Member of U3A Network Queensland

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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

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Office Bearers:

President
Brendan Dever

Vice President
Tina Jones

Secretary
Yvonne Berry

Treasurer
Helen Atkinson

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Committee members:

Course Co-ordinator
Tina Jones

Membership Secretary
Derani Gearey

Assistant Secretary
Grace Gregory

Assistant Membership Secretary and Assistant Treasurer
Stuart Gearey

Publicity Officer
Cheryl Folley

Assistant Publicity Officer
Diane Rewko

Newsletter
Yvonne Berry

Web Manager
Peter Venz

Social Activities Facilitator
Di Johnson

Facebook Co-ordinator
Pat Hughes

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Beaudesert U3A Facebook Page

Committee Contact Details

Friends of the Committee

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Join Beaudesert U3A

Our Sponsors

Our Newsletters

Courses Time Table

Contents Page

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Dates - Activities

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

Term 2 starts 4th April 2022 and finishes 24th June 2022.

Queensland School Term Dates for 2022 can be found on the Contents Page.

Next Committee Meeting
Friday 27th May 2022. 09.30am Venue 12/61-85 Brisbane St (RSL Sub Branch Upstairs).

Important Notices

U3A Network
The official 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

The next social lunch will be at the "Beaudesert Golf Club" on the 13th May at 12 noon.

The Golf Club meets all Covid mandates.

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.

Vaccination mandate relaxation from Thursday 14 April

Queensland Health has published the following announcement regarding relaxation of the COVID vaccination mandate:

"From 1am AEST Thursday 14 April 2022, the requirement to check-in and to be fully vaccinated in a range of venues and events will end. Venues include pubs, clubs, cafes and restaurants; theme parks, casinos and cinemas; weddings; showgrounds; and galleries, libraries, museums and stadiums. Vaccination and check-in requirements will continue for anyone visiting or working in vulnerable settings (hospitals, disability accommodation services and residential aged care) as well as for workers in high-risk settings including schools, childcare, prisons and airports. Until then, the current vaccination and check-in requirements on this page remain in effect."

Additional Information

The Qld Health website added the following: Why are we easing restrictions now, given that there are thousands of daily COVID-19 cases?
The current restrictions have achieved their purpose: slowing the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring that Queenslanders came forward to get vaccinated to protect themselves and the community.
The Chief Health Officer has advised that we can safely remove these restrictions and still maintain a high level of protection for the community, thanks to the fact that more than 90% of Queenslanders aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated.
Case numbers have stabilised, and although our hospitalisations have increased, they remain well within capacity. We are confident that removing the vaccination requirements in certain settings is not going to result in increased risks for Queenslanders.

U3A Beaudesert update

In line with the announced relaxation and the advice of the Chief Health Officer this is to advise that U3A Beaudesert will also lift COVID-19 vaccination restrictions on attendance by members at U3A Beaudesert functions and courses from 14 April 2022. Please note that we are still bound by the policy of the venue where events are held. A further update will be posted prior to 14 April detailing any known venue restrictions.

Ongoing precautions

COVID-19 remains a potentially serious disease. Do not attend any U3A functions or courses if any of the following apply to you. Please notify your tutor or facilitator of the circumstances.
• if you are unwell and have COVID-19 symptoms – fever (37. 5°C or higher) or symptoms of COVID-19
• if you are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are within their self-isolation period
• if you live in a household with a person who is currently self-isolating
• if you are waiting on a COVID-19 test result

We're all looking forward to another step in 'back to normal'. Please take care of yourselves, and follow appropriate COVID-19 precautions.

   
Brendan Dever
President 0418 192 999

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Social Lunch at Crunchies - Jimboomba

U3A had their April lunch at Crunchies, Jimboomba on Friday 8 April.

Despite some cancellations due to sickness, 21 members and guests enjoyed their time and food there. We had a choice of sweet or savoury dishes. I don’t think, that because of the size of the servings, we could have managed both, although some in parties of two did share both. The food was presented beautifully.

A very enjoyable lunch was had by all who attended.
   
Di Johnson
Social activities Facilitator

Photos Tina Jones and George Evans

"LINE DANCING - THE FUN WAY TO EXERCISE"

The U3A line dancing group currently comprises around 20 to 25 friendly people who meet at The Centre in Brisbane Street on Tuesdays 1.45 to 3.45pm. The Centre has a large hall which makes social distancing while dancing easy. We are partially subsidised by the Scenic Rim Regional Council's Be Healthy and Active program. Cost is $3.00 per session to help towards the cost of hall hire. U3A non-members are welcome to 'try before they buy' for a few weeks, paying the $3.00 per session as mentioned above. If they decide it is for them, then they need to join U3A. The spinoff is that they can then partake of U3A's other many and varied activities.

