2015
What have our GROUPS been talking about ? NSW
Eastern Suburbs Group
2015
Margaret Fitzgerald , LO
It was a general talk but many of the figures were interesting and we found out a lot about recent changes to pensions and super which did affect some present .
The Eastern Suburbs Group has 29 members this year .
The group meets on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30pm in the Corio Community Centre at Maroubra Junction which is property of the Maroubra Junction Uniting Church . We are happy to have this space available to us as it is very cheap , central and comfortable although in winter it is unheated .
The year began with the planning meeting in February . In March our guest speaker was Emma- Kate Wallace from WEFT Shop . WEFTshop collaborates with refugee artisans living on the Thai- Burma border to earn a fair price for their handmade and traditionally loomed products www . facebook . com .
April meeting our guest was Hanna Hibbert , archivist at the Australian Jockey Club . Hanna has written a book on AJC history and was a very engaging and informative speaker .
The May meeting was the Twinning meeting with Grantham and the topic they chose this year was ' Mistresses in History '. The mistresses our ladies researched and spoke about made for a very lively evening and we all learnt a great deal more about their lives and commented on societies ' judgement of mistresses over different periods .
My son Chris who is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Planner presented a talk about financial planning at the June meeting .
July meeting was Book Night and was held at the home of one of our members . This night is always very enjoyable as we sit around a table and tell everyone about a favourite book we have read recently . It is always interesting to hear what people are reading and sometimes the story behind the choice .
The August meeting was a Games Night , many people were away or suffering winter ills and it was a very cold night so not a lot in attendance but the people who came enjoyed the Charades and Trivia and the fun discussions that the questions always prompted .
The meeting to come will be very interesting . In September my daughter Jackie will be talking to us about " Crime in the Eastern Suburbs : trends , hotspots and prevalence ", she is Deputy Director of the Bureau of Crime Statistics so has all the scary information we need to know if our streets are safe or not .
In October we will be welcoming Dr Mehreen Faruqui , she is a Greens MP in the New South Wales Legislative Council and she will be talking to us about ' Social and Environmental Justice '. This meeting , I expect , will be very interesting as the issues are so current and controversial .
As you can see it has so far been a very interesting and enjoyable year and our members highly value the friendship and collegiality of the group .
Margaret
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