The Rotary Eltham Festival took place on Saturday, 9th November. Below are photos of some of the stalls that are relevant to older people together with links to their organisations’ websites.
 |
 |
 |
| Eltham Community Action Group (ECAG) | Eltham Little Theatre | Eltham Mens Shed |
|
|
 |
| LINC and Nillumbik Climate Action Team (NCAT) | Nillumbik Reconciliation Group (NRG) | OM:NI |
 |
||
| Rotary Club of Eltham |
The Ageing Well Expo, covering both Nillumbik and Banyule, took on Friday, 25th October. There were around 30 stalls, many directly relating to seniors in Nillumbik. Staffing the Nillumbik U3A stall were Dianne Parslow, Milena Gojanovic and Violeta Georgievska. Below are photos of some of the stalls together with links to their organisations’ websites.
[Editor: there were a lot of interesting stalls and I (Guy) thought that the event deserved a larger audience. Scheduling what is a Council-led event during the caretaker period before the elections was perhaps not the best decision ever because it made marketing of the event problematic. Also, the 5 year gap from the last expo is far too long – why not make it an annual event?]
Nillumbik U3A member Wayne Harridge has just received an award for reaching 350 blood donations. As one of our nurse members said, this probably means that he has saved more than 350 lives.
On 25th April, Joy Barham once again represented Nillumbik U3A at the Dawn Service at Eltham Cenotaph.
Nillumbik U3A were one of the recipients of the 2024 Jagajaga Community Volunteer Awards, as recently presented by Kate Thwaites MP.
On the evening of 27th March, 50 Nillumbik community organisations gathered at Eltham Community and Reception Centre to hear 16 of their number give short presentations followed by food and chat. Whenever such events happen, you nearly always find that some of the speakers are members of our U3A. So it was for 5 of the speakers at the Community Showcase.
 |
 |
 |
| Dianne Parslow Nillumbik U3A |
Dianne Bannister North of the Yarra Quilters Guild |
Graham Fildes Eltham Community Action Group |
 |
 |
 |
| Henry Haszler Friends of Lower Eltham Park |
Sue Dyet Friends of Edendale |
the audience |
You can find the full list of the 16 speakers, the organisations that they were representing, their contact details and their presentations (as pdf documents) on our website. The same page also lists the other 32 organisations in attendance, including their website details.
The nurse from Bolton Clarke attracted a keen audience to learn the life saving skills required in resuscitation.
The introduction was a skit by Rowan Atkins (Mr Bean) that was a parody of all the required procedures.
The group then progressed to a serious demonstration of the correct resuscitation techniques using infant and adult dummies. While the kiss of life (blowing into the subject’s lungs) remains part of 
CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation), it is now believed that compressions are more important to keep blood circulating. A hundred compressions per minute was recommended.
The group progressed through to defibrillation and a demonstration unit gave them a simulation of the high degree of automation in contemporary Automatic Emergency Defibrillators (AEDs). Bolton Clarke is Australia’s largest not-for-profit aged care provider, having evolved from the District Nursing Service of Victoria dating back to 1885.
Whenever there is a local festival or similar, you nearly always find that some of the stalls are being staffed by members of our U3A. So it was at the recent Community Food Aid Festival at Edendale.
The photo on the left is the Diamond Valley Community Support (DVCS) stall staffed by U3A member Mike Kelly together wuith DVCS President Sonia Gilderdale. DVCS are the official emergency relief organisation for Nillumbik, including for food relief.
The photo on the right is the Eltham LinC stall staffed by U3A member Ann Hutchinson together with her colleague (and fellow Gibber Gabber reader) Diana Warrell. LinC distribute food parcels and hampers to those who need them plus maintain a pantry at St. Margaret’s from which people can take food and toiletries.
As you may or may not be aware, Nillumbik U3A members play leading roles in many of the other local community organisations. One such is the Eltham & District Winemakers Guild which, amongst other things, organises an annual Eltham Wine Show. The 2023 wine show was held on Sunday, 19th November and the organisers included U3A members Angela Harridge, Dave Chambers, Mario Fantin and Wayne Harridge. Wayne features in the left hand photo below, with Angela and Dave in the right hand photo.
