It has been another very enjoyable year, meeting monthly to share stories about ‘people who shaped us’, ‘family rituals’, ‘scary moments’, ‘days at work we’ll never forget’, ‘meeting a kindred spirit’, ‘our back yard’  and more. 

Congratulations to Betty Milligan for receiving third prize in the Benalla Festival’s Writing Competition for her ‘Our Back Yard’ themed poem. 

In November we will be sharing memories of ‘Endings’, of a time when something important in our lives ended and how it affected us.  In December we will gather at the Northo at 1.30pm to celebrate the end of the year with the Creative Writing group, who will be sharing their December challenge.  

Our summer break challenge is to write a 500 word story about a ‘Family Trait’ we inherited and how this plays out in our lives, ready to share at our first session in February.    

Anyone who might be interested in joining the Creative Writing group next year is welcome to join them at their final session and Christmas break up at ‘The Northo’ on 10 December to get a taste of how they are encouraging one another to write a piece of fiction.  

​Next year our memoir writing group will have a new title ‘As Time Goes By--Memoir Writing'!  The convenor and format will remain the same.   All welcome!


Bev Lee 

Our October session featured poetry readings by local poet Seamus Foley 'Return to Spoonbill' and 'Now that Ned is home again'. To mark the Benalla Festival's theme we shared 'Our Backyard' stories, most of which lovingly celebrated the places and spaces we treasure in Benalla and its environs and were entered into the Benalla Festival's writing competition.  Keen for some feedback, Seamus then shared with us a courageously written, deeply moving short story about his childhood in Ireland.  We all agreed it was well worth his completing and publishing.

The theme for our next meeting on Monday 26 November at 1.30pm is 'Endings' - the brief 'Our lives are made up of many phases that shape who we become. Reflect on a time when something important in your life ended, and how it affected you'.  Choices for the session also include bringing along stories we have yet to read to the group from this year's list of topics, or something else we would like to share. 

Bev Lee 

Our late August meeting began with a ‘guest presenter’ spot by  group member Noelle McCracken.  who shared many entertaining  memories of her ‘Life in Books’.   Noelle mentioned knowing ‘lots of gossip’ from the world of books, but very cleverly, and almost certainly to preserve privacy, ‘left that for another time’.  

Our August topic  ‘On the Job’ –evoked lots of memories, including Bev’s memories of teaching English to a class of young lawyers during a politically turbulent  period in pre-democracy Madrid; Elizabeth’s memories of being at work in Ireland  ‘waiting with baited breath’ during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962; Noelle’s descriptions of post retirement adventures as a tour guide; Helen’s memories of working in her mother’s milk bar and of still occasionally being recognized and asked ‘Aren’t  you Mrs Duggin’s daughter?’ 

Stories shared in September  on ‘How we met’   featured Neville’s evocative story of his experience of being with Jenny at the birth of their three sons and so meeting each of  them  for the first time.  Neville also engaged us with stories of how he met Lionel Rose and Chips Rafferty!   Noelle shared the story of finally meeting ‘Miss D. Lite’, long a mysterious name on a mailing list; Bev her first meeting four years ago with  her 87 year old half sister Lenore.  Joy described getting to know neighbours who became friends and then a street community; David his ‘farming forged friendship’ with a now lifetime friend  who he will be meeting up with on Grand Final Eve this Friday for a ‘not too boozy’ restaurant meal in Melbourne; Betty meeting her treasured tennis playing male friend and confidante; and Jenny the dawning realisation, in the strangest place and oddest situation, that she had rediscovered a ‘preps grade’ friend, Josephine Sarah, more than fifty if not sixty decades later.
 
We have two topics for October.  The first follows our tradition of writing a story or poem on the topic set for the Benalla Writing Competition, with some members submitting their work  to the competition.  The theme for this years Festival, ‘Our Backyard – a celebration of special places and spaces’, is the focus of the writing competition.  Our other October topic is ‘Personal Challenge’ The brief -  ‘Often the most rewarding challenges are the ones we set ourselves. Share a story about stepping outside your comfort zone in the name of self-improvement.’

