1 President’s Report Congratulations to all on the successful start to 2019. Our numbers are amazing - 303+ members - and a number of the classes have had to limit numbers. This is the first time we have had to do this. This goes to show U3A Benalla has courses people want. We apologise if you haven’t been able to join the group you wanted. If numbers drop off this will be looked into. Thank you to our existing and new convenors who are the reason for our success. I have been getting great comments from members on how they are enjoying their classes Thanks go to Jenny Sawyer for running the summer school of Be Connected Thank you to Terry Dillon. Terry has retired as our go to computer expert - he has donated many hours of his time to this and thanks will never be enough. Michael Plex will now be taking on the role of looking after our computer needs. As we will be paying Michael all requests for his services must go through me. Ring 0412263071 and I will arrange with Michael what is required. The NBN is due to be installed on Tuesday 12 th March (hopefully it will be a smooth process). Politics may be disrupted as the time I’ve been given is between 8am -12noon. On Wednesday at Meet & Mingle 50 members had lots of questions for Sean Ginnivan of Benalla Rural City Waste Management. The March Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 20 th March is the U3A Annual General Meeting. Dorothy Webber, President Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting for U3A Benalla Inc. will be held on Wednesday 20 th March at our monthly Meet and Mingle meeting, 10.00 a.m. in the U3A room, Seniors complex, Fawckner Drive Benalla. Nomination Forms for the Committee are available from the Secretary Geraldine McCorkell 5762 2134. All welcome. Group Reports A Night at the Opera: French Style Our merry band listened to Gounod’s opera, Faust, enjoying the 2011 New York Metropolitan Opera’s stunning production. Jonas Kaufmann sang the role of Faust but most of the group felt he was out-sung by Rene Pape in the role of Mephistopheles and the gorgeous singing of the Russian soprano, Marina Poplavskaya, in the role of Marguerite. The contemporary set, often bathed in darkness, seemed the perfect foil for this disturbing story of a man who sells his soul to the devil. Meg Dillon Armchair Traveller A reminder that Brian Vial and Andrea Stevenson will address the session on Tuesday 5th March at 2 pm on the topic of their Papua New Guinea travels. This will be the first occasion we have touched on the subject of New Guinea and should be of immense interest. Ray O’Shannessy Benalla and District Inc. Newsletter – March, 2019 U3A Benalla & District Inc P O Box 674 Benalla 3672 President: Dorothy Webber 5762 2116 [email protected]Website: u3abenalla.weebly.com Facebook: facebook.com/U3abenalla/ Newsletter: [email protected]Secretary: Geraldine McCorkell P: 5762 2134 M: 0408 522 662 [email protected]Please send all newsletter items for the newsletter to [email protected] by 25 Mar 2019
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President’sReportCongratulations to all on the successful start to2019.Ournumbersareamazing-303+members-andanumberoftheclasseshavehadto limitnumbers.This isthefirsttimewehavehadtodothis. Thisgoes to show U3A Benalla has courses peoplewant. We apologise if you haven’t been able tojoin the group you wanted. If numbers drop offthiswillbelookedinto.Thankyoutoourexistingandnewconvenorswhoarethereasonforoursuccess.Ihavebeengettinggreat comments frommembers on how they areenjoyingtheirclassesThanks go to Jenny Sawyer for running thesummerschoolofBeConnectedThankyoutoTerryDillon.Terryhasretiredasourgo to computer expert - he has donated manyhoursofhis timeto thisand thankswillneverbeenough. Michael Plex will now be taking on theroleoflookingafterourcomputerneeds.As wewill be payingMichael all requests for hisservices must go through me. Ring 0412263071andIwillarrangewithMichaelwhatisrequired.The NBN is due to be installed on Tuesday 12thMarch(hopefullyitwillbeasmoothprocess).Politics may be disrupted as the time I’ve beengivenisbetween8am-12noon.OnWednesdayatMeet&Mingle50membershadlots of questions for Sean Ginnivan of BenallaRuralCityWasteManagement.TheMarchMeet andMingle onWednesday 20thMarchistheU3AAnnualGeneralMeeting.
DorothyWebber,President
AnnualGeneralMeetingTheAnnualGeneralMeeting forU3ABenalla Inc.will be held on Wednesday 20thMarch at ourmonthlyMeet andMinglemeeting, 10.00a.m. inthe U3A room, Seniors complex, Fawckner DriveBenalla.NominationFormsfortheCommitteeareavailable from the Secretary GeraldineMcCorkell57622134.Allwelcome.
GroupReportsANightattheOpera:FrenchStyleOurmerrybandlistenedtoGounod’sopera,Faust,enjoyingthe2011NewYorkMetropolitanOpera’sstunning production. Jonas Kaufmann sang therole of Faust but most of the group felt he wasout-sung by Rene Pape in the role ofMephistopheles and the gorgeous singing of theRussian soprano,Marina Poplavskaya, in the roleof Marguerite. The contemporary set, oftenbathed in darkness, seemed the perfect foil forthisdisturbingstoryofamanwhosellshissoultothedevil.
MegDillon
ArmchairTravellerA reminder thatBrianVial andAndreaStevensonwilladdressthesessiononTuesday5thMarchat2pm on the topic of their Papua New Guineatravels. This will be the first occasion we havetouchedonthesubjectofNewGuineaandshouldbeofimmenseinterest.