Local events also often include U3A members among their participants. At the 2023 wine show, these included John O’Callaghan, Karen Coulston, Roma O’Callaghan, Ruth Leaming, Susan Palmer and Vincent Galante. John, Roma, Ruth and Vincent feature in the left hand photo below, with Karen in the right hand photo.
A training event was held on 3rd October to upskill some of our tutors in group dynamics.
Kelvin and Beverly Spiller (both Nillumbik U3A members) offered the tutors an opportunity to think about how their personality type affects the way they lead and interact with their groups. Kelvin used the MBTI (Myers-Briggs) framework to identify the different personality types and then various tips and communication techniques were discussed.
It was a useful and informative session. Thanks Kelvin and Bev!
Our latest trivia evening took place on 23rd June at Eltham Guide Hall. Sue Power reports in.
Teams competed against each other in a friendly, fun filled evening of feasting, laughter and mental gymnastics. The evening comprises sets of 20 questions on such wide ranging topics as film quotes, history, music, literature, geography, sport and local knowledge. Bonus activities involved identifying flags and famous faces. Involvement in future trivia evenings is highly recommended. Thanks to everyone who participated. Thanks also to the organising team of Karen Jeffrey, Noel Butterfield, Simon and Sue Power.
Early in the morning on 25th April, Joy Barham again laid a wreath on our behalf. The photo on the left is oiur wreath, the middle photo is of Joy laying the wreath, and the right hand photo is of the crowd.
On 20th November, the Eltham Wine Show, Australia’s largest amateur wine show, took place. Many of the people organising the event are members of Nillumbik U3A, as were many of the attendees. There were hundreds of wines to taste. The best ‘wine’ (in my humble opinion) was the cherry liqueur.
If you have ever been to Eltham Central Pavilion, you will have seen the two small garden beds outside of the main entrance. You will also have seen that they are filled with agapanthus, which is a weed. The reason for this is that there is a concrete slab just under the surface of the soil and it was thought that only agapanthus would be able to survive the resulting boggy conditions.
Well, we have decided to test that theory by planting a number of native plants chosen for their ability to survive boggy conditions, namely cut-leaved daisy (brachyscome multifida), natal lily (clivia miniata), Tasmanian flax-lily (dianella tasmanica), tassel rope-rush (baloskion tetraphyllum), tassel sedge (carex fascicularis), thyme honey-myrtle (melaleuca thymifolia) and weeping bottlebrush (callistemon viminalis).
Thanks to Cath Bauman, Helen Broadbent and Susan Palmer for making this happen.
In 2022, U3A Network Victoria introduced an annual Tutors’ Excellence Award “to recognise the significant role Tutors play in the U3A movement.” One of the 8 winners was our very own Jane Davies, who is also a tutor at Banyule. A number of us had tea in Templestowe to celebrate, where Jane and I were surrounded by Banyule presidents, ex-presidents and other luminaries. Congratulations, Jane!
On the evening of Friday, 16th September, around 50 of our members and friends gathered at the Diamond Creek Senior Citizens Centre to participate in a fun evening to test their general knowledge. Some proved to be very knowledgeable indeed and the winning table were rewarded with a basket of goodies to share. Other prizes included a door prize and lucky chair prizes. Judging by the positive comments at the close of the event, a good evening was had by all.
Congratulations to Alan Clayton, Gail Clayton and Pam Griffith for organising such a successful event.
On 26th May, Nillumbik U3A member Brenda Smith launched her book ‘Remembering well 2020-2021. A daily diary written during the Covid-19 pandemic‘ to a full house at Eltham Central Pavilion.
There were speeches, jokes and food and a good time was had by all.
The book is 365 pages long with a page for each day between 12th March 2020 and 11th March 2021. The idea is that you read a page a day for a year.
Copies of the book will be available in our book library at Old Eltham Courthouse.
In the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Grand Final held on Saturday, 26th March, Riverside (aka Greensborough) beat Heidelberg 7/164 to 9/162.
Why are we telling you this?