Bev Lee

Introductory Speaker/Topic/Talk - Carmel Bird has been a great support to writers/writing groups writing three books, with the publication of 'Writing the Story of Your Life' inspiring a session in which Carmel was interviewed by the ABC's Ramona Koval at the Como Writers' Festival in Melbourne in 2007.  It is well worth listening to - there is also a transcript.  Links below - we will have back ups on USB just in case the Wifi is acting up.   

Listen:   mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2007/04/bsw_20070420_1000.mp3

​Transcript: Program page with transcript -  http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/bookshow/writing-the-story-of-your-life-with-carmel-bird/3402224#transcript

Sharing our stories:  'How We Met'

A writing exercise from Carmel - 'Clocks' preceded by showing of the clocks and watches from Collectors!  

Session Handout - September 24 

As the next newsletter goes to press we are all busy putting pens to paper on the topic set for August 27 - ‘On the Job’ -.  Our brief –‘We spend much of our lives working.  Our job, for better or worse, helps define us.  Write a first person story about a day at work you’ll never forget’.   

It is always fascinating listening to the many ways in which our 500 word topics are interpreted.  The topics set for our group often provide triggers to remember stories we’d forgotten about and the chance to reflect upon them again through wiser eyes.  

If you’d like to join our group, come along with a story of around 500 words on our topic to share with our very supportive and encouraging group (even if your story is in draft form). 

​The topic for our September 24th session is How we met   ‘Our best friends, neighbours, partners, lovers were all strangers once.  Tell us how you met a kindred spirit and what the relationship means to you’.
 
Bev Lee

The ABC's  '500 Words' projects ran for over three years as an online offering from the ABC, with the last topic 'Unfinished Business' formulated in late  2016.  It  left unfinished business, happening suddenly, possibly as a result of budget cuts.  Fortunately, online archives has continued to be available to us to dip into since then..

However this year, the idea of 500 words writing projects has reemerged, in a slightly different form.   The topic 'A Turning Point' has been offered for online voice submissions to 'Life Matters' since earlier this year.  "Was there a moment in your life which was a turning point—an event or time that has shaped the person you are today?"  

Find out more at http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/features/turning-point/​
The page includes links to a number of 'turning point' stories you can listen to, including 

'Leaving the Uniform' - George Koulakis
'Learning from my Daughter' - Roz Hall

The Garret Podcast -  Miles Franklin Award Winner - Michelle de Kretser for 'The Life to Come';  you can listen to an interview with Michelle on https://thegarretpodcast.com/michelle-de-kretser/ 

Guardian's Book Review of 'The Life to Come'...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/03/the-life-to-come-by-michelle-de-kretser-review    

Coming up on Wednesday at 5pm at the Library - Writers Corner - Just a quick reminder  that local Wangaratta author Thalia Kalkipsakis will be at the Benalla Library this Wednesday 29th August for Writer's Corner where she will talk about being an author, the Starlight Trilogy AND run some writing exercises at 5pm. 

In late June our Memoir Writing group shared stories about Family Rituals, ‘the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand’.  Most of us found it difficult to highlight a ‘standout’ family ritual, but as we shared stories found they often related to the preparing and sharing of meals, from the making of scones with grandchildren, to the meals prepared for Christmas (including memories of three pences and six pences in plum puddings), to the tradition of drinking a cup of tea with two milk arrowroot biscuits across the generations (not to be dunked in public of course!).
 
A number of our stories in late July about ‘A Scary Moment’ ‘Your heart pounds, your hair stands on end…  Tell us a story about a moment when you were truly terrified.’ related to memories of fear experienced as children living in the country. Stories were shared of being a child fearful of strange cows in a field on the way home from school which looked just like those seen in a dream the night before; being a child fearful that ‘foxes eat little girls’; being a child fearful of something which frightened them while they were collecting flowers in a druid like ring of rhododendron bushes, and more. 

