We have had a couple of successes in the last month. Firstly, at the Finance and Planning meeting of the Benalla Rural City Council on Wednesday 19th June the Councillors passed the Recommendation:

1. That the Council rename the Benalla Senior Citizens Community Centre to Benalla Seniors and Community Centre
2. That Geographic Names Victoria (VICNAMES) be advised of the name change.

This change was suggested by U3A Benalla in August 2023 to the BRCC, and it has worked through the accepted process, and has now been adopted. U3A Benalla feel that it is a more inclusive name for all groups which use the building.

Our second success is that we have been re-registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) as a charity. When we started on the journey for registering as a charity, the Committee of U3A Benalla did not realise that U3A Benalla had been previously registered as a charity, and unfortunately had not kept up with the annual requirements.

Therefore, when we applied to become a charity, we had to fulfill the requirements which had not been satisfied since the original registration. This meant filling in Annual Information Statements for the years between 2013 and 2023. My thanks to Corrie Witlox and Neville Gibb for supplying financial statements for those years. Obtaining charity status will mean that we will have Commonwealth charity tax concessions reinstated. We are waiting on this final piece of documentation to be forwarded by the ATO.

Congratulations to Carmyl Winkler on being awarded an OAM in the recent King’s Birthday honours. Carmyl joined U3A three years ago when she came to Benalla, and is a valued member of the Singing groups and the Memoir Writing group. Carmyl’s award was for her contribution to both Benalla and Tallangatta communities, Carmyl having lived in Tallangatta for 45 years before coming to Benalla.

The Committee would like to thank Gwen Mildren and Val Whan plus several assistants who ran the Cooking Solo course in Semester 1 this year.  It was the first time that U3A Benalla had embarked on such a practical course, and from comments of participants Cooking Solo seemed to fill a need in the Benalla community, as well as providing social interaction, enjoyment and a hearty meal each time for the 10 participants.

Our second semester commences in July, and we are welcoming our newest group, Spanish which is being Convened by Alejardo Diaz each Saturday morning from 10am to 12 noon. To date we have seven members interested in learning Spanish. If you wish to join this group, please contact Anne Nelson on 0438 447 379

Enjoying the Internet with Dawn Stephens will also start in Semester 2. This popular course will be run on the third Tuesday from 10am to 12 noon in Room 1. Please contact Dawn on 0418 552 932 if you wish to attend Enjoying the Internet.


Margaret Jenkins ​

During the past month U3A Benalla have received information from U3A Network that we should register as a charity to obtain partner benefits that have been obtained through Network deals. For example, being a registered charity allows U3A Network to access copyright for music performance via One Music at no cost to members.

The principal driver behind many charity registrations is obtaining charity tax concessions. These include income tax exemption, GST concessions and rebate on Fringe Benefits tax if applicable.

The term ‘charitable purpose’ is defined to include: advancing health; advancing education; advancing social and public welfare; advancing culture and other similar purposes beneficial to the general public. The activities of U3A Benalla are clearly for the public benefit.

At our last Committee meeting, we accepted the Network recommendation to apply for charity status. Since then, I have filled out a 10-page form and have submitted it to the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission. The ACNC has a backlog of organisations requesting to be classified as charities, and we have been advised that it will be 12 weeks before a Law Interpretation Analyst is allocated to our application.

I would like to thank all Convenors who attended the Convenors afternoon on Friday 3rd May. We had 18 Convenors who take 25 groups there, including three who were Convenors for the first time this year. It was an informative afternoon, and worthwhile to hear the positives and a few difficulties as well. Thank you to all who attended and to Geraldine for providing for the home cooked afternoon tea.

​Benalla has experienced an outbreak of COVID in the past month. Concern has been expressed about the 24 Ukulele members playing and singing in Room 1 together. We have advised the Ukulele group to open windows and doors while practising. However, in line with school policies, the Committee is going to investigate an air purifier for this room.

Any person experiencing a runny nose, sore throat, temperature or is generally unwell should not participate in any group until they are well again. The air purifier is not going to eradicate COVID. However, we need to do everything we can to assist groups which are experiencing overcrowding in this room.

In the proposed budget 2024/25 papers of Benalla Rural City Council, U3A Benalla were pleased to see the second aim of the Council is to develop the Fawckner Drive Precinct. As this building is in that area, the Committee of U3A Benalla have forwarded a submission to the Budget considerations of Council asking for them to build us an additional room which will accommodate 40 to 50 people. We will keep you informed as to how this submission progresses.


Margaret Jenkins,
​President