The Artful Dodger — April 2026

From the Chair

In a wonderful, well-attended AGM on Tuesday (21 April), we celebrated the strengths and successes of the Association and each of our member groups, appointed a new Committee and two new life members, and had a singalong to finish!

Congratulations to Simone Kiefer and Caroline Shaw, both very long-serving members of the Theatre Company and wider Association, who were appointed life members. Both very well-deserved. (See the AGM article below for more details).

The AGM was my last meeting as Chair after three years in the role. There are so many people who have helped make this time memorable and rewarding. I have made new friends and met more locals who are quietly and generously giving their time and energy to supporting creativity and social well-being in our community through Warrandyte Arts.

I am very glad to leave the role in the safe hands of David Tynan, who is a past President (now renamed ‘Chair’), Life Member and coordinator of the Repair Café amongst numerous other contributions. I’ve appreciated his good humoured support during my time as Chair.

I’d also like to thank Marion Cooper (Vice Chair) for her kind, steady support and Grant Purdy for being a fabulous, one-of-a-kind Secretary. I’ve really enjoyed our collaboration and friendship.

Last, but not least, many thanks to Briony Bottarelli for her cheerful production of the Dodger. It’s been a lot of fun working together every two months!

Best wishes all
Bruce Turner, Chair (retired!)
[email protected]

AGM 2026

Meet your new Committee and Life Members

As required by our rules, all positions on our existing committee, including officers of the Association, were ‘spilled’ before the AGM. All nominees by roles were appointed by the AGM, unopposed and by a unanimous vote. The officers of WMIAA for the next 12 months will be:


Chair	David Tynan (also Repair Cafe rep)
Vice Chair	Marion Cooper (also Visual Arts rep)
Treasurer	Andrea McMahon
Secretary	Grant Purdy

In addition, the general members of Committee are:


Noelene Cooper	Membership Coordinator
Denise Farran
Louise Phelan	Convenor WTC
Jock Macneish
Simone Kiefer
David Tucceri
Annie Kennedy	Pottery Group Representative
Michelle Reeves	Writers Group Representative
Pablo Bitetto
Pat Anderson	Minute Secretary
Tori Swedosh

Our outgoing Chair, Bruce Turner, was given a sincere vote of thanks for his stewardship over the last three years.

The meeting also endorsed the award of Life Membership of the Association to Simone (Sim) Kiefer and Caroline Shaw.

Noelene Cooper nominated Sim saying that, since joining the theatre company in 2001, she has made remarkable contributions as an actor, director, crew, front of house, and has been on the theatre company committee for
most of those years. In 2008 she joined the WMIAA committee and took on the role as treasurer until 2021. When the Repair Café started, there was Sim, as a leading hand and fixer.

Sim has made an art of always putting up her hand to help, with anything. She is Working Bee front line contributor, an After Party hostess with the most-est, and provides food and fun on every occasion to share her friendship and joy of life.

Among Sim’s qualities is that she will always let you know where she stands on issues, she will happily share her feelings, you will not be left in any doubt. Overriding all her qualities is her gorgeous, illuminating smile that radiates, welcomes and encompasses us all.

David Tynan nominated Caroline and said that she has been involved in innumerable stage productions over more that 30 years and is a consistently regular and willing contributor to shows in many ways. She is always available and willing to provide ideas for sets and costumes, including frequent garment and props
making and repairs.

Caroline is extremely generous with her time to help others shine, with an extraordinary artistic and creative approach to theatre set design. She is a thorough and passionate director of a range of theatre genres and an excellent character actor.

Sim and Caroline (pictured below with Bruce) will receive their awards at a subsequent celebratory lunch.

Warrandyte Theatre Company

Season 1 — The Vagina Monologues - was extremely well received with sell-out nights. Feedback from the audiences was fantastic. One woman’s boyfriend cried, they both loved it and said that every actress was really well-suited to their part. The review by Paul Kelly in the Warrandyte Diary was also very positive. “So, while I admit I was uncertain and perhaps a bit apprehensive about attending, I found it to be a very thought-provoking and worthwhile production, presented by a community theatre company at an excellent standard”, he wrote.

“It was expertly handled, with each of the actors giving high-quality and expertly directed performances while managing to keep the entire audience engaged throughout the whole show.”

Each of the chairs used by the performers were auctioned off after the production and raised $1,235 for the McAuley Foundation, who provides support for women fleeing family violence.

We are now full steam ahead with rehearsals and production plans for…
Season 2 — The Father, written by French playwright Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Grant Purdy.