Our next topic is ‘On the Job’ ‘We spend much of our lives working.  Our job, for better or worse, helps define us.  Write a first-person story about a day at work you’ll never forget’.  The theme for the Benalla Festival has been released –‘Our Back Yard – A Celebration of Spaces and Places’.  The brief for the Festival’s writing competition will be announced in the coming weeks and added as an additional topic to be shared in October or November. 
​
Bev Lee 

In late May our Memoir Writing group felt enormously privileged to hear about the people chosen for the topic Someone who Shaped Me. Our June 25 topic, Family Rituals, ‘the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand’, will almost certainly result in an equally absorbing and memory provoking session.

The 500 word memoir topic for July 23rd is A Scary Moment – ‘Your heart pounds, your hair stands on end…  Tell us a story about a moment when you were truly terrified.’ (Remember self care - share something which you aren’t still quite traumatised about.)

‘Frequently Asked Question’ 

If you are thinking of joining Writing Workshop It is quite acceptable to go to either Memoir Writing or Creative Writing – or both! 

Bev Lee 

On June 9th and 10th...Broken River Writers at NEA: 

​Personalised Writing and Editing Weekend with Jake and Sam Bowtell - $30.00.   More detail to come. 

On Monday June 11th at U3A: 

1- 00 - 2.15 pm   Creative Writing At NEA - For June, the topics to choose from are:

• A conversation with someone who is new to Australia and does not quite understand the Aussie sayings
• A story incorporating an emotion eg fear, excitement, happy, sad, determination etc
• Using the prompt “We didn’t know that it would be our last sunset at the lake”

The Creative Writing sessions in June and July will be run by Jenny McKenna.

2.30 - 3.30 pm  June’s catch up session at the Northo at 2.30 on June 11 will be the last for the time being as we are offering Creative Writing across  the 1.30 to 3.30pm session on the 2nd Monday in Semester II.  We have happy memories of our Northo catch ups over the last few years, however with many of our participants also attending Creative Writing, it’s time for a change.   

On June 12th at Benalla Library:

On Monday June 25th at U3A at 1.30pm:  Memoir Writing
​
Stories about Family Rituals ‘What are the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand?  Tell us about your family ritual’.  The possibilities are endless!

As the newsletter deadline approaches we are all beavering away trying to finish our story for May’s Memoir session -  Someone who Shaped Me   ‘How did you become who you are?  Think about someone who’s influenced your life and get typing’.  This will be followed on June 25 with stories about Family Rituals ‘What are the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand?  Tell us about your family ritual’.  The possibilities are endless!

June’s catch up session at the Northo at 2.30 on June 11 will be the last for the time being as we are offering Creative Writing across the 1.30 to 3.30 pm session on the 2nd Monday in Semester II.  We have happy memories of our Northo catch ups over the last few years, however with many of our participants also attending Creative Writing, it’s time for a change. 

​Bev Lee and Joy Shirley

‘What I was wearing…’ proved quite a delight at our monthly ‘Memoirs’ based session.  Memories were shared about the choice of wedding and bridesmaid’s dresses;  being a 13 year old boy in a department store dressing room while mother and father selected a first suit for family occasions; the uniform worn as a young child on  the first day of school to the starched veil worn when graduating as a nursing sister; the vexed choice of an outfit to wear to a daughter’s wedding; the ‘wearing of grief’ and a mother’s choice of outfit for the Melbourne Cup; and a ‘what I was wearing … was covered in soot’… story following a fire in an apartment building.   Betty wrote her memories as a delightful poem, ‘The Clothes I Wore’, which began ‘When I was a little girl and lived just up the track, In a small weatherboard cottage with gum trees out the back’… The project for our next 500 Word Memoirs session on May 28 is  Someone who Shaped Me  The brief:  How did you become who you are?  Think about someone who’s influenced your life and start writing.

