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MURA Holiday Luncheon
Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Sixty members celebrated the holiday season at that is part of the LaSalle College International School of Hotel Management and Tourism. They enjoyed a delicious gourmet luncheon prepared and served by students on the last day of their semester. They received an enthusiastic round of applause for their magnificent work. Everyone had a delightful time with colleagues and new friends at this very festive location. Photos
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Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Wednesday, October 25, 2023, 1 p.m.
Twenty fortunate members enjoyed a spectacular production of the hit broadway musical Beautiful produced by theĚý. The show was the inspiring true story of Carole King’s remarkable journey from teenage songwriter to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It featured over two dozen pop classics, including “You’ve Got a Friend,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and "Natural Woman,” performed by an extremely talented cast. Ěý
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Walking Tours of Lafontaine Park and Neighbourhood
Tuesday, October 3 and Friday, October 6, 2023 10:30
Members had the opportunity to participate in two guided walking tours of Lafontaine Park and the surrounding neighbourhood. They learned about how the 1870s were the decade of major park development in Montreal. While the Mount-Royal Park was in the process of being acquired and landscaped, the new federal government decided to relinquish two important sites, St Helen's Island and the rural parade ground known as Logan's Farm. While the island was opened to the public in June 1874, the Logan site was little used until the city started developing the park after 1888. Its current name in honor of Louis Hippolyte La Fontaine was chosen in 1901. As the city grew all around the park, it became one of the beloved spots of east-end Montreal, for recreation and cultural activities, and for historic monuments, public assemblies, and protest movements. Most of the attendees enjoyed a delicious luncheon following the tour at the nearby restaurantĚý. Photos
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Tour of McGill's Visual Art CollectionĚý
Thursday, September 14, 2023, 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Thirteen members participated in a guided tour of sculptures and art displayed throughout the McGill campus, followed by lunch at the Faculty Club. Michelle Macleod, Assistant Curator, Visual Arts Collection, provided fascinating information about McGill's public art such as, the Friendship Fountain by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (aka The Three Bares), the James Sculpture Garden, and their Visible Storage Gallery on the 4th floor of McLennan Library. Everyone was quite delighted to learn more about the sculptures they had been passing by during their years at McGill! As the tour was so popular, MURA hopes to offer another next spring. Photos
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8th Annual General Meeting
Wednesday, June 14, 2023, 3 - 6 p.m.
Billiard Room, Faculty Club
MURA/ARUM’s Annual General Meeting was held in the Billiard Room of the Faculty Club on June 14th, 2023. During the formal part of the meeting, the recommendations of the Nominating Committee for Board positions in 2023-24 were acclaimed and unanimous approval was received for the 2022-2023 financial statements and the 2023-2024 budget. As required by the Registraire des Entreprises, a Special General Meeting was then held to pass a resolution to correct a minor typographical error in the official name of our association, which now reads: “Association des retraité(e)s de l’Université McGill. Annual reports were then presented on Events & Activities, Communications, and Membership. Official presentations of two awards granted by the College and University Retiree Associations of Canada (CURAC) to Dr Joan Wolforth for her multifacted contributions to MURA and the Retiree Affairs Committee (RAC) of MAUT, as well as MURA for its role as host of the first CURAC Virtual Assembly in 2021 to mark McGill's Bicentennial. The meeting concluded with a lively discussion of potential additional activities that might be included in MURA’s programming.
Following the formal AGM program, the invited Guest Speaker, Prof Chris Ragan, presented an engaging account of the inception of the Max Bell School of Public Policy, and its first steps over the past six years during which it progressed from an idea to a fully developed graduate program with 40 + students 50% of whom are Canadian and the remaining 50% from abroad. At the conclusion of the meeting, a new member of the Board, Carlette Walker, presented an inspiring toast to commemorate MURA’s 8th Anniversary that was followed by a sumptuous reception.(Photos)
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Walking Tours of the Jeanne Mance Park Neighbourhood
Monday, June 12 and Friday, June 16, 2023
Members enjoyed two sunnyĚýdays on a guided tour of the Jeanne Mance Park Neighbourhood by the very knowledgeable guide, Justin Bur. He spoke about how the space officially named Jeanne-Mance Park in 1990 has had a varied collection of uses in the past two centuries. These included a stone quarry, golf course, playing field, ornamental fountain, racetrack, and military parade grounds. Its edges have been sought after for attractive residences and important institutions – the HĂ´tel-Dieu, the Jewish Public Library – as well as municipal quarantine hospitals. They also learned why it used to be called Fletcher's Field, and the controversies that arose when Park Avenue was built through the park. (Photos)
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MURA/MCLL Lecture Series
In collaboration with the McGill Community for Lifelong Learning (MCLL), MURA offered a series of five virtual lectures on Fridays at 10 a.m. that began on February 3rd and ended on March 17th. According to the World Health Organization, one in five people lives with some form of a mental disorder. During the pandemic, isolation and loneliness had a major impact on seniors’ mental health.
Please use this link for complete information about all of the lectures.
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Centaur Theatre
Sunday, April 2, 2023
Sixteen members attended the matinee of the provocative play King Dave- An Immigrant's Story in Montreal.Written by author Alexandre Goyette, the play was a great success at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe in 2001.Ěý Adapted by Anglesh Major for the Centaur Theatre, the play was translated by Patrick Emmanuel Abellard who delivered a strong emotional performance.Ěý Ěý
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MURA Snow Day
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
McGill Morgan Arboretum
Sixteen MURA hearty souls attended MURA's first winter visit to the Morgan Arboretum that turned a winter day to a wonderful fun day. Under the guidance of Don Pavlasek, a group skied the beautiful trails and Frank Ferrie lead another group on a 3km warm walk, and others snowshoed with Rosemary Cook 3km through the forest. Several times the sun broke through to cheer their souls. All retired to Bistro Kirkland for hot onion soup, nachos, wraps and our kind of music. Fun was had by all and looking forward to a repeat next year. (Photos)
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Virtual Happy Hour
Wednesday, January 18, 2023, 5 p.m.
Nineteen members enjoyed welcoming a new member and catching up at MURA's first virtual happy hour of 2023. It was the most "global" chat so far with participants from Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Norway. The theme was "resolutions - kept, broken, not bothered," and the consensus was we're doing great so far, why change things!
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