ArtAppreciationIvan Durrant spoke to our group about his latestexhibitionColoring LakeMokoan, ondisplay untilthe 3rd ofMarch at the Benalla Regional Gallery.These restored local wetlands, formerly theWinton Wetlands, are now cycling through theirnaturalperiodsofdryandwet. Ivan talkedabouthis childhood fascination with water andreflectionsandhisability to seeglowingcolors inthe landscape.HebecameveryfamiliarwithLakeMokoanwhenlivinginBenallaandvisitingfriendswholivedbythelake.
Thisexhibitionbringsthese influencestogether inshimmering displays of reflections, water andsunsets, all reimagined by the artist. Ivan talkedabout his love of color and his technique forcreatingthelostedgesoftheabstractshapesthatbringthislandscapetolife.Hispaintsandbrushesare on display too–a colored confection of theartist atwork. Wellworth a visit. Youwill neverlookatLakeMokoaninthesamewayagain.
MegDillon,co-convenorOnMonday4thMarchat10amBryonywillspeakabout Face-to-Face Portraits from the Collection.Bryony is keen to expand the Art Appreciationgroupandwillbeinvitingthepublictoalsoattendour lectures. TheGallerywillbecollectingthe$2coin donation directly, but we ask that you tickyourattendanceoffintheattendancebook.
NevilleGibb,Convenor
‘AsTimeGoesBy’–MemoirWritingAt our first session we explored the history ofwritinggroupsatU3ABenalla;thedevelopmentofthememoirwritingcourseandourregularuseofABC Open's 500 Word topics as a focus for ourwriting each month. We considered optionalapproachessuchas'Storiesfromthe….’or'Stories
my …. Toldme'; then looked at the 'Our Stories'areaofthewebsite.Beforebreaking forcoffeeweeach interviewedaperson we didn't knowwell, introduced them tothe class and described their memory of 'theclosest they have been to receiving an Oscar,winning an Olympic medal or being in theGuinnessbookof records'! Thiswas relaxinganddemonstrated the gentle art of reminiscing withothers.After thebreak fascinatingstoriesweresharedof'Family Traits'. Somewriters reflected on genetictraits,othersbehaviouraltraits.A group of members keen to write a memoirfocusing on themes such as life stages gatheredtogether after class to share their ideas, agreeingthat theywill do this eachmonth to supportoneanotherandshareprogress.Thetopicforthe500wordtaskforMarch25this'IBroke It' - with back up topics to choose from ifnecessarysuchas'TheYearThatMadeMe', 'NewinTown'anda'APersonwhoShapedMe'.Thebrieffor‘I Broke It’-Abrokenplate,abrokenbone,abrokenrecord,orevenbeingbroke.Tellusaboutatimeyoubrokesomething,andwhatrepercussionsyouface.
BevLee
BookerReadingGroupWe read the 2018 winner of the Booker prize,AnnaBurns,TheMilkman set inNorthern Irelandduring ‘the Troubles’. Middle sister, the maincharacter, struggles to manage her relationshipwithhermaybe-boyfriend,whilebeingstalkedbyanolderman,theleaderofthelocalparamilitary.Her mother is a particularly bitter and resentfulwomanwhohasalready lost twosons in thecivilwarandshowsnosympathyforherdaughter.Thetoxic environment of gossip and bitchiness thatpermeates this communityweighs heavily on thegirl. Despite all this some subtle humor can befound and towards the end there are small signsthat some sort of improvements may help thiscommunityoutofitshopelessness.Amixed response from the reading group, someenjoyed it, others found the prose style difficult.We will be comparing other books from theBooker Long List with this winner. Our book forMarch isWarlight by Michael Ondaatje and wewill bemeeting in the Benalla Library at 2pm onFriday15March.Anyonewhohasreadthebookiswelcometojoinus.
MegDillon
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BushwalksEasyWalksChinaman’s Island,Yarrawonga,Wednesday,3rdApril2019We will follow the walking track along LakeMulwala to Chinaman’s Island revegetatedparklandwith interpretative signage and lunch inthepark;approximately6kms.Meet in carpark behind Seniors Complex (U3A),Fawckner Drive, Benalla at 9.45am for departureat 10am. Participants, please contact MargaretWalshebyMonday,1stApril2019,ph:57623906;or0427005202. Suggestion for walkers: place conveners mobilephonenumber in yourmobilephone contact list:MargaretWalshe 0427 005 202;Wendy Sturgess0403226649.
WendySturgessandMargaretWalsheMidWeekWalksMtBuffaloOn Wednesday March 13 the Mid Week Walksgroup will undertake a series of three easy andinteresting walks at Mt Buffalo – Dickson Falls,Cathedral/Hump and Old Galleries (subject totime). Some climbing will be involved to theHump. Totaldistance7km. Meetat ‘TheCentre’TennisCourts.BarklyStreet(BehindAldi)to leaveBenalla at 8 am. Leader: JohnBoehm0428 254801.
JohnBoehm
Chatn’ChewWhatanenjoyablestartwehadtoour2019Chat`n’ChewyearattheRoyalHotelon15thFebruary.OnMarch 15th wewill do it all again – plenty ofchat and a little chew at the BOWLS CLUB at12.00.Allwelcome.Trish Potter has kindly offered to be my contactuntil my telephone has been transferred to ournewhome.SoringTrish57621117(amalevoicewillanswerformessages).
ShirleyKearney
CollectorsAt our first meeting for the year we welcomedfour new members and of course our returningmembersatawellattendedmeeting. Ourthemewas ‘Souvenirs’ and we had a wonderful displayandwerefortunatetohearsomevery interestingstoriesandreminiscencesaboutthepieces.Manyoftheitemswereholidaysouvenirs.