Bev Lee

Our secretary forwarded this email in case our members might be interested.  It was distributed through U3A Network Victoria's mailing list.
​
Birdcatcher Books' 2018 Short Story Competition is now accepting submissions. First prize is $AU250, second is $AU100 and third is $AU50. Entry fees are $AU8 for one story, $15 for two stories or $21 for three stories. The best entries will be published in an anthology (subject to there being enough entries of sufficient quality.) Subject and genre are open, with just a few restrictions. The competition will close on 31st May 2018. Details can be found at http://birdcatcherbooks.com/competitions/
-- 
Birdcatcher Books
PO Box 432
Churchill Vic 3842
Australia

http://birdcatcherbooks.com

‘A Friendship Tested’, our 500 words topic for March, proved to be challenging.  It followed February’s (not always) warm and fuzzy topic ‘Grandparents’ and comes before April’s lighter topic ‘What I was wearing…’  (though one of our members suggested this could be ‘What I was wearing …. was covered in blood”…!)   

As always when we share stories on challenging topics, we are left reflecting on both the diversity of presentations and the common themes within them.  Stories were shared about tests to friendships which had been resolved and tests to friendships which didn’t survive the testing, perhaps because deeper values were challenged and ‘righteous indignation’ remains; some for which there are still remnants of deep disappointment and ongoing grief.  

The session also included the sharing of some wonderful writing on past topics including ‘Grandparents’, ‘Working Dog’ and more.  Members who attend the Creative Writing subgroup will meet next on Monday April 9 from 1 to 2.15 pm to share ‘children’s stories set in the North East’ (well, largely in the North East); followed by a catch up with others at ‘The Northo’ at 2.30 pm.  

The topic for our next regular meeting on Monday April 23 at 1.30 pm is ‘What I Was Wearing’ - ‘Some items of clothing are linked to memories, emotions and experiences; The ‘lucky job interview’ undies, the jacket you wore on your first date, or a bikini that didn't fare well in water. Tell us how an outfit played a part during a significant moment’.  New members are always welcome – a list of topics for the year is now available on the web site

​
Bev Lee 

JANUARY/HOLIDAY TOPICS  Lost in Music/Working Dog/Things I’ve left behind
FEBRUARY  Grandparents                     MARCH A Friendship Tested

APRIL 23  What I Was Wearing  

Some items of clothing are linked to memories, emotions and experiences; The ‘lucky job interview’ undies, the jacket you wore on your first date, or a bikini that didn't fare well in water. Tell us how an outfit played a part during a significant moment”.  
 
MAY 28 Someone who Shaped Me 
 
How did you become who you are?  Think about someone who’s influenced your life and get typing.
 
JUNE 25  Family Rituals
 
What are the weird and wonderful things that you do together that only your family understand?  Tell us about your family ritual.
 
JULY 23 A Scary Moment
 
Your heart pounds, your hair stands on end….  Tell us a story about a moment when you were truly terrified.
 
AUGUST 27  On the Job   
 
We spend much of our lives working.   Our job, for better or worse, helps define us. Write a first-person story about a day at work you’ll never forget.
 
SEPTEMBER 24   How we met  
 
Our best friends, neighbours, partners, lovers were all strangers once.  Tell us how you met a kindred spirit and what the relationship means to you.
 
OCTOBER 22 Personal Challenge
 
Often the most rewarding challenges are the ones we set ourselves.  Share a story about stepping outside your comfort zone in the name of self-improvement.
 
NOVEMBER 26 Endings  
 
Our lives are made up of many phases that shape who we become. Reflect on a time when something important in your life ended, and how it affected you.
 
DECEMBER/JANUARY Family Trait  
 
Did you inherit a family trait? What is it and how does it play out in your life?
 
 
 
Bev Lee 5762 8171 bevlee47@gmail.com 18 March 2018
​

The 2018 Writing Workshop ‘menu’ of options is now in operation. Creative writing enthusiasts met first, with Jenny McKenna and Joy Shirley agreeing to guide the group as Helen Treloar Duggin has decided to focus on her own writing this year and is unavailable. Thank you Helen for your work in releasing the creative powers of group members last year - we do hope you will pop in to our pub sessions and share your writing journey with us! The creative writers are now working on ‘a bed time story for children set in North East Victoria’ for sharing in April.

Our ‘catch up at the Northo’ option was well attended and most convivial, with holiday topics ‘Lost in Music’ and ‘Things I left behind’ shared and ideas and drafts of some upcoming topics discussed.

