What a wonderful day we had at Enrolment Day on Wednesday 10 January! There seemed to be a continuous stream of people coming through the door to chat with the Convenors and then to fill in an Enrolment Form.

My thanks to all the Convenors who came and talked to those new to U3A Benalla, and also to our current members. It was great that you told them about the successful courses that you all run, and gave them the Information the prospective members were seeking. Thank you.

My thanks also to the Committee members, and others, who came early and helped set up the tables and chairs. That was an essential ingredient for the success of the morning.

​Since then Enrolments have been steadily coming in. The first morning we opened the U3A Benalla Office on Wednesday 17 January we had another twelve enrolments. The opening of the office has also provided the opportunity for members to tell us what courses you would like in the future, which is important information for us to work on.

The U3A Office will open each Wednesday morning from 10am to 12 noon until the end of February. So, if you have not enrolled yet, please come and bring your Enrolment form one Wednesday morning soon.

Alternatively, there is still the option for enrolment using on-line banking, enrolment by post and also for leaving the form and money in an envelope at the Redb4 Bookshop in Bridge Street.

To date we have received 338 Membership forms for our 46 courses. The numbers for some courses are very impressive: Garden Appreciation 78, Exercises for Fun 77 and Wine Appreciation 49. Patchwork has attracted 32 participants this year, and Music Appreciation 30.

The consistency of these excellent numbers particularly for Patchwork and Craft and also for Music Appreciation shows the need for a larger room to be available to U3A Benalla, and the Committee will be continuing to ask Benalla Rural City Council for a larger room in 2024.

Some courses such as Ukulele and Community Singing have commenced during the second half of January. However, the majority of our programs are commencing in February.

The proposed name change of the building where we meet from the Benalla Senior Citizens Community Centre to the Benalla Seniors and Community Centre was suggested jointly in a letter by U3A Benalla and the Senior Citizens to the Benalla Rural City Council. This name change will make all people who use the building feel included.

Currently there is a survey being conducted by the Benalla Rural City Council to find out if the public is happy with the name change.

There are two ways in which you as members of U3A Benalla can show support for this name change. Firstly, there are forms just inside the side entrance of the building (the entrance we use) which can be filled in and handed into Customer Service by Friday 16 February 2024. Alternatively, the survey can be completed online by visiting https://haveyoursay.benalla.vic.gov.au/benalla-senior-citizens-community-centre-proposed-name-change.

We would appreciate as many U3A Benalla members as possible filling in this survey so that the name change is adopted by the Benalla Rural City Council.

Margaret Jenkins 

Happy New Year to all U3A Benalla members. I hope you have enjoyed catching up with family and friends over the Christmas and New Year period.

Thank you to all Convenors for the time and effort they put into organising the wonderful U3A Benalla programs that were available in 2023. Convenors are the life blood of U3A Benalla, and the Committee really appreciates their commitment to running each program.
At the end of 2023 we saw the retirement of John Hanlon as Co-Convenor of Investment. Malcolm Sanders will be continuing the group in 2024 which is undergoing a name change to Australian Shares and Stock Market. Thank you, John for your thoughtful and helpful sessions throughout 2023. The wisdom in what you presented was enjoyed by all members of the group.

In December we advertised for three new positions in U3A Benalla. The first of these was a Course Co-ordinator position. U3A Benalla now has consistently over 45 groups available to its members, and the introduction of each new course takes a little time and effort to help the new Convenor decide on content of the course, and where there is a slot to fit it in. We are pleased to announce that our current Vice President, Anne Nelson (pictured) has accepted the position of Course Co-ordinator, and will commence in this role in January 2024.

Anyone with an idea for a U3A Benalla course is encouraged to contact Anne on 0438 447 379. Also, Anne is available to talk with any Convenors who need assistance.

We also advertised for an Assistant Secretary to help Geraldine with her growing number of duties. I am pleased to announce that Helen Jeffree has agreed to help in this role. Thank you, Helen for also agreeing to come onto the Committee.

The pianist for Singing for Fun, Gwen Barnes, said in late 2023 that she would appreciate an assistant. Gwen has played for Singing for Fun for 19 years, and has done a magnificent job during that period playing the piano three Thursday mornings per month.
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In U3A Benalla we have many multi-talented people, and one of those is Deb Saunders who has indicated that she is interested in becoming our Assistant Pianist at Singing for Fun. Welcome Deb. Singing for Fun has a great bunch of people who all enjoy singing, and are great company at morning tea.

I would also like to thank the Volunteers who are opening the U3A Benalla office each Wednesday morning from Wednesday 17 January 10am to 12 noon until the end of February. Thank you to Ruth Jelliff, Rina Caddy, Julie McNeil, Geraldine McCorkell and myself. The office will be open to accept new memberships, answer questions, give you a guided tour of the Website, let you know when various activities are on, and assist with other general enquiries.

During December we received news that U3A Benalla had been awarded a Building Digital Communities Grant by The Good Things Foundation, who run the Be Connected program.  Whilst the Good Things Foundation is administering the grant, it is being funded by the Bendigo Bank to help some of their customers who wish to improve their digital skills to do on-line banking. There were 40 of these grants available throughout Australia, and U3A Benalla was fortunate enough to be awarded one to assist Bendigo Bank customers in Benalla. More information on this will be available shortly.

We are looking forward to Enrolment Day for U3A Benalla which will be held in the Auditorium of the Benalla Seniors and Community Centre, 18 Fawckner Drive on Wednesday 10th January 2024 from 9.30am to 11.30am. We are hoping that all Convenors will be available that morning to talk with new and current members of U3A Benalla about their courses. Morning tea will be available, and it is a great time to catch up with friends. Hope to see you there!


Margaret Jenkins