Members enjoyed lunch at Mamak, Chatswood for our July Dining Experience. At our July monthly meeting we heard from members who provided a most interesting talk and photo presentation of their time spent in Tijuana Mexico as part of a team helping to build houses for the poor. Inspired by the humanitarian work described in the book, `Escape from Kabul’, they volunteered to spend a week in 2001, 2008 and again in 2011 living and building the houses under far from ideal conditions. The outing for the month was a trip to The Sydney Jewish Museum which was established in 1992 by the generation of Holocaust survivors who came to Australia. A very moving experience for all those who attended.
The guest speaker at our August meeting was Dr Richard Harris. Richard is a vascular surgeon and author. His talk covered his medical career, including changes in vascular surgery and what it is all about, the Hornsby hospital rebuild, and what makes a good doctor. He also spoke about his book, titled Imagine: A Novel, including a discussion of the writing process, a little about John Lennon, and the publishing and feedback processes.
Quite a few members headed to Sydney Zoo at Bungarribee in Western Sydney for a most enjoyable day. The Zoo embraces advanced technology and innovation to improve animal welfare, visitor engagement and education. Sydney Zoo is home to a wide range of exotic and native species. With clever habitat design, it provides an experience that is more immersive and engaging than traditional zoos and is home to over 4,000 animals, Australia’s largest Reptile and Nocturnal House, and an aquarium.
The Amble was a little different this month with members taking a train to Waverton and then walking to the Coal Loader at Balls Head. The community gardens at the Loader grew everything from pansies and sweet peas to herbs and vegetables. The native bees were still asleep, but we were able to admire their hand crafted wooden home. The history of the Coal Loader was displayed around the site and it was interesting to learn how important it was to the development of shipping and Sydney Harbour. After a walk through a dark tunnel where the coal was loaded onto the trolleys we emerged to the sunshine and a bush walk along the harbour foreshore. The views were magnificent. We admired the ferries, the kayaks and the pleasure boats. It was then time for lunch and the Grumpy Baker seemed an appropriate place. There were no grumpy faces after lunch as everyone enjoyed the food and coffee. It was a great day out, and a most successful and interesting amble.
August also saw a Craft Exchange which involved a demonstration and discussion on Wool Spinning and Carding.
Jennifer Lumsden (CSC and Bar) was our guest speaker at our September meeting. Jennifer started nursing at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne joining the Air Force Reserve in the 80s. She continued to work in both ICU at Royal Melbourne and the Air Force as parallel careers. Her deployments have included East Timor with the United Nations military hospital, the 2nd Bali Bombings, and Iraq with the United States Air Force. Her talk was extremely interesting as well as being most inspiring.