Term 2 course vacancies

The Adventures of Their Worlds (Zoom)

Tony Georgeson

We enjoy the Adventures of Frederick Marryat, Harriet Martineau, Florence Marryat, William J. C. Lancaster (Harry Collingwood) and his son "Percival Lancaster", Cecil L. T. Smith (C. S. Forester), John Buchan, Nevil Shute Norway, C. P. Snow and his wife and author Pamela Hansford Johnson. Their worlds were so different to ours and are more fascinating than the novels they wrote.

ASX Shares - What, How and When to Trade

Paul Wilkinson

The course is about investing in ASX shares, but I am an investor not a financial adviser, so the course is about matters I consider when investing. While there will be some instruction on the basics, the plan will be to discuss, as a group, investment in shares generally. We will also discuss shares that are of interest to the group.

Beginners Guitar

Ron Bennett

This class will provide instruction for both beginners and more skilled guitarists.

Chair Yoga

Nene Macwhirter

Want to improve your fitness, balance and flexibility without the huff and puff? This will be a mostly seated yoga class catering to all current levels of fitness. No experience of yoga practice needed but if you've ever wondered about what yoga is, this is a good chance to learn about some basic principles.

Digitising and Organising Your Photos and Slides

Michael Dorahy

A workshop series for those who wish to be guided through all stages of digitising and organising their collection of photos and slides. Including the preparation of tailored slideshows for special events.

German for Beginners

Andrew Ferguson

This course is suitable for anyone who has not learned German before. The teaching will be tailored to meet your needs, e.g., travel, study, family history research. There will be formal grammar progression, as we develop all of the macro skills: listening, reading, speaking, writing, and viewing.

The History and Politics of Lebanon

Heather Lacey

This four-week short course will examine the reasons why many believe that Lebanon is a failed state. The course will cover Lebanon's history to 1920, Lebanon 1920-46, the Lebanese Civil War 1975-90 and Hezbollah and the Sunni-Shia divide - the impact on Lebanon 2022.

Literature of Love and War

Charles Klassen

War is inextricably tied to love. Ares and Aphrodite trysted, procreating Harmonia. Great war stories are tied to romances. The course will deal with the history of major wars illustrating the impact on our humanity. References and extracts of texts and films from the Iliad, the Persian, Roman Religious and Napoleonic conquests. Authors and novels: War and Peace, Gone with The Wind, Hemingway, The Great Gatsby, Vonnegut, Heller, Ian McEwan.

Planning Independent Travel - In COVID

Russell Huntington

This course focuses on what you need to consider and what resources you can draw on in planning independent travel. These include where to go, when and what to see, how to get around, where to stay/eat, what to take and how to manage money, insurance, visas. There will be a particular focus on COVID-related travel, including at least one live example - a member already travelling and what he did to prepare.

Positive Psychology (Zoom)

John Besley

Positive psychology is a new branch of psychology which aims at preventing mental illness by providing strategies that promote wellbeing and flourishing. The class is interactive and teaches techniques to achieve a deeper sense of wellbeing, meaning and purpose when facing adversity.

Walking the Length of the Thames

David McRae

It is 237 km from the official source of the Thames to Hampton Court Palace, through seven counties and from one side of England to the other. The country reveals a certain amount of itself on this journey - geographically, historically and socially.

Yearlong course vacancies

How to enrol

Webinars

Royal Botanic Gardens walk

Forum

Spotlight on our volunteers

Ron Bennett

Feeling a bit jaded after the past two years with few opportunities for some fun learning? Want to try something new and recapture the thrills of your youth? Well the solution may lie buried in our Term 2 offerings - how about enrolling in Ron Bennett's Beginners Guitar. Discover your inner Mick Jagger or become a guitar-playing granny and reconnect with your XBox-obsessed teenage grandchildren! Correction: Ron will help you to discover your inner Paul McCartney or, if you are looking for a home-grown hero, Mike McClellan - both more Ron's cup of tea than Mr Jagger. It's all there for the taking on a Monday morning at the Multicultural Hub - what a good way to start the week, and there to guide you will be Ron.

Guitar wasn't Ron's first introduction to music. He started off playing the tenor horn in a Salvation Army brass band. His parents were Salvo officers and his childhood was a peripatetic one through the country towns of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, which left him with an enduring love of the bush. He attended a total of thirteen schools, finishing up at Melbourne High and then Melbourne Uni where he took a degree in metallurgy and chemistry. After a Dip. Ed., he became a teacher for thirty two years, again in various country towns, returning to Melbourne on retirement.

Ron's wife, Anne Irwin, joined our U3A in 2008 to learn French and Ron soon followed. They joined one of our Let's Do Cycling groups - Anne now co-leads the Thursday group. They both love bushwalking and have recently completed the Walls of Jerusalem multi-day walk in northern Tassie. Ron is a keen runner too and takes part every January in the Dromana to Cape Schanck run on the Mornington Peninsula. Ron and Anne live in East Malvern and have two daughters and five grandchildren between the ages of nine and thirteen, all living in Melbourne, so their weeks are very full - but still time for Ron to take advantage of our Rummy Tiles class where he assists Blair Cramer. In the past he has enjoyed classes in philosophy and espionage.

So, what to expect if you do decide to join Ron's guitar class? To begin with just three chord pieces: Daisy a Day, a country hit from the seventies, and Oh Mary Don't You Weep, a spiritual dating from before the American Civil War. But you do need your own guitar, so perhaps you'll need to be extra nice to those teenagers and borrow one, at least to begin with and, if you persevere, maybe a U3A performance to end with! Thank you Maestro Ron.

Merilyn Harris