The next Creative Writing and Northo Sessions will be in April. Labour Day falls during the Benalla Street Art Festival this year, so the Northo could be rather full!

The sharing of stories about treasured, occasionally feared, grandparents at our regular session was a delight. We heard beautiful descriptions of grandparents who somehow reminded us of our own and of country life in bygone years. We reflected on the impact of depression, war and the loss of grandchildren through divorce on grandparents and were intrigued by stories including long held, often colourful, ‘family secrets’, finally revealed now it is safe to do so.

The topic for our March 28th session is ‘A Friendship Tested’. The brief - ‘A true friend is there through thick and thin, but not all friendships survive under pressure. Tell us about a time when a friendship was put to the test. Did it strengthen your relationship or push it over the edge’. A challenging brief! At our last session Jenny shared her story of the testing of a highly valued friendship, stimulating those with ‘writers block’ to think of possible ‘angles’.

Bev Lee 

A Poem by Lucy Tunstall: Remembering the Children of First Marriages

www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/09/01/poem-remembering-the-children-of-first-marriages/

Lucy Tunstall’s poems leaped out at us from the slush pile for their fresh, unfussy takes on
the vagaries of contemporary life; she is one of those poets whose voice already seems
familiar. “Remembering the Children of First Marriages” invokes the structured repetition
and close observation that make Christopher Smart’s “Jubilate Agno” (“For I will consider
my Cat Jeoffrey”) so extraordinary; here, Tunstall, a British poet, turns her gaze not to a
winsome cat, but to children of divorce, as if they, too, could be held up to the light and
anatomized. An irony, of course, is that there is nothing singular about children of divorce.
—Meghan O’Rourke

REMEMBERING THE CHILDREN OF FIRST MARRIAGES

Oh remember the children of first marriages
For they are silent and awkward in their comings and their goings;
For the seal of the misbegotten is upon them;
For they walk in apology and dis-ease;
For their star is sunk;
For their fathers’ brows are knitted against them;
For they bristle and snarl.
All you light-limbed amblers in the sun,
Remember the grovellers in the dark;
The scene-shifters, the biders, the loners.
​
Lucy Tunstall is a doctoral student at the University of Exeter.

​

Late last month we shared stories on the topic 'Right Here, Right Now'. Stories varied from 'what is happening right at this very moment', to 'what happened recently which is impacting on my as I write', to' how I'm feeling about my life at this time'.  

There's another chance to share 'Right Here, Right Now' stories at our Northo session on Monday 11th December, which will be our final session for the year.  

Here's a  'calendar' of the activities on the Calendar for the next few months:  

Monday 11 December 2017
Creative Writing – 1 to 2.15 pm – U3A Meeting Room
Pub session at the Northo – 2.30 to 3.30 pm – bring along some writing to share – perhaps topics that you haven’t read out to the group yet, or something else you’ve been working on.

January – no sessions.   Suggested holiday writing topic/s – ‘Lost in Music’ - ‘Music can have a powerful effect on our emotions and create a lasting impact on our memory. Describe an experience when you got lost in a single piece of music, and what made it so unforgettable’ or  ‘Working Dog’ share a story about the memorable antics of a working dog, past or present or 'Things I've left behind'..   
 
Monday 12 February
Creative Writing – 1 to 2.15 pm – U3A Meeting Room
Pub session at the Northo – 2.30 to 3.30 pm – a chance to share a holiday writing topic - ‘Lost in Music’'; ‘Working Dog’, or 'Things I've left behind' - or something else you’d like to share with others.

Monday 26 February  1.30 to 3.30 pm U3A Meeting Room
500 Words – topic “Grandparents” 
Describe your relationship with a grandparent using one fond memory. Draw on your senses to recall specific details and reflect on the impact he or she made on your life.            

More info:  “It may be the time Gran nearly set the kitchen on fire with the Christmas pudding, or the time your 92 year old Grandpa rode the Octopus with you at Luna Park. It could be a story about your Grandmother’s heritage and how she came to Australia. Your story could be about the era your grandfather represents, and the role he played in your upbringing or a special ritual you shared.”
Feel free to tweak – you may like to write on being a grandparent, for example. 

