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U3A North Gold Coast Inc. Member of U3A Network Queensland

April 2017

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Dates for your Diary:

Term 2 begins 18 April 2017

U3A Network QLD State

conference 18-19 May

Tweed Heads NSW

BIGGEST MORNING TEA 23 May 2017

Paradise Point Large community hall

U3A NORTH GOLD COAST INC LABRADOR COMMUNITY HUB 57 Billington St, Labrador Phone: 5529 0583 RECEPTION Normal hours 9.00am to 3.00pm Monday to Friday during term Phone: 5529 0583 E-Mail: secretary@u3anorthgc.com Website: www.u3anorthgc.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/U3ANGC CORRESPONDENCE: PO Box 1226 RUNAWAY BAY, Qld. 4216

With formalities over and a new committee elected for 2017/18, it’s now time to meet the challenges for the coming year. A committee of 10 members was appointed at the AGM to steer us through 2017/18, of which eight of those committee members were re-elected for a further year. We also have two new members on the committee, Kerrie Green and Krys Paszkiewicz and I know you will give them 100% support during the year. Our prime aim during the forthcoming 12 months will be to continue to enhance the U3A experience by providing a wider range of topics of interest during the year, but their success can only be guaranteed by you the member. We all have our favourite lifestyle activities or learning experiences, but I do encourage you to look at the new courses we are introducing this year, by asking you to diarise and join us at one or two of these events. One in particular has taken my eye in term 2. A new member, Kevin O’Brien, has had a distinguished career serving his country at the highest military level. Kevin within a few weeks of joining U3A has taken an active interest in our Australian history class and has now agreed to deliver a series of 6 lectures in term 2 on Australian Diggers in France 1916-1918 1916-18 is a particularly poignant period of Australian involvement in World War 1. We are all fully aware of the tragic situation at Gallipoli in 1915, but we don’t get to hear much about our Digger’s involvement during the bloody French battlefield campaigns. This is a golden opportunity for interested members to hear about this period of military history and to hear it first hand, from a person that has committed part of his life visiting and studying the French World War 1 battle campaigns.

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Dear Members Firstly, let me say thank you to all of the members that attended the Annual General Meeting on Friday March 10th. It’s not the type of event that attracts a lot of attention, but we were delighted to have over 65 members and guests present.

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U3A North Gold Coast acknowledges the assistance given by

Verity Barton, State Member for the Broadwater and her staff

in the printing of the newsletter.

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 2017 - 2018

EXECUTIVE

PRESIDENT: JOHN HUDSON 5577 4706 VICE-PRESIDENT: MICHAEL WEBB 0419 194 999 SECRETARY: VALERIE FROST 0405 240 292 secretary@u3anorthgc.com TREASURER: AMANDA DE FINA 0414 334 393

COMMITTEE CURRICULUM MANAGER & VENUE BOOKING MAUREEN COOPER 5571 7738 CURRICULUM FILEMAKER INPUT CAROL CHAMBERS 5529 2245 EVENTS COORDINATOR KERRIE GREEN 0421 924 224 PUBLIC RELATIONS MIMI BRODIE 5577 2645 RECEPTION MANAGER DAPHNE VAN NOOTEN 5500 6116 SPECIAL PROJECTS KRYS PASZKIEWICZ

NON COMMITTEE CLASS ADMINISTRATOR WENDY TOWNSEND 0417 908 243 EDITOR & WEBMASTER ERIKA WALKER 5571 5546

Our Curriculum Manager Maureen, has included in the April newsletter an overview of Kevin’s presentation and I have no doubt you will agree that he will be providing a meaningful presentation of the sacrifice our Diggers made during the French military campaigns of World War I. This is a subject of interest to both genders and I do hope you will join me and others in taking a great interest in this series of presentations. Did you get the opportunity to join us at the Labrador Community Hub Open Day on Sunday March 12th? It was a great fun filled day made even better by the presence of our choir and a demonstration from members of our Tai Chi class. Thank you all for your fabulous commitment to the day and congratulations to GCCC. Easter is fast approaching and on behalf of the committee may I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Happy Easter and please drive safely. John Hudson President

