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'Benalta'

24/8/2022

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I came across an old ‘Benalta’, the Benalla High School magazine from the fifties.  I gazed at the photos of the prefects, house captains and sports teams, recognising many of them.  We looked so young—and we were! 
 
Where did all those young people go?  Did they have happy lives and fulfil their dreams? 
 
I looked at a photo of myself, a shy teenager.  Did I think then that one day I would be over eighty, still farming, feeding chooks, gardening, carting in wood, or that I would have four children and seven grandchildren?  No, our thoughts didn’t stretch that far ahead.  In fact, the year 2000 seemed too far away to even think about.
 
I looked at the others standing there in their uniforms.  Some I’d kept up contact with, others drifted away to work.  Sadly, some died young.  Many probably had achieved their dreams, in careers, sport and family life.  We caught up at reunions, but over the years the numbers dwindled with each successive meet.
 
Now our old Benalla High is in disrepair, probably beyond fixing, but in our minds, we can still see those rooms where we did science, maths or cookery, remember school sports, the House sports (and war cry), and the mischief we got up to.  There were socials in the old Memorial Hall, speech nights in the Town Hall.  The annual fete was held in the school grounds, especially the mannequin parade down the outside stairs to the quadrangle which always provided lots of laughs.
 
Thinking back, despite the times we found modern history boring, or the maths exams difficult, these were happy, care-free days.
 
Margaret Nelson
August 2022
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'Sheet Music'

24/8/2022

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Scaling down causes a lot of tidying up and throwing out of stored items.  What do I do with stacks of sheet music?  I’ll spend a few minutes looking through it and sort it out.  Hours later I’ve recovered so many memories!  Music ran in Mum’s side of the family – her brother was a talented pianist and music teacher, with various musical degrees.  In the time of silent movies, he sometimes played the piano behind the screen.  Sadly, he died of pneumonia at the age of 38.
 
Mum was talented too—she was a self-taught organist and played the church organ regularly.  All this musical talent was supposed to flow through to me, but sadly, it didn’t.  I started piano lessons with Mrs Tatterson, the local music teacher, when I was eleven, and I sat one exam.  The exam was held in a strange room, on an unfamiliar piano and I decided, no more exams for me!
 
On our rare visits shopping in Benalla, I loved to visit Miss Mitchell’s music shop in Nunn Street, a small, dark shop with lots of sheet music.  I loved to pick out some of the popular songs of the day, which Mum would play, and we’d have a singalong around the piano at night.  The only entertainment otherwise was the radio (how would our grandchildren have coped with that?)  We sang pops, negro spirituals and lots of classics, with meaningful lyrics and catchy tunes, so different from today’s repetitious and raucous pop music.
 
I took a bundle of music to the Opp. Shop, hoping someone might get some pleasure out of finding that old music, and enjoy a sing around the piano as we did.
 
 
Margaret Nelson
August 2022
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    Our Stories

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