Thursday Morning Discussion Group
“Enjoying Time Out With Friends to Explore New Ideas”
♥♥♥♥♥ This group meets every Thursday morning from 9:30-11:30am in the sunny narthex on the Haldane Street side of the church hall.♥♥♥♥♥
History: The group began in the late 80’s as a group of mothers who had dropped their children at the Beaumaris Primary School and stood around chatting to each other. With the assistance of a St Martin’s elder and the minister of the day, they decided to meet at St Martin’s where they could relax and talk over morning tea whilst another member of the congregation was paid to look after the pre-school children. The group evolved from a weekly meeting chat group to a forum where meatier issues are discussed. The group has aged as the years marched on and the discussions too have changed accordingly.
Currently we meet monthly on the first Thursday of the month in the sunny back foyer of St Martin’s Beaumaris Uniting Church or one of the meeting rooms, gathering at 9.30am. We don’t generally meet during school holidays. On a rotating basis we provide a simple morning tea and the discussion topic for the day. We generally have between 6 and 12 participants at each meeting.
Demographically we are women and by definition not working in full time paid employment. Historically attrition has generally been due to a change or increase in paid employment hours. Our age range is mostly 55 plus plus. The group is not exclusive to St Martin’s or to mums. We welcome anyone who would like 2 hours of lively discussion and debate on current issues and ideas that relate to the members of the group or society in general.
What do we discuss? A huge array of topics! Some of the issues and ideas covered in recent times include:
- Sharing our favourite poetry – led off with “My Country” by Dorothea Mackellar
- What advice could you have taken from the lives your great- grandparents lived and what advice would you give you your great grandchildren?
- What Makes A Good Life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness.
- Unexpected Friendships Are the Best!
- The History of the Twelve Days of Christmas and a parody of the song.
- We discussed aspects of the book “The Wife Drought” by Annabel Crabb.
- R U OK? And other suicide prevention programs in our Country.
- Sleep – how to get more, good quality sleep
- Community Choirs
- A trip to India – Wendy Hinde gave us a photo session
- Inspiring Lives – the computer scientist and philanthropist Roger Riordan
- Lonely Christmas? Faith May Be Part of the Problem – and the Solution
- Fifty Years On, Is Life Better For Everyone?
- The History of the Twelve Days of Christmas
- Old Enough To Die
- Positive Psychology
- The Happiest Refugee – Anh Do
- Is Bold The New Beautiful?
- The Meaning of Friendship & How to Tell Who Your Real Friends Are.
- 99 Reasons Why 2017 Was a Good Year
- We read the book: “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande and discussed his writings on “Illness, Medicine and What Matters in the End.”
- In 2017 we organised two excursions – one in June to see the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute at its new site in Parkville next to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
- In October we visited the Australian Tapestry Workshop in South Melbourne and all enjoyed seeing the work in progress on the major tapestry Morning Star for the new Sir John Monash Centre, to be opened in Villeurs Brettenaux, France in 2018. Each excursion was followed by a lunch where we could all share our thoughts on the places we visited.
- We were privileged to be visited in August 2017 by a Cambodian Missionary Alli Mellon, the founding director of The Hard Places Community, a team of passionate missionaries who came together in February 2008 to be “a glimpse of hope to the hopeless in the darkest corners of this world.” Alli Mellon talked of the organisations work with the child sex trade in Cambodia. She told us that in Cambodia, the children they work with are often sold by their own families for sex with adults. To date, the youngest child who has been sexually exploited is three years old, and the Boys and Girls Centers called “Punlok Thmey” Prevention and Restoration Centers provide services to 347 children who have either been sexually exploited or abused or who are at high-risk as they live in the sex tourist area of Phnom Penh. They also have a wonderful program for young men working in male brothels where they offer them a new start at life through their discipleship and jobs programs.
- Why Every Woman Needs a Feminist Dad! – Plus a discussion of Laura Bates TEDx Talk at Covent Garden “Everyday Sexism”
- The Amazing History of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, one of the world’s first hospitals.
- Travel Expands Our Capacity For Empathy
- DNA & What It Tells Us About Human Evolution
- Forced adoption in the UK and Australia prior to the 1970s
- Living and Nursing in Papua New Guinea & the US
- Life changing developments that have influenced our lives and how our lives have been different to those of our mothers and grandmothers
- The Changing Face of our Suburbs – Black Rock in the depression years and beyond
- Who would you like to have a conversation with and why?
- Half the Sky – book by Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn – Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide – Economic Empowerment of Women
- Why conscientiousness counts!
- Hope – what is it and is it a fundamental human emotion?
- Is your brain Male or Female?
- Issues of Continence
- “TED Talks: Ideas worth spreading” Technology, Entertainment, Design
- Michelle Payne, being the first female jockey to win a Melbourne Cup begs the question why is there such a huge disparity between payments for Australian sports men and women?
- Kon Mari – the Japanese art of tidying – a unique method of organising your home.
- Changes in our Life Styles – Greeted by a selection of Sound of Music costumes – we had to change our own image and hear of the many changes in the early life of the real Maria on whom the film The Sound of Music is based.
- Excursions in past years have included the Australian Botanical Gardens at Cranbourne , the Australian Islamic Museum and also the Golden Mile Historical Walk in the CB
What do we get out of the group?
- A sense of connection and community with others who share part of our journey in life
- Relaxed time out with friends
- Exposure and education – a chance to explore new ideas and perspectives
- A diversity of cultural backgrounds
- A support group during crisis
We always welcome new faces so please join us on the first Thursday of each month at 9.30am.
Contact: Wendy Hinde on 0418 363 696
Margaret Thorburn on 0404 683 116