1

U3A WERRIBEE REGION PATRONS U3A WERRIBEE PRESIDENT

Mr.K.S. BUTYN

Principal Werribee

Secondary College:

Prof. K. HINCHCLIFF

Dean Werribee

Veterinary Clinic:

Mr TIM PALLAS MP

Member for Werribee:

Mr JOHN PRESTON

UPCOMING EVENTS

2015 Term Dates

Term 2 20 April - 19 June 15

Term 3 13 July - 11 Sept 15

Term 4 5 Oct - 4 Dec 15

Morning Tea

Wednesday 24 June 2015 at 10am — 12.30pm at the

Hoppers Crossing Sports Club

Various Outings

See details in this Newsletter

U3A Werribee Region Inc.

Tri – Cycle Newsletter P.O. Box 1264, Werribee Plaza, 3030.

EMAIL ADDRESS: sec.u3awbee@hotmail.com

WEBSITE: http://www.u3awbee.net.au

EDITION: 100 APRIL 2015 - JUNE 2015

YOUR U3A COMMITTEE FOR 2015

President: John Preston president.u3awbee@hotmail.com

Vice President: Libby Pearson

Treasurer: Viga Rodginski treas.u3awbee@hotmail.com

Secretary: Dave Callan sec.u3awbee@hotmail.com

Membership Coordinator: Jannette Allen Phone: 9395 1606

Course Co-ordinator: Brian Kilfoyle Phone: 0409 073 869

courses.u3awbee@hotmail.com

Committee Members:

Don Lee, Merle Deslanders

It hardly seems possible that both Easter and Christmas have now

come and gone. Where has the time flown since we put away all

our Christmas decorations and of course, hot cross buns and

chocolate eggs have been in the shops for weeks already. You will

all have had fun with the First Term’s sessions; I hope you have

enjoyed good fellowship and found much to learn. It is good that

our courses are varied: it shows what a versatile bunch of people

we are. We are in the years of the fruitfulness of our young and middle years; and we have

much to share with each other.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

2

FROM OUR NEW WERRIBEE U3A PRESIDENT

We can not only Seize the Day but look back and Seize a lot of Yesterdays, harvest the best of

them and share them with friends old and new.

Please send me your reports and pieces as attachments for the newsletter, either to my email

newsletter address which isnewsletter.u3awbee@hotmail.com or if you see me in class you can

give me a written piece.

The deadline for the receipt of reports for the next TriCycle Newsletter is 12 June 2015.

My name is John Preston and I am your new President of Werribee U3A. I have been asked to provide some background so you have some idea of who I am.

I was born in Liverpool, England and have been known to dance to the Beatles in the Cavern! I am married and have 2 children, 4 grandchildren and 4 “adopted grandchildren” belonging to a niece and nephew living in Brisbane.

I first came to Australia in 1965, fifty years ago, and travelled on the east and west coast before getting married in Perth. My new wife and I went back to the UK but never really settled and came back to Australia in 1973 with 2 very young children. I had trained in personnel management and the new thing, then called computers and chose to stay in the computer field when I returned. I have worked for large and small companies and for myself; Dalgety’s, Myer, ANZ Bank and Oracle to name a few.

After retiring I joined U3A and I am also on a number of other committees in the cancer and health field as a Consumer Representative as I believe in putting back into a system. I also believe we all have a right, and a duty, to be heard.

What do I see for the future for Werribee U3A? I believe we have a great opportunity to expand the courses and to cover new fields; we have less worry about rental costs through the good offices of the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club and we have a good and loyal membership.

What do I need? Input! What else can we provide that we don’t already provide? Who has skills that can be utilised for the interest and benefit of our members? I would be really happy with any input that helps us all to enjoy our learning time.

