News
Want to know about the famous Spanish dance, the Flamenco, then read this story by Carol West with the title The Flamenco Trinity on the Stories page added today 29 April?
published 29 April 2024
Two new poems by Margaret Boyes-Pringle and by Rina Leeuwenburg have been added to the Poems page
published 24 April 2024
Another new poem by Rina Leewenburg called Preacherman Cricket
has just been added
published 19 April 2024
A New Poem Added
New poem has been posted by Rina Leeuwenburg on Artificial Intelligence (AI)
published 26 March 2024
Two New Radio Plays Added
Radio plays by Margaret Boyes-Pringle and Andy Payne have been added to our Radio Plays webpage. Margaret’s is a romantic comedy called Closer to Home, whilst Andy’s is a comedy called Mother knows Best. Enjoy listening to the audio of each of these plays
published 29 January 2024
New Collaborative Book Project
L-R: Dr Cheryl Threadgold, Mr Geoff Rolls, Ms Nance Silverman, Ms Zoe Daniel, Dr Jo Samuel-King and Ms Jane Sullivan (photo credit: Malcolm Threadgold)
This book was launched to a sold-out crowd in the Beaumaris Community Hall on Saturday 7 October 2023. The launch was celebrated by readings from poems and stories, and the acting of a very humorous new radio play. The hall was decorated with the original paintings by the artists from the Bayside U3A Painting for Pleasure Group, and Biographies of the Writers and Artists. The publication entitled ‘Synergy’ is an anthology of short stories, poems and illustrations by the Bayside U3A Writers and the Bayside U3A Painting for Pleasure Groups. It was a collaborative project between the two groups. At 142 pages long, the book makes an ideal present. Copies are available for sale at $15 from the Bayside U3A office. The Bayside U3A Committee of Management assisted the venture with a grant, and provided a great deal of support for this launch event. Author, Ms Jane Sullivan launched the book with the assistance of Dr Cheryl Threadgold and Ms Nance Silverman. Ms Zoe Daniel ( Federal Member for Goldstein) and Deputy Mayor, Dr Jo Samuel-King representing the Bayside City Council were present, as was David Hone, President of the Bayside U3A. More photographs of the event are shown on our Photo Gallery page
published 7 October 2023
The Bayside U3A Writers Group in conjunction with the Bayside U3A Painting for Pleasure Group has received a grant from Bayside U3A to publish an anthology of short stories and poems.
The book celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Bayside U3A Writers Group, and also the collaboration with the Bayside U3A Painting for Pleasure Group.
Each written work will be accompanied by an artwork selected by the author. Similarly, the artists have been invited to select a written work to illustrate.
Some 42 stories accompanied by art works are expected to be in the final publication.
Keep informed by watching this space for details of this upcoming event.
updated 17 August 2023
The Launch will be held between 2pm and 4pm in the Beaumaris Community Centre, adjacent to the Beaumaris Library on Saturday 7 October.
Tickets are needed for the Book Launch. Bookings opened on 24 August. There is a limited capacity in the hall. Contact the Bayside U3A Office on how to obtain tickets, or send a Contact message to this website.
updated 28 August 2023
Recent Additions to the Website
Our first Local History article written by Jan Storey has been added to the website. She describes the history behind the old Brighton Courthouse, which is now occupied by the Bayside U3A as its Brighton centre (published 30 September 2023)
Geoffrey Dobbs has added to our collection of poems by the addition of Charioteer. Go to the Poems page.
(published 28 August 2023)
A poem by Margaret Boyes-Pringle called Guru has been added and can be found on the Poems page
A new radio play, The Old Van by Helen Graham has been added to the Radio Plays page (published 25 June 2023)
Just added, a story by Margaret Boyes-Pringle on the demolition of an old house as seen by the neighbours (published 19 January 2023).
Go to the Poems page to read and enjoy the latest poetry added to our website.
A further three poems by Vivienne Player, entitled: At the End of the Day, Evanescent and Missing have been added to the website (all published 6 December 2022).
Three poems by Geoffrey Dobbs, entitled Boy, Charlie’s Corner and Stone, and three poems by Margaret Boyes-Pringle have been added to the website.Margaret’s poems are Nimue’s Tree, Anniversary and Holme (all published 24 November 2022).
