U3A Gawler 2015 Term 1 Newsletter

GAWLER SOUTH AUSTRALIA
PO Box 1581
GAWLER SA 5118
27 Jan – 10 April 2015
Term 1
Chairperson’s message
Notes for your diary
The Pursuit of Excellence
Enrolment Day
Welcome everybody to "Our Beautiful Place" for
another year, and I certainly hope the festive
season was filled with joy for you and yours.
Enrolment Day for 2015 is from 9.30 am-1 pm on
Wednesday 14 January. Please make every effort
to attend as this gives members an opportunity to
discuss activities with leaders and to meet up
with friends from last year’s groups. Tea, coffee
and biscuits will be provided.
So here I go... stirring again!
Are some of you silly enough to still make New
Year's resolutions? Or have you successfully
resolved never to make them again?!
As a new initiative, invoices have been sent to all
existing members. This provides an option to
enrol by direct debit or by sending a cheque to
the treasurer before the start of Term 1. If you
are enrolling by direct debit, please ensure the
banking details are correct and your name or
invoice number is recorded on the payment
advice.
How did that tradition begin? I suspect it was
born of a desire to self-improve. A recognition of
failings and perhaps an onset of falling personal
standards.
Does retirement or increasing age permit us to
discard these aspirations? Do we reach some
wonderful state that can no longer be critiqued or
improved?
URGENT
New Initiatives required!
Or could it be that we join U3A to remain
engaged, to "stay young", to learn, participate,
challenge ourselves and self-improve?
Several of the original leaders (our old stalwarts)
are still running activities and we have been
blessed to have such gifted members contribute
so much over many years. But how much longer
can they go on? Unless we recruit new leaders
and offer new activities, our programme will soon
become stale with significantly reduced content.
In particular we are lacking new topics of an
intellectual nature that should be an essential
part of any U3A.
Over the next three years the State Government
has allocated grant money to support initiatives
aimed at ensuring the sustainability of U3As into
the future. In response we will endeavour to offer
new activities, which need support from
members to succeed. Also if you have aspirations
for leadership and/or ideas for new courses, let
me know.
Judith Davies 8522 4769
So here's my challenge to you.
By all means please enrol in what you've been
doing before and be sure to get the most out of
it, but...
join something new
challenge yourself
take a more up-front role
Next year I'll change the name of our house from
"This'lldome"
to "Kanbebetta"!
Enjoy 2015!
Peter Ryan
Chairperson
1
New activities
News from the groups
The Human Story
Discussion Group
This course is about events in history, people and
civilisations that made us into who we are today.
If there is sufficient interest, regular fortnightly
sessions will be offered each term in 2015.
Activities will be interactive, with recorded
documentaries, notes and discussion. Numbers of
attendees are limited, so if you are interested
please enrol early.
Arthur Davies 8522 4769
(Thanks are due to the SA government for
providing grant money for course material).
The Discussion Group will re-convene fortnightly
at 10 am in Meeting Room 3 on Wednesday
mornings, starting 28 January.
Chair Dancing, Scottish Country Dancing
Jacq’s two groups gave lively performances at our
2014 Christmas party. A lot of energy goes into
the sessions and the participants get a good
workout whilst sitting down. Come along and see
for yourself!
Jacq would also love to see new members in her
Scottish Country Dancing group. They have a lot
of fun with this traditional and cultural way of
keeping fit.
Beginners Tai Chi
If numbers are sufficient, Maggie will run another
Beginners Tai Chi weekly at 10.45-11.45 am on
Tuesdays, starting 27 January. Please express
your interest at Enrolment Day, email
u3agawler@gmail.com or phone Judith on 8522
4769.
Contract Bridge
After about 10 years at the helm I will no longer
be a leader for this group and leave it in the
capable of hands of Jeff Williams and Mick Koziol.
If there are members who wish to learn Bridge,
lessons will be arranged to get you started.
Arthur Davies 8522 4769
One-off Card making session
Leanne Storic has kindly offered a card making
session at the Centre at 1.30-3 pm on Thursday
19 March. If enough interest is shown, she may
be able to run a regular fortnightly activity during
the year.
Gawler U3A Theatre Group
I am pleased to say that 2014
proved to be a very good year. The
various plays and musicals seen by
our members were all first class.
In early October we saw The Northern Light
Theatre Company presentation of a musical called
White Christmas - so much energy on stage! Next
year they are presenting Happy Days, a new
musical set in the famous milk bar, "Arnolds".
In November we saw The Darling Buds of May,
about a family having a charmed and eccentric
way of life in the English countryside. Very funny.
The first play for next year is Relatively Speaking
by Alan Ayckbourn.
Our Term 1 meeting will be on Wed 4 February at
11 am (see programme).