John Preston

It takes a long time to become young. (Pablo Picasso 1881-1971 Spanish painter, sculptor, poet and playwright)

To know how to grow old is the master-work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in

the great art of living. (Henri Amiel - 1821-1881 Swiss philosopher)

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. (Author Unknown)

I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now. (Author Unknown)

The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible. (Judith Regan, b1953 USA TV

talk show host)

WELL-AGED WISDOM QUOTES

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK (Cont.)

3

AROUND THE COURSES

The Christians: Their History

This alert and questing group, coming to grips with the Restoration of the Monarchy in English history, following the Puritans under Cromwell’s dictatorship, needed to look back at what the Reformation meant with its resulting divided church after Henry Vlll and Elizabeth the First. Every development comes from something previous. Our look back took us to the Music and the Monarchy which enjoyed its high renaissance in the great abbeys and cathedrals before Henry had a lot of them destroyed. We needed to dwell again on the development of the British Naval strength under Elizabeth. All of that seemed like just the march of political history until we realise that Roman Catholic Spain had designs on the control of Protestant England. And inevitably we realise that we cannot study Christian history outside the politics of the times.

Britain was by no means innocent of trading in slaves at that time. Under Elizabeth her navy was not averse to sailing down the west coast of Africa, capturing black slaves, transporting them across the Atlantic to the New World and then selling them for goods of all kinds. They brought the resulting wealth back to Britain, and if they could intercept a Spanish ship laden with Mexican treasure and take it back home to the Queen, they considered they had won a bonus.

Of course, there were certain Christian voices in high places, speaking up for the evil of all this. It makes scalp-tingling study!

Cecilia Conwaye-Wright

This group of keen musicians will tell anyone who asks them, that they leave each Tuesday session ten years younger than they were when they came into Cecilia’s lounge room at one o’clock. Of course, the years creep on again during the ensuing week – but that’s all right! We shed those years again as soon as we get stuck into the challenges and the delights of the music.

We are a Renaissance Recorder Consort but we are pretty versatile. We can toot our way through most of the Australian Folk Songs and find some that we never knew existed. In the very next breath we are playing some of the English sacred music of Orlando Gibbons or crossing into Germany to the sublime music of J S Bach.

Our repertoire of Rounds and Canons must be one of the most prolific in Australia; Cecilia has found as many as forty in number.

However, as good musicians know, we cannot dodge the happy chore of practising our scales and studies and technique. If we collapse at any time, a bit of laughter soon picks the fainted member up off the floor and we start again.

Oh happy days!

Cecilia Conwaye-Wright

Music at Cecilia’s

4

AROUND THE COURSES (Cont.)

The Great Song Writers

Most of this term was devoted to the man widely considered

to be one of the greatest songwriters in American history –

Irving Berlin. Over five weeks, we followed his 70-year

career from his first published song, "Marie from Sunny Italy",

in 1907, through to “An Old Fashioned Wedding,” written for

a revival of Annie Get Your Gun.

Irving Berlin produced an outpouring of ballads, dance

numbers, novelty tunes and love songs that defined

American popular song for much of the century. A sampling

of just some of the Irving Berlin standards includes “How

Deep Is the Ocean”, “Blue Skies”, “White Christmas”,

“Always”, “There's No Business Like Show Business”,

“Cheek to Cheek”, “Puttin' on the Ritz”, “Heat Wave”, “Easter

Parade” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”.

Other talks this term included a look at how the standard popular song is structured – the

verse, the chorus and the lyric. We listened to the songs of German-born composer Kurt

Weill who wrote “Mack the Knife” and the bitter-sweet ballad “September Song”. The final talk

was devoted to the operettas of Sigmund Romberg, with songs from The Desert

Song and The Student Prince.

Next term will begin with a study of the songs of British songwriter Noel Coward.

John Funnell

Rambling through History

We started the year with a 5-part video entitled World War I.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be one of the worst made

videos we had ever seen - repeated film clips of the war

dubbed with annoying soundtrack of gun-fire that almost

totalling drowned out the associated commentary. After

three episodes, we decided to "give it the flick". Luckily, it

had been given to me as a Xmas present, so I hadn't spent

good money on it.

