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 >
      • Armchair History
      • German - Beginners
      • Meditation
      • Russian Literature
      • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • 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
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Col
    • A - COL
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • Art Appreciation
    • Australian History
    • 'As Time Goes By' >
      • Home
      • Our Stories - by topic
    • 'Be Connected'
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
  • Col-G
    • COM - G
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology
    • Enjoying the Internet
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Family Research - Advanced >
      • Home
      • Family Stories
    • Family Research - Beginners
    • Film Discussion Group
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • Home
      • Lessons
  • I - R
    • I - R
    • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
    • Investment
    • Jane Austen Book Club
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder Group
  • S - Z
    • S -Z
    • Singing for Fun
    • Sky's the Limit
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Advice
    • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
    • Tech Savvy Beginners - Android
    • Tech Talks
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
    • Wise Guys Book Group
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide 2023
    • Timetable - Month Overview
    • Full Timetable with Dates
    • New Courses 2023
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News - General
    • February 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

'The Sky is the Limit' - Barry O'Connor

24/10/2022

0 Comments

 
I have always had a fascination with flight, having built and flown model aircraft for many of my younger years. I did at one point during my secondary education; aspire to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering; however this was not to be.

My story begins with afternoon tea on the back verandah at our property ‘Condarra’ in the Samaria Valley, 25km south of Benalla. Our mail usually arrived mid-afternoon, and on Wednesdays the delivery also included the Weekly Times and the Benalla Ensign. This particular Wednesday afternoon, in late October 2012, we opened the Benalla Ensign to the headline, ’Benalla Rejects the Bald Archy’. Both my wife and I looked at each other and then contacted some key people including local decision makes and the Director of the Bald Archy Prize, Mr. Peter Batey. The background to the story was that the exhibition had been offered to Benalla exhibition fee free, as Peter Batey had his early education in Benalla. The key factor was that the Benalla Art Gallery had already committed to exhibitions for 2013.

In an effort to retain the exhibition within Benalla Rural City, key Swanpool people were contacted, included some committee members of the Swanpool Community Cinema, which would be in recess during July and August 2013. A general consensus on lodging an ‘expression of interest’ was achieved and a meeting was held with Peter Batey at the Swanpool Memorial Hall in November 2012. He did express some concern about the lack of hanging space and exhibition lighting, however he was assured that all would be in order, if we were to be awarded dates for 2013 which coincided with the cinema winter break. Two weeks later we received confirmation that we would have sixteen days in the July/August period.

Next came to process of recruiting volunteers, researching the lighting and securing additional wall space. The recruitment of the volunteers entailed visiting with representatives of all seventeen community groups, including our three local fire brigades. Whilst some community members thought that we were ‘off with the fairies’, there were 66 members who stepped up to support the concept.

The event ran for sixteen days from 10th to 25th August and attracted a crowd of 3,378 over the sixteen days, a record for the Bald Archy Prize exhibition.  At the end of the exhibition a function was held to thank those volunteers who had supported the event, and over $22,000 was distributed to their nominated local community groups.

Given the enthusiasm and commitment of the Swanpool and district community members, an extraordinary result was achieved, and the members were left in no doubt that for a combined effort of a positive and enthusiastic group of people, ‘The Sky is the Limit’.
​

Barry O’Connor,
23rd October 2022.
0 Comments

'The Sky's the Limit' - Bev Morton

23/10/2022

0 Comments

 
High above in the bright blue sky a glider drifts on thermals of warm air. Hovering like a giant eagle with wings outspread it seems almost motionless.

The sun beats down on the Benalla airport. Overhead I hear a long drawn out "Swish-sh" as the glider descends and makes a swift but perfect landing on the grassy swathe.
​

"I will never fly again, never!"  Or so I vowed years ago, after an attempted night's sleep on a flight to England. Amongst the sleeping bodies in 'cattle class,' I sneaked my window shade up and looked out. There against the curve of the Earth, I saw the Earth's shadow. A band of a deep blue grey topped by 'The belt of Venus', a dusky pink band blending to a bright apricot that heralded the dawn. The distinctive upward angle of the tip of the Qantas planes wing was darkly etched against the pink strip and I was forever hooked; hooked on flying, hooked on astronomy and on all things natural on this planet and beyond.

