Tri Cycle Newsletter

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1 U3A Werribee Region Inc. Tri Cycle Newsletter P.O. Box 1264, Werribee Plaza, ADDRESS: WEBSITE: EDITION: 104 FEBRUARY MARCH 2016 U3A WERRIBEE REGION PATRONS Mr K.S. BUTYN Principal Werribee Secondary College: Mr TIM PALLAS MP Member for Werribee: U3A WERRIBEE PRESIDENT Mr JOHN PRESTON U3A WERRIBEE 2015 COMMITTEE President: John Preston president.u3awbee@gmail.com Vice President: Libby Pearson Treasurer: Viga Roginski treas.u3awbee@hotmail.com Secretary: Dave Callan sec.u3awbee@hotmail.com Membership Coordinator: Jannette Allen Phone: Course Co-ordinator: Brian Kilfoyle Phone: courses.u3awbee@hotmail.com Committee Members: Don Lee, Merle Deslanders, Glenys Welsh, Brian Beck UPCOMING EVENTS 2016 Term Dates Term 1 1 Feb - 25 Mar 2016 Term 2 18 April - 17 June 2016 Term 3 11 July - 9 Sept 2016 Term 4 3 Oct - 2 Dec 2016 U3A Werribee AGM Thursday 25 February 2016 at 11am at the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club (Details in this Newsletter) FROM THE EDITOR S DESK A Happy New Year to all members from the Editorial team, Don and myself, Cecilia. To grow old gracefully, or disgracefully in this tricky world today is something of a challenge. We live in whirlwind times; history seems to be galloping ahead of us at an alarming rate. Old Hebrew thinking had the Past as the Young Times when the world was young (not old) and our forebears had gone ahead of us. We were bringing up the ageing times and the world was getting older. 1

2 So why do we call each clocked-up year as a New Year? Each new old year brings us one year older. Crazy to say the least! I know I say Seize the Day: make the most of every day. I have begun to add Seize Yesterday...a newer day than today. Seizing Yesterdays means learning from them; claiming what was good; letting go of the failures so that they cannot still spoil our todays. Let go; set yourself free. You might say Yesterday is what I am! So what is Cecilia talking about? Keep talking and may 2016 be kind to you! Please send me your pieces for the newsletter at the address newsletter.u3awbee@hotmail.com or if you see me in class give me a written piece. We do need to hear from our group leaders. The closing date for the next newsletter is 11 March Cecilia Conwaye-Wright FROM THE EDITOR S DESK (Cont.) FROM OUR U3A WERRIBEE PRESIDENT Happy New Year to you all. Wasn t our U3A Christmas lunch a credit to the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club! I spoke to a number of U3A people after lunch and everyone, without exception, was happy with the offering. Well done George and staff! Also well done Merle who quietly in the background set up the function and made sure nothing went wrong 2016 I hope you have all made your resolutions for this year and perhaps even intend to keep them. Dieting seems most popular and I think the easiest to break although I am not sharing my resolutions! This is also the time of year when we spend more time with our grandchildren either because their parents are working or need a rest. Diane and I have just had four grandchildren for a week and decided that although we love their bones we must have been very fit when we had our children. We also love the rest time, after they have gone home! At U3A we welcome a new year. We have new classes as well as the current favourites. We have new ideas that we are developing for outside of the current classes. We would like feedback and any ideas you may have for new classes as this will help us all. So talk to your tutor or a committee member. We will have new ways of dealing with enrolment this year. The queues and waiting that many experienced in December was not acceptable. I apologise for this and advise you that we have identified the bottlenecks and they will be fixed by this year s enrolment day. This will mean the time spent there can be used catching up with friends. The AGM is on Thursday February 25 at 11 am so come along and make your voice heard. It is being held at the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club in a classroom. John Preston A WELL-AGED WISDOM QUOTE God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr ( ) American Theologian 2