MargaretbroughtalongaLondonFestivalTheatreProgramactuallysignedbyRudolphNureyev.Shewas lucky enough to go backstage and meetRudolphfollowingtheballet,alastingmemory.Jacquie brought along a family heirloom, a RoyalStafford trinket box, produced for a ‘Back-to’ toHorshamin1929. ApictureofHorshamfeaturedonthelid.JanshowedsomeChineseartefactsandwe were privileged to hear how she becauseinterested in them as she told us about herbackgroundandgrowingupinTasmania.
Anunusualitem-andafirstforCollectors-wasabottleofwinefromHDCwineryintheGlenrowanarea. This winery no longer exists but we werereliably informed that they produced some verynice wines. The bottle had been purchased andput away for a special occasion and thenforgotten.Itwassouvenirofthewineryandmanyhappy days out. Thewine looked as if it hadn’timproved with age and was most unlikely to beopened.RobynbroughtalongaselectionofsouvenirsfromLondon, Norway, Russia, Germany and Spain.Wilma showed a pendant and necklet fromGreece, and a drawn thread cotton and silktablematbought froma ladyat a church inMonionNaxosIsland,aMuranoRedglasspendantfromVenice and wooden figures “The Deepings”,NichollsRivulet–HuonValley.Lynne had Cats from Istanbul, Italy and areproductionoftheBookofKells. Elainebroughtalong items from Switzerland and Barbara itemsfrom Cairo, a Henry VIII fridge magnet, and anitemfromtheWedgewoodfactory.Judithshowedglass lolliespurchasedatPortDouglasandVeniceaswellasanornamentfromOlympiainGreece.Our scheduled March meeting falls on the 11thMarch,whichisalongweekend.Itwasdecidedtohold the meeting for those who are around. Atheme was not set so please bring along one or
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moreofyourfavouriteitems.Themeetingwillbeheld as usual in the U3A room at the SeniorsCommunityCentreat10.00am
JudithBorthwick
CreativeWritingWewelcomedsomenewmemberstotheCreativeWriting class in February. Because this was thefirstclassfortheyear,wespentsometimetalkingaboutthepurposeoftheclass. This isaself-helpclass, with encouragement frommembers of thegroup.Wethenstartedtheclasswithachallengetowrite1-2sentencesonthetopicof“TheSkatepark”.There were some projects over the Christmasbreak, and the results were shared. One of thechallengeswastowriteapiecethatcouldthenbeedited and developed over the semester. Thesewere shared, along with ideas as to where thestory would go next. It is hoped to publish thefinalproductsontheU3AwebpageinJune.Membersofthegroupwerealsoaskedtoprovidesomeideasfortopicstobeusedduringtheyearasprompts for our writing, and these have beencollatedintoareferencedocument.Next month, the 2nd Monday is on 11 March,whichistheLabourDayholiday.Wedecidedthattwo months was too long between classes. Forthosewhoareavailablewewillmeeton11Marchat 2:00pm. Members will select one or more ofthefollowingtopics:
e-BookGroupOur literary season kicked off with A World OfOtherPeople, by StevenCarroll. To link the storyof a love affair with the poetry of T.S. Eliot wascertainlyachallenge,but I thinkasuccessfulone.AdayaftertheBlitzinLondon,threepeoplestoodonarooftopactingasfirespotters,whentheysawa British plane go down. One of these watcherswasIris,awould-benovelist,andanotherwastheacclaimed poet T.S. Eliot. A year later, quite bychance,IrismeetsJim,anairmansittingonaparkbenchwhoisclearlydistressed.Shespeakstohim,andtheirloveaffairbegins,butlatercoolsduetoamisunderstanding. HopingtoseeIris,Jimgoesto
a reading of Little Gidding by the poet, but theevocative and powerful imagery of a plane goingdown triggers a memory of his rear gunnertrapped in the burning aircraft. He wanders offinto freezing weather, and dies of hypothermia.It's only later that Iris and T.S. Eliot realise thedoomedairmanwas Jim. If anything, this novel,madeusawareofthepoweroflove,thepowerofwords,andthemeaningofhopeandinspiration.
HelenScheller
ExercisesforFunExercises for fun has commenced again after theChristmasbreak.Itissoencouragingtoknowthatsomanyofuswanttogetactiveandimproveourfitness.Wewelcomeallthenewfacesandlookforwardtocontinuingtheyearwithlotsofenthusiasm.JoinusonaMondayat9.30am,and thenhaveacuppaandachatafterwards.Havefun
HelenJeffree
ExploringtheUniverseHowcanscientistsusetelescopestoactuallyseetheearlyUniverse?Whenwelookatdistantstarsandgalaxieswearelookingback in time.Weareseeingthemastheywerewhen their light left them and itmay havetaken billions of years to reach us. In fact somestars we see today may have exploded long agoand are now a huge cloud of gas and dust; thebirthplaceofmorestarslikeourSun.Theansweristiedupwiththespeedoflight.Lighttravelsataveryfast300,000kmspersecond.Theageof theuniverse is approximately13.77billionyearsanddistances“outthere”arevast.That was our introduction to ‘Exploring theUniverse2019’, afterwevieweda film“TheVeryBest OF Hubble in 4K Ultra HD”which promptedquestionsfromournewparticipants.Thisfilmcanbeseenon:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyDRv1iSjxYWecontinuedwithtwovideosthatexplaineditallfromtheearliestmomentoftheuniverse,theso-called “big bang” that led to everything in theuniversetoday.How Far Back Are We Looking In Time?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Id1ygiwY4kAnd another that explains the evolution of theuniverse.Theearlyuniversewasopaque.Thefirststarswerebornmuchlater.WhenWasTheFirstLightInTheUniverse?Seeingasfarbackaspossible.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icdeQ7HLc7AAquicktriptotheSunforthe10thanniversaryofthe Hinode space observatory before afternoontea.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZsatEhX9PISpacecraft don’t take holidays. The nuclearpowered New Horizons space probe has beentravellingfor13yearsandisnowintheicycoldfarreachesofoursolarsystem.OnNewYear’sDayitzippedpastaspacerock6.4billionkmsfromEarththat has been nick named ‘Ultima Thule’. It’s afrozen remnant from the formation of the solarsystem.NewHorizonssentbackheapsofdataandimages that are still reachingNASA back here onEarth.
