Term 1 has drawn to a close and it’s been productive on a number of fronts.
On Wednesday 27 March, I represented U3A Healesville at the Upper Yarra and Valley Services Network meeting to discuss current social issues with representatives from Eastern Health, CIRE, Badger Creek Men’s Shed, Healesville Police, Yarra Valley Living Centre and Anchor, amongst others. It provided insights into our wider community which will help us respond more effectively to the needs of our own community.
On the home front, all courses began strongly with energy and enthusiasm coming from our course leaders - especially some of our new courses. One of our strengths has been the willingness of members to offer ideas for new courses and for that to translate into action.
Our new look newsletter has received many positive comments relating to its accessibility and colourful format.
We also created a Facebook page which is another way of communicating with members and our wider community. It has been well received with 69 followers to date.
Finally, we are working at developing relationships with a number of organisations in Healesville that we hope will increase our reach and ability to offer better services to our community. Our membership has now exceeded last year’s total with 319 members as of the end of the term, which is a wonderful reflection on our community.
John Pascoe