Member of U3A Network Queensland

---

ABN 88 945 460 759

Contact address:

Beaudesert U3A Inc
P.O. Box 561
Beaudesert, Qld, 4285

Email: u3abeaudesert@gmail.com

Street map of Beaudesert

---

Office Bearers:

President
Andy Fechner

Vice President
Lise Leatherbarrow

Secretary
Yvonne Berry

Treasurer
Helen Atkinson

---

Committee members:

Course Co-ordinator
Tina Jones

Membership Secretary
Michele Goucher

Assistant Membership Secretary and Assistant Treasurer
Stuart Gearey

Publicity Officer
Cheryl Folley

Newsletter
Yvonne Berry

Webmaster
George Evans

Assistant Webmaster
Peter Venz

Social Activities Facilitator
Di Johnson

Facebook Co-ordinator
Debbie Pratt

---

Beaudesert U3A Facebook Page

Committee Contact Details

Friends of the Committee

---

Join Beaudesert U3A

Our Sponsors

Our Newsletters

Courses Time Table

Contents Page

---

Dates - Activities

B.U.G.s Latest News.
Use Gardening Group Button at top of this page.

Term 4 starts 5th October 2021 and finishes 10th December 2021.

Queensland School Term Dates for 2021 can be found on the Contents Page.

Next Committee Meeting
Friday 24th September 2021. 09.30am Venue 12/61-85 Brisbane St (RSL Sub Branch Upstairs).

Important Notices

U3A Network
The official (New) U3A Network website is up and running with a link to Network News, the home page of the website and also Facebook:

click here to go to U3A State Web Network News

click here to go to U3A State Web Site

Click here to go to U3A State Website Facebook Page

Click here to go to Brisbane U3A Web Site

Next Social Lunch Outing Friday 10th September at the Jimboomba Tavern 12.00.

RSVP to Di ASAP Email - candyroxy1946@gmail.com Phone/text - 0468 849 448

New Groups and Recessions
A number of new groups have started, due to seasonal changes, some have gone into recess and some restarted. For more information, please go to current Courses button at the top of this page.

Click here for Mount Tamborine April Newsletter and Courses

Beaudesert Tennis Club Some of our members belong to the local Beaudesert Tennis Club. By reciprocal arrangement and for the benefit of members, we have agreed to a link between our Web Sites click here to go to Beaudesert Tennis Club Web Site

WHAT IS A U3A
The University of the Third Age is a mutual aid self-help movement - a modern community of scholars and artists, catering primarily for people in the Third Age of their lives.

OUR AIMS
The overall aim of Beaudesert U3A Inc. is to provide the members with both the stimulus of mental and physical activity and the satisfaction of a continuing contribution to society. It will enable them to take up new interests and to extend old ones. It will offer the joy of learning for the sake of learning: it will open up new horizons for them - unrestricted by the requirements of vocation or the desire for qualifications, and it will do so, principally by drawing upon the extensive life experience, skills and energies of the members. It is a mutual aid self-help movement - a modern community of scholars, catering primarily for people in the Third Age of their lives.

Beaudesert U3A promotes the joy of learning for the sake of learning, and seeks to open up new horizons for its members unrestricted by the requirements of vocation or the desire for qualifications. It does so, principally by drawing upon the extensive life experience, skills and energies of members.

HISTORY OF U3A
The history of U3A and how they operate is on this page.

Members of our newest group, ukulele, have had a very up-and-down experience since the group began to meet in March this year. Most of the group were beginners and highly enthusiastic about learning more on this instrument, so not being able to practice together was a double whammy as they lacked guidance on what to try out at home. But recently they emerged again from yet another lockdown, with their regular Thursday afternoon get-together in St. Thomas's Church hall, carefully spaced around the room and masked to meet Covid restrictions.
Tutor Finella Loch also found a way around the accepted practice of members playing to accompany the ukulele - with a Spotify app which members can use at home - "we're actually increasing our technology skills as well!" says Finella.
"We can sing along to the recordings because singing with masks on becomes quite exhausting after an hour and a half."

Finella was a "campfire strummer" when she put up her hand to lead the group, and was happy when a co-tutor arrived in the form of John Britten, who had played since childhood and had led a ukulele group in Swan Hill, Victoria.
Our ukulele players are now hoping for more consistent practice with lockdowns held at bay.
Says Finella - "We are coming along in leaps and bounds: even at the first meeting the members learnt to play one song. The uke is such a joyful instrument and with just four chords you can already play a lot of well-known songs."

NB. Because of the restrictions surrounding singing groups, masks continue to be mandatory during a practice. However, after our visit to the ukulele group, we received the advice below from Queensland Health.

Do I need a mask for a media photo?

This is a question which arises frequently during these Covid times.
We recently received this advice from a Queensland Health Department spokesperson:
"Anyone having a photo taken does not need a mask. It is brief. You can stand up to have a photo taken and be close together. The risk is low."

When we take photos for Beaudesert U3A stories, we always let people know the possible destinations for our publicity, and ask anyone who does not wish to be included either for photos or quotes, to simply let us know and stand aside.
We will continue to use this approach for photographs for anyone who is unhappy to be photographed without a mask.

