Creative Writing Group A Special Interest Group that meets on the first Monday of each month from 10am - 12 noon in the small meeting room near the foyer. The people who come to our Creative Writing Group are not experts or published authors. They are just ordinary people like you who have a wish to express themselves, and perhaps in many cases, leave behind a legacy of stories that tell their descendants how they lived and what was important to them in their life. A story is written at home about a topic on which all have agreed at the previous meeting. Writers are invited to share their story with the group whose members offer encouragement and advice. The topics chosen are varied and are intended as an inspiration only for our writers who always manage to produce wonderful, but usually different, stories on any topic at all. There is always an atmosphere of trust, and often laughter and tears are shared, as the stories are told. It is truly amazing how interesting the stories sound despite being written by people who all started off thinking they could not write well and nobody would be interested. Anonymity is guaranteed, however, all the club members eagerly look forward to the précis of the group's stories that appears in our very informative Monthly Newsletter. Help Sessions A Special Interest Group that meets on the third Monday afternoons of each month from 1pm - 3pm in the small meeting room near the foyer. Although, this is an informal meeting, available for all members and waiting list people, we will begin each session with a planned presentation on a specific topic of interest. You should benefit from the wide knowledge and experience of those people who have volunteered to host these sessions. The presenters and hosts of each session will also provide an opportunity for you to ask those questions you didn't ask in classes and wished you had; and to meet up with other interested Club members in a friendly atmosphere. Watch the Monthly Newsletter and the Club Website, www.cpepping.net.au , for demonstration topics and dates. Practical Genealogy A Special Interest Group that meets on the third Monday of each month from 10am - 12 noon in the small meeting room near the foyer. This is a group to share experiences and brainstorm with other researchers; to offer the benefit of your experience to others and to ask for help in the never-ending detective work involved in tracing your ancestors. There are so many different sources of information, it is very helpful to listen to suggestions about how that elusive relative may have arrived in Australia - we all know it was too far to swim; or why eight children were born in one town and one was born in a different town far away - yet there is no record of the family moving. You will also have the opportunity to use the NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages CD's purchased by the Club. These cover all the recorded BDM's in NSW since our Pioneer settlers, until the dates allowed by privacy issues. Lynton and Gwen Bradford bring along lots of helpful information and host the group which always proves to be worthwhile and lots of fun. You don't need to have taken the Genealogy Course run by the Club; you just need to be interested in exploring your Family History.