Our Sixth Christmas together!
While numbers attending have been affected by Covid, the group thoroughly enjoyed spending time together in early December reflecting on Christmas, past and present.
Dorothy Webber
Dorothy Webber
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I haven't been able to part with Garfield yet.
With the exception of my childhood 1960s teddy bear and my late sister's 1950s battered and well-hugged teddy, he's the only soft toy I own. Garfield was bought in 1988 at Surfers Paradise where I stayed while visiting World Expo 88 in Brisbane. You might remember the over $600 million, six month long event with 100 pavilions, 36 participating countries and 18 million visitors. Garfield began in 1976 as an American comic strip called Jon after Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, and was created by cartoonist Jim Davis. Garfield's name and personality came from Jim's cantankerous grandfather, James A Garfield Davis. The strip became Garfield in 1978 and in 2013 it took the Guiness World Record for the most widely syndicated comic strip. Known for his laziness, sarcasm and eating, Garfield hates Mondays,diets and any exertion. His favorite food is lasagna but, over the years, he has slimmed down gradually and now walks on two feet instead of four. Call me naive, but I recently learned Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was only created in 1939 for an American store, Montgomery Ward, by copy writer, Robert May. The other reindeer of Santa Claus are from the 1823 poem, A Visit From St Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, which we know as The Night Before Christmas. Rudolph began life as a free Montgomery Ward colouring-in book for children at Christmas time and singing cowboy, Gene Autry, recorded the now famous song in 1949. Wishing Collectors' members and the wider Benalla U3A community a very bright Christmas and New Year. Jacquie Schwind In December, 'Collectors' brought along Christmas themed items, perhaps a Christmas present they were given or planning to give, a decoration, an item bringing back memories of family and friends at Christmas.
 The theme for the final session of Collectors in 2017 was ‘Christmas’. The table was covered in a Christmas tablecloth and decorated with brass candlestick holders and red candles. Later a red runner was added to the setting and a Christmas tree decorated with lollies. There weren’t too many lollies left at the end of the session. Most of those who attended brought along something ‘Christmassy’. We had some rather large reindeer which had originally been brown paper but were now proudly gold. Jennifer had bought them in Melbourne when she was there to see Phantom of the Opera. They went with her to the Phantom, as in those days you could take large bags into the theatre. We also saw Louise’s antique Santa from America, fondly brought out each year. Christmas tree decorations brought for grandchildren to hang on their tree, an antique looking gramophone which played Christmas carols and a very old and much loved book of music featuring Christmas carols which the owner had played when she was a child. A Wedgewood Christmas bauble which was very delicate and beautiful was brought along. It was really nice to see all the various items ,too many to mention but they will be added to the slideshow. After morning tea, which included mince tarts to add to our Christmas theme, Bev showed a slideshow of the items we had brought along during the year. Thank you Bev.  It has been a very enjoyable and successful year. Collectors will start again on February 12th and the theme which has been suggested is ‘kitchenalia’.
Judith Borthwick The theme for 'Collectors' final session for 2017 was ‘Christmas’. The table was covered in a Christmas tablecloth and decorated with brass candlestick holders and red candles. Later a red runner was added to the setting and a Christmas tree decorated with lollies. There weren’t too many lollies left at the end of the session. Most of those who attended brought along something ‘Christmassy’. We had some rather large reindeer which had originally been brown paper but were now proudly gold. Jennifer had bought them in Melbourne when she was there to see Phantom of the Opera – they also went to Phantom, as in those days you could take large bags into the theatre.
We also saw Louise’s antique Santa from America, fondly brought out each year. Christmas tree decorations brought for grandchildren to hang on their tree, an antique looking gramophone which played Christmas carols and a very old and much loved book of music featuring Christmas carols which the owner had played when she was a child. A Wedgewood Christmas bauble which was very delicate and beautiful was brought along. It was really nice to see all the various items ,too many to mention but they will be added to the slideshow. After morning tea, which included mince tarts to add to our Christmas theme, Bev showed a slideshow of the items we had brought along during the year. Thank you Bev. It has been a very enjoyable and successful year. Collectors will start again on February 12th and the theme which has been suggested is ‘kitchenalia’. Judith Borthwick |
About the Collectors' group
Meeting Times
1st Monday 10 - 12
U3A Meeting Room Convenor/ contact details
Dorothy Webber
Convenor 0412 263 071 
Janet Gourley
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November 2023
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