The Convenors' meeting held in late October was very well attended, as the photo reveals!  The meeting proved most informative, with each Convenor sharing information about their course or activity.

As enrolment days for 2020 draw near, it's time to thank Convenors who have stepped back and new convenors who are 'stepping up' in 2020.  

Thank you so much Judith Borthwick (Collectors); Meg Dillon (Moments in Australian History; History of Western Civilisation; a four year 'opera subscription' series; Art Appreciation) ; Shirley Kearney (Chat N Chew) and Les Rogers (Tech Savvy Talks and Tech Savvy Talkers), for the important and highly valued roles you have taken in convening programs for U3A Benalla over the past four years.  Thank you for contributing to the newsletter and website - we hope you enjoy looking back at your reports over the next few years.

To Alex Adkins (Coin Collectors), Neville Gibb (A Different History of Germany), Brian Harker (The News - Fact or Fiction?), Janet Martens (German Conversation), Carol Perry and Broken River Artists (A Taste of Art), and Jane Rushworth (Demystifying Pschology), thank you for offering new programs. To Dorothy Webber (Collectors), Neville Gibb (Tech Savvy Talks), Max Powell (Life Ball) and others who have stepped up or are stepping up in 2020 to convene existing groups - thank you.  The preparedness to offer new programs and keep successful programs going makes U3A Benalla thrive.

Bev Lee
Programs Committee/Web Manager

Photograph:  David Palmer

Each month a report is placed in the Newsletter by either the Convener or their nominated person, giving a brief outline of the activities undertake by their group during the previous month.  As a limited number of pages can be folded comfortably in an envelope to be mailed to members who do not have Email access, it is suggested that these reports are concise but informative.  This is not possible in some cases, but please keep it in mind when presenting them for the Newsletter.

If you have any dates or times that you wish to notify your groups of upcoming activities, please include this information.    This information is then used to keep the calendar on the website up to date, keeping members informed.

Photos are also welcome, but a limit maybe placed on the number used in each edition as these take up megabytes and therefore the final Newsletter is above the required size for emailing out to members.   These photos are also passed onto the calendar convenor/website manager who uses them to update the webpage.

If a report is not received in time, it will be either left out of the Newsletter or a short summary may be inserted by the Editor, depending on information available from members.

The timeline for receipt of Newsletter reports, preparation and printing/emailing is as follows:

• Reports from conveners to be received by 25th day of each month.    Please forward report to newsletter@u3abenalla.com.   If you have the Email in your contacts on your computer/ipad please check that it is the correct email address for the Newsletter.    Old Newsletter addresses are no longer operational.
• Collating reports and setting up Newsletter to be completed by the last day of month.
• Calendar for the following month updated from reports at end of month, formatted ready for printing with Newsletter - this calendar will include the 1st week of classes in the next month.   e.g.  the upcoming April Newsletter has reports of March activities conducted.   Calendar is for April classes plus first week of May activities and attached to the rear of Newsletter.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Newsletter Editor Heather Wallace
newsletter@u3abenalla.com Phone: 0418 353 244

The 2019 orientation session for convenors will be held in the U3A Meeting Room at 10 am on Thursday 24th January.  All convenors are encouraged to attend.

You will find a Course Proposal Form on the side panel of this page. Please note that while completing one of these is helpful, it is not compulsory.  Our Programs Coordinator Terry Case or President Dorothy Webber often simply talk through what is required with new convenors.  

The proposal form is particularly useful during the planning stages for more complex new programs where the concept needs to be developed, particularly if there are co-convenors or even a team of convenors.  The proposal form can help to make ideas more concrete and highlight potential hurdles and ways to over come them, leading to increased chances of success. The document also provides useful documentation for the program committee and details which can be used in the Program Guide and on the Calendar.

You'll notice that the section with the 100 word course description for the Program Guide comes towards the end - basically because this often becomes clearer when working through the document.  If you decide not to complete the form as a whole, you will need to provide a short program description for the Program Guide to Programs Coordinator Terry Case.

If you would like support in developing a new course using the course planning proposal, please contact Bev on 5762 8171.  

​Convenors: 

An additional training day for convenors to learn to use the equipment in the meeting room is being offered on Tuesday 5th June at 1.30pm.  This is to supplement two sessions held on Tuesday 4th May & Wednesday 23 May 1.30 - 3.30 pm.

Contact Dorothy for further information 5762 2116

An earlier version of this announcement published on 28 April.   

A Convenor's year begins with the chance to share information about groups and activities to members and new members attending enrolment days.  There are two enrolment sessions - the first at 'The Hub', Cooinda on Monday 15th January from 9.30 to 11.30 pm; then a larger session in the main room at the Benalla Senior Citizens' Community Centre, again at 9.30 to 11.30 pm.  

Some helpful hints for new convenors - bring along a sign of some description to put in front of you - you will be sitting at tables along with other convenors - together with information about your course and a pad on which to write notes about people's requests.

Some groups receive lots of 'visits' - this is quite likely to be the case for new groups.

The enrolment days also provide an opportunity for members to catch up and for new members to be welcomed and introduced to other members.  Tea and coffee are available throughout the morning.  

If you are unable to attend one or both sessions and have information you would like to share about the group, you can 'pair' with another convenor or provide the information to Programs Coordinator, Terry Case, who will share it.

Late enrolments are accepted by mail or at the RedB4 Book Shop next to Hide's Bakery (forms/monies are left in envelopes for collection by U3A representative).  You may also find that rare cases members bring their forms and money to class - in this case you will need to pass it on (more details later).  

The enrolment days are to be followed up by a meeting for convenors on Thursday 25th January from 9.30 to 11.30 am in the U3A meeting room.  

See you there!  

​An orientation day for Course Convenors  will be held at the U3A room in the Benalla Senior Citizens Community Centre on Thursday Jan 25 from 9.30 to 11.30 am.  All convenors are asked to attend.

A few details from our latest meeting that some of you were unable to attend.

If you wish to extend your classes into December it is most important that you inform Dorothy asap so she can book them with the Council. At present we are working on all regular classes in the Seniors finishing in November, we will then offer members who wish to organize December meetings for games, films, coffee sessions etc the chance to book the room. Bill Dewing is the first to book a spot taking one of my Politics times, as we will not meet in December.

It is now possible to book the room for a 4 pm to 6.30pm session, we will use early December and late January period for a trial period.

Next year we will extend the timetable in Semester 2 to include the first 2 weeks of December. If you do not want to run a class in this period you must let me know by April 2017 when I start working on the Semester 2 timetable.

The TV will be raised to enable large classes to view it without the present difficulties. We are investigating costs and practicalities of purchasing an acoustic curtain to block some of the some of the noise generated by our TV and by the Seniors.

We will try to obtain funding for members to attend a First Aid course, but in an emergency please ring 000 for an ambulance.

I am now preparing timetables and course outlines for the next newsletter, if you have not informed me of any changes you intend please do so immediately.

Thank you to all our Tutors from myself and the Executive. We are pleased to be able to offer such a wide range of courses resulting in our membership this year reaching 250.

Terry Case
​Program Coordinator