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Tutors & Volunteers Afternoon Tea We held this function at the Log Cabin, Penrith on Friday 19th October. About 50 tutors and volunteers attended. Our President – Reg Grace – welcomed us and made presentations to Lynda Henderson, Brian Grenenger and Nick Hill. Joan Vaughn-Taylor read two of her poems. Michael Boyle told us about the U3A Debating Club that we will try to establish in 2008. Unfortunately, the food and drink was not as abundant as last year. We were told that the caterers have changed. But it was a beautiful day beside river. We met many new and old friends and had a good chat.
Exhibition at Braemar Gallery Springwood
Petr Malek, one of our U3A photography tutors, will be exhibiting his work with several others at the Braemar Gallery Springwood, 104 Macquarie Road, opposite Springwood Bowling Club. The Exhibition is showing from 2nd to 18th November. But Opening Drinks are on at 2–4pm on Saturday 3rd November.
Our Annual General Meeting will be held at 2pm on Friday 9th November 2007 at the Penrith School of Arts. The Committee hopes to see lots of members there. If you wish to become a member of the Committee, you must complete an application form and submit it before 2nd November
Glenbrook Spring Festival
On Saturday 10th November, U3A will have an information stall and volunteers are required to assist in manning the stall. If you are available, please contact Tony Bayes 4739 2661.
Visit to NSW State Parliament on Wednesday 14th November
The tour of NSW State Parliament House with Karyn Paluzzano has been arranged for Wednesday 14th November. Brenda Emerson (our Office Manager) will contact all the people going to Parliament House on 14 November 2007 to get everyone there at the one time. The tour runs from 10.00am to 12noon and the visitors will have to pass through security at the entrance to the building. Cameras are OK.
Rotary Pantomime – Cinders the True Story
To be held at Mt Riverview School Hall:
7pm Friday 23rd November – tickets $20 each;
2pm Saturday 24th November – tickets $5 for adults accompanied by children – Children Free; and
7pm Saturday 24th November – tickets $20 each.
To book and pre-pay for tickets, contact Jan or Roger Winterburn 4739 1889 or janwin@tpg.com.au
Rotary is a non-profit organization helping the community.
Term 4 (15th October to 14th December)
All the following courses were successfully started:
Philosophy – Plato’s Republic – Lloyd Reinhardt 4782 5479;
Architecture – Peter Buckwell 4787 1388;
Italian Literature – Silvio Trambaiolo 4787 7837;
Calligraphy – Dorothy Meldrum 4787 1790;
Current Events – Brian Kearney 4784 3189;
How to Trace Your Ancestry for Beginners – Helen Smith 4739 3996;
Tai Chi – Sword – Christie Wood 4735 2827.
Kay Barlow sent me comments about the courses started at Blackheath:
Hello Alan
It's been very gratifying, hasn't it, to see such a positive response to the Blackheath courses?
Tony and Kerry have told you about the Philosophy class of course; I was there for the second class - when even more people turned up. Lloyd Reinhardt is certainly giving the course participants considerable food for thought, and people are beginning to contribute with questions, discussion and their own knowledge. Lloyd bought copies of Plato's Republic at a very good price ($10) for all those without the book, and he also provides relevant handouts.
Architecture has been the surprise success story (to me anyway: I really didn't know whether many people would be interested). The tutor, Peter Buckwell, asked in what aspects of Architecture people were interested, and he is tailoring his classes accordingly. His experience both as a practising architect and as a TAFE teacher is evident as he shares his knowledge in a most engaging and efficient way. I'm fascinated! At the second Architecture class more students turned up and I think there must be about twenty participants now!
Silvio Trambaiolo's Italian Literature class was packed out on the first day. Kerry was there, of course, and will have reported back to you. At the second It.Lit. class there seemed to be one or two fewer. Like the other tutors, Silvio came well prepared - with handouts of excerpts from Dante, Foscolo, Leopardi, St. Francis and Quasimodo in parallel English/Italian texts, with Thomas Gray's "Elegy written in a country churchyard" (English text only) by way of comparison. The theme on Day 1 was "Evening". I wasn't there for day 2, but someone reported to me that she thought the class would be especially interesting to those with some knowledge of Italian.