A cool breeze eddies around the astronomy pad at Winton Wetlands. The distant hills and mountains recede into the gathering dusk. As night falls a myriad of jubilant frogs raise their voice in ecstasy of the waters of the newly filled lake.

Overhead we view the wonders of the night sky. Planets Jupiter and Mars; star clusters, the red star Antares in the constellation of Scorpius and the rings of the planet Saturn. We view galaxies so far away that through the eyepiece of a powerful telescope they are but a mere smudge.

One freezing cold night on the deck of a small Russian ship in the Greenland Sea, I asked our guide to show me the Pole Star. This central star indicates north, around which all other stars appear to revolve on their nightly journey.

Long ago when the great navigators steered their ships by the stars, the early explorers sailed into the unknown seas of the Southern Hemisphere. Far away from land and beneath unfamiliar stars it was a whole new ball game!

The poet John Mansfield wrote:

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky. 
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.  
 

In his book “Carrying the Fire,’ Michael Collins, the pilot of the command module for the Apollo 11 space program, wrote of taking a fix on the star Capella to check his position when he was orbiting the Moon.
 
In 2011 an Atlas rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, California. Its very special payload was a NASA space craft named Juno after the mythical Roman goddess, wife of Jupiter the chief Roman god.
 
About nine hundred people built the space craft and launched it. It took approximately another three hundred people to care for it on its 2.8 billion kilometre journey to the planet Jupiter.
 
The Juno project hopes to uncover the secrets of the early solar system. It’s thought that Jupiter may have been the first planet formed and thus influenced the formation of the other planets.
 
Juno spent two years circling Earth before getting a sling from Earth's gravitational field to increase its speed. Arriving at the giant gas planet on time after a five year journey, the burners fired to slow the spacecraft and place it into orbit, as programmed. It was one second late!

On board are three specially constructed LEGO mini figures; Jupiter holding a lightning bolt, his wife Juno, holding a magnifying glass to search for truth and astronomer Galileo Galilei holding a telescope. It’s hoped that the inclusion of these LEGO figures will increase children’s awareness of the space program.
 
Will our quest for adventure and knowledge someday take us far away from our home here on Earth, using the old practise of navigating by the stars with the Earth as a reference point?
 
In a musty old autograph book, I found an inscription scrawled in ancient handwriting "Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw the dust and the other saw stars." 
 
Man is an explorer, forever pushing the boundaries and seeking new horizons.
​

In everything we do may we always have the far sight and cooperation to work together and plan for the future and a very bright star to steer by.
 
 
Beverley Morton  
0 Comments

'The Sky's the Limit' - "A flight to remember" - Godfrey Marple

2/12/2016

0 Comments

 
​Those of us who were fortunate enough to sometimes travel to work by plane will remember the most memorable of these flights.   This was mine.
 
I had been working with some woolgrower clients endeavouring to improve their flock.  We had been keeping our eyes out for some fine wool merino ewes.  The clients had been scanning the rural newspapers Stock and Land, Queensland Country Life and finally found exactly what we had been looking for – 800 Egelabra ewes one and a half years old for account Elders Narromine, the breeder. 
 
What a find.
 
I rang the agent at Dubbo/Narromine (400 kilometres away) and spoke to the Elders Mansfield agent Rob.  Everything appeared to be in place for the four of us to inspect the sheep with a view to purchase.  
 
Due to the distance, Rob suggested that we should go by a small plane.  I had a friend I had taught wool classing years ago, Gavan.  An experienced pilot, Gavan assured us that we would be home by 4 pm in the afternoon. 
 
We set off for Dubbo and were over Finley in New South Wales when there was a huge bang. 
 
Gavan assured me that it was only the side window. 
 
The side window?  Half of the side of the plane appeared to be missing!
 
We travelled along with a gaping hole in the side of the plane.  As we landed at Dubbo there were planes of all types.  An agricultural plane with the side missing did not look out of place among planes used for doing agricultural work.
 
I chased up the Elders Agent so we could ascertain whether the sheep were suitable, only to find that the Engelabras were not to be seen.  In fact, I was told that the property was inundated after recent rain… ‘But, don’t worry mate, there are plenty of sheep to choose from’.   Not the specific ones I wanted!
 