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Hi everyone Time does fly by. It’s unbelievable we have already reached the end of Term 1 and are preparing to begin Term 2 on Tuesday 18th April. I need to mention that we are not accepting new students for our Foreign Language classes. Although some are termed beginners classes, they have been going for a full term and will continue to the end of the school year with the same students who began in these classes at the start of this year. It is now impossible for anyone to catch up. 430 Computer for Beginners Class Thursday 4 May at 1-3pm I am pleased to announce, that Evan Evans will lead this class and will be assisted by some of his students from the Advanced Windows Workshop class. This is a beginner’s class for those of you who have no idea where to start on your computer. You will be taught on the U3A Windows 10 Computers in our classroom at the Hub Labrador. You need to own or have access to a Windows 10 Computer. Prerequisite: Note book and pen to take notes so you can practice at home As mentioned in our March Newsletter, we have new classes and returning classes in Term 2. Some of our classes have a change of subject and may be of interest to you. 229 Art History - Albert Namatjira Wednesday 10 May only 9.30-11.30am John Hudson will present to you the story of Australia’s most famous indigenous landscape artist, Albert Namatjira, who became the first aboriginal to be granted Australian citizenship. His contemporary artistic landscape depiction of central Australia became recognised by the International Art community, but did the Australian people afford him the same honour? Join this class to see the story unfold. If you are interested in this topic you need to register your interest as there are only a few places remaining. 230 The Australian Diggers in France 1916-1918 Monday 24 April 1-3pm for 6 weeks Kevin O’Brien is a retired army officer with considerable interest in the Australian Army in France during the 1st World War. During his military career, he studied military history and was for a time responsible for the study of military history in the Army. In 1998 he spent six months in France as the Project Manager for the development of new Australian memorial parks. As a professional soldier, historian, veteran and experienced tour guide, he can offer a unique insight into the Australian diggers in France 1916-18. A more detailed description of what you can expect to hear from Kevin can be found a little further on in this newsletter. 316 Photobook Thursday 20 April only 1-3pm with Evan Evans Join this class if you would like to create a Photobook of that memorable occasion when all those photos were taken and you’re not quite certain how to achieve this. 524 Virtual Gardens Tuesday 23rd May only 9.30-11.30am A Garden Tour of Highgrove, the Country Estate of Prince Charles. This class is already full but you can still apply and will be put on the wait list. You may be lucky and will be notified if a place becomes available. 606 Bird Watching & Photography Tuesday 18 April 3-5pm for seven weeks. Brian Hale will begin this new class for our bird watching enthusiasts, combined with outings to experience capturing birds in flight. For details see page 9.

Curriculum Report

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310 Digital Photography starting 24 April 3-5pm on 1st & 3rd Monday Brian Hale will once again co-tutor with Keith Ranson the Digital Photography class.

Classes returning in Term 2 420 Android Tablet & Smart Phone starting Monday 24 April 9-11am weekly Gerry Wekenborg will discuss and solve problems you have with operating your Android Tablet or Smart Phone, such as connecting to Wi-Fi, Social media, Skype, photos etc. Please note this is not a teaching class, it is a workshop where your questions will be answered. 515 Meditation & Self Awareness Tuesday 18 April 11.15am-12.15pm The Quest for Well-being - Using your 8 Powers. Inner Power comes from within our eternal store of positive resources, such as peace, love and happiness. In a creative and colourful way tutor Linda Cooper will explore our 8 Inner Powers that are the keys to Well-being. Each weekly session will include a talk, meditation, quiet reflection, & discussion. 317 Introductory Digital Photography Unfortunately, I had to cancel this class as there weren’t enough applications. 214 Current Affairs has been discontinued. I would like to thank Fay Nielson for her contribution to U3A North Gold Coast. Thanking once again our iPad Intermediate tutors Christine Pham & Robert Page for their two four week classes in Term 1. Robert also presented MyAgeCare in March. They will be returning with some interesting subjects for you to choose from in Term 3. My thanks also go to Maxene Imbruglia for Getting Started with Family History, Danielle Jefferies for Stretch Your Mental Muscles and her presentation of Canada in Armchair Travel and Yolie Entsch presenting Creating Your Own Third Age. I’m hoping all three ladies will be returning once again either in Term 3 or 4. All will be revealed in future Newsletters. 105 Acrylic Painting Workshop will have a change of tutor’s. Thank you to Janet Byrne and Janice Farr. Welcome to Sharyn McGregor and Margaret Bramley. As always, my gratitude to all tutors who are continuing their very popular classes at U3A North Gold Coast. We have many new members who are impressed by our selection of varying subjects.

