The Story of the Gleeson Memorial Bench
On the gentle slopes of the Scotsdale Valley, Singlefile’s estate vineyard stands as a testament to its past. Nearly four decades ago, former proprietors Bill and Sheila Gleeson planted the first vines that would shape the land’s destiny. Recently, Singlefile co-founders Phil and Viv Snowden welcomed some of the Gleeson family to the property to pay tribute to Bill and Sheila’s historic contributions to Singlefile’s success, with the Gleeson Memorial Bench now overlooking the vineyard they nurtured all those years ago.
An introduction to Bill & Sheila
(with thanks to their granddaughter, Laetitia)
William ‘Bill’ Gleeson was born in 1932, and Sheila Gleeson (nee Callinan) in 1934, both in Victoria to third generation Irish-Australian families who had emigrated to Australia during the Potato Famine in the mid-nineteenth century. Shortly after marrying in 1954, Bill and Sheila relocated to Western Australia, where Bill was posted by the RAAF, and they raised six children.
After a long career, and several years living overseas when Bill worked on oil rigs in south east Asia and Europe, Bill and Sheila decided to return to Australia and ‘semi-retire’ in Denmark. In 1983, they purchased the property which would later become Singlefile. In the years that followed, they decided to try their hand at growing grapes there, during what was a boom in vineyard plantings in the region. After preparing the land, and with very little farming experience, they turned their attention to cultivating their fledgling vineyard.
Their first harvest was in 1993. Bill and Sheila never made wine themselves or established their own label, selling their fruit to historic Great Southern winery Plantagenet, who took the chardonnay, and Sandalford, who took the shiraz.
The Walter Road property, which their family dubbed “the farm”, holds treasured memories for Bill and Sheila’s children and grandchildren (and now, great-grandchildren), who all spent significant time there on holidays and weekends, with many of the older generation involved in the planting of the first vines. The Gleesons lived at the farm until selling it in 1998, and then continued to live in Denmark until the early 2000s. Survived by their four sons, two daughters, and twenty one grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Sheila passed away in July 2014, and Bill in January 2020.
A testament to Bill and Sheila’s history on ‘the farm’
In July last year, we received an email from Bill and Sheila’s eldest granddaughter, Laetitia, who shared some of her family’s history with the Walter Road property, as well as some lovely old family photos taken there. Laetitia let us know that she, and the whole extended Gleeson family, had visited Singlefile many times since the Cellar Door was established in January 2011; enjoying the wines and beauty of the grounds, and reminiscing on special times shared at the farm.
On behalf of the family, she requested permission to construct and install a jarrah memorial bench somewhere on the Singlefile property, where the family could sit and remember Bill and Sheila when they visited, and which was an enduring testament to their hard work and historic contributions to our family winery.
The memorial bench, handcrafted by Phil at the Nannup Furniture Gallery, who also delivered it to Singlefile
When Viv saw the email, the answer was an immediate yes. “I actually felt quite teary reading that beautiful letter from Laetitia,” she said. “Phil and I were lucky enough to have met both Bill and Sheila, and many of their family, over our years at Singlefile; and we considered it an honour to be able to assist the family to create this tribute to their parents and their ‘Nan and Pop’.
“Over the following months, we met with Bill and Sheila’s daughter, Karen, and other members of the Gleeson family, to discuss their plans and settle on the ideal location. On 16 November last year, the family visited Singlefile and held a small memorial as the bench, made from local reclaimed jarrah, was placed under the shade of the Tipu Tipuana tree overlooking the chardonnay vines.”
A special place for family
Singlefile was established in 2007 as a small family winery and, despite growth in the years since, we have always fought to maintain its foundations as a family business, with Phil and Viv overseeing the day-to-day management of the Cellar Door and vineyards. Together with their extended family, Singlefile Wines co-founders Pam and Patrick Corbett and Stash Coffee co-founders Nina and Brad Bradshaw, they have spent many happy holidays at the property as their grandchildren have been growing up and are now starting to take part in the family business.
It is meaningful to us to see the Gleesons’ extended family and their historic and continuing connection with ‘the farm’, as the Snowden and Corbett families continue to create their memories at Walter Road. Today, the estate vines bear the imprint of Bill and Sheila’s perseverance and big dreams, preserving a legacy that continues to thrive through the fruits of their labour.