3 AROUND THE COURSES The Christians: Their History At the start of this year, I will be taking the class right back to first beginnings: the birthday of the Christian Church. Saint Peter took the message of Jesus Christ among the Jews first of all. This made sense since Hebrew scriptures had prophesied about the coming of the Saviour, the Rescuer. But Saint Paul took the message to the pagan world of that First Century. The more DVD material that I have accumulated over time about the ancient Greek and Roman world with its culture totally foreign to that of the Jews, the more gobsmacked I become as a teacher, that the brave Saint Paul tackled the challenge at all! Where to start? He discovered what seemed to be a breakthrough in Athens when he found a temple dedicated to The Unknown God...aha! A terrific starting point! But he soon got bundled out of Athens with a flea in his ear. What a missionary: what a start! And it will be our start. Cecilia Conwaye-Wright Music at Cecilia s With our versatile little woodwind musical instruments we intend this year to tour the world of its many songs. We have Calypso songs from the Caribbean, African American songs as well as American Indian carols; we have some pop songs from the 1970s as well as Scottish songs and Mexican ditties; we have a few Australian folk songs along with German carols. More complex rhythms will be staring at us from the pages of our music this year and I can hear a few groans already! But our natural sense of the rhythm of the words plus the seat of our pants (!!) should help us along. Cecilia Conwaye-Wright Did you know that James Dean once played the recorder, as shown above Mosaics During the Christmas break-up of the Mosaic's group one of the group s members, Marie Howard, sent us this photo of some of the members. They are: Back row from l to r: Helen (Group Leader), Barbara, Ile, Marie Front Row from l to r: Gwen, Rose, Anna 3

4 AROUND THE COURSES (Cont.) SMILE (Senior Men in Light Exercises) As shown in the photo, taken by SMILE participant Barry (Baz) Jones, Tony Bradford is introducing a new recruit, Gordon O Keefe, who during last term was exercising with the SMILE group after doing a hard stint of Christmas duties at the Plaza. Can you guess what he was doing? SMILE activities get under way again in term one at the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club on Tuesdays starting at 9.30am. For information about SMILE, please contact Tony Bradford on MERLE S SOCIAL ACTIVITES & OUTINGS Our U3A Werribee end of year 2015 Christmas party held at the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club and was attended by 114 members and guests. This was a most enjoyable event and well catered by the HCSC staff. Shown here is our President John Preston introducing our U3A Werribee singing group who entertained us with a few Christmas songs. During the year we are planning a number of social events, including a morning tea on Thursday 14 March Please be on the lookout for more information about any forthcoming planned events Merle Deslanders

5 AROUND THE COURSES (Cont.) Exploring History ( formerly Rambling through History) Note the change in name of this class - everything else stays the same. But I thought "exploring" had more direction and purpose to it and would be less likely to encourage participants to doze off! In Term 1, I will be showing a three-part documentary on the history of Islam from the prophet Mohammed to the death of the Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire. I will also try to put this into context of what was happening in Europe at the time. We will follow this with a more detailed look at Turkey up to the overthrow of the Sultanate and the establishment of the modern Turkey under Kemal Ataturk. Francis I (left) and Suleiman the Magnificent (right) initiated a Franco- Ottoman alliance from the 1530s, and which was against Charles I of Spain Brian Beck Computers But not just my friends; also my music collection, encyclopaedia, photos, bank and other accounts, train & bus time tables, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, radio, TV programs, games and all kinds of info I need from time to time! This year we will be back in action on Tuesdays at the Tarneit Community Centre where the good news is that the computer room is being refurbished with brand new computers to replace the old and out-dated XP computers. Our course will cover the basic use of computers, ipads and tablets in the morning session and focus more on practical applications of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) programs in the afternoon session. All welcome. Don Lee Walking Group Calling all those keen to participate in our walking group. Our first group meeting is planned for Tuesday 2 nd February to sort out details and future activities. Do come along if you are interested, or if you happen to miss the first meeting, please contact our course coordinator for more information. 5