If any tutor or member has an interesting subject they would like to present, please let me know. I am always happy to discuss new ideas. You can e-mail me or leave a message in the Curriculum Managers drawer in Reception and I will contact you. Maureen Cooper Curriculum Manager

HUB OPEN DAY HUB OPEN DAY

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313 - World Insights

It’s a must for travellers and those interested in events past and present beyond our shores. World Insights has journeyed far and wide over the last couple of months, taking our classmates on first class excursions from the West Indies through Croatia to the historic temples of Angkor in Cambodia – and much more. In the coming months we will be learning about the Himalayas, the wild men of Borneo – and possibly that island’s renowned orang-utans and curiously unique proboscis monkeys. The diversity of our program is such that among our many stories, we shall discover the intriguing and tragic happenings in a small Norwegian town during WWII, and why Hitler wanted to take the important seaport of Murmansk right on the tip of NW Russia way beyond the Arctic Circle, all graphically related and illustrated from a personal account. Join David Phillips, David Taylor and the rest of the happy team, if you can, on the first and third Tuesdays at 10.30 am.

224 - BOOK CLUB

The novel for discussion is Dominic Smith’s The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. This novel is a gripping historical drama written by Australian author Dominic Smith. The themes revolve around the nature of art and loss and love, set in 17th-century Holland, 1950’s New York and 21st-century Sydney. A painting known as “At the Edge of a Wood” by a little-known Dutch painter, Sara de Vos, which has been owned by N.Y. lawyer Marty’s family for three hundred years, is stolen from his home. Struggling Australian Art student Ellie Shipley becomes involved in the search for the painting when she is hired by the people behind the theft to produce a copy of the painting. Smith balances his many interlocking elements of the novel with skill, especially Sara’s story, a tender portrait of her journey through paralysing grief to acceptance. The novel has deservedly received rave reviews both overseas and here in Australia. Smith lives in New York and has published three critically acclaimed novels there, but his profile here has until now been rather low. New members are welcome, please apply at reception. Dr Sheelagh Wennersten Tutor

☹SAD NEWS – WE DID NOT GET A SINGLE REPLY TO OUR CALL FOR HELP☹☹ Hi everyone, My name is Marion, and I am one of the members who answered Carol Chambers request during the year for volunteers to help with the cleaning of our U3A rooms. What I did not realise, was that it is best to have a buddy to work with, it takes less time and is a more enjoyable experience. I would really appreciate having a buddy. If you and a friend would like to join us as a team it would make our tasks a lot easier. The work does not involve cleaning toilets or any heavy lifting. It consists of wiping down the desk tops, vacuuming with our new lightweight stick vacuum and moping the office floor. With a team of two it does not take very long at all. It is only once a term and if a couple of our teams are away at any one time, there is no one else to fill their vacancy. So, how about doing a little bit of volunteering this year to give the regulars a little bit of support? Please contact Carol Chambers cchambers2602@gmail.com or 5529 2245 or 0412 844 999

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The Italian Beginners and Italian Introduction class wore their Carnevale masks to school during February and the students voted for the best mask. Winners were Sandra Landers from Beginners (with the pink wig) and Belinda Sina from Introduction (in the full-face blue mask). They both received a packet of Baci as their prize. Astrid Pennisi, Tutor

Please note, there will be NO dining out

due to the holidays.

Members at Mano’s Paradise Point in March 2017

AGM 10 March 2017

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515 - Meditation & Self Awareness Class Tuesday, 18 April to 20 June 2017

11.15am to 12.15pm

The Quest for Well-being - Using your 8 Powers

Inner Power comes from within our eternal store of positive resources, such as peace, love and happiness.

In a creative and colourful way, we will explore our 8 Inner Powers that are the keys to Well-being. Each session will include a talk, meditation, quiet reflection, & discussion. These sessions are based on the book “The Quest for Well-being” – using your 8 inner powers. Author: Anthony Strano. Please apply at Reception. For more information regarding these session contact Linda on 0401 018 153 Linda Cooper Tutor

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230 - The Australian Diggers in France 1916-18

Starting Monday 24th April at 1- 3pm for six weeks

Kevin O’Brien is a retired army officer with considerable interest in the Australian Army in France during the 1st World War. During his military career, he studied military history and was for a time responsible for the study of military history in the Army. In 1998 he spent six months in France as the Project Manager for the development of new Australian memorial parks. As a professional soldier, historian, veteran and experienced tour guide, he can offer an unique insight into the Australian diggers in France 1916-18.