There were no suitable sheep, half the plane was missing and it was coming on to rain – heavy rain at that.  The cloud was very low, so much so that one couldn’t see the ground. 
 
We managed to take-off and headed for home.  We experienced another frightening wind gust, only to find the map we were steering the plane had been sucked out of the space that had been the window! 
 
We guided the plane home, flying above tree height to keep contact with the ground and watching out for land marks.
 
Yes, we got home.  No sheep, but a day to remember!
 
What a day.
 
 
Godfrey Marple
November 2016
0 Comments

'The Sky's the Limit' - David Palmer

24/10/2016

0 Comments

 
​Journalist David titled his entry to the Benalla Festival's 'The Sky's the Limit' writing competion in 2016 -

 ‘World’s best gliders seek soaring supremacy in Benalla’  
  
The exhilaration eagles and dolphins display, while surfing winds and waves for pleasure, have fascinated us for ever.
 
Palaeontologists believe pterodactyls with wingspans up to 7m, probably surfed waves of wind formed against mountain ranges millions of years ago. In comparison, humans have only fine tuned surf boards and gliders to roughly eagle and dolphin standards, in the last 50 or 60 years.
 
But you could say humans and wildlife now equally enjoy both types of waves together.
 
Terry Dillon of Benalla, Victoria, encountered that close connection when he was gliding near Bacchus Marsh, west of Melbourne. Initially he became alarmed when a wedge tailed eagle flew straight at him.
 
But it veered away at the last second and disappeared for a few minutes.
 
Then it reappeared to fly in formation just off his wing tip, clearly surfing the air waves the glider's wing generated, much as dolphins surf bow waves generated by ships.
 
Eagles can be aggressive in spring when young are hatching; just this year a 6kg Western Australian wedge tailed eagle smashed the Perspex of a glider’s cockpit in an attack.  Fortunately the pilot was able to eject it quickly before it injured him and he later landed safely.
 
Dell McCann, also from Benalla, farmed on the Delatite River east of Mansfield until early 2016. A couple of summers ago she was delighted to see eight eagles spiralling upwards in just one thermal.
 
Then the next thermal moved down the valley – they start forming in the Victorian Alps near Mount Buller then move west – and there were four more eagles climbing effortlessly at maybe 300m per minute in that one too.
 
The eagles must have come a long way to enjoy the thermals because she only knew of one pair nesting nearby.
 
In Benalla in January 2017, about 180 pilots from 29 countries will be flying some of the most advanced gliders, worth up to around $500,000, to compete in the world gliding championships held every four years. Quite possibly they will be encountering eagles as well.
 
It is not by chance that Benalla was chosen for the championships because the area has some of the best gliding conditions in the world.
 
Certainly there will be talk of “thermalling gaggles,” as pilots manoeuvre under cloud bases where the best lift is usually found, to avoid fellow competitors and gain the height they need to travel to the next thermal on their cross country races.
 
In the 1930s gliders lost one metre of height for every 15m they moved towards their destination in still air; current gliders have more than tripled that efficiency to achieve a 50 to one glide ratio.
 
Airliners surprisingly achieve 15 to 20 to one glide ratios if engines fail. That means that from a normal 35,000ft (10,700m) cruising level, a powerless airliner could travel up to 182km depending on destination ground level.
 
The glider altitude record was set at 15,445m in Argentina putting it well above airliners.
While gliders have been equipped with compasses, air speed indicators, altimeters and variometers for decades, the latter a device to indicate when air is rising or sinking, now colour LCD displays of varying sizes also provide information about what the air is doing as well as fronting multi channel GPS receivers for precise navigation.
 
An ever present question pilots ask on a cross country race is, am I high enough and particularly, am I high enough to reach the finish point, without chasing more thermals?
But ultimately the best glider pilots feel their aeroplane performs as an extension of their arms and legs; that skill commonly enables them to fly at up to 300km/hr over 1000km or more.
 
Last summer Tim Shirley, who retired to Benalla to pursue gliding to his heart’s content, flew from Benalla to Temora and then Hay in New South Wales, before returning on the final leg of his triangular course to Benalla.
 