6 LEAP YEAR AND A LADY S PREROGATIVE It was always traditional that during Leap Year (like 2016) a lady could propose marriage to a gentleman without losing her modesty. Might we be losing sight of such a sweet idea? Of course, to be attractive a lady had to attend to her beauty: not so difficult these days with a cosmetic for every occasion; but in Edwardian days, or according to Pears Encyclopaedia dated around 1910 the toilette of a lady was vastly different and makes very entertaining reading. The Hair gets a long write-up. We read that it is an excellent idea now and again to let the hair hang over the shoulders and to sit in the sunshine with it like that. Cutting is not advisable since the hair bleeds and loses vitality; instead ladies should singe the hair with a lighted taper once a month. Shampooing should be done once a month with a mixture of a quart of hot water and a pound and a half of Pears soap grated into the water with a large teaspoon of powdered Borax and a pint of bay rum. For lifeless hair mix two tablespoons of castor oil and the same quantity of glycerine with enough alcohol to cut the oil to be massaged into the roots of the hair. For the treatment of greying hair; take a wash of alcohol and strong black tea in equal parts and add a handful of kitchen salt. This is a good remedy to arrest greyness and increase its growth. To stop hair falling out, add sprits of lavender and tincture of cantharides, eight grains of sulphate of quinine and shake the mixture well. There is further advice about curling with hot irons. On reflection, I think I would rather have stayed an old maid. Cecilia Conwaye-Wright MEMBERSHIP NEWS We do want to welcome the following new members who have recently joined us at U3A Werribee. Diane AMOR Fay BARLOW Pauline BARRON Betty BLOCK Sheryl CLARKE IvanGregory FROUD Anna GOMULARZ Margaret HANNS Cecilia LASSLETT Patricia Rose MANN Elizabeth Louise WATT Jennifer Margaret WORSLEY For all U3A Werribee membership enquiries, please contact our membership Co-ordinator, Jannette Allen on

7 PROGRAM OF COURSES FOR TERM 1 OF 2016 Monday 1 February Friday 25 March 2016 Day/Time Activity Group Leader/Tutor Venue MONDAY Exploring History Brian Beck HCSC Lunch & Movies (1) Kaye Harvey SY The Christians: Their History Cecilia Conwaye-Wright PH Photography John Moore HCSC Tai Chi Marie Dean HCSC TUESDAY 9.30 start Walking Group TBA (3) HCSC Senior Men in Light Exercises Tony Bradford HCSC Needlecraft Faye Weston HCSC Ruth Boyce Great Songwriter s Course John Funnell PH Beginners Computer Course Don Lee TCC Intermediate Computer Course Don Lee TCC Music at Cecilia s Cecilia Conwaye-Wright PH Armchair Movies Dave Callan HCSC WEDNESDAY Mosaic Helen Galea WCC Intermediate French & Culture TBA (3) HCSC Australian History Denise Clarke HCSC Merle Deslandes Cards 500 Kay Dwyer SD Book Club (1) Libby Pearson PH German Wolfgang Grichting HCSC THURSDAY Current Affairs Tony Mason HCSC Yoga for Older People Trevor Walsh UC Mahjong Geoff & Cecelia Lasset HCSC FRIDAY Introduction to Bridge Serita Mudford HCSC Bridge Brian Kilfoyle HCSC John Funnell Music You Like To Hear Anna Mitchell HCSC Singing for Fun Robyn Camilleri WCC Notes: (1) The Lunch & Movie Group meet on the second Monday of the month at the Sun Theatre, Yarraville. (2) The Book Club meets on the second Wednesday of the month at members' houses. (3) To be advised once details are finalised and will be included in future newsletters. FOR ENQUIRIES RING COURSE COORDINATOR BRIAN KILFOYLE

8 Venues HCSC Hoppers Crossing Sports Club, Hogans Road, Hoppers Crossing - see map below PH At a private house decided by the group contact the tutor for details PH1 Address: 5 Colliet Place, Werribee, 3030 PH2 Address: 96 Tower Rd, Werribee, 3030 SD Lifestyle Seasons, 13 Sundial Boulevard Tarneit (at the Clubhouse) SY Sun Theatre, Yarraville. TCC Tarneit Community Centre, c/r Leakes Rd & Sunset Views Boulevard, Tarneit UC Crossroads Uniting Church, Synott St., Werribee WCC Wyndham Park Community Centre, 57 Kookaburra Ave, Werribee The Hoppers Crossing Sports Club (HCSC) is situated here at the Hogans Road Reserve THIS TRI- CYCLE NEWSLETTER IS PRINTED FOR WERRIBEE U3A BY COURTESY OF TIM PALLAS, MEMBER OF THE VICTORIAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY FOR WERRIBEE. DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for information purposes only and views expressed here are not necessarily those of U3A Werribee Region Inc. While efforts have been taken to ensure that the material contained in this newsletter is accurate, U3A Werribee Region Inc does not guarantee the accuracy or the completeness of the material. Readers are advised not to rely solely on this information when making any decision and should seek independent advice before making any decisions. Contributions to our newsletters are welcomed and may be ed to: newsletter.u3awbee@hotmail.com Closing date for the next edition is 11 March

