner.
“Some of my friends are a bit jealous that I have a club for the same name,” she said.
“I say they just have to start one – just do what we did.
“But it would be so sad to lose it.”
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