That 750 km trip took him about seven hours as he side tracked to take advantage of thermals along the way.
 
But once he reached Yarrawonga on his return trip at 6000ft (1830m), he knew he had enough height to reach Benalla nearly 70km away, without seeking more thermals.
 


​David Palmer
October 2016
0 Comments

'The Sky is the Limit' - Joy Shirley

10/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Joy entered this story in the Benalla Festival's Writing Competition 'The Sky's the Limit' in 2016 and received 'Highly Commended' in the Open section.  As you will see, it is written in a creative writing, fictional genre - however draws from Joy's experiences and observations as a member of the Benalla "gliding family".  Congratulations, Joy!  (Joy is now the convenor of U3A Benalla's Creative Writing group, but still contributes from time to time to 'As Time Goes By'. 
​

What were her children thinking?  This was the last thing she had thought they would give her for her fiftieth birthday.  Sure, she did not need things, so experiences were a reasonable option.  But this?  And not just one, but three times she was supposed to do this.

But she had made the phone call, and made the booking.  The three children all insisted in coming along to watch.  She could pull out, but they would be so disappointed.  Perhaps if she just went the once, and did not like it, they would be satisfied.  After all they could not complain if she tried, but could not continue.  So here she was at Benalla for the glider flights her children had given her.

Everyone was very friendly and encouraging.  She had seen another passenger take off and return, happy about the experience.  But he had been a young man, eager to experience new things – probably looking for a bit of an adrenalin rush.  It was different for her – she was a mature lady, a widow, with adult children.  With maturity had come a greater sense of her mortality.  Although legally adults, the children still needed her.  Two were still living at home, one of them still at university.  And she knew that things could come to an end fast – after all, she knew from experience how fast the end could come, after losing her husband in what they thought was the prime of life.  However, her children were excited for her – wanting her to experience something new.

Now she had been briefed about what to expect, and was strapped in ready to take off and head into the skies.  Why, oh why, did it have to be a glider – no engine and so small.  And they had strapped her into a parachute as well!  This did not seem to give her much confidence about the safety of this experience.  The pilot assured her that he had not lost a passenger yet, and the parachute was as much to do with comfort – there was no cushion on the seat, just a fibre glass shell.  But at the same time, he had explained about how to get out of the glider, and how to operate the parachute.  Was it really safe?  And there were things that she should not touch, in case she opened the canopy at the wrong time.

She could still pull out, but there were the children all watching.  But no, the tug plane was hooked up, the canopy closed, and they were moving.  It was too late!
………………………

Five hours later!
It was over – or was it?  She had had the three flights. The slight jolt when the glider released from the tug gave her a moment’s unease with the first flight, but the peace and smoothness of the flight after that was very relaxing.  Looking down she could see the beauty of the lake in the middle of the town.  They headed towards the wetlands, with the water birds, and finally the Winton Raceway on the way back to the airfield.

With the subsequent flights, the jolt did not bother her.  She started getting excited about the process.  She even took the controls during the second and third flights. They had found thermals, and she experienced the gain in height possible from the power of the air alone.  They had found themselves thermalling with an eagle at one stage – a magnificent animal flying so effortlessly.  She was a natural – at one stage finding a thermal for herself, and managing to circle in the thermal for a few moments.

Her eyes were sparkling for the first time in the three years since she had lost her husband.  The children were “high fiving” one another.  They were so relieved and happy to see their mother really smiling and enjoying life.  It had been too long since it had happened and they had all been concerned.  They were congratulating themselves for coming up with an idea for her birthday that she could enjoy.

Then they stopped – stunned.  They had only planned for her to have a new experience, and enjoy herself for a few hours.  Surely it was not happening –  she could not be serious.  Maybe she was getting her own back after they had forced her to do this – they knew she had been apprehensive about flying in a glider.  But no – it looked like she was definitely serious.  She was actually doing it.  She was really signing up for a full one-week course offered at Benalla. 
 “Mum, what are you doing?”

“I have found freedom, the freedom of the sky – something to enjoy in life for the first time in three years.  After all, age is not a limit; the sky is the limit!”