The Father offers a fascinating look inside the mind of Andrew, a retired dancer living with his adult daughter Anne and her husband. Or, is he a retired engineer receiving a visit from Anne who has moved away with her boyfriend? Why do strangers keep turning up in his room? And where has he left his watch?

A touching, funny and worrying story. In 2015 The Guardian gave the London production a rare, five-star review, calling it “the best play of the year.” The Times described The Father as “one of the best plays of the decade.”

The 2020 film, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman, closely follows the play and won Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor,
for Anthony Hopkins.

The play opens on June 19.
Bookings can be made at: https://www.trybooking.com/DHJOP

Season 3 - Boeing Boeing - is also in early production. Set in the early 1960s , it is centered on self-styled Parisian Iothario Bernard, a bachelor with a flat in Paris - and three fiancées! Directed by Tegan Declark and Taryn Johns, this fast paced, chaotic comedy is sure to be a big hit with our Warrandyte audiences.

Lou Phelan,
[email protected]

Warrandyte Festival

WMIAA Participants

Despite the soggy weather, members of the theatre company walked in the Festival Parade, displaying our new banner created by Marion Cooper and inspired by Jock Macneish’s cartoon of the hall. As always, Pat Anderson carried our placard supporting the Warrandyte Community Bank.

The motley crew getting dressed for the Parade

The team parading

Pat acknowledging support from the Community Bank

The stall at the Festival, set up by Marion Cooper and Annie Kennedy, drew a lot of interest from passersby. By the end of the day, most of the pottery displayed there had been sold, as had many WMIAA T-shirts.

Pottery items for sale at the Festival

Singing

Chocolate Lilies Choir

The first performance of the year is always busy for the choir, usually followed by more performances during the warm weather. So after the big Christmas break there is always a need to have some songs ready and easy to perform. There are also new members to welcome into the choir and we don’t want to overwhelm them by focusing on getting material ready.

In March we performed at the Warrandyte Festival, which is always lovely and, on April 11, I was invited to give a presentation on the 32 years of the Chocolate Lilies Choir, for the Eltham Historical Society, at their Annual General Meeting.

As well a sharing stories and photos I decided to start the session the way I start our choir sessions, by getting everyone to stand in a circle and learn a beautiful song in four part harmony. It was very moving. We then finished the event with the
choir singing a few songs.

This new term sees us learning a song in preparation for Reconciliation Week.

Nerida Kirov

100 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

2028 is the 100th birthday of our beloved Mechanics Institute Hall. We will be celebrating throughout the year with numerous events. Our archives will be very helpful, but there are more stories to collect.

Over the next twelve months we are planning to interview some special people who remember events at the hall before the Arts Association started in 1955, and stories of the early days of the Association. We will record a couple of paragraphs from a wide cross section of people to add to our colourful records. We will also interview people who have made more recent contributions to the Arts Association and the hall.

The sort of questions we will ask are:

When were you first involved with the Warrandyte Mechanics Institute and/or Arts Association?
What are your first memories of your involvement?
What contributions do you feel you have made to the life of the WMIAA?
In what ways do you feel the WMIAA has impacted your life?
What is your favourite story about your involvement with the WMIAA?

If you would like to be part of this, contact Pat Anderson: 0488 173 490 or [email protected]

The Mechanics Hall goes green

Thanks to generous grants from the Warrandyte Community Bank and the Government’s Stronger Communities Program, we have now installed solar panels and a large battery at the hall.

For most of our activities, the energy stored in the large battery should ensure we never draw (or pay for) electricity from the grid again - with a considerable saving to the Association. Although, of course, when we stage a show with all theatre lights on, we will still draw some additional power from the grid. The battery will also provide a backup in the case of power failure.

The solar panels have been situated at the rear of the east-facing roof so that they attract the most light, but are barely visible from the road.

Pottery

The Potters have been buzzing with activity since the start of Term 1, as new members have joined filling both Tuesday and Wednesday groups, so the
pottery yield has been high with the kiln firing every week.

Many birthdays have been celebrated this term with lunches served outside the studio under the shade of the gums and warmth of the sun.

The potters were in full swing producing pottery to sell at the WMIAA/ Pottery Stall at the Warrandyte Festival at the end of March. Even though it rained, it didn’t dampen the fun and energetic spirit of the potters and WMIAA members promoting the Warrandyte Mechanics Institute & Arts Association. Many pottery items were sold, making around $800. Overall, it was another successful and enjoyable stall.

Special mention and appreciation to Annie, Dave and Marion who diligently made time to co-ordinate the stall, including early morning set-up and evening pack-up.

Safety practices for the Pottery Studio have been established, in line with OHS/ Pottery Studio guidelines, to avoid exposure to glazes/oxides and silica. These include clothing, glaze and clay handling, eating, food preparation and cleaning.