9 NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Twenty-fourth Annual general Meeting of U3A Werribee Region In will be held on Thursday 25 February 2016 at the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club, Hogans Road, commencing at 11am. Following the meeting, members are welcome to stay for lunch at the HCSC which offers various menu items at reasonable prices. Agenda Welcome all members and invited guests Apologies Confirmation of minutes of Twenty-third AGM Meeting Any matters arising from the minutes Presidents Report Treasurer s Report Set the annual membership fees for the following year (2017) Election of Office Bearers: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Course Co-ordinator. Election of other committee members Appointment of Auditor Special business All members are encouraged to attend. If you cannot attend and wish to appoint a proxy, you may use the form below PROXY VOTE FORM I, the undersigned, (print name) of (address) being a member of the U3A Werribee Incorporated and entitled to vote at General Meetings of this organisation, hereby appoint: ( name of appointed person) of (address) as my proxy to vote on my behalf at the U3A Werribee Annual General Meeting to be held on the 26th February 2016 and any adjournment of that meeting. Signed (signature) (date) 9

10 U3A WERRIBEE REGION INC MINUTES OF TWENTY THIRD ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Held on Thursday 26 th February 2015 at Hoppers Crossing Sports Club Hogans Road at 11.00am ATTENDANCE The attendance book recorded the names of 44 members present and 8 members tendered their apologies. Guests present were: Mayor, Peter Maynard, Steve Butyn, Principal Werribee Secondary College, Francis Horton Moonee Valley,Christine Nicholson Footscray, Dorothy Kendal and Carol Hurworth U3A Altona. Apologies: Tim Pallas, MP, Professor Hincliffe. MINUTES of A.G.M. of 2014 Minutes were circulated to all members and taken as read. Moved Brian Kilfoyle/Seconded Nicky Hodgman PRESIDENT S REPORT A very warm welcome to all of our members present for our AGM. We also acknowledge the attendance of our invited guest Mayor Peter Maynard and our Patrons Mr Steve Butyn, principal of Werribee Secondary College, unfortunately Professor Hinchcliffe the Dean of Werribee Veterinary Clinic and Mr Tim Pallas the Member for Tarneit could not attend. We also have representatives from U3A Footscray.U3A Altona and U3A Moonee Valley. In outlining our activities for the past year I wish to thank the members of the Executive Committee who have worked so very hard in their respective areas. Libby Pearson has been Vice President who has been a very strong backstop for me during the year, deputising at outside meetings and being always available for consulting about a course of action. Thank you. Secretary David Callan has been a solid right hand man who has always had materials available for perusal, the minutes available and he has written letters as required. David was absent for a few months and we were most fortunate to have Rita Funnel l as Acting Secretary during that time. I thank her for her work. We are hoping to secure Rita as a regular Committee person for the coming year. We were also pleased to have the secretarial skills of Nikki Hodgman for one of our monthly meetings. Thank you all. John Preston, has been an excellent Treasurer, maintaining all of our financial affairs in apple pie order. He has evolved a very clear way of showing our situation where comparisons against previous years ensure that we are tracking comfortably. I thank him most sincerely for his financial wisdom over the past three years. Thank you Brian Kilfoyle has been a very busy and thorough Course Coordinator for the past three years. He has introduced new courses, found suitable venues and liaised with our Tutors. As part of his brief, last year he handled and oversaw the move to our new home. This was a big operation and it was achieved with a minimum of fuss and I believe most members are very happy with their new surroundings. Brian has completed three years as Course Coordinator. Thank you. Merle Deslandes as a Committee person has organised and managed the completion of a wide range of outings that have obviously appealed to many members. Many members have derived a great deal of pleasure from her work. Thank you. 10