Monday March 12
Creative Writing – 1 to 2.15 pm – U3A Meeting Room
Pub session at the Northo – 2.30 to 3.30 pm – bring along some writing to share – perhaps topics that you haven’t read out to the group yet, or something else you’ve been working on.

​Monday March 26 March  1.30 to 3.30 pm U3A Meeting Room
500 Words - ‘A Friendship Tested’ or ‘Testing the Friendship’
"A true friend is there through thick and thin, but not all friendships survive under pressure. Tell us about a time when a friendship was put to the test. Did it strengthen your relationship, or push it over the edge?"    

A link to a document containing the topics for this year leading in to next year is included below.

​At our last meeting we shared stories on the topic set for the Benalla Festival’s Writing Competition – ‘Good Vibrations’.  We all felt Jenny McKenna should enter her story – about the good vibrations she experiences throughout the day meeting visitors to Benalla and others when she volunteers at the Tourist Information Centre—in Benalla Festival’s writing competition.   Seamus Foley, who loves to write, particularly poetry and folk songs, attended as part of the taster program and shared with us his compelling poem ‘The Kelly’s are riding tonight’. We hope to hear more of his writing!  
 
The topic for our meeting at 1.30 pm on Monday 27th November  is ‘Right here, Right now’ ‘A time capsule of the present.  Write a story about a situation currently unfolding in your life, right here, right now.’  
 
Our November creative writing and pub sessions have been held over until December 11th because of the clash with the opening of the Benalla Senior Citizens Community Centre renovations in November.  The creative writing sub group will meet with Helen Treloar Duggin at 1 pm  in the U3A meeting room, joining other members to share stories and ideas over a coffee at the Northo at 2.30 pm. 
 
Bev Lee

There were moments of identification last month as ‘Fish out of Water’ stories were shared of feeling out of one’s depth using computers and mobiles; ‘with maths!’ and when working as a first-year teacher; finding out about sex; managing hyperactive friends of our children, and more. Pat took a different approach, developing an imaginative list of situations in which she would definitely find herself to be a fish out of water.  What would be on your list?
 
Maxine’s return brought with it her ‘Travel Tale’ of recent adventures in the outback as support crew for her partner in a Fergie tractor rally.  We shared her memories of emus and kangaroos running alongside if not almost into her car; new friendships made; longed for showers at the stations they visited, ‘which we were more than happy to pay for’.  

Jenny shared her story of feeling an ‘Odd One Out’ in searching for shoes of the right size; something which she happily experiences less often these days with many more tall young people needing shoes of a similar size.  Neville shared a thought provoking ‘If only I’d’ story which drew upon the experiences of an Australian runner who stood out against racism.  

At our October meeting we will be sharing stories on the topic for the Benalla Festival’s Writing Competition – ‘Good Vibrations’.  Our topic for November is ‘Right here, Right now’ ‘A time capsule of the present.  Write a story about a situation currently unfolding in your life, right here, right now.’
​
Bev Lee

​Our upcoming September topic ‘Fish Out of Water’ promises to be as interesting as our August topic ‘Odd One Out’.  The brief for September - Have you had a unique experience when you were a 'fish out of water'? A time when you:

• Felt totally out of your element
• Felt like an outsider
• Were a foreigner traveling or living in a new country
• Were a rookie on the new job
• Were in another unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation

Share your experience in 500 words”.
 
In October we will be sharing stories on the topic for the Benalla Festival’s Writing Competion – ‘Good Vibrations’.   Alternative angles through which to write on ‘good vibrations’ began to emerge during our coffee catch up and stories are well on the way.  Our current list of ‘back up’ 500 word topics (to draw upon if we are stuck or are in the mood for more writing) includes ‘My Brilliant Career’; ‘My Career Went Bung’ (Miles Franklin’s follow up to My Brilliant Career); ‘If Only I’d…’ and the latest - ‘I used to ……., back in the day!’ 
 
If you think are thinking of joining Writing Workshop one day, consider attending a taster session – either at our regular session in the U3A meeting room on the 4th Monday from  1.30 to 3.30pm  or at the Northo on the second Monday from 2.30 to 3.30 pm. 
 

