U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2022
    • Program Suggestions
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • A Different View Of German History
      • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
      • Demystifying Psychology
      • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
      • Zoom Short Course
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Making the Most of the Internet >
          • + Ian's Blog
          • + Links and references
      • O - Z >
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Tech Savvy Drop In
        • Travel Group
  • A-Col
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Armchair History
    • Armchair Traveller
    • Art Appreciation
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • 'On Friendship'
      • 'Trees'
      • 'Childhood Memories'
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Com-G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Lessons
      • German - Beginners
  • I-P
    • Investment
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meditation
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork >
      • Patchwork Home
      • Patchwork Exhibition 2020
      • Patchwork - Beginners 2019
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
  • R -Z
    • Recorder Group
    • Russian Literature
    • Saturday Cards - '500'
    • Singing for Fun
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Apple
    • Tech Talks
    • The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Wine Appreciation
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Program Guide 2022
    • Membership Application 2022
    • Month Overview Semester 1 2022
    • Full Timetable with Dates Semester 1 2022
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • May Newsletter
    • Calendar 2022
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
    • Gallery 2022
    • Gallery 2021
    • Gallery 2020
    • Gallery 2019
    • Gallery 2018
    • Gallery 2017
    • Gallery 2016 >
      • + Christmas Lunch 2016
    • Gallery 2015 >
      • Christmas Lunch 2015
    • Gallery 2014
    • Lifeball Video
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Wangaratta
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
  • Contact

'New in Town'

16/3/2021

0 Comments

 
​I have been “new in town” on several occasions.  I wrote about these in 2020 but left out the most recent move.  Perhaps it is time to write about that move – the move to Benalla.
First a quick recap of the earlier moves.

There was a move from Melbourne to Canberra.  We had a one-year-old son, no way of meeting people and I was very lonely.  Eleven months later we moved back to Melbourne but only for only 14 months.  I knew with our move to Adelaide it was up to me to meet people, not wait for them to find me.

Later moves were easier – Adelaide-Melbourne, Melbourne-Adelaide, Adelaide-Canberra.  Both our children were at school and I was back working.  This meant I had opportunities for meeting people.

One last move – children grown and no longer at home, now retired and without the work environment as an established network.  It is possibly our last move.

Being retired, I was back in the position of our first move – no job giving a built-in way for meeting people, no children at school to meet up with parents.  Again I had to make the effort to meet people.

Well, maybe not quite the same.  We had a reason for moving to Benalla – the Gliding Club.  That helped my husband.  He knew some of the people and had a way of meeting others.  But I was not a pilot.

We had bought our new home in a short court (well, titled ‘Place’).  Just seven houses.  But before we knew what was happening, we had met most of the neighbours.  It was just before Christmas.  A group of the neighbours got together for a Christmas dinner at one of the restaurants.  We were invited.  We met more neighbours in the street at the end of the court.

I found out about “Rhyme Time” at the library.  They needed a volunteer for a few months.  From there I became involved in “Mother Goose”, an activity encouraging interaction between parent and child developed in Canada.  This is no longer run in Benalla, but a similar program is run by Tomorrow Today, called PEEP developed in the UK.

New opportunities opened up.  I spent part of the summer season helping in the Gliding Club Office.  My husband and I spent a couple of years helping with Meals on Wheels.  Then we found a new area for volunteering – with BPACC.  I still usher there one or two times a week.

The biggest change was finding out about U3A.  So many opportunities for learning new things and meeting people!  I have found new friends, and friends of friends.  I am always busy, either attending classes, preparing for classes, or preparing classes that I convene.

What have I learnt about being new in town?  That it is up to me to find what is going on.  That it is up to me to make the effort to join in what I have found.


Joy Shirley
March 2021

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    'New in Town'

    The Brief:  "Have you ever been the new person in town?  Or did someone else's arrival have a profound impact on you?  Share your story in 500 words'

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021

    Categories

    All
    Bev Morton
    David Lowing
    Joy Shirley
    Judy Perry
    Marg McCrohan
    Neville Gibb

    RSS Feed

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
COVIDSafe Plan
U3A Benalla & District Flier 2022
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2022
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2022
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2022
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla & District. 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria