Sunshine Coast Morning Group
2015
Robyn Tait, LO
Let’ s hear it Queensland …!!
At the end of last year we said farewell to long standing member Maureen but at the same time welcomed new member Kerry plus Shirley a former member who has rejoined our group. So our numbers have remained constant( 11).
All members came to our first meeting in January with their annual subscriptions ready so we were off to a flying start. We began the year chatting about our siblings and where we fitted into the family and how that may / may not have impacted on our childhood. Occasionally it’ s good to get a more personal understanding of our fellow members.
We have since tackled the topic of our digital footprint. Did you know that up to 30 million of the 1.3 billion Facebook accounts belong to people who have died? It is not a simple process to remove / delete either. We are increasingly more connected by the internet with friends / family and business and what to do with this footprint after death is a growing dilemma.
With this in mind the next discussion was on how to keep body, mind and spirit healthy and some great ideas were exchanged.
Our April discussion was in fact several mini discussions as each member introduced a topic of her choice and we followed with our comments. We have enjoyed this format before as many different issues can be raised, always of interest but not necessarily needing a full discussion time.
One meeting each year we set aside for a games morning. Our host is Willi who has a good knowledge of interesting games. One game is Mexican Train, a dominoes game with a difference and some new rules to learn. We also played some card games and the laughter flowed as we enjoyed some friendly rivalry in our efforts to win.
Loyalty was our June topic as we debated whether it is still valued in business, partnerships and friendships. I think we agreed loyalty is a quality valued in friendships but that in today’ s competitive world loyalty can be fickle as a better offer presents itself and businesses don’ t always look out for their long standing clients.
A lively discussion was hosted by Patricia in July on the subject of TV. We easily compared our favourite programmes and lamented the funding cuts to the ABC, although also pointing out that some of their newer comedy programmes are not actually very funny and possibly a waste of money.
Our member Irene lives in Noosaville and so we car pooled to drive to her home in August as she regularly makes the trip south to Caloundra for our meetings. We tackled the topic of left and right political factions, what does it mean to belong to a faction and how much power does a faction have? The answer is a lot! Also factions or alliances exist in all the major political parties and within states and are constantly manipulating in the background to gain an advantage. After this discussion we walked to a nearby café for an enjoyable lunch, making a delightful day overall.
Most months those who can, stay for lunch( BYO) and we enjoy this social time together.
Whilst it is not possible for any of us to travel to conference this year we will be with you all in spirit, especially as on the same day we will be meeting with Carole Aveley’ s Brisbane West group. We’ ve agreed to travel to Bribie Island where we will have morning tea together in a park near the water, followed by a discussion and then adjourn to a nearby café for lunch. This is our way of keeping in touch with the bigger picture of NWR.
Robyn
11