Jordans Crossing Gazette

Serendipity: the choir – 10 years young! 2017 has already gone down in the annals of Serendipity: the choir as ‘the year to remember’ – and the year still has time to run! Thus far the choir can celebrate: • in April, our first all-day workshop with a guest conductor • in June, acclaimed performances of concert series One Earth – Many Voices • in July, a performance at the Council’s community awards • in August, a tour of the South Island of New Zealand • in September, participation in a combined choirs weekend workshop in Kangaroo Valley • in November, participation in the Final Fling, singing as cyclists powered by. To complete this, our end-of-decade year, Serendipity will present a concert celebrating every concert series we have presented during the 10 years of the choir’s existence. The present members of the choir voted for the piece from each programme which they wanted to include, and an amazingly diverse (and sometimes surprising) collection of music resulted. The programme will be diverse, entertaining, beautiful, boppy – as always, something for everyone. A particular pleasure will be the return of former Serendipians, coming from Canberra, Orange, Sydney, Bega, Kiama and yes, from Bundanoon! We also look forward to welcoming composers who have written music for us over the years. And so we look forward to welcoming our regular audience members and newcomers as we celebrate our first exciting decade and eagerly anticipate the beginning of the next. To be part of the celebration, do join us at one of our concerts. Every year at around this time, the members of Bundanoon Lions Club are, like most everybody else, counting down the days toward Christmas, eagerly looking forward to a well-earned rest. For us, the second half of the year is always the busiest, with regular catering gigs including the Garden Ramble café, the History Group garage sale and the Chevalier gymkhana. This year we were also kept busy with a couple of new events: a Meet the Lions evening, and the hilarity and anarchy of our Hell’s Bells! It’s Another Trivia Night . All this activity is enormous fun (we wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t – fun is our first priority!), but we also have an altruistic mission: everything we do raises much- needed funds to help us support good works in the village as well as the broader Australian community. Finding engaging new ways to raise those funds is an ongoing challenge, a challenge we share with other local and international charities; that and overcoming compassion fatigue – there are just so many seriously deserving causes vying for attention. During the coming ‘fallow’ months one of our key tasks will be to brainstorm ideas for a range of activities that will raise funds and awareness of Lions programs while not completely killing us! Wish us luck (and keep an eye out for updates via our Facebook page). As we approach the festive season, one of the ways Lions raises funds is via the sale of our legendary Christmas cakes and puddings. In the more than fifty years that the Lions Christmas Cake and Pudding program has been running, Lions have raised more than $55 million. That’s a lot of cake! The program originated in a member’s garage in Queanbeyan, before being outsourced to professional bakers Big Sister. In the intervening years the cakes have also been baked by some of the world’s leading food manufacturers, including Sara Lee, Arnotts and Top Taste, who have been baking Lions cakes since 1983. Since 2010, Lions have also been producing an incredibly rich pudding – highly recommended! Of course, many people take great pride in baking their own Christmas cakes and puddings, but if you think you’ll find yourself caught short for time they will be available for sale at the Bundanoon Post Office. And finally, Bundanoon Lions Club would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us this year: the fun-lovers who joined in our activities; the connoisseurs who chose one of our BBQ sausages over a more nutritious option; the feeble-sighted who donated their old glasses to the Lions’ Save Sight program; and the new Lions, and Friends, who toiled and laughed with such gusto at every occasion. We hope you enjoy a safe and happy festive season. — Kaz Williams Bundanoon Lions community December 2017 20 jcg