Our first Historical Fiction story – Custer’s Last Stand by Carol West has just been published on this website – go to the Historical Fiction page to read it ( published 23 Nov 2022).
updated 23 November 2022
This website was launched on 6 July 2020 by Bayside U3A Program Coordinator Sue Steele. The launch took place during a Bayside U3A Writers Group session held online during lockdown amid the covid pandemic. Joining U3A writers at the online launch were Bayside U3A President Tony Aplin, pioneer of local radio plays Terri Adams OAM, Newsletter Editor Deb Stephenson, 88.3 Southern FM Broadcaster Pauline O’Brien and radio play Technical Producer Raymond Simms. At launch date, this site contained 23 stories, 14 radio plays and 16 poems, a total of 53 works written by 23 different authors. All radio plays have recorded audio files of the play as well as written scripts. The site also includes a new prize-winning work by Geoffrey Dobbs called ‘Blood and Bone’. In May, 2022, the site was further updated and enlarged with articles on literary techniques in the Writing Resources page. Topics in these articles to assist writers include Editing Techniques (Martin Playne), Writing Radio Plays (Cheryl Threadgold), Teaching Haiku and The Nature of Haiku (Stephen Le Page), The Structure of Sonnets (Norah Dempster) and Useful Editing Terms (Evelyn Cronk). Three new pages have been added for articles on (a) Historical Fiction (historical creative non-fiction); (b) Local History (including the history of Bayside, your neighbourhood, your street, or your house and its earlier inhabitants) and (c) Military Conflict stories. More information can be found on those pages.
updated 16 May 2022
A new group photograph of the Bayside U3A Writers can be found on the Home page and the Members Works and Author Index webpage. Our thanks to Malcolm Threadgold for the photograph and to Andrew Morse for image editing. A few of our members are missing from the photograph as they were not able to be present. The photograph replaces an earlier one taken in 2018. As you can see it was a cold and windy winter’s day.
published 11 June 2022
Submission of Works for Publication
It has been decided that each member of the Bayside U3A Writers Group may publish three of their works in any one calendar year. This limit is designed to ensure that we do not make the website too large and cumbersome.
Editing
All works submitted for publication are subject to review and editing and/or workshopping. Editors for the different categories are:
Military Conflict Stories: Tom Valenta and Norm Beck
Poems: Margaret Boyes-Pringle and Vivienne Player
Stories: Geoffrey Dobbs and Norah Dempster
Word of the Month: Juliet Charles and Carol West
Radio Plays: Joy Meekings and Cheryl Threadgold
Historical Fiction: Martin Playne and Jan Storey
Local History: Helen Graham and Evelyn Cronk
Suggested Word Length of Articles and Poems
Poems: 500 words
Word of the Month: 500 words
Stories: 1500 words
Historical Fiction: 2000 words
Local History: 2000 words
Military Conflict Stories: 1500 words
Flexibility: No absolute maximum word length restrictions have ever been dictated by anyone in the group – there is always flexibility. The word limits above are only for guidance, in order for the website not to become too cumbersome for the user.
Author’s authorisation
All works are to be submitted in the first instance to the Convenor of this Group, Dr Cheryl Threadgold, and must be accompanied by the author’s signed authorisation that the work can be published on the Bayside U3A Writers website. She will pass the article on to the relevant editor/s. The authorisation text is shown on the page Members Works and Author Index
updated 16 May 2022
More News on Radio Plays
About Bayside U3A Writers Group Radio Plays
Former professional radio presenter Terri Adams OAM pioneered the radio play genre in the Bayside and Kingston areas at community radio station 88.3 Southern FM. The completed plays were presented in her weekly Kaleidoscope radio program. Retired ABC technician Raymond Simms still skilfully assists with editing the recordings and adding music and sound effects.
In 2013, Terri Adams and I co-tutored the first How to Write Radio Plays course when Bayside U3A commenced. We were fortunate that a splendid small group of writers joined our course and four of these core members still attend the Writers Group sessions today: Jan Storey, Colleen Dewis, Norah Dempster and Joy Meekings. Together with radio play writers such as Geraldine Colson, Juliet Charles and Sandra Sterling, these talented playwrights have produced some first-class radio plays.
In 2020, Bayside U3A Writers Group members Helen Graham and John Maddick have achieved writing their first radio plays. These plays have been workshopped by the group and will be recorded, when possible, featuring local actors.
Radio plays written by the Bayside U3A Writers Group are presented on the third Tuesday morning of each month on Pauline O’Brien’s ‘Community Capers’ program on 88.3 Southern FM, and each playwright attends the studio for the broadcast.
As well as broadcasting the radio plays monthly on 88.3 Southern FM, Bayside U3A radio plays have also been presented as live performances at U3A events, at two special Radio Theatre events at Beaumaris Theatre with cabaret-style seated audiences, and a Seniors’ Week Festival at Federation Square, Melbourne in 2019 [contributed by Cheryl Threadgold]
published 9 April 2021
Coming Events
Members can list literary events here – just contact the Convenor
| DATE | TIME | NAME OF EVENT | LOCATION |
| 7 October 2023 | 2pm to 4pm | Launch of the book Synergy | Beaumaris Community Centre adjacent to the Beaumaris Library |
The Bayside U3A Writers 
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