On January 3rd. a Chinese space probe and arobotic rover made a historic landing on the farside of theMoon and beamed back images via aspeciallylocatedsatellite.Advanced technology and huge telescopes arereturning brilliant images. Supercomputers areproducing fantastic videos of the cosmos in 3D.This quality reproduced on the U3A HighDefinition television is superb. This is better thansciencefiction.Thisisreal.
BevMorton
FilmandLiteratureWe are now watching movies at BPACC, thenmeeting on the 2nd Wednesday to discuss themovie.Our February movie was the remake of “StormBoy”. Wemet in the library todiscuss themoviewherewewelcomedseveralnewmemberstoourFilmandLiteraturegroup. Someofourmembershadseentheearlierversionfilmedin1976.In general, people enjoyed the movie. Incomparisonwith the earlier release itwas not asbleak. The scenery was beautiful with morecolour.AndStormBoy’sfatherwasnotasdistantas in the earlier release. There were somechangestotheoriginalstory,withMichaelKingleyas a grandfather (Geoffrey Rush) telling his
granddaughter(MorganDavies)ofhisearlylifeasStormBoy.Overall, it was a lovely story, with some goodperformances. The sounds of the ocean and thestormswererealistic. Somegoodscenesshowedthe relationshipbetween the grandfather andhisgranddaughter as he told the story of his life asStorm Boy. A couple of outstanding scenesshowedthegrandfathersittingbesidehisyoungerself, both contemplating the water and birdlifearoundthem.Therelationshipwiththeaboriginal(Fingerbone)whohelpedStormBoynurturethreepelicanswassensitivelyhandled.Aswithmanyfilmsthereisamessageinthestory– asMichael shows regret that he never forgavehis father for sending him away to school, he isencouraging his granddaughter to talk with herfatherwithwhomsheisinconflict.Ourmovie for nextmonth’s discussion is “GreenBook”.Thisfilmhashadsomegoodreviewsandisbasedonatruestorysetinthestillraciallydividedsouthern states of America in the 60s. You canfind out more about the movie on IMDb. Theopening screening is at 10:30 on Friday, 22February,andthefinalscreeningison5Marchat7:30pm.Wewillbemeetingon13Marchat1:30inthelibrarytodiscussthefilm.
JoyShirley
GamesWe enjoyed Scrabble, Travelling Australia (lots ofreminiscingwhenlandingonplaceswe’vebeen)&TrivialPursuit.Greatfun.
DorothyWebber
GardenAppreciationMarch28th.WeareofftoCactusCountryontheMurray Valley Highway in Strathmerton.Admissionis$12.50for20peopleormore.Lunchisofferedatthevenue,$15forLasagneandsalador Vegetable Frittata with salad this includes teaandcoffee.Anextraisaserveofcactuscakewithice-cream.We will leave from the Seniors car park at 9.30a.m.Carpoolingwith amapand instructionswillbe available then. Please give Gwen a ring on57627017ifyouarecomingonthistrip.12th March The Wangaratta U3A Garden groupwouldliketomeetusat10.30a.m.intheBenallagardens for a chat and swap ideas with thepossibility of lunch at the Golf Club. Once againcouldyouletGwenknowifyouwouldbeavailableforthis
GwenTurner
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GermanforBeginnersThis new course has been very popular.Attendees at the course are encouraged to askquestions in German as well as respond toquestions from the Convenor in German. Thisprovides a lot of enjoyment asmanywho attendhavenotspokenthislanguagepreviously
PaulineBailey
History:AftertheVictoriansWe started by listening to the Coronation musicfor King Edward VII, but this year will not be allabout British Kings, as Parliament made thedecisions and policies. By contrast the rulers ofGermany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire & Russiaall claimed to rule by Divine Right, whilst Francewas a Republic. These were the major Europeanpowers.The last century closed and the newoneopenedwith the BoerWar spanning them. This war wasdeeplyunpopular inEuropeandbecamemoresoas reporters wrote of farms being burned andconcentration camps being established. 1/1/1901saw the birth of the Australian nation and thecelebrations included a contingent of Colonialtroops who had returned from the Boer War.These troops had been raised by the States: infuturetheAustralianFederalParliamentwouldberesponsibleforrecruitment.Australian Colonial troops had fought inCampaignsliketheSudan,butthefirstuseofsuchtroopswereinthetwowarsfoughtbytheBritishin New Zealand against the Maoris. The Britishsuffered some defeats and requested Australiantroops to come to their aid. In Australia acontinuous frontierwarwas beingwaged againstAboriginalsbysettlersanditcontinuedduringtheperiodwearenowreviewing.
