CANBERRA beware - the city this weekend has become the Shirley temple.
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People heading to Floriade on Sunday afternoon could have the great pleasure of sharing the festival with 150 "fun-loving" women named Shirley, as the biennial Shirley Club conference joins in Canberra's centenary celebrations.
The club voted four years ago to bring the convention to the ACT to coincide with both Floriade and the capital's birthday. Women named Shirley arrived on Friday and Saturday from all over Australia, New Zealand and even the United States.
ACT Shirley Club president Shirley Bischelberger said the women all live up to the club's motto of "fun, food, friendship" - and despite the name slowly dying out, there are still Shirleys everywhere you go.
"Say, for instance, I was travelling to Queensland, you've got to let them know because they'll always meet you and have a cuppa or lunch or something,'' Mrs Bischelberger said.
''So wherever you go there's a club, and they want you to contact them so we can all get together.''
A good sense of humour is essential - they are often asked where is Laverne or if, surely, they cannot be serious - as is a good dose of pluck, according to ACT Shirley Club treasurer Shirley Towner.
"To join a club where you knew no one before and you've got nothing in common except your name, you've got to have a bit of grunt, otherwise you'd be too scared to turn up," she said.
Over the weekend the women will enjoy skits and performances put on by the various Shirley Club chapters, as well as a dinner and dance, and a trip to Floriade on Sunday afternoon.