The recent Benalla Festival theme ‘Live local, love local’ inspired our icebreaker in November. We then read through retired journalist Richard Glover’s humorous ‘memoir’ ‘Tuesday dentist, Wednesday blood test, Thursday physio – welcome to retirement’ (The Age, October 25, 2025), which ended, you probably guessed it… ‘It’s better, of course, than the alternative.’
Tom’s tongue-in-cheek story ‘One Moment This Year’ elaborated on the moment he learnt through experience ‘never to stand open bottles of nail polish remover anywhere near a laptop’. Merv’s story 'The Mothership', about his ‘1994 Series Two Mitsubishi Delica’, also revealed a light comedic touch. Barry’s 'One Moment this Year' story, humorously titled ‘The ABN that Refused to Die’, ended with a remarkable coincidence.
Carmyl reflected that writing ‘The Year That Changed Me’ on the year-long period during which she changed from Ballarat High School to Geelong High School, led to her realising just how significant this period had been in her life.
In ‘18 months of my life 1976 – 1977’, James remembers the incredibly complex ‘uniform accoutrements’ he had to wear during his training as an Airforce pilot in New Zealand almost 50 years ago.
Max’s story, set in a small rural town of Longwarry in ‘The 50’s’ (70 years ago!), introduced us to his friend Sprig and Sprig’s car Maud, a Ford. The local girls apparently steered clear of Maud as ‘the only door that would open from the inside was the driver’s door’. Friend Rowdy, his widowed mother, ‘Myrt’, and local character Trapper McAlpine also featured.
Set 60 to 75 years ago, Ray’s story focused on his early working life as a stock and station agent with the Victorian Producers Cooperative. Coincidentally, a now 82-year old who drove cattle to the Benalla saleyards from his family farm as a teenager recently contacted Ray through our webpage!
10 years ago, Neville shared a story in which he compared life in London when he worked there in 1968 with his impressions during a return visit in 2014. Neville shared a selection of impressions from this story with us.
Members who find gardening therapeutic particularly enjoyed Robyn’s ‘How Can I Stop From …. gardening’; while in a ‘Memorable People’ story, Jan remembered Lurg neighbour and friend, artist Hugh Sawrey, CBE 1919 to 1999. Finally, in his story ‘Life Challenges – Writing’, Merv shared another lightly comedic, yet at the same time quite serious, story of working to overcome the challenge of dyslexia across his life’s journey.
We spent a few minutes scrolling through stories written by some of our members this year; noting that stories often sit under several topics and can form collections. We also previewed the topics for February 2026 – ‘Triggers’ and ‘This (…) Life’ (refer (previous post for details).
An enjoyable end of year session accompanied by home-made and boutique chocolates; Jan’s delicious shortbread and more!
Tom’s tongue-in-cheek story ‘One Moment This Year’ elaborated on the moment he learnt through experience ‘never to stand open bottles of nail polish remover anywhere near a laptop’. Merv’s story 'The Mothership', about his ‘1994 Series Two Mitsubishi Delica’, also revealed a light comedic touch. Barry’s 'One Moment this Year' story, humorously titled ‘The ABN that Refused to Die’, ended with a remarkable coincidence.
Carmyl reflected that writing ‘The Year That Changed Me’ on the year-long period during which she changed from Ballarat High School to Geelong High School, led to her realising just how significant this period had been in her life.
In ‘18 months of my life 1976 – 1977’, James remembers the incredibly complex ‘uniform accoutrements’ he had to wear during his training as an Airforce pilot in New Zealand almost 50 years ago.
Max’s story, set in a small rural town of Longwarry in ‘The 50’s’ (70 years ago!), introduced us to his friend Sprig and Sprig’s car Maud, a Ford. The local girls apparently steered clear of Maud as ‘the only door that would open from the inside was the driver’s door’. Friend Rowdy, his widowed mother, ‘Myrt’, and local character Trapper McAlpine also featured.
Set 60 to 75 years ago, Ray’s story focused on his early working life as a stock and station agent with the Victorian Producers Cooperative. Coincidentally, a now 82-year old who drove cattle to the Benalla saleyards from his family farm as a teenager recently contacted Ray through our webpage!
10 years ago, Neville shared a story in which he compared life in London when he worked there in 1968 with his impressions during a return visit in 2014. Neville shared a selection of impressions from this story with us.
Members who find gardening therapeutic particularly enjoyed Robyn’s ‘How Can I Stop From …. gardening’; while in a ‘Memorable People’ story, Jan remembered Lurg neighbour and friend, artist Hugh Sawrey, CBE 1919 to 1999. Finally, in his story ‘Life Challenges – Writing’, Merv shared another lightly comedic, yet at the same time quite serious, story of working to overcome the challenge of dyslexia across his life’s journey.
We spent a few minutes scrolling through stories written by some of our members this year; noting that stories often sit under several topics and can form collections. We also previewed the topics for February 2026 – ‘Triggers’ and ‘This (…) Life’ (refer (previous post for details).
An enjoyable end of year session accompanied by home-made and boutique chocolates; Jan’s delicious shortbread and more!
It was also time for the annual photograph - it's missing Neville and Ray, who were chatting in the kitchen; and Heather, Joan, John and Tom, apologies on the day.
Looking towards 2026, after 11 years ‘going it alone’, Anne Stewart and Graham Jensen have agreed to join me in convening ‘As Time Goes By’. Thank you both!
Bev Lee
Bev Lee