Sessions:

• Overview of the Australian Army in France - tactics, actions and achievements. • How to set about researching family or friends who served in France; Setting of individual

presentation tasks. • Actions in 1916 - from the Australians arriving in France - Battles of Fromelles, Pozieres and the

Somme • Actions in 1917 - Battles of Bullecourt and Flanders • Actions in 1918 – Defence of Amiens, Battles of Villiers Bretonneau, Le Hamel, Mont St Quentin and the

Hindenburg Line.

Individual Presentations. Suggestions how to visit the battlefields today. Suggested routes and travel tips. On completion, attendees will be familiar with:

The tactics, actions and achievements of the Australian Army in France The major battles in which they took part, what was done, what was achieved How to research any family involvement in WWI How to set about visiting the battlefields today

Application forms are available in Reception

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606 - Birdwatching and Photography Starting Tuesday 18 April to 30 May 2017 at 3-5pm

This will be an introduction to birdwatching and photographing birds to capture great photos. It will be a weekly class comprising in class instruction and field excursions on alternate weeks. The class sessions will include photo critique of shots and discussion of birds seen from the previous week’s excursion. The class with run for 7 weeks. The sessions will be held in the Computer room on alternate Tuesdays. Week 1- 18th April In class to learn the basics of bird watching and bird photography and discuss the following week’s excursion. Week 2 - 25th April Excursion to Coombabah Wetland Nature Reserve, where we will do a bird watching and photography walk along the boardwalk and paths. Week 3 - 2nd May In class to view photos of birds taken on the previous week’s excursion. Discussion on birding and plan for next week’s excursion. Week 4 - 9th May Excursion to Gold Coast Botanic Gardens at Benowa. We will walk around the paths in the gardens and lakes where there usually are quite a lot of water birds present. There is also a nice coffee shop for a cuppa afterwards. Week 5 - 16th May In class to view photos of birds taken on the previous week’s excursion. Discussion on birding and plan for next week’s excursion. Week 6 - 23rd May Excursion to Waterhen Lake at Oxenford and the Causeway on the Coomera River for bird watching and photography. Week 7 - 30th May In class to view photos of birds taken on the previous week’s excursion. Discussion on what we have achieved and whether we want to do the class again next term. Items needed for this course are: binoculars, camera with telephoto or zoom lens, good walking shoes, hat, sunscreen, insect repellent, water bottle, note pad and pencil. Cameras best suited for birding are SLR’s with min of 200mm zoom / telephoto lens ( the longer the Zoom the better) or compact camera with min of 20x zoom. On excursion days, we will meet at the Hub at 7.30am and car pool to the location. As there is a Maximum of 12 students, please register your interest as soon as possible at reception.

901 - Griffith University Lectures

The next Griffith University Lecture will not be until the 5th May. Please note this date in your diaries.

A reminder email will be sent a fortnight prior to the lecture to the fortunate members on Friday 21 April and

hopefully we will have the name of the presenter and topic in time for the May Newsletter.

For all enquiries contact Adrienne Brougham Email: apbrougham@gmail.com or 5537 6409 The answer phone is always on; please leave a message if necessary.

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Live, Laugh, Learn Without Boundaries U3A Network Queensland

State Conference 18-19 May 2017

This two-day conference is excellent value with fascinating, interesting and funny speakers. Pay an

extra $60 to include the conference dinner, mingle and make friends with U3A members from the

other thirty-three U3A's from around Queensland. It’s fun to compare notes.

Conference dinner will be held at

Coolangatta Surf Club.

The Conference Venue is the Tweed Civic Centre, located at Brett St, Tweed Heads NSW.

Registration Conference fees:

• Full Conference Package $160 (includes refreshments, lunches and Conference Dinner)

• Conference only - $100 (includes refreshments and lunches but excludes Conference Dinner)

• Conference Dinner only - $60 •

Owing to catering requirements, bookings for the Full Package and Dinner Only options close on Friday 5th May. All who register before 10th April will go into the draw for the Early Bird Prize - a refund of your Conference fees! Check out the website on www.u3aqldconference.org for lots more info.