We are a relaxed, beginner group with many easy and some slightly more challenging dances. The music and styles cover almost all genres including country, rock n roll, cha cha, swing and waltz. And because we need to dance to it, the music is always catchy and/or melodic.

I asked some of the participants why they like to line dance.

“Enjoyable exercise”
“Enjoy the social contact”_
“I love the variety of music”
“You don't need a partner”
“It has increased my balance and body springiness”
“I like the challenge of learning a new dance”
“Line dancing with this group gives me great team camaraderie and mental stimulation”
"It's great fun!”
   
Marg Arnold
Ph. 0422 415 145
Line Dancing

"New leaders for U3A in Beaudesert"

Beaudesert U3A has a new president and four new committee members following the annual general meeting recently. After eight years of widely acclaimed service as president, Andy Fechner was happy to accept the offer of honorary life membership. He took over the role in 2014 and from then until the end of 2021, oversaw a growth in membership from fewer than 90 to more than 340 and a constant offering of 20+ courses ranging from sports to art and interest activities such as gardening.

It was always Andy's aim to say "thank you" to those who made U3A a vibrant group and he did this through annual recognition of tutors and committee members with a free lunch and award of Tutor of the Year. All members were also offered their chance to join in inclusive yearly lunches to mark Christmas and Christmas-in-July.

Long-time Beaudesert resident Brendan Dever has taken on the role of president, with new committee members Derani Gearey, Diane Rewko, Grace Gregory and Patrick Hughes putting up their hands to take on various roles within the committee. Retirees at the agm were George Evans (website manager) and Michele Goucher (membership secretary). For Andy, George and Michele it will be U3A life continuing - Andy as facilitator of the weekly discussion group, George coordinating the croquet group with wife Rita and Michele continuing as facilitator for Mah jong. Our busy course coordinator Tina Jones now adds an additional role as vice-president. Other continuing committee members are: Yvonne Berry (secretary), Helen Atkinson (treasurer) and Stuart Gearey (assistant treasurer/membership), Peter Venz (website), Di Johnson (social activities) and Cheryl Folley (publicity).

   
Cheryl Folley
Publicity

If you have an interest in mosaics or line dancing, now is the time to take advantage of the Be Healthy and Active program which is sponsored by the Scenic Rim Regional Council.
Both activities are available for non-members of U3A to try out over a period of up to ten weeks, before making any decision about joining U3A.
The only expense is a small ($3) contribution to room hire/ refreshments for each session.

The Mosaics group meets at the Arts and Information Centre at 2-14 Enterprise Drive from 1.30 to 3.30 pm on Mondays.
This is a creative and energetic group, which enjoys the occasional social outing as well as sparking each other into varied and attractive artistic creations!

Contact Tina on 0418 780 861 for more information.

Line dancing is held in The Centre (next door to the SRRC offices) in Brisbane street on Tuesdays from 12.45 to 2.45 pm, with plenty of space to move and air conditioning to make life easy.

Members also try out various dance steps as well as line dancing.

Contact is Marg at 0422 415 145.

Expect the unexpected is the rule at one U3A group, the trivia puzzlers who meet every Wednesday afternoon at St Thomas' Church hall in Beaudesert. And members agree that they always leave the hall having learnt something new.

There are 75 questions to get through each time and the pace at times can be brisk, depending partly on who is the quizmaster for the day.

"It's never an onerous job for one quizmaster, because the members volunteer to take turns in setting the questions," says Jenny Hughes, organiser of the group which attracts 14-18 members regularly but always has room for more. "Questions come from a wide range of sources, including TV, magazines, Google, local knowledge or news bulletins. Sometimes we have quite spirited discussions about the answers, but the rule we follow is that the quizmaster on the day is the ultimate authority.

There are no prizes for the most correct answers. Says Jenny: "We don't play for sheep stations or have any prizes as it's all about playing against yourself and seeing how much you can retrieve from your memory bank.... trivia is a great way to keep your brain active.

"Our focus is on having fun and socialising."

The questions are asked in two sets of 25, followed by a cuppa and biscuits, then the final set of 25 questions. When the answers follow says Jenny, there can be a few groans and comments of "Oh no, I just couldn't think - I knew that answer, really!" but always, she says,"we leave knowing something that we didn't know previously."

   
Cheryl Folley
Publicity Officer

   
Photos Tina Jones
Tutor/Co-ordinator