The photo below shows Robyn with our Safety Practices, holding the mop and some colour-coded microfiber cloths, to name a few of the updates we have made. She is also wearing a purpose designed apron sourced and purchased from another not-for-profit pottery studio in Corio. A local Graphic Designer created the logo for us, which we have sewn on our aprons.

Alison Beanland

Repair Café

Fresh from WRC’s regal presence in the Warrandyte Festival Parade, Bernadette is adjusting to life after her short reign as a monarch. It was an excellent opportunity to promote the great work of us all - and doesn’t she look relaxed in the role?

April’s session was surprisingly well-attended with the usual range of things, wholly or partially fixed, advice given and blessings offered. Jelle was able to restore functionality to a much-loved toy.

Fresh from the end of The Vagina Monologues production, repaired chairs were auctioned off. However, the fixers were called in to help mend a chair for the next production, with Bernadette and Simone to the fore. Another example of how different parts of the Association assist each other.

Coming soon - Linux Repair Café

In October 2026, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10, the operating system that runs on most computers worldwide. Millions of older computers are not suitable for upgrading to Windows 11. They are at risk of becoming e-waste. With Linux as your operating system, you can use your computer for much longer. Also, commercial software is no longer supported after a few years, and updates often cannot be installed on older computers. As a result, people buy new computers too quickly and too many computers end up in landfill. With Linux as your operating system, this is not necessary. Open source software is always being developed further. So you never have to get rid of a Linux computer because it is no longer supported. At the WRC, we plan to begin conducting workshops so that members of the community can be supported to keep their laptops for much longer. Viva Linux!

David Tynan
[email protected]

Writing

Hello Dodgers and the writers among us. We delightfully invite you to join us on the following Wednesday evenings between 7 - 9pm
May 6 & 20, June 3, July 1 & 15, August 5 & 19, September 2 & 16,
October 7 & 21, November 4 & 11, December 2 & 16

Looking forward to growing our numbers and connecting with you and other writers. So, if you know anyone who might be interested in coming along, please forward the following contact email:

[email protected]

In perpetuity,
Michelle

From the Archives

Fundraising for maintaining the Mechanics’ hall has clearly been an issue from the start. The following item was taken from the Advertiser (Hurstbridge, Vic. 1932-1939).

Pat Anderson

Warrandyte
Ugly Man Competition
On Thursday evening there was a large attendance to witness the crowning ceremony in the Ugly Man's Competition in aid of the funds of the Warrandyte Mechanics' Institute.

This is the first function of its kind locally and every effort was put in by the contestants of which there were three viz:- Mr. W. Ware, Ugly Man of Warrandyte West, with court officials in Heck Clark, Fred Russell, J. Gilbert and A. Chisholm; J. Pocock; Ugly Man of Warrandyte East, with Tick Mullins, Jacky Egan and Mavis Robertson as pages. The maids of honour were Joyce Robertson and Baby Berger. Gray Smith and Len. Belzer were gentlemen to the maids of honour and R. Smith was the crown bearer; A. Scarborough, Ugly Man of Warrandyte South put in an appearance but his maids and pages were a little late in getting into their costumes. However, great enjoyment was derived by those present.

Mr. (Joker) Hall, of Essendon football fame, performed the crowning with many funny remarks concerning each of the characters. The result of the poll by votes, which had been well canvassed for during a long period, was a close one:
J. Pocock was proclaimed the winner.
The voting was as follows:
J. Pocock, 5760 votes. £24/
W. Ware, 5688 votes. £23/14
A. Scarborough, 840 votes £3/1
Total £51/4

All the novel costumes, which caused great merriment, were made by Mrs. G. Robertson. Dancing was indulged in till the small hours of the morning. The takings at the door were £9/10. This, with the £51/4 will benefit the Institute funds to a most acceptable extent. The
Committee desire to tender their thanks to all those who gave assistance.

The result from efforts by the Committee who conducted a "court of injustice" at Christmas in aid of the' Institute funds was £24/9/1. This, with other efforts, has put the funds on a substantial footing.

Membership

To renew your membership for 2026, click this link:
https://www.trybooking.com/DIJZB
then “BOOK NOW” and follow the prompts.

Please ensure you enter the correct membership type and the correct group, or groups, of which you are an active member. If you are unsure or have any query related to membership, please contact me.

To our valued Life Members…
Thank you so much to those who have registered their membership on Trybooking. This new process for Life Members will help in maintaining our official membership record. I am happy to register any who don’t have access to a computer or require help with the process.

Kind regards,

Noelene Cooper, Membership Coordinator
[email protected]
Mob: 0400 861 133