11 Nikki Hodgman was a Committee member for most of last year and we thank her also for her work. Margaret Farquhar was the Publicity Officer for our Executive, a job which she carried out conscientiously. She kept us informed about members who were unwell or needed support. She also kept us informed about the passing of our members. Thank you. Jannette Allan, our Membership Officer, took to her new job with vigour, keeping the records in order and regularly reporting on the state of membership. She also oversaw the printing and mailing of the newsletter to all members. Thank you. Don Lee has carried out his role as Web master and joint newsletter editor to the advantage of us all. He has also brought valued opinions to our meetings. Thank you. Cecilia Conway Wright, whilst not a member of the Committee, has done a great job as Newsletter Editor in conjunction with Don Lee. We thank you for all your time and effort. I want to acknowledge our Patrons: Mr Steve Butyn, principal of Werribee Secondary College. He has allowed us the use of a meeting room for our Executive meetings over a number of years. This has been greatly appreciated. Professor Kevin Hinchcliffe, Dean of Werribee Veterinary Clinic, Melbourne University for his interest and availability for consultation. Mr Tim Pallas, member for Tarneit, for his ongoing interest and making available the office facilities for the production of our newsletter. On behalf of all our members I wish to thank all of our wonderful Tutors who provide us with our classes. We are indeed lucky to have such a diverse range of classes conducted by Tutors who willingly spend the time and effort needed to prepare classes for our enjoyment and pleasure. Members of the Executive, Libby Pearson, Brian Beck, Brian Kilfoyle, Don Lee and myself have attended various Network Victoria and Regional U3A meetings. This has been to keep our organisation abreast of what is going on, what is coming and what could be a good idea to incorporate in our Werribee situation. We note with sadness the passing of past members: Walter Eacott s wife Jean; Wally Bock, George Leak, Hinton Lowe, Georgie Bain and Bob Burt. A couple of years ago we were saddened by the passing of Elaine Somerville. She had been a long time member particularly of the Music group because of her love of classical and operatic music. She had an extensive collection of CD s which her husband can no longer use due to his deafness. Michael donated this collection to U3A through Anna Mitchell our Music Tutor. Anna has selected CDs that complement the U3A collection and her own collection. The remainder have been offered to Music attenders who in return gave a donation to U3A. There are still CDs remaining, so today Anna has brought them to enable other members to benefit from Elaine s legacy. We ask you to make a suitable donation should you select any for yourself. Glenys Welsh Report was accepted: Moved by Barbara/seconded Libby Treasurer s Report 2014 Audited Financial Statements for the year ending December 2014 were circulated taken as read The Treasurer reported: Two Years ago we were forced to increase the subscriptions as we were being crippled by the rents we were paying. We promised we would aim to reduce the rents and thereby minimise any future increases; we did. We had discussions with the Council over nearly 8 months and were being told that there was potential to reduce the rent which was happy news. 11

12 At the same time discussions started with the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club initiated by Brian K. While the person at the council was on holiday her relief suggested that the rent could go up by either 50% or 100% depending on how we were rated by the Council. Not good news. As you know we have reduced our reliance on the Council and moved to The Hoppers Crossing Sports Club. This will produce savings and enable us to go in to the future knowing we have a strong base and a contingency fund that will buffer us against any future hiccups and the strong result from this year reflects that. I would like to thank HCSC and trust that the U3A Members will utilise the facilities including the Bistro. What about the future? Your Committee are committed to maintaining all services and in fact expanding the courses. There is a strong focus on managing costs so we keep subscriptions increases, if any, to a minimum. And finally I would like to thank Peter Francis for the auditing of this year s U3A accounts. This is a very essential and expensive operation which Peter kindly donates to us. John Preston Report was accepted: moved Margaret Farquhar/seconded Merle Deslandes ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS 2015 Nominations were received as follows: President : John Preston Secretary : Dave Callan Course Co Ordinator Brian Kilfoyle Vice President : Libby Pearson Treasurer : Jadwiga Rodginski These 5 were the only nominations, each were duly elected ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS (3) Nominations were received as follows: Don Lee, Rita Funnell and Merle Deslandes. One position on the committee is vacant APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR: John Preston nominated Peter Francis as Auditor seconded by Brian Beck SPECIAL BUSINESS: Nil PRESENTATIONS: Presentation of Certificates of Appreciation were made to retiring committee members Margaret Farquhar and Nicki Hodgson. Also a lifetime Membership was presented to Brian Beck Incoming President John Preston closed the meeting am GUEST SPEAKER: Darren Hellman of Hoppers Crossing Sports Club He told us of the history of the club and the work that was carried out to get it to its high standard today. Upon completion of the talk John presented a gift to Darren Hellman and invited those who was staying for lunch to move to the restaurant 12