Have another look at our website - plenty of changes

Have you looked at the ParraPals website lately?  Quite a number of pages have been updated in the past week - especially the Courses page.  The full timetable for Term 2, commencing in the week commencing 19th April is shown,  With some important exceptions - mostly Monday courses - courses start in Week 2, just after Anzac Day.  The first week has been set aside for some two hour refresher courses.  These are proving very popular but there are still some vacancies in the Email Refresher course.

The other web page which has been updated is the Links page. The genealogy links have been checked and updated, and there are some useful links under the Seniors section.  Let me know if you have a suggestion about links on the four topics displayed.

Are you a member of Facebook?  If so, I do hope you will join the group Parramatta Computer Pals for Seniors

Ghost Hunting at Rookwood Cemetery

After a long summer hibernation the Genealogy Special Interest Group is meeting again after our Members' Meeting on 19th March. We will break for lunch and then convene at 12:30 pm.

Rookwood Cemetery
Our first excursion for 2010 is a guided tour of Rookwood Cemetery. Depending on the numbers interested, we may either join a scheduled tour one Sunday morning, or arrange our own tour on a date that suits. Tours are led by volunteer guides from the Friends of Rookwood, and we can choose any of several themed walks - the 700 acres of cemetery is too big to cover everything! Most of the Cemetery Trusts have websites where you can search for the burial details of your ancestors, so come prepared to go ghost hunting.

Lost Cousins
Deborah has recently discovered an interesting free website called Lost Cousins (www.lostcousins.com) and will talk about it at the meeting. If you have ancestors or relations who are listed in the 1841 or 1881 England and Wales census, or similar censuses, you can list them on this site. If any "lost cousin" has matching records you can get in touch with each other through the site.

Problem solving
Sometimes when you get stuck researching an ancestor, someone else has had a similar problem and can help you with a solution. Bring any information you have about a problem ancestor to a meeting and we'll try to help you.

A good day out on the Parramatta River

Seventeen members of the Digital Photography Special Interest Group and other club members enjoyed morning tea and lunch at Circular Quay after catching the all stops Betty Cuthbert ferry to town yesterday morning.  Most members had their cameras - the purpose of the exercise - and made good use of them along the way.
Even for those of us without cameras - yours truly dropped hers a few weeks ago - enjoyed the day, chatting to our mates and enjoying the scenery.
Maureen Neilsen grew up near the Parramatta river at Concord, and regaled us with stories of her childhood on the river, and the changes she's noticed over the years.
Rain had been forecast, but luckily for us it didn't arrive till one o'clock, after we'd finished our lunch so we caught the express ferry back to Rydalmere and Parramatta.  We all agreed it had been a very pleasant day, and were keen to organise another outing, maybe to Windsor and Richmond, to Olympic Park, lunch at the Sydney Rowing Club at Abbotsford.  There are so many possibilities...
Thank you Michael - the new co-ordinator of our Digital Photography Special Interest Group - for organising this outing.
Don't forget, there are two 10 hour courses for digital photographers, each running most terms.  These are Manage Your Digital Photos, and Digital Photo Stories. Photographers may also be interested in trying the PowerPoint course as well, or encouraging us to run a scrapbooking class.