The weather has become colder in June but groups are still meeting and enjoying their programs in various ways. Exploring the Universe have been having impressive numbers of members at their meetings, whilst Community Singing shared one of their June meetings with Cooinda residents in the Alice Goulding wing at Cooinda.

We have a program for Semester 2 of 2023 which commences in July attached to this Newsletter for all to see the changes that have been made. The most notable is the starting of the Demystifying Psychology course with Jane Rushworth on the third Tuesday of the month from 10am in our U3A room. Please contact Jane on 0437 621 575 if you would like to attend.

The Committee would like to thank Benalla Rural City Council for the $500 grant received last month by U3A Benalla toward the hire of the Hub at Cooinda for our Singing for Fun and Community Singing group sessions.

Tom Arnold from Benalla Rural City Council will be the guest speaker at July Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 19th July at 10am. Tom, who spoke at our AGM, will give us an update on the Fawckner Drive Precinct. Since our AGM this has been revised by the Landscape Architects and presented to the Councillors at a meeting late in June. I would encourage as many U3A members as possible to attend.

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Margaret Jenkins
President

The weather has become colder in June but groups are still meeting and enjoying their programs in various ways. Exploring the Universe have been having impressive numbers of members at their meetings, whilst Community Singing shared one of their June meetings with Cooinda residents in the Alice Goulding wing at Cooinda.

We have a program for Semester 2 of 2023 which commences in July attached to this Newsletter for all to see the changes that have been made. The most notable is the starting of the Demystifying Psychology course with Jane Rushworth on the third Tuesday of the month from 10am in our U3A room. Please contact Jane on 0437 621 575 if you would like to attend.

The Committee would like to thank Benalla Rural City Council for the $500 grant received last month by U3A Benalla toward the hire of the Hub at Cooinda for our Singing for Fun and Community Singing group sessions.

Tom Arnold from Benalla Rural City Council will be the guest speaker at July Meet and Mingle on Wednesday 19th July at 10am. Tom, who spoke at our AGM, will give us an update on the Fawckner Drive Precinct. Since our AGM this has been revised by the Landscape Architects and presented to the Councillors at a meeting late in June. I would encourage as many U3A members as possible to attend.
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Margaret Jenkins

Semester 2 commences in July 2023.  We are pleased to announce the return of the popular five-session course Demystifying Psychology, convened by Jane Rushworth and held in our U3A room on the third Tuesday from 10am to 12 noon.  If you would like to attend, please phone Jane on 0437 621 575.

Members should note that the Demystifying Psychology Discussion Group is now meeting in the back room of the Ruby Blue Café on the 3rd Thursday from 2pm to 4pm.   The Photography course run by Rene Martens is having a break over winter and will reconvene late September.   Tech Savvy Beginners will cut back to two sessions on the 1st and 2nd Thursdays 10am to 12 noon whilst Tech Advice will continue with Robyn and Jenny by appointment. Chat’n’Chew is moving to the second Friday as from the June meeting,  while Cards ‘500’ has added extra session on the first Wednesday from 2 to 4 to its regular session on the 3rd Wednesday.  

We would like to thank the Convenors of courses finishing at the end of Semester 1 which have been enjoyed by U3A members, and hope that these courses will restart in 2024.  The courses which are ending at the end of Semester 1 include “Enjoying the Internet” run by Dawn Stephens, “Be Connected --Managing Money Online” run by Jenny Sawyer and Robyn Lukey and “Tech Savvy Apple – Pages” run by Jenny Sawyer.

U3A Benalla would like to thank the Benalla Rural City Council for the Grant of $1250 recently received towards the purchase of our new photocopier.  Whilst this is less than we applied for, we appreciate that Council has given 32 grants to community organisations.  

At the May U3A Benalla Committee meeting it was decided to defer the time tabling of regular office hours at the U3A office until January 2024.  In the meantime, notices are going to be put up on entrance doors giving phone numbers where U3A can be contacted.
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On 26th April Geraldine and I met with Greg Robertson and Elise Wood from the Facilities Department of the Benalla Rural City Council to discuss the Submission which U3A Benalla had made to Council regarding more space in future years. We discussed options for expansion to the north or south of the building, and also the possibility of going upwards.

None of this is going to happen unless there is a large grant available from either the State or Federal Government. But at least we have got our future requirements documented and on the BRCC Council Plan.   At the conclusion of our discussion, we were told that we will get a time slot at a future Council meeting to present our case for expansion to the Councillors.

We also discussed the naming of this building.  In the past this building has been known as the Benalla Senior Citizens and Community Centre. But times have changed, and U3A Benalla are a significant group sharing the building. So, we floated the idea of changing the name of the building to the Benalla Seniors and Community Centre.   There was no opposition from the Council representatives.

Subsequently we met with representatives of the Council and Senior Citizens, and Val Burke, President of the Senior Citizens, was also agreeable to the change in the name of the building.   This is a significant step forward.   However, it still needs to be ratified by the CEO and the Councillors of the BRCC.
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Margaret Jenkins
President