David Palmer gave an absorbing presentation titled ‘Joanie delighted in rural history’ in November, writing about his mother, writer Joan Palmer.  Joan, or ‘Joanie’, wrote and edited books including ‘From Plough to Porterhouse’; ‘The Great Days of Wool’;  ‘William Moodie – a Pioneer of Western Victoria; ‘Goggles and God Help You’;  ‘Our Solo’ (about a loved horse previously owned by the equestrian Roycroft family), and ‘Memories of a Riverina Childhood’, always drawing upon experiences living on farming properties in the western district, the Riverina and North East Victoria. 
 
November’s topic, ‘Running with Scissors’, provoked risk taking memories including contemplating redundancy and  working in jobs involving responsibility for the wellbeing of others.  Neville’s writing on being ‘bulletproof’ in his youth was particularly gripping.   Stories on ‘The Sky’s the Limit’ and other topics were also shared  and Joy Shirley congratulated on receiving ‘Highly Commended’ for her entry 'Age is not a limit, the sky is the limit!' in Benalla Festival’s ‘The Sky’s the Limit’ writing competition.  
 
Next year we will be meeting on the 2nd and 4th Mondays.   Don’t forget, if it’s ‘too hot’ to garden and there’s ‘nothing on TV’ – there’s always good reading on the ‘Our Stories’ page of the website
 
Our first meeting for 2017 will be on Monday 27th February at 1.30 in W4.   
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A small group met at the Northo for at our last cafe catch up for this year - Bev shared a draft idea for 'Running with Scissors' and we chatted generally about this and that.  Carole and Godfrey aren't really holding up the bar!  The first or our informal cafe catchups in 2017 will be on the 2nd Monday in March at 2.30 - more news to come.