At its meeting on 19 August your Committee of Management took the difficult decision to cancel our 31st Anniversary Celebrations, which were to have been held at the Nunawading Community Hub between 6 – 10 September.
A 30th anniversary celebration was planned for last year but was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. The funds for that event were carried over to this year in the expectation that we would be able to celebrate 31 years of operation and the move to our new home.
The organising committee have been working on next month’s event since May, having had to increasingly scale back arrangements over that time to comply with ever-changing COVID restrictions.
However, with the extension of the current lockdown, the organising committee advised the Committee of Management on 19 August that it was not possible to hold even a scaled-back celebration.
The Committee of Management then took the unanimous decision to return the funds set aside for the event back to members in the form of a discount on their 2022 membership fee. This means that members who are financial in 2021 will pay $50 next year and new members will pay the $60 agreed at the Committee’s Budget meeting in June.
Our sincere thanks to the 31st Anniversary organising committee of June MacDonald (Convenor), Elsie Mutton, Paulina Chong, Liz Hooper and Valerie Donlon for all of the work they have done on the event since May. Like so many organisations, a lot of hard work never sees the light of day due to the pandemic.
Launch of Anniversary Book
Although we are unable to hold our celebration, a book of members’ recollections will be launched when we return to the Hub.
The book contains stories told by members in their own words about their lives. Many are of courageous decisions to make Australia their home and the welcoming community they found at U3A Nunawading.
The idea for the book started in 2016 when one of our ESL Leaders, Margaret Barwell, was listening to her class members talk about their lives and in particular their journeys from other countries. She found their stories so interesting she thought they should be shared.
Fellow ESL Leaders, Robyn Cox and Lola Lane took on the project of interviewing many of their class members for a book, which was to have been launched at our 30th Anniversary.
In addition to ESL students, members from across U3A Nunawading were also invited to be interviewed for the book, a copy of which will be given to each member who participated. Additional copies will be available in our community library at the Hub.
Congratulations Lola and Robyn on the launch of this heartfelt collection of our members’ personal recollections.