The rest of the term we watched Michael Wood's documentary "The Story of India" (kindly

donated by Henk Stroet). On the whole, this has been quite good, though Wood sometimes

accepts local explanations of events too uncritically. This is a 6-part video, so we will not finish

the whole series this term.

We have decided to use our accumulated tea/coffee money to buy some history videos, since

we no longer have access to the ACMI library.

Brian Beck

5

AROUND THE COURSES (Cont.)

Music you like to hear

Christmas is long behind us, but we still remember finishing the year 2014 in real Christmas

spirit by watching a traditional Advent Concert from the Frauenkirche in Dresden with fantastic

soloists, choir and orchestra. This was only the 3rd Advent Concert given after the

reconstruction and opening of the new baroque church. Originally built in 1727, it vanished from

the city’s skyline in 1943 in the wartime bombing. It had been a pile of rubble until 1989, the

unification of the country; when a group of people, Germans, British and Americans formed a

trust; then with the help of modern technology rebuilt it using original materials and plans. In all

its splendour it is now not only a place of worship again, but a venue for wonderful concerts.

The New Year for us began with the nationalist Czech composers Smetana and Dvorak.

Another programme with ballet music by Tchaikovsky gave some of us itchy feet, and maybe if

it wasn’t for the common aches and pains in all of us, we

‘could have danced all night.’

Sopranos featured in another programme; all of them have

sung in Melbourne in recent times, and all of them are not

only in beautiful voice but also beautiful in appearance.

‘Desert Island Discs’ was a varied concert chosen by class

members who also introduced their favourite pieces.

We have had lots of fun guessing the different animals in the

‘Carnival of the Animals’ by Saint-Saens. The winner with the most

number of correct answers won a prize: (John).

Coming up will be Handel’s ‘Ode for St Cecilia’s Day’. She is the patron

saint of music and it finishes with:

The trumpet shall be heard on high,

The dead shall live; the living die,

And music shall untune the sky!

Anna Mitchell

When you're happy, you enjoy the music;When you're happy, you enjoy the music;When you're happy, you enjoy the music;When you're happy, you enjoy the music;

when you're sad you understand the lyricswhen you're sad you understand the lyricswhen you're sad you understand the lyricswhen you're sad you understand the lyrics

Computers

This term we will be covering topics on how to create PowerPoint presentations

in the afternoon (1-3pm) slot while the morning class (10am-12noon will be for

those keen to learn the very basics of how to use a computer, iPad or tablet.

Don Lee

6

AROUND THE COURSES (Cont.)

Armchair movies will be going into recess for the next two terms. We will

meet again at the start of Term Four on Monday 5 October. Dave will be

going away.

Armchair Movies

U3A WERRIBEE 2015 AGM REPORT

The 23rd U3A Werribee AGM was held on Thursday 26th February 2015 at the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club Hogans Road, with 44 members present and 8 members having tendered their apologies. The guests present were: Mayor, Peter Maynard, Steve Butyn, Principal Werribee Secondary College, Francis Horton Moonee Valley U3A, Christine Nicholson Footscray U3A, Dorothy Kendal and Carol Hurworth AltonaU3A .

At the meeting reports from our President Glenys Welsh and Treasurer John Preston were tabled. For the election of 2015 office bearers, nominations were received and the following were duly elected:

President : John Preston Vice President : Libby Pearson

Treasurer : Jadwiga Rodginski Secretary : Dave Callan

Course Coordinator Brian Kilfoyle Membership Coordinator: Janette Allen

Committee members: Don Lee, Rita Funnell and Merle Deslandes.

If members would like a complete copy of the minutes of the AGM,

please contact the U3A Werribee Secretary, Dave Callan.