Dorothy Meldrum had only three students on day one of her fortnightly Calligraphy class. She, too, came well prepared and put us at ease with her sensitive and efficient approach to the subject. We talked about the materials and tools used in calligraphy, and began to practise an Italic script. If you remember, Dorothy was originally going to begin tutoring in 2008, but at your request brought her course forward to this term; consequently the course had not been advertised to the same extent as the other subjects. I suspect that numbers will increase as word gets around.
I was unable to be at BANC for the fortnightly Current Events class, but two of my friends reported that they found it very interesting. They are also quite keen to see if Brian Kearney would tutor a Criminology class at some stage. I'm wondering whether he has agreed to tutor Communication/Self esteem (2008) now that Kerry Brown can't do it (only one person has expressed interest so far).
That's it for the five courses so far, but I'd like to add that the atmosphere at all the classes I have attended so far has been very convivial, and during the short tea-breaks conversation is lively (and loud). It will be interesting to see how numbers stack up as the term proceeds.
English Classical Music 20th Century
Paul King started this course on Tuesday 16 October 2007 from 10.30am to 12 noon at
67 Linksview Rd, Springwood 2777. However, the number of students is small so if you are interested in listening to and discussing some of the works of English classical composers (Bax, Bliss, Britten, Butterworth, Delius, Elgar, Finzi, Holst, Tippett, Vaughan Williams, and Walton), please contact Paul King - Tel: 4754 1491 Email: apk@optusnet.com.au.
A New Perspective for Family Therapy: This course has been postponed until 2008.
Yoga in Term 4: Carmen Ceniza has changed her class time for this term from Tuesday to: Friday at 1.30pm to 2.30pm.
Walking with a Touch of History – in November: CLICK HERE to view the program.
Term 1 Courses 2008 (4th February to 11th April)
The Daily Schedule of Classes will be shown on our website www.u3anepean.org from 1st November.
Most of the courses offered in 2007 will also be offered in 2008. But there are also some new ones:
Debating Club
Mike Boyle will set up a Debating Club within our U3A – further details are on our website. Anyone interested in helping or taking part in a Debating Club, should contact Mike 4751 4229 or mwboyle@optusnet.com.au
Men’s Shed
Phill Hill will not continue his course on Building Working Toys from Recycled Materials. However, Phill is involved with setting up Men’s Sheds. If you are interested in participating in a Men’s Shed, contact Phill 4739 4810 or j_phill@bigpond.net.au
Phill wrote the following about Katoomba Men’s Shed
A small group of dedicated people are working in conjunction with the BMCC to establish a Katoomba Men’s shed’. This is one of some 200 (and a growing number) of men’s sheds throughout Australia. The idea of men’s sheds has evolved out of men’s backyard sheds to become more publicly available equipped sheds. They are a safe place where men can get together, have a yarn, build or repair something of interest to each individual.
It is a way of addressing men’s health issues such as isolation, depression, loneliness and a ‘need-to-do-something’. The idea is to support each other achieve their goals using the shed’s resources.
Local businesses and tradespeople have donated their skills such as plumbing and electrics to bring the former light horse stable at the Katoomba Show Ground up to scratch. TAFE Outreach Scheme at Wentworth Falls runs a Certificate in General Maintenance at the KMS on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 1pm to share skills and learn house maintenance skills using mainly recycled materials.
For more information go to Katoomba Men’s Shed on the web and see some of the photos and faces involved in the project by visiting http://kms.org.au.
Henry Lawson Society of NSW Inc – Annual Literary Awards
Anyone interested in competing for:
Adult Short Story Award;
Adult Written Poetry Award; or
Performance Poetry
may obtain details by emailing: henrylawsongulgong@yahoo.com.au .
CrossLooping over the Internet
I sent Dave Evans (our Web Master) the article shown below about CrossLooping over the Internet copied from the ASSCA Newsletter for October 2007. Dave emailed me:
Hi Alan,
Many thanks for the information about Crossloop. This is a wonderful tool. I have a two friends who struggle to understand their computers and the internet who often phone for help and I have to try to talk them through their problems. It works, but sometimes takes time before the penny drops.
Crossloop makes all that a bit pedestrian. Now I can actually show them what to do.
It's a great teaching tool, too, because although I can actually use my own computer to manipulate their systems they can then get their own fingers on the keyboard or mouse and try it for themselves.
It's grrreat, mate!