Have you had a unique experience when you were a 'fish out of water'? A time when you:

• Felt totally out of your element
• Felt like an outsider
• Were a foreigner traveling or living in a new country
• Were a rookie on the new job
• Were in another unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation

Share your experience in 500 words.  

With our memoir related theme for July ‘Travel Tales’, we invited published travel writer and U3A Benalla member Judy Perry to be our guest speaker.  Judy drew upon two of her articles published in the Seniors Magazine to demonstrate strategies she employs to intrigue and influence readers to travel, in this case to Benalla.  The ‘hooks’ used involved stories from Benalla’s past –the story of the ‘Bugle Boy’ of Benalla and recollections of ‘Heavy Harry’ the train—engaging us all.  Thank you Judy for preparing and presenting such an interesting and practical introduction to travel writing.

Following the break, class members shared a diversity of travel tales and some more wonderful stories of rebellion, including Elizabeth’s diverting story of a playful rebellion against patriarchy as a young girl in Ireland.  At our next regular session on August 28th we will be sharing tales of being the ‘Odd One Out’  ‘Have you ever felt like you didn't fit in? Too old or too young? Wrong clothes or different culture? Write about a time you felt out of place and why’.
 
There was almost a full house at our Northo gathering this month.  Stories shared included Ray’s ‘If Only I’d’… (worn a seatbelt!); Jenny’s humorous story inciting ‘Rebellion’ against the overcharging for tea in our current café culture, and David’s story about two ‘swashbuckling’ ancestors in a family history piece inspired by the birth of his first grandson.  

Finally, a reminder that creative writing from 1 to 2.15 pm now precedes our catch up at the Northo from 2.30 to 3.30pm on the 2nd Monday.
​
Bev Lee

THEME FOR TODAY:   ‘Travel Tales’  ‘Everyone has at least one good travel story to tell. Share your best story of adventure or misadventure in 500 words or less’.
AGENDA:

1. Welcome and Housekeeping
2. Our Semester 2 plan to include a ‘Creative Writing’ workshop in the U3A Meeting Room prior to our coffee and conversation catch up at the Northo is now underway. Helen Duggin is facilitating a workshop in the U3A Meeting Room from 1 to 2.15 pm for members keen to develop creative writing skills. The group will head to the Northo to join ‘As Time Goes By’ memoir writing regulars for coffee between 2.30 and 3.30 pm
3. Guest Speaker – Judy Perry from the Broken River Writers – ‘Writing about Travel’
4. Sharing of ‘Travel Tales’stories
5. Time to share other stories – eg. Rebellion
6. Next topic ‘Odd One Out’ – ‘Odd One Out ‘Have you ever felt like you didn't fit in? Too old or too young? Wrong clothes or different culture? Write about a time you felt out of place and why’.

Our most recent topic was ‘Rebellion’. Although most of us considered ourselves not to be particularly rebellious, we all came up with memorable occasions when we did, in fact, react to unfairness with righteous indignation and decided to rebel! We will be sharing ‘Travel Tales’ in late July ‘Everyone has at least one good travel story to tell. Share your best story of adventure or misadventure in 500 words or less’. Coming up in our regular late August meeting – ‘Odd One Out ‘Have you ever felt like you didn't fit in? Too old or too young? Wrong clothes or different culture? Write about a time you felt out of place and why’.

Our Semester 2 plan to include a ‘Creative Writing’ workshop in the U3A Meeting Room prior to our coffee and conversation catch up at the Northo is now underway. Helen Duggin is facilitating a workshop in the U3A Meeting Room from 1 to 2.15 pm for members keen to develop creative writing skills. The group will head to the Northo to join ‘As Time Goes By’ memoir writing regulars for coffee between 2.30 and 3.30 pm
​
Bev Lee

Today's theme - Rebellion!   We'll also have a look at an article Rebellious Reads...​http://scottishbooktrust.com/blog/reading/2013/11/rebellious-reads-5-great-rebels-in-literature and if we get time watch this video with Paul Jennings.