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

'This (Nomadic) Life' - Heather Hartland (#2)

24/10/2022

0 Comments

 
I have never lived anywhere longer than nine years.

As Dad was badly affected by his experiences in the war, he needed to work outside so got farm work in the UK. A cottage was a part of his wages.

We moved around several farms before the big adventure, we came to Australia to start a new life. We started in the South-West of W.A. in a small mill town, then moved to a nearby regional town. Then up to the hills area North of Perth.

Then, after a brief period in the city my family settled in Mandurah, a coastal town South of Perth. They settled I didn’t.

I had left school and was working, so I moved to the big city. I boarded, I shared flats; I got live in jobs; I moved a lot.

I headed off on a cruise back to the UK to reunite with family. In the UK I lived with one Aunt, then another, then a rooming house whilst I worked and travelled.

Another cruise and I was home in Australia again.

I joined the RAAF which meant, once again, I was off and moving.  I lived in all states of Australia, some multiple times and somewhere along the line, got married and moved out of on base rooms to a house.

Even after leaving the RAAF, we just kept moving following new opportunities until settling here in Benalla (for now!!!!!).


Heather Hartland,
October 2022
0 Comments

'This (Dangerous) Life' -   Heather Hartland (#1)

24/10/2022

0 Comments

 
As a child in the UK, I was in the ocean and was knocked over by a huge wave. I nearly drowned. Strangers pulled me to safety.

During my school years in WA, I had a holiday job at the local stables and got to ride the horses. One year we were taking horses along the road from stables to paddock when some kids lit jumping jacks which hit my horse. He panicked and bolted, right up the middle of the highway heading straight for an oncoming truck. I held up my hands and yelled for it to stop. Crazy but it worked, when it hit me, my outstretched arms caused me to be pushed to the side where the driver found me lying in the mud with two broken wrists.

Even a trip to the local Drive In wasn’t without its dramas. We were watching a movie called The Towering Inferno. Part way through we were feeling a bit warm. Then suddenly EVACUATE NOW came up on the screen and police directed us out through the bottom gate to safety. A huge bushfire was heading straight for the drive in.

I was in a bank which was held up by armed men, gun pointing at me. I obeyed the thieves and survived.

I was a passenger in a car which was T Boned by a drunk driver. After they cut me out, I was taken to hospital, relatively unscathed, for treatment.

In London I was sitting at a railway station talking to an elderly lady who was knitting. She boarded her train and as it left, I realized she had left her bag on the seat. I went to grab it but stopped and froze. I ran to the station master who evacuated the station and called the bomb squad to disarm the device she had left.

Even on the ship home I couldn’t stay out of trouble, between Africa and Australia we got hit by a small cyclone. Luckily it didn’t do any more than make us all seasick!

More recently I have survived three bouts of cancer.

These are just the highlights, or should I say low lights, of my life.

Heather Hartland
October 2022
0 Comments

    'This (...) Life'

    The theme for October 2020, 2021 and 2022! '"This (....) Life".  The brief?  " Submit a 500 word story of own choice, a story important to you, a story you have often wanted to write about.  After writing the story, develop a title for it using the title 'This (......) Life".  Drawing on titles submitted to the Australian newspaper's 'This .... Life' weekly column of submitted stories, it might be something like, "This (inspiring) Life", "This (entitled) Life", "This (serendipitous) Life" or ‘This (downsizing) Life’,  A recent story in the Australian was titled - ‘This (Number 8) Life’ - a story about growing up as ‘Number 8’ in a family of nine children.'

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020

    Categories

    All
    Barry O'Connor
    Betty Milligan
    Beverley Lee
    Bev Morton
    Carmyl Winkler
    Elizabeth Kearns
    Graeme Morris
    Graham Jensen
    Heather Hartland
    Helen Duggin
    Joy Shirley
    Margaret Nelson
    Marg McCrohan
    Neville Gibb
    Ray O'Shannessy
    'This (Long) Life'
    'This (Virtual) Life'

    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