TerryCase
History:AnIntroductiontoCivilizationOur twomeetings for this month explored somemajor trends in Ancient Greek culture, includingsome things we have borrowed from them. Myaimwastoprovideabalancedviewofthiscultureas past historians have sometimes over-romanticized it. Its dark side included almostconstantwarfarebetween thecity statesand thePersians; the suppression of women and thehorrible practice of female infanticide that wascommon.Theancientworld,includingtheGreeks,was based on the economics of slavery, as menandwomen fromdefeated enemieswere sold asslaves.EvenAthens,thesupposedshining lightof
democracy, had a limited but interesting politicalmodel of government that only included adultmale citizens. We concluded by investigatingAthens culture and politics with a final look atwhatarthistorianshaveidolized,stunningpotteryandagloriousdevelopmentofrealisticmarbleandbronzestatues
MegDillon
InvestmentAt the first meeting of Investment for 2019 wewelcomedtwonewmemberstoourgroup,HelenandMal JeffreesandalsoBrianTrevanawhohadattendedourlasttwomeetingsin2018.Wehopeyouallenjoyourdiscussions.At thebeginningof thesessionweacknowledgedtheuninspiring end to the ShareMarket in 2018.Then we looked at what CommSec saw as theprospectsfor2019andalsowhattheBigIssuesfor2019werelikelytobe.Itisimportanttoconsiderissues likethisatthebeginningofayearastheseissues can influence which stocks are likely toshowthemostincreasesduringthecomingyear.We thank Brian Greed for suggesting our secondtopic for discussion which arose from theproposedFrankingCreditpolicyoftheLaborParty.WithaFederalelection likelybyMay2019at thelatest this policy couldhave large implicationsonsome retired member’s income through taxationchanges. We discussed if there would be ademand for shareswith unfranked dividends andalso whether there will be more demand forgrowthcompaniesthatpayoutlessindividends.Itwas a great discussion with Bill Parris using hismobilephonetoclarifysomepointsforus.ThenextmeetingofInvestmentwillbeonFriday1Marchat2pmintheU3AroomattheSeniorsComplex.
MargaretJenkins Let’sTalkBooksThe holiday season and hot weather certainlycontributedtoagreatdealofreadingbeingdoneover the break. Lorraine read and enjoyed 6murder mysteries, Laurie listened to the Poldarkseriesthatwas,ashedescribedit,akaleidoscopeof the era around 1932. James Heriot wasrevisitedandenjoyed.AninterestingreadwasIfIDie Before I Wake by Emily Koch, quite adiscussiononthistopic.BarbarahadreadTheSilkRoadandobtainedacopyof `TheNewSilkRoad’byPeterFrancopananenlighteninglookathistoryshaping the world. Judith Bassett has had anarticle published in Quadrant `The Faithful
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Massacre of 1838’ , previously published in theJournal of Australian Studies in 1989. Well doneJudith. Enjoyed was `MyMother a Serial Killer’.ThemotherwasmarriedinWangarattaandmetayounger man and murdered him and 2 others –gruesome.`Mirka and Georges - Culinary Affair’, written byLesley Harding, stories of the restaurant, recipesand art, as the reader described it, wicked butvirtuous. HelenenjoyedDuchess,LadyMargaretDouglasaScottishLadywhocamefromthehouseofTudorandwasthegranddaughterofHenrytheVII. Highly recommended was `The Land BeforeAvocado’ byRichardGlover – howAustralia usedto be. So many and varied were the books thismonth I couldn’t list them all, these were just atasteofwhatU3Amembersarereading. Quiteafew books were swapped for others to enjoy.SeeyouallonTuesday5thMarch.
GeraldineMcCorkell LifeballAlthough the weather was very hot in January,February has been a lot kinder for playingLifeball. Iwould still like to see a fewmore newmembersand Iam lookingatacoupleofoptionstotrytomakethishappen.Ifthereisanyonewhowould like to try Lifeball, come to the IndoorRecreation Centre any Monday morning at10.00am (we are no longer starting at 9.30am) andhaveago.Basically if youcanwalk, youcanplayLifeball.Onapositivenote,ourmembersarestill very much enjoying playing the game andenjoying the social aspect this brings. MargMerrimanismissinginactionwithakneeproblematthemomentandsheishopingtoreturntothegamesoonerratherthanlater.
MarlenePitts
MeditationWhenwehave lotsof thoughtsbuzzingaround itis very hard to stay focussed and after we don’tknowwheretobegin.Atthesessionwebeginbycorrect breathing, gentle exercises which can bedone whilst seated followed by some relaxationtechniques.
CarolineSims
MeetandMingleSeanGinnivan,theWasteFacilitiesCoordinatoratthe Benalla Rural City spoke to members at theMarchMeetandMinglemeeting.Sean’s role is to manage all waste managementincludingkerbsidecollection&landfilloperations.
The intent of the presentationwas to provide anoverviewofthekerbsidecollection,definingwhatiscollectedandhowitisprocessed.CurrentlyCouncilhasathreebinsystem:Green Bin FOGO Organics (FoodOrganicsandGardenOrganics), Yellow Bin Comingles, Red BinGeneralWaste.TheGreenBinhasonlybeenrolledoutwithintheUrbanareaofthemunicipalityatthisstage.Sean’s presentation 'Kerbside Collection -presentation to U3A Benalla' (pdf)andtheContaminationLetterandPosterstooffendingresidents have been added to the Meet andMinglepageonthewebsite.