If you want to meet new people, have a lively
discussion about South Australian Theatre and
see some fantastic productions please come and
join us.
Linda Johnston 0411 440 964
U3A Gawler Singers
We have successfully formed a new singing group
with about 15 members who regularly attend. We
sing along to recorded music selected by
members in the group. We aim to be both happy
and harmonious, so if you enjoy singing come
along and tune in. You will be made most
welcome.
Arthur Davies 8522 4769
(Thanks are due to the SA government for
providing grant money for course material).
2
GURUS ukulele group
Yet another term of go – go – go for the GURUS; six gigs in ten weeks. I don’t know how we do it!
Perhaps a ukulele should be renamed a youth-ulele – because it keeps us all young at heart.
This term we played at Barossa Goldfields Open Day (battling the heat and wind); Abbeyfield,
Williamstown; U3A Gawler 175/Every Generation celebration and the Aboriginal Elders Village,
Davoren Park where we shared the bill with ‘Elvis’. We even ventured as far as Mannum, where I was
allowed to play with Ruth’s ‘knockers’ - to tap out the rhythm when we sang Iko Iko. What are you
thinking? Shocking, you should be ashamed of yourself!
A few of our Beginners have attended the gigs and thoroughly enjoyed playing with the ‘Old-timers’.
There’s nothing quite like playing in a group and riding the wave of music with a bunch of friends.
That’s what makes the GURUS special.
Our final performance for the year was at the U3A Christmas Party, after which the GURUS went
into recess to recharge and rejuvenate ready for the start of 2015 under the new leadership of
Richard and Margaret Ashley.
I wish everyone good fortune and good health for 2015 and bear in mind that:
Growing old is mandatory but growing up is voluntary.
All the best
Jeff Heath
Thanks to Sandra and Jeff Heath
As Sandra and Jeff leave for their Australia-wide tour of music festivals and events, our thanks go to them
for their hard work and enthusiasm which resulted in the successful U3A GURUS ukulele band reaching 60
or more members since its inception in early 2010.
Sandra has been an outstanding leader, ably supported by Jeff, and has ensured that the fun and music will
go on by encouraging and nurturing a strong leadership team to support Richard and Margaret this year.
We look forward to hearing news of Sandra and Jeff from time to time when they drop in to visit the
GURUS.
Jaz Storey
We will also shortly be saying good bye to Jaz Storey, leader of our Painting with Acrylics group, who is
relocating to Adelaide. Len Cockerill has kindly offered to be the contact person for the group when Jaz
leaves.
We thank Jaz for re-establishing a strong art group in our U3A. She and her enthusiastic team have worked
well together and she is confident that the group will continue to support Len and each other.
If anyone knows of an art teacher who would be interested in leading the group in the future, please
contact Judith on 8522 4769 or email u3agawler@gmail.com
Deadline for Term 2 programme and newsletter
Please note 5 pm on Friday 27 March is the deadline for items for our Term 2 newsletter and programme.
3
Gawler 175/Every Generation celebration – Wednesday 22 October 2015
This was a very successful event, with 108 people attending throughout the day. Brian
Sambell, outgoing Mayor of Gawler, opened proceedings, followed by a rousing rendition
by the GURUS ukulele band of songs through the generations.
After a break for lunch and a chance to admire the beautiful work of our Acrylic Painting group, the
celebrations continued with a fascinating talk by Brian Thom about Gawler’s historical buildings, illustrated
by a virtual tour on the Gawler History Team’s website. Take a look – hours of work have gone into the
massive amount of information on this website http://www.gawler.nowandthen.net.au
We also had the pleasure of a visit from Claire Rundle (née Harkness) and her husband, Kevin. Claire’s
grandfather developed the ‘Claire Harkness’ sweet pea, and her father was the propagator of the
renowned Gawler Hybrid Bottlebrush. Claire showed some very interesting old photos and brought
specimens of the two plants with her. Our thanks go to Claire and to member Lesley Carnogursky for
arranging the visit and display.
Three of our members, the ‘Welshwoman, Irishwoman, and Englishwoman’ bravely volunteered to talk
about their decision to emigrate to Australia, their experiences after their arrival and subsequent
settlement in Gawler. Dilys, from Wales, read a beautiful poem she had published in the ‘Bunyip’ about the
old Gum Tree opposite the Woolworths complex in Gawler. Merci, from Ireland, and Beryl, from England,
had us in stitches with their accounts of leaving their homeland and adapting to their new life in Australia.
The afternoon concluded with music from our Bell Chimers, and the singing of ‘Song of Australia’ led by our
newly re-formed U3A Singers accompanied by the ‘silver bells’.
Our thanks go to Sport & Community Centre staff, Gawler Council, and Tony Piccolo and his office for their valued support.