Our first meeting for 2023 will be held on Tuesday 14th February, at our usual venue, The Grand View Hotel, Wentworth Falls, at 10.30am.

Members are invited to stay for lunch to continue the conversation and Friends’ fellowship.

Note that we now have an ABCF Blue Mountains branch library: great books are available at our meetings, with a focus on political or media themes. We welcome book donations to build this library for our members.

Also, note that you can always keep up to date with our newsletter, available in the online archive.
Hoping to see you in person in 2023!

Our AGM on Saturday 19th November will take place at the Wentworth Falls School of Arts, at 10.00am.

At 11.00am, we will introduce our guest speaker, local resident Mr Bill Wyman, lecturer in Media and Communications (Sydney University) and journalist, who will inform and entertain us on the subject of the importance of public broadcasting in a healthy democracy. ABC viewers and listeners may know Bill from his appearances on ABC’s “The Drum” and the “Planet America” podcast.

At midday (following the AGM and guest speaker) we will be celebrating the ABC’s 90th birthday, with lunch, displays of ABC memorabilia, audio and visual presentations of ABC’s past and present programs and personalities, and a raffle with a terrific hamper as first prize. We encourage members to wear ABCF T-shirts for the occasion. This will be a timely opportunity to meet up with your fellow ABC Friends, and to demonstrate our appreciation for the significant role the ABC plays (and indeed has played) in our lives. If you have any ABC memorabilia, please bring it along!

Please contact Sue Noske on 0421 020 610, or email susano2311@gmail.com if you plan to stay for our celebration. We’re asking our members to bring a plate of food to share, and drinks (including alcohol if desired).  Coffee and tea will be provided.

Bill Wyman lectures in Media and Communication at the University of Sydney and is a regular columnist for the Sydney Morning Herald. He is an occasional contributor to ABC’s “Planet America” podcast and has appeared on ABC’s “The Drum”.
Before moving to Australia three years ago and settling in the Blue Mountains, Bill was the arts editor and assistant managing editor of National Public Radio in Washington DC. In these roles he oversaw the network’s arts, entertainment, cultural, media and digital coverage. He has contributed articles to the Columbia Journalism Review and rock music articles to New York Magazine. Bill was also an arts editor for Salon.com.
You can read Bill Wyman’s columns for the Sydney Morning Herald at:
https://www.smh.com.au/by/bill-wyman-p4yw15

We will be meeting at 10.30 am on Tuesday 11 October in the Grand View Hotel in Wentworth Falls. This follows the new schedule of meeting on the morning of the second Tuesday of the month.

We will be meeting at 10.30 am on Tuesday 13 September in the Grand View Hotel in Wentworth Falls. This follows the new schedule of meeting on the morning of the second Tuesday of the month.