BillParris
MusicAppreciationA bright start to this year’s music with anappreciationofthelifeandmusicofJSBach-thecomposer of some of themost famous works ofthe classical repertoire, and who has influencedperhapsmorecomposersthananyotherfigure inmusic.Better known during his lifetime primarily as anoutstanding organ player and technician, theyoungestofeightchildrenborntomusicalparents,JohannSebastianwasdestinedtobecomeagreatmusician.Bach’s use of counterpoint was brilliant andinnovative, and the immense complexities of hiscompositional style still amaze musicians today.Many consider him the greatest composer of alltime.Becauseofthevastnumberofcompositions(1100or so catalogued – goodness knows how manythereareintotal)timeallowedonlyforasamplingof his musical output. Hence we named it “ADégustationofBach”andframedourselectionof
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hismusicaroundtheinstrumentshecomposedforandsomechoralwork.OursecondprogrammeinFebruarysawusmovedown the years (just a little) from the “Baroque”periodofBachtothe“Classical”eraandthemusicof Mozart. Another prolific composer - but withonly a littlemore thanhalf the cataloguedworksof Bach - so again it was “smorgasbord” ofMozart music across the various genres hecomposed for, althoughwith not quite the samevolumeofmusictochoosefrom,wewereabletolengthen the time a little for our listeningexperienceoftheitemspresented.Fullprogrammenotesofeachofthetwosessionstogether with links to the appropriate “Youtube”site for the music presented at both have beenpostedontheMusicAppreciationpageofourU3Awebsite.
BillSquire
PatchworkWehavedecidedtomakewallhangingstodonateto the new building at Cooinda as this yearsproject. Heather Sloan is co-ordinating this andcan let you know the size required. Geraldine,Lorraine and I are doing a Mystery block of themonth with Vivienne Shepherd. If anyone isinterestedinjoiningus,letmeknow.Happysewing!
DorothyWebber
PlayReadingColdComfortFarmbyPaulDoustTheheroine,FloraPoste,havingbeenorphanedislooking for relatives with whom to live. Afterrejecting a number of others, she chooses theStarkadders, relatives on her mother's side, wholive in the isolated Cold Comfort Farm, near thefictional Sussex village of Howling in England.Greeting her as "Robert Poste's child", they takeher in to repay someunexplainedwrongdone toherfather.Each of the extended family has some long-festeringemotionalproblemcausedbyignorance,hatred or fear; and the farm is badly run,supposedly cursed, and presided over by theunseenpresenceofAuntAdaDoom,whoissaidtobemad throughhaving seen "somethingnasty inthewoodshed".Flora, a level-headed urban woman, appliesmodern common sense to their problems andhelpsthemalladapttothetwentiethcentury.
It parodies the romanticized, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the timewithmanywriters. Publishedin1932,thesettingcontains developments such as videophones,aircraft postal services, and major demographicchanges in London such as residential districtssouthoftheThamesbecomingfashionable.Notablyadapted for thestagebyPaulDoust.Theplot was simplified a little in order to make itsuitable for the stage. Many characters areomitted. Meriam's character was merged withRennet, who ends up with Urk at the end. As aconsequence, both Rennet's and Urk's roles aremuch bigger than in the book. Mrs. Smiling isabsent because the action begins with Flora'sarrivalinSussex;Charlesappearsonlytodropheroff and pick her up again at the end of the play.Mark Dolour, thoughmentioned several times intheplayasarunningjoke,neverappearsonstage.Finally, insteadof visitingapsychoanalyst to cureherobsession,JudithleaveswithNeckattheend.Ourmembersarereallyenjoyingthisplaywithit’scharactersandtwistsandtheregulartalkingtotheaudiencebymanycharactersthroughouttheplay–Neckbeinganotherone.Wewill finishthisplayatournextmeeting.
KeithRogers
PoliticsandCurrentAffairsThe first politics class for the year saw our roombulging with members keen to discuss recentevents. We barely touched on the changes thathadoccurredduringthebreakandwedidnotgettotheschoolkidswhoaretakingpoliticalactiononclimatechange.AnewmovementwasstartedbyGreta Thunberg, a Swedish teenager, whocommenced a lonely vigil outside the Swedishparliament,demandingurgentclimateaction.ThisisnowaworldwidemovementandGretarecentlyspokeattheWorldEconomicforum,ameetingfortheIMFandthesuper-rich.Greta quoted the Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change data that gives us 12 years toundo our pastmistakes before it is too late. Shetold the forum that “some say we should notengage in activism. Instead we should leaveeverything to our politicians and just vote forchangeinstead.Butwhatdowedowhenthereisnopoliticalwill?Whatdowedowhenthepoliticsneededarenowhereinsight?Adultskeepsaying:weoweittotheyoungpeopletogivethemhope.But Idon’twantyourhope. Idon’twantyou tobe hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to
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feelthefearIfeeleveryday.AndthenIwantyoutoact.Iwantyoutoactasifourhouseisonfire.Becauseitis.”I am impressed by the action that Greta andotherstooktodrawattentiontothedisastertheyseethreateningandamdisappointedthatthereisapushbackfromadults,especiallythoseinpowerto undermine their actions. I think their fearsshouldbeaddressed.
TerryCase
RecorderGroupTheRecorderGroupmet for2019andwelcomedtwo new members and a tenor recorder! WejourneyedthroughsomefamiliarpieceswithJanetcleverly interspersing somenewchallenges -highnotes, pinched notes, accidental sharps and thatdreadedchallenge;‘Andnowlet’splaythisalittlefaster!’Wedid...andweplayedduetsandrounds,two parts and three, plus some wonderfulharmonies.Forthenextsession,peoplewhowanttopractisenewnotesshouldcomeat9:00andtheothersat10:00.Happytootling.