Our guest speaker on this occasion was Mr Darren Hellmann,

President of the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club (see photo). In his

interesting address, Darren provided a brief history of the Hoppers

Crossing Sports Club and outlined the work that had been carried out

over the last few years to get the club to the stage where they now

have the impressive facilities that we see today. He also referred to

how pleased the club was to have the good relationship with

Werribee U3A and hoped that this would continue for many years to come.

SOME MORE WELL - AGED WISDOM QUOTES

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional

(Chili Davis - former Jamacan/USA baseball player)

It’s sad to grow old but nice to ripen (Bridget Bardot -

former French actress now aged 80)

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old

you were? (Satchel Paige—former American baseball player)

Everyone is the age of their heart (Guatemalan Proverb)

7

MERLE’S SOCIAL ACTIVITES & OUTINGS

Bookings for our visit on 13 May 2015 to the museum for the WW1 Centenary Exhibition, followed by a guided Tour of the Royal Exhibition Building, will be out soon. The Royal Exhibition Building was built in 1879 for Melbourne's first International Exhibition and was chosen for the opening of the first Commonwealth Parliament of Australia on 9th May 1901. Recently, it became Australia's first World Heritage listed Building. Please let me know if you want to join us on this outing.

Our bookings for the Lion King are now closed and it won’t be long before we will all be enjoying this production. Having seen it last time, I know you are in for a great afternoon, as the music Is wonderful.

Merle Deslandes, 9749 7746

PASS ON THOSE GREAT IDEAS

Many of our older generation grew up in families where good ideas about

using ordinary things was well known. I wonder how many young adult of

today’s generation know about these extraordinary uses. Well here are a

few ideas to reminisce about and to pass on to our modern generations.

From: Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary things - Readers Digest

Do you have a great idea that you would like to pass on to our

U3A members? If so please send it to us so we can publish it.

Beer ☺ Use as a setting lotion for hair ☺Soften up tough meat

Bicarb ☺ Clean crayon marks ☺Make invisible ink ☺Deodorise garbage bins

☺ Clear weeds from concrete cracks ☺remove tea & coffee stains from cups

Bananas ☺ Make a face mask ☺ Attract birds and butterflies (overripe bananas)

Lemons ☺ Keep insects out of rooms ☺ Make soggy lettuce crisp ☺Remove warts

Salt ☺ Cleaning various items ☺ Poaching eggs ☺ Relieve stings & bites

☺ Repel fleas on pets ☺ Remove wine from a carpet ☺ Keep milk fresh

Tooth-

paste ☺ Get ink marks out of fabrics ☺Clean piano keys ☺Polish diamond rings

Vinegar ☺Clear dirt off computers ☺Get rid of smoke odour ☺ Remove carpet stains

Tea ☺ Turn grey hair dark again ☺ Cool sunburned skin ☺ Relieve tired eyes

8

WIN A BRAND NEW iPAD FROM TECH SAVVY SENIORS!

If you are in Victoria and have a Seniors Card, there

is an iPad up for grabs through the Tech Savvy Sen-

iors iPad Competition.

Simply visit seniorsonline.vic.gov.au to go in the run-

ning to win your own iPad!

Victorian Tech Savvy Seniors is a Seniors Card Age

Friendly Partners program with Telstra. It is designed

to give Victorian seniors, particularly those in regional

and rural Victoria, the opportunity to develop the skills

to use technology for socialising, accessing important services or conducting personal business.

As part of the program, public libraries in regional and rural Victoria are currently delivering

technology training to Victorian seniors. Additionally, you can access a series of online educa-

tional training resources and videos at no cost and borrow training DVDs from

libraries across Victoria.

Full details of the program are available at seniorsonline.vic.gov.au, the Victorian Government

website for older Victorians, or at www.telstra.com.au/telstra-seniors.