Joy Shirley
October 2016
0 Comments

'The Sky's the Limit' - Bev Lee

23/9/2016

0 Comments

 
This is a story about my brother John, who grew up in a War Service home in an outer suburb of Melbourne just after the war.  An early baby boomer, he was born in 1946.  Our father, then a newly returned soldier, had served as signaller throughout World War II, firstly in the Middle East, then in New Guinea.  His father, also a signaller, served with distinction in Belgium during World War I/

I remember our father, who on reflection was drawing on his signalling skills, sitting at our kitchen table helping John  to keep his crystal radio going.  On reflection, John seemed to take as much if not more interest in aeroplanes as in crystal radios.   I can remember him listening to the radio play ‘Biggles’; making balsa wood planes and becoming an air cadet at high school.

There appeared to be a deviation from John’s interest in flying aeroplanes after a careers advisor belatedly found that chemistry and physics (and possibly also crystal radios) were not really his forte after all.  However a few years later, while he was completing his Accountancy Diploma at RMIT, fate – in this case the conscription lottery introduced during the Vietnam war – intervened.  The marble with John’s birth date on it was pulled out during the selection ballot.  Fortunately he was able to complete his accountancy studies before entering the forces via Air Force Officer training.

Planes did became a major part of John’s life–though not via the ‘pilot’ stream.  With a background in accounting, and the completion of officer training, he was involved in the movement of pilots and other troops and the procurement of planes and related equipment.
 
Posted to Malaya in the early 1970’s, John lived on the Butterworth Air Base.   I remember a MASH moment while visiting him at Butterworth - sipping champagne while watching a film on an outdoor movie screen outside the officers’ mess, with military plane engines revving thunderously in the background.  From early roles in troop movements during the Vietnam War, he became involved, as he moved through the ranks,  in the higher levels of procurement of advanced military equipment for the air force, including, of course, aeroplanes. 

John had achieved the rank of Group Captain when he retired from the airforce at 45, a three year period in Washington USA a high point in his career trajectory.  He has continued to be involved in accountancy roles involving procurement, however the procurement contracts he has negotiated since leaving the air force have related to the operation of energy companies and large local councils in Queensland, rather than planes.

Interestingly, John’s early interest in learning to fly re-emerged when he began to take flying lessons during his early sixties.  Finally, the sky was the limit!   He clearly enjoys flying and we have a great photo taken of him sitting in the pilot’s seat preparing for takeoff.    I suspect being able to finally pilot an aircraft, even on training flights,  meant almost as much to him as the career highs achieved when procuring military equipment for our air force.
​
On a final note, a year or so ago on a visit to Benalla, John arranged what could well have been a ‘bucket list’ experience - a lesson in a glider with a glider flight instructor, a lesson in which he was able to use the controls.   He returned home to tell us about it, excited and exhilarated.    Clearly a very memorable ‘Sky’s the Limit’ experience!


Beverley Lee

(Written in October 2016 prior to the World Gliding Championships in Benalla in January 2017)
0 Comments
    Our Collected Stories

    'The Sky's the Limit' 

    Given a large air show is a feature of the Benalla Festival in 2022, also that a new course  'The Sky's the Limit' is being offered in 2023 to reflect Benalla's long association with aviation, our second topic is a repeat of the 2016 Festival competition topic,   'The Sky's the Limit', set prior to the world gliding champion-ships in January 2017.  
    Your piece might be -  a bird’s eye view of our beautiful part of North East Victoria. about gliding in Benalla and the World Gliding Championships.  about our fascination with all forms of flight.  about the future possibilities with space travel.  about a time when you or someone else excelled at school, work or on the sporting arena.  about a time when your achievements exceeded expectations.  about someone who inspires you or has inspired you to always do your best. (This might be your mum, dad, grandparent, next door neighbour, teacher or sporting coach).  about organisations that help create a better community. The possibilities are unlimited. The sky really is the limit!"

    Archives

    October 2022
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All
    Barry O'Connor
    Beverley Lee
    Beverley Morton
    David Palmer
    Godfrey Marple*
    Joy Shirley

    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
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2023
​Membership Application/Renewal Form 
​
Program Guide 2023
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2023
Semester 1 Timetable Month Overview 2023
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