Because the game was played at Eltham Central Park, which was chosen because of the quality of its facilities. In other words, the newly renovated venue that we share with Eltham Cricket Club, namely Eltham Central Pavilion, is now effectively the MCG of Diamond Valley!
The pitch invasion after the game (see the photo) didn’t quite match the one that happened after Buddy Franklin’s 1,000 goal in the AFL.
As you may or may not know, Eltham Football Club has a women’s team. On Friday, 30th April they played Diamond Creek under lights and a number of us went to watch. The total crowd was around 200. It was a complete shellacking, with Eltham down 0-48 at halftime before going on to lose 0-86. Eltham are now mid-table, with Diamond Creek still unbeaten.
Both sides played in very similar red and black/dark blue strips, with the main difference being the colour of the shorts (black for Eltham and red for Diamond Creek). It is interesting that, in the photo, all 7 of the players near the ball but not in the congestion are from the Diamond Creek side.
As you know, the U3A now shares premises at Eltham Central Pavilion with Eltham Football Club, whose senior team is commonly known as the Panthers. The Panthers currently play in Division 2 of the Northern Football Netball League.
On Good Friday, 2nd April, a crowd of around 3,000, including a double digit number of U3A members, watched the Panthers beat St Marys, Greensborough 122 (17.20) to 76 (10.16) in the opening game of the season at Eltham Central Park. It was actually a relatively comfortable win, with Eltham leading throughout. Our best player was arguably Brent Macaffer, formerly of Collingwood, who played in the midfield but also scored 3 goals. The game was played according to AFL rules, so the players had to adapt to the recently introduced ‘standing on the mark’ rule which, at AFL level at least, looks like it is noticeably opening up the game.
To this observer’s untrained eye, the game looked as athletic as the AFL but with more of an emphasis on kicking rather than handballing. Somewhat surprisingly, Eltham effectively play in a Essendon strip and St Marys play in a Port Adelaide strip. Does anyone want to do some research into the question: who copied whom?
On 24th March at Eltham Guide Hall, various tutors and others attended a presentation on how to use CPR and defibrillators by Raquel from health provider Bolton Clarke.
If you would like to read Bolton Clarke’s presentation, email us and we will send you a copy.
The reason for the session was that we have recently installed a defibrillator at the Guide Hall.
| On 30th January at Old Eltham Courthouse, an interested group of members attended an introductory course on how to use a defibrillator and perform CPR. Gail Clayton writes: “Health provider Bolton Clarke representative Raquel gave an excellent talk and demo and asked for group participation. After seeing a short video of ‘how not to do it’ by Mr Bean (see right), we learnt the correct method. Hopefully we never need to employ these life-saving methods, but if an incident should occur then some members should be able to step in and assist.“ |
As usual, the annual exhibition by the Eltham & District Woodworkers contained some works by U3A members, including a seat by Sue Bowles and a ukulele by Frank Camera.
Judy Racz, who is in our Hurstbridge Art class, has an painting exhibition from early October to early November at Bridges Restaurant.
Judy is also available for commissions of portraits, pets or landscapes in pastel or oil. Contact Judy by phone (0468 462 901).
On 26th February, 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band walked into the Victor Studios in New York and recorded the very first recognised jazz recording of Livery Stable Blues. Exactly one hundred years later to the day, in the Barn Gallery at Montsalvat, the Syncopators, in front of a packed audience of 200 people, launched their new album The Pearls. The event was the brainchild of the originator and producer of the jazz festivals held at Montsalvat from 1988 through to 1995, Mal Harrop.
When car-parking problems arose at Montsalvat, Mal took the festival into the city and named it the Marvellous Melbourne Jazz Festival. The Melbourne International Jazz Festival, which continues to this day, owes its beginnings to those earlier festivals run by Mal, as does the Wangaratta festival. In welcoming the audience to the Syncopators concert, Mal’s co-tutor in the Jazz Appreciation class, John Crichton, spoke of Mal’s legacy and his desire to bring live jazz back into the north east of Melbourne.
A thank you party for the valued volunteers of our U3A was held at the Diamond Creek Senior Citizens Centre. Some excellent food, plus wines from our President’s cellar, were enjoyed by all.
