The Opening of the Whitehorse Seniors Festival on Thursday 1 October was a great success. City of Whitehorse Mayor, Kirsten Langford, gave the opening speech and commented on the great work U3A Nunawading does for Positive Ageing in Whitehorse. Nick McGowan, MP, Member for North-Eastern Metropolitan; Matthew Gregg, MP, Member for Deakin; and Paul Hamer, MP, Member for Box Hill also recognised our value to the community.
The mooncake cooking demonstration presented by Lan Tiet was great fun, with 27 eager participants, including our President, Colin Carter. Lan first showed how to make baked mooncakes with two different types of filling. Then the group all joined in making balls of the filling, wrapping these in pastry and pressing them with a mould to create the beautiful shapes. While these were cooking, Lan demonstrated an uncooked version of mooncakes, rather like mochi.
There were also many different mooncake styles for sale during and after the session.
Greetings, all. I’d like to introduce myself as the new President of U3A Nunawading. I look forward to the privilege of leading this wonderful organisation for the next 12 months.
A quarter of a million hours!
Did you know that the number of hours attended by members of U3A Nunawading in a year is this large? And all delivered by a volunteer team and Class Leaders totalling about 350 members. Every single hour is a gift from our incredible volunteers and Leaders who pour their hearts into keeping our community vibrant, affordable, and welcoming. They are the backbone of everything we do. Next time you visit our U3A and enjoy a class, please take a moment to share a warm smile or a simple “thank you” with the volunteers who make it all possible.
Thank you to all the Leaders who attended the Leaders’ Information Session where Ken explained the functions of Member Wizard for Class Leaders.
Also in this item, we remind you of all the ways in which you can apologise for absence (but please only do it once). Also, how to use Member Wizard to find classes that still have vacancies and some upcoming classes that have a vacancy.
The dance on 24 June (during the break) was well attended by approximately 130 people. The music was lively, which contributed to the energy in the room. Many participants brought snacks to share during the break from dancing, and a good time was had by all.
Thank you to all who supported the Biggest Morning Tea and associated raffles. Around $5000 was raised. Congratulations to the Thornburn Badminton Group for their efforts.
We celebrated Harmony Day on 20 March 2026 with engaging presentations and a wide range of cultural foods to share. Thanks to Paulina Chong, Kim Tu, Yip Soo and the Social Committee for making the day such a success.
On Sunday 22 March, the historic Strathdon House and Orchard Precinct came alive as part of Whitehorse Council’s 2026 Culture Fest celebration, drawing a vibrant crowd of families of all ages eager to experience the richness of local cultural traditions. The festival offered a diverse program of music, food, interactive activities and cultural performances. Among the highlights was a lively performance by our U3A English, Scottish and Welsh dance group.
This year’s Summer School condensed 32 presentations, nine cooking classes, three external events, and three movie sessions into a single week instead of the two-week program offered in previous years.
A total of 22 guest speakers contributed to the program, including a retired detective, a fire safety officer, a cardiologist, a gut health professional, and specialists from the Commonwealth Bank and the health sector. Additional presenters covered topics ranging from happy and healthy exercise to artificial intelligence, online safety, and much more.
The Class Leaders’ briefing this year was quite a bit different – it included a practice evacuation!
A great turnout of around 180 Class Leaders filled Studios 1 and 2. After a few preliminaries, Database Administrator Ken Briscoe explained that while the membership system, UMAS, is still serving us well at present, we are planning to move to a new system – Member Wizard – on 1 July. This new system has been taken up by 23 Victorian U3As, supported by U3A Network Victoria, with another 30 U3As planning to convert this year – it’s best to keep with the strength.