PatTreleaven
SingingforFunThis year we have welcomed five new membersJoan Badrock, Julie Hooper, Carole Ruta, ChrisDunsterandSuzanneBerrytoourSingingforFungroup.Wehopeyouallenjoysingingwithusandlookforwardtogettingtoknowyouall.We are fortunate that our three singing leadersFaith Hicks, Brian Greed andMargaretMerrimanarefullofenthusiasmfor2019. Faith isrevisitingmany of the songs we have not sung for severalmonths, while Brian and Margaret both have anew challenge for us with a new song on thehorizon.We are grateful that our pianist Gwen Barnes isproviding accompaniment on the piano to ourthreeleaders.During January we were saddened to learn thatone of our valued members Elsbeth Shaw hadpassedaway.Elsbethwasagreatfriendtoseveralof ourmembers andwill be remembered for hercheerypersonalityandexcellentcompanyaswellashersinging.ThankyoutoDorothyWebberfornegotiatingthatourmembers can use the chairs and tables nearthekitchenformorningteaeverytimewemeet.
The next meeting of Singing for Fun will be onThursday7March2019at10amintheU3ARoomattheSeniorsComplex
MargaretJenkins
StockandLandRiceisnicebutdeartogrowIn 35 years as a Moulamein rice grower, nowBenalla district resident Brian Vial, saw theindustry grow substantially to rival dairy exporterMurrayGoulburn,asanearnerofexportincome.Speakingatour FebruaryStockandLand session,he said that towards the end of that 35 yearperiod in 2005, much more expensive irrigationwater, was severely depleting the area grown tothewaterthirstycrop.BriansaidafterstintsasateacherandwithBHPinthe1960s,hedecidedtobecomeafarmer.Tothatend he bought a meat chicken farm on theMornington Peninsula but with the aim ofgeneratingfundstobuyabiggerfarm.When he had maximised the poultry farm’searning potential, he sold it and in 1970, boughtwhat became a 2400ha part irrigation farmbetweenMoulameinandBalranald.Brian said at that time, the big farmers in theRiverinatendedtobegraziersoflivestock,whileitwas farmers on the irrigation channels like him,who tended to grow crops like rice, wheat andevencotton.Othersweredairyfarmers.To gain an initial 50 acre permit for rice, it wasnecessary to have soil tested for water holdingcapacity.EventuallytheVialsgrewupto200haofrice a year, but because the crop needs up to10MLahectareandthecurrentwaterpriceisskyhigh,sonLeighcurrentlyrunningthefarm,hasnotgrown rice this year. He put his limited watersupply onto pasture through a centre pivot andthatfinishedamoboflambs,whichinfacttoppeda Swan Hill market. Leigh has described theRiverinaas“ricegrowingheaven”.Brian’s partner Andrea, said that because ricepaddockswereartificialwetlandsforsixmonthsofthe year, huge numbers of local and migratorywater birds descended on paddies. Ducks andswans were the problem visitors, despite Sydneybureaucratsatone timesayingswansdidnoteatthe stuff. But following the discovery that apurposely shot swan’s stomach “was absolutelychockers with rice,” authorities issued thenecessarypermits forgrowers toshootupto fiveswans, she said. “That was usually sufficient tomove the rest on”. Brian said they used to
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encourage local and Melbourne shooters, todiscourage the nightly duck invasion, so thepredatorsmovedtosomeoneelse’spaddy.Partiesof Italianshooterswerekeenandtargetedgalahsandrabbits,ifduckswerescarce.Ricecannotbegrowninconsecutiveyearsonthesamepaddocks,sowithasoilprofilesubstantiallyfullofwater,ithasbecomecommontosowwheaton rice stubbles almost as soon as the rice isharvested. In wet years, constantly unboggingtractors and drills, was a decidedly “characterbuildingexperience”.He said the big years for rice – up to 1.7milliontonnes worth $1.4bn in the 1990s - would notreturnwhilewaterwassellingforupto$500aML.Thosegrowingsomericeare largelychoosing thevarietyKoshihikari that fetchespremiumprices inJapan.In the 1990s, the two co-operatives, MurrayGoulburn and the Rice Growers Co-operative,competed to seewhichwas the biggest exporterofcontainersthroughthePortofMelbourne.“Butbothhavechangedsignificantly:MurrayGoulburnhasbeentakenoverbyaCanadiandairycompanyand Ricegrowers Ltd is about to list their B classsharesontheASX.ActivegrowerswillstillcontrolthecompanyasAclassshareholders,Briansaid.He foresees further difficulties for Ricegrowersbecauseit’sAclassshareholdersaretheonlyonesable to vote on the body’s future. “That meanstheyhavetobeactivegrowersproducingat least200t over two years. But with the drought it istrickybeinganactivegrower,”hesaid.BrianwaselectedtotheRiceMarketingBoardandtheRicegrowersCo-operative in1993and retiredin 2005. Now son Leigh is a Ricegrowers Ltddirector.