Entries close 31 May 2015.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS

We welcome the following new U3A Werribee members:

Suzanne Butler Jennifer Cahoon Francie Hill

Angela Hargreaves Shoana Machin (associate member)

Linda Kazlauskas Geoff Lasslett Patricia and Keith O’Connell

Noreen Lormans James Todd Lynn and Raymond Weedon

In the last newsletter we were delighted to celebrate with the fifteen of our U3A folk who have been members of Werribee U3A for 20 years or more. Now this time we are celebrating with others who have been members for between fifteen and nineteen years

Anna Mitchell (16) Barbara Rubeli (16) Noela Maskell (16)

Joan Greenhill (17) Hinton Lowe (17)

Helma and Wally Balodis (18) Margaret Crossley (18)

Norma Henry (19) Doreen Easton (19) Elizabeth Pearson (19)

Your valued support for our Werribee U3A is very much appreciated and we salute your involvement and commitment over these past fifteen and more years.

9

PROGRAM OF COURSES FOR TERM 2 OF 2015

Monday 20 April to 19 June 2015

Day/Time Activity Group Leader/Tutor Venue

MONDAY

10.00 - 12.00 Ramblings through History Brian Beck 9741 5460 HCSC

10.00 - 12.00 Lunch & Movie Group (1) Judy Conn 9734 0402 SY

10.00 - 12.00 The Christians: Their History Cecilia Conwaye-Wright 8742 2860 PH1

10.30 - 12.00 Photography John Moore 9734 7537 HCSC

01.00 - 02.00 Tai Chi Marie Dean 9741 7733 HCSC

TUESDAY

09.45 - 11.45 Needlecraft Faye Weston

Ruth Boyce

9741 4792

9741 4377

HCSC

09.30 - 10.30 Senior Men in Light Exercises Tony Bradford 9749 2248 HCSC

10.00 - 11.30 Great Songwriter’s Course John Funnell 9741 7693 PH2

10.00 - 12.00 Beginners Computer Course Don Lee 9749 2798 TCC

01.00 - 02.30 Music at Cecilia’s Cecilia Conwaye-Wright 8742 2860 PH1

01.00 - 03.00 Intermediate Computer Course Don Lee 9749 2798 TCC

WEDNESDAY

09.45 - 12.00 Mosaic Helen Galea 9749 1207 WCC

10.00 - 12.00 Beginners French Ralph Pearson 9749 8295 HCSC

10.00 - 12.00 Intermediate French & Culture Barbara Rubeli

Brian Smith

9741 5816

9395 7670

HCSC

01.00 - 03.00 Australian History Denise Clarke

Merle Deslandes

9742 2429

9749 7746

HCSC

01.30 - 04.30 Cards - 500 Nicky Hodgman 9749 1131 SD

01.30 - 03.00 Book Club (2) Libby Pearson 9749 8295 PH

03.00 - 04.30 German Wolfgang Grichting 9731 0338 HCSC

THURSDAY

10.00 - 11.30 Current Affairs Tony Mason 9741 6476 HCSC

01.15 - 02.45 Yoga for Older People Barbara Knowles 9731 7770 UC

FRIDAY

09.00 - 11.45 Introduction to Bridge Serita Mudford 9742 7568 HCSC

09.00 - 11.45 Bridge Brian Kilfoyle

John Funnell

0409 073 869

9749 8295

HCSC

01.00 - 03.00 Music You Like To Hear Anna Mitchell 9741 2730 HCSC

01.00 - 03.00 Singing for Fun Robyn Camilleri 9748 1356 WCC

Notes: (1) The Lunch & Movie Group meets the second Monday of the month at the Sun Theatre, Yarraville.

(2) The Book Club meets the second Wednesday of the month at members' houses.

ENQUIRIES RING BRIAN KILFOYLE 0409 073 869

01.00 - 03.30 Armchair Movies In recess

10

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 emailed to:

newsletter.u3awbee@hotmail.com

Closing date for the next edition is 12 June 2015

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

Venues