Our April 22 session began with an apology and photographs from co-convenor Wendy '"Hope you all have a successful day today and I will see you next month.  Below is my home for the next 6 weeks with my travelling buddies (Ted has been allowed to bring a friend of his own."  

Report backs on family research completed over the last month followed.  It was fascinating to listen to journey's taken, discoveries made, with many opportunities taken to note down ideas and resources to follow up in our own research.  

'Show and Tell' featured Jan's family history album - Jan is using scrapbooking techniques to record and share family history.   Bev brought along 'Winton Swamp to Winton Wetlands', a fascinating coffee table book whose authors drew extensively upon local family history records and photographs to describe the impact of the transitions which have taken place there. Barry and Andi reminisced about their experiences during the Moorngag cemeteries project.  Engaging in family history projects with 'true locals' has proven to be a wonderful way of learning about Benalla and its 'villages' for a number of class members who moved to Benalla in retirement.  

A highlight of the 'show and tell' session was Marg's photocopy of a Trove article received that morning in the mail which included only the second photo she has ever seen of her mother.  We were all so delighted for her and were able to track the article on Trove to screen in class. 

Our story brief for April - 'Grandparents' - brought out memories, mostly fond,  of grandparents, including loving grandmothers who gave great hugs, and world weary, irascible grandfathers who lived with them in later life. Stories were rich in images, with even quite small details evoking memories of early decades shared with grandparents. A story about a grandparent who always returned from town with a 'Mars Bar and packet of Smarties' for his grandchildren  reminded me that my grandfather kept a supply of 'Kool Mints' for us, such a small treat but so looked forward to.  

Some class members reporting knowing barely even one grand parent.  David chose a 'great grand relative' instead, concluding a very interesting presentation stating his next goal was to  learn to use Trove to discover more about him...  'No time like the present!'... We again opened up Trove on the large screen, a search begun in fun proving a great way to introduce features of Trove, including the capacity to save records in lists and to download and print out documents as pdf's.  

Next month's topic is ' In search of ..... ' -  'Write* 150 - 400 words about someone who is proving, or proved to be, difficult to find.  Who were they, what did you find out about them, and what would you still like to know.  If you face or faced obstacles along the way, describe them and how you managed to resolve them.  Are you 'happy enough' with your findings to date?'  (*it is fine to share your story in other ways, including oral presentations; document 'show and tells', power point presentations, and more). 

Bev Lee
April 2021