SustainabilityTheSustainabilitygroup isnowwellunderway. Itiswonderfultobeabletowelcomenewmembersas concerned about sustainability as memberswhohaveattendedthisgroupformanyyears.Duringthefirstsessionwelookedat"TheConceptofSustainability"whichwas firstdiscussed inTheLimitstoGrowth,publishedin1972bytheClubofRome.Thisreportconcludedthatthefinitenatureof thenaturalenvironmentmeant that theworldeconomicsystemcouldnotexpandindefinitely.Anissuethatisconstantlyraisedtodayindiscussionsabout that state of the planetwe are leaving forfuture generations.We also heard how Sir DavidAttenborough reiterated this themeat theWorldEconomicForum inDavos. Inhisopeningaddresshe urged political and business leaders fromaround the world to make a renewed push totackle climate change before the damage isirreparable.January's extreme heat was an obvious topic fordiscussionandwewerenotsurprisedtohearthatAustralia sweltered through thehottestmonth inits history in January, with scientists concernedthatextremeheatishittingfasterandharderthanexpected.Wealso readabouta seniorAustralianfirefighterwhosaysclimatechangeiscontributingto bushfires so horrendous that homes and livescannot be protected with fire seasons that aremuchlongerandmoresevere.Whendiscussingsustainabilityandclimatechangethereare somanynegative storieshowever Johndoesalsolookforpositivestories.Tooursurprisewe readaboutanAustralian 'start-up' thathopesto have its electric engines propelling lightcommercial aircraft within three years, whilepromising flights that are cheaper to operate,betterfortheenvironmentandmorecomfortableforpassengers.Australia's energy system was also anotherobvious topic for discussion and we focussed onan article titled, "What would Australia look likepoweredby100%renewabl-eenergy?"Obviouslybig on wind and solar but also lots of differenttechnologies in different locations, such aspumped hydro, wave and tidal energy, solarthermal with storage, batteries, sustainablebioenergyandmore.Industryandtransportwouldneedtogorenewabletoo.An article about Greta Thunberg, the Swedishteenageactivistwhohasinspired'SchoolStrikes4ClimateAction'allovertheworld,ledtoathoughtprovokingdiscussionaboutschoolstudentstaking
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action about climate change. We will becontinuing to monitor the nature and impact ofstudent engagement and activism related toclimatechange.
JohnLloyd
TechSavvyBeginners-AppleDevicesGreattoseepreviousattendeesandnewfacesatTech Savvy Beginners wanting to better acquaintthemselveswiththeiriPadsandiPhones.We’vecutthelessontimedownfromtwohourstojustoveronehour.Afterwhichmembersarewelcometoatea or coffee and some individual help withcomputingproblems.Sofarwe’velookedatthebuttonsandportsonaniPad,usingtheInternetandenteringdataintotheCalendar App. Of course our first entry was forTechSavvy,Wednesdays2:00-4:00pm.
JennySawyer
TechSavvyProjects–FamilyHistoryOur first meeting falls after the newsletterdeadline–groupmemberswilldevelopatitleandfocus for their project. Maggie already has awonderful title in mind ‘The Search for BetsyTrim’! Ancestry.combuffWendySturgesswillbehelpingtosupportthegroupthisyear.ThankyouWendy! We meet from 1 to 2.45pm as a fullgroup, with access to the room and supportavailableuntil4pmforthosenotproceedingontotheTechSavvyTalkscatchupattheNortho.
BevLee
TechSavvyTalksOur February session commencedwith a numberof short videos about autonomous aircraft,possibly foruseasUberstyle taxis, followedbyaWall Street Journal video exploring the use ofautonomous aircraft particularly for militaryapplications. There seem to be fewer difficultieswith autonomous aircraft than there are withautonomousroadtransport.Thesecondpartofthemeetingwasdevotedto5G.The3GPPstandardcalled5GNRwasreleasedlast year. NR means New Radio. It allows twomethods of implementation, a Stand-Aloneversion for new base stations, and a Non-StandAlone version, which uses the existing 4 G LTEnetworktosimplifyandspeedupimplementation.Two frequency bandswill be used for 5 G, theseare called less than 6 GHz and greater than15GgHz.Videos by Ericsson and Nokia showedwhat we might expect from 5 G and also theeffects of lower latency. .
The new enabling technology to achieve thesestandards is Massive MIMO. This involveschangingthedisadvantageofinterferencescausedbymultipath propagation from buildings and theatmosphere with MIMO used now, to a verysubstantial advantage with Massive MIMO.Hundreds or thousands of software-controlledantennas are used, depending on the frequencyband, greatly reducing interference and noiseleavingonlytheenhancedrequiredsignal.4GLTEuses4or8.
LesRodgersThereisanextendedversionofthisreportontheTechSavvyTalkspageonthewebsite.WineAppreciationWednesday27MarchMeetat10.00amatthetenniscourtcar-parksitebehind Aldi to travel to Warrabilla Winery,Rutherglen,previouslyvisitedin2011andhometosomepowerfulreds.LunchatPickledSisters.PhoneNoel 5762 3149 or Keith& Heather57624086. We usually confirm meal bookings thepreviousSundaynight.
CommunityNews2019BenallaInternationalWomen’sDayCelebrationThursday 7thMarch 6:30pm LakesideCommunityCentre,ArundelStreet,Benalla. Guestspeaker–Christine Nixon. Tickets $40.00 include a lightsupperwithdrinksatbarprices. Ticketsavailablefrom the RedB4 Bookshop, Bridge Street, BenallaorStephRyan’sOffice,BridgeStreet,Benalla(CashOnly)orcontactPamela0409223974.
ChessattheLibraryTheBenallaLibrarywouldliketostartachessclubfor children and adults all ages. We are seekingvolunteers willing to conduct these regularsessions. Someonewho can tutor beginners andextendtheadvancedplayers.Thechessclubwouldrunoneafternoonperweekafter 4 p.m. If you are interested please contactMarliesatBenallaLibrary.57622069.