Cheers, Dave
“CrossLooping” over the Internet – Article copied from the ASSCA Newsletter for October 2007:
Have you come across an amazing little program called CrossLoop? A friend came across it and suggested to me that it might be interesting and useful. Wow! It certainly is very interesting! Just enter CrossLoop in Google and browse the www.crossloop.com website.
This small program enables 2 computers to connect and watch each other’s screen display and control their own, or the other’s computer, anywhere there is a broadband access. This is great to diagnose problems. How often have you wished when a friend asks for help, you could just see their screen and
see what they are doing? Don’t you wish you could reach out and click their mouse on the correct button?
Well now you can, simply and easily.
There are a number of other programs which enable remote control, such as Microsoft’s Remote Access; but have you ever tried to set them up and use them?
CrossLoop is easy to download at just 2.4Mb, and easy to install and simple to use. You need to have the program installed on both computers and you need to have a phone adjacent to each computer so you can talk things through. Via the phone you can swap with your computer friend, the random access code which CrossLoop generates fresh for each session. This code secures your communication, and to get started each person just clicks on the CrossLoop icon on their desktop. From a small window which appears one elects to be the “Host” and the other the “Join”. The “Host” window displays the 12 digit code which must be phoned to the “Join”. Then both are connected, but need to click “Allow” before full access is available.
Either party can control the action or view the other’s screen, and you can swap control at any time. CrossLoop also allows files to be transferred to and from either computer, and you can even play games together. Just to test it out, I went down to the Computer Club at ARV and connected to our home computer with my wife Gwen. There is a slight delay in response, especially when a full screen changes, and obviously a little patience is needed. Gwen and I played a jigsaw at the same time; and in a way it was slightly disconcerting as we watched each others mouse moving, and the jigsaw pieces moving about!
I suggest opening the 12 page Help File and printing it out. It is a step by step explanation with screen grabs. You should also Browse the “About” tab, “Worldwide Coverage” and “Global Response Map”. Very interesting stuff!
Lynton Bradford.
Cathode-Ray-Tube Monitors for $20
Penrith Valley Seniors Computing Club at 86 Station St, Penrith has replaced their CRT Monitors with LCD Monitors. Several CRT Monitors can be picked up from the PVSCClub at $20 each.
2008 Handbook
Helen Mayhew has arranged for the 2008 Handbook to be delivered to the Office by the end of October and these will be posted out to all Members and Tutors in early December.
The Daily Schedule of Classes shown on our website includes class photographs (for some courses). If you would like your class photograph shown on our website, please email one to Alan Lees. I put this notice in last month’s Emailed Newsletter and I have not received any photographs yet! Where are all you digital camera enthusiasts?
U3A Conference 2010
A sub-committee will be set-up after our AGM to organize the U3A Conference 2010.
U3A Christmas Party
Our U3A Christmas Party will be held on Saturday 15th December at the Penrith School of Arts.
U3A Office Keys
If you have any keys for U3A Offices, rooms, cupboards or filing cabinets would you please contact the Office so that we can create an up-to-date Key Register.
Curriculum Liaison Officers for the Blue Mountains
Kerry Speak and Colin Bull have kindly volunteered to act as Curriculum Liaison Officers. Their duties are to ensure that there are no problems with the premises that U3A hires for classes and to encourage the recruitment and retention of tutors and students in their areas.
Kerry Speak 4787 7948 or mspeak@ozemail.com.au looks after Blackheath to Lawson; and
Colin Bull 4751 3713 or colcar@tpg.com.au looks after Springwood to Blaxland.
The Committee decided the 2008 dates for U3A Enrolments and the Terms:
Enrolments will be at:
Lawson Neighbourhood Centre at 11.00am to 12.30pm on Wednesday 16th January.
Penrith School of Arts at 11.00am to 12.30pm on Friday 18th January, 2008.
1st Term - 4 February to 11th April
2nd Term – 28th April to 4th July
3rd Term – 21st July to 26th September
4th Term – 13th October to 12th December.
The next Meeting will be the Annual General Meeting at 2pm on Friday 9th November 2007 at the Penrith School of Arts.
Disclaimer – Articles contributed to this Newsletter and published as a service to members; do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of this association. Articles are intended as opinions and items of debate only and should not be acted on without expert advice
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