   
Cheryl Folley
Publicity Officer

>
   
Photos Finella Loch
Tutor/Facilitator

Recently we organised and subsidised a first aid course for eight of our volunteer tutors, conducted by Mick Kajewski, who runs first aid and CPR courses as well as operating the Beaudesert pool in summer. The eight participants studied theory beforehand and sat a theory test via email before turning to the practical work on the following Saturday.

The course was arranged at the request of John Leatherbarrow, who runs the summer aqua-aerobics course and also the current U3A Exercise in the Park group in Jubilee Park weekly, when he realised that the group in the park did not have ready access to a first aid helper if the need arose.

Liz Avery attended the course and reported that Mick was "an excellent communicator" whose course she could certainly recommend.

"It reinforced the need for everyone to have a basic knowledge of CPR in particular and the use of our defibrillator, which is kept with the tennis/table tennis groups and available to any U3A groups," she said. "It is also good to have a first aid kit in your car and Mick is happy to help with stocking yours.

Another useful tool is the Emergency Plus App which would be critical for first responders to find you quickly in an emergency."

   
Cheryl Folley
Publicity Officer

---

Beaudesert U3A Monthly Luncheon

Beaudesert Friday Monthly luncheon was held at the The Jimboomba Tavern on the 12th September and was attended by 34 members, some were partners and friends.
Covid 19 protocols were adhered to and everyone was greeted and shown to their table. Service was very good with a short wait of about 20 minutes before main meals were mostly served at the same time. Food quantity and quality was excellent and good value for money. Coffee and tea was available following the meal. Comments from attendees were "highly recommended".

   
Photos George Evans
Webmaster

With a recent change of venue, it seemed a good time for our U3A Tutor Co-ordinator Tina Jones and Publicity Officer to visit the Jimboomba Card Group.

Games are brain fodder for our card players.
Card playing is a serious business... just ask any of our keen players who meet once or twice a week to follow their passion, either in Beaudesert or Jimboomba, and carry on for up to four hours in an afternoon. Their latest venue is the St James Anglican church property in East street, Jimboomba , where players gather in a separate, demountable room near the Op Shop every Thursday afternoon from noon until four pm to play Bolivia. It is a quiet and air conditioned space, with plenty of parking in the church grounds and wheelchair access.
"Just what we needed," says the cards coordinator Di Johnson, who also runs a U3A Beaudesert-based card group on Monday afternoons. The groups were run separately until a few years ago when the Jimboomba branch of U3A amalgamated with Beaudesert. Several players can't get enough card playing and also attend the Beaudesert games on Monday afternoons at the RSL in William street, now known as The Club. Players say they love the mental challenge.
"It's something for your brain. You really have to think about it; that's important," says Marcia Pain, who attends both weekly sessions.
And Wanda Slingo, who is wheelchair-bound, finds it keeps her mind exercised since she can no longer do physical exercise, and says the players become good friends.
Tricia Forse is a life-long card enthusiast grew up playing euchre, bridge and coon-can (which is similar to Bolivia) and has played cards in several countries across three continents with family members. "Covid has stopped that for the time being but I hope that won't last forever," she says.

When convenor Di realised that the card players were so engrossed that they weren't really socialising, she started what has become a U3A tradition - the monthly social lunches held at various local venues, where, she says, "they can, and do, talk to their heart's content." Members of any of U3A's 20-plus activities are happy to mix at these social lunches and find out what everyone else has been up to.

If you are a senior resident, either wanting to continue your card games of earlier years, or a "newbie" who would like to get started, U3A Beaudesert is happy to welcome new members at either weekly game, or both. Bolivia alone is played at Jimboomba, while in Beaudesert the two games of choice are 500 and Bolivia.

It doesn't matter if a group ends up with an uneven number of players. Di says 500 is particularly flexible and may be played with any number of players between three and six; Bolivia can be adapted to three or four players.

For more information, contact Di on 0468 849 448.

   
Cheryl Folley
Publicity Officer

   
Photos Tina Jones
Tutor Co-ordinator

Photos below of a number of players present when the visit commenced.

When it comes to recording family history for the next generation, U3A Beaudesert can offer a chance to combine two current courses - scrap-booking plus calligraphy (or “beautiful writing,” as the ancient Greeks knew it).
Our scrap-booking tutor Anita Mahon started attending the calligraphy course last year when she realised how valuable it would be to enhance her scrap booking classes with hand-done script. She has now started her own students on a challenging project, to construct an album from raw materials and then to fill it with their own stories.

Independently, a new member of our calligraphy class, Lorraine Henderson, came to the same conclusion from a different angle.
“I’ve collected calligraphy tools for something like 30 years with the idea that someday I would use them,” says Lorraine. “Now I have started on making family albums for all eight of my children and step-children and realise how the two go hand-in -hand.”

Our new calligraphy tutor Robyn Vines will be mentoring Lorraine and any other interested students as they discover various fonts and applications for their proposed albums.

Anyone interested should contact Anita on 0408 452 584 or Robyn on 0439 721 325.

Scrapbooking classes are held on the second Monday morning of each month and calligraphy on the first and third Friday afternoons of the month. (And of course, students may wish to follow just one path with either subject).

   
Cheryl Folley
Publicity Officer

---

-->