News From CALL Summer 2023

Sketch by Jan Walker, member of the Open Studio Interest Group.

Bob Stamp, one of CALL’s Original Five

Bob Stamp at the first CALL Launch. September 6, 2011

CALL was born on June 4, 2010 when 5 people, Bob and Arlene Stamp, Don Smith, Carol Gerein, and Barbara Grant met at the Stamp’s home and shared a vision to create a new kind of learning group for people who are eager to learn from each other in small interest/study groups. The group researched lifelong learning organizations in other places. Bob and Arlene had been members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of California, Santa Cruz where they spent many winters; others were familiar with the McGill Lifelong Learners, with which CALL has an enduring connection. A vision gradually evolved of a grassroots, member-managed peer learning organization that not only offered learning opportunities but also enabled members to create opportunities; where peer learning groups functioned under the guidance of a facilitator rather than an ‘expert’ teacher or leader.

Invitations were sent to friends and acquaintances for an organizational meeting on November 4th. At that meeting twelve people volunteered to form a Steering Committee and the hard work began. They created a mission, mandate, organizational structure, committee terms of reference and by-laws, obtained liability insurance, received status as a non-profit society, worked with a designer to create a logo and website, instituted systems for membership and program registration and created programs that incorporated peer learning, discussion groups, speaker series and activities. They decided on a name, the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners – CALL. 100 people attended a fundraising dinner in March, 2011 at Rosedale Community Hall with food cooked in 11 crockpots and six ovens. Volunteers were commandeered mid-dinner to replenish the popular wine supply! A gala launch was held in September – at which point there were 114 members and 8 programs.

Bob speaking when Santa Cruz Lifelong Learning members came to CALL.

Those original 5 organizers felt that the first year of CALL was a magical experience: it was fun, exhilarating, stimulating, exciting, creative, joyful and hard work. Bob Stamp was an integral part of that hard work and magic. He continued to show leadership, chairing the Communication and Public Relations Committee and facilitating several Interest Groups including ‘Films from Denmark’ and ‘Livable Cities’. An outline Bob drew up in CALL’s early days suggested that the goal should be “To encourage open discussion and debate in an environment where all participants feel comfortable in expressing their ideas and opinions without fear of being ‘wrong.’” He and Arlene were educational and social innovators, co-founding an art-centred alternative school in Calgary in the 1970s and 40 years later the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners. They were active CALL members until they moved to Sooke, BC where once again, they were innovators, becoming charter members of a cohousing community and Bob was founding chair of Sooke Region Lifelong Learning.

Bob died on June 9, 2023. He wrote a ‘fond farewell to family, friends, former students and colleagues’ in which he asked that in lieu of flowers people consider a donation to the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners. CALL is very grateful to be part of Bob Stamp’s legacy of learning for the joy of it.

(Information from CALL archives and contributions from Bob’s friends and colleagues.)

Where does all the money go?

Do you wonder why you pay an annual fee to CALL? Without going into detail, an overall view with the pie chart helps explain how your membership fees are spent. We are grateful to have our home in room 310 of cSPACE King Edward in Marda Loop. Many of our programs use this room for regularly scheduled meetings. We also rent space from Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, and the community centres in Rosedale, Crescent Heights and Marda Loop making rent our biggest expense at 65% of your membership fees. Another 25% is spent on insurance and IT (information technology) with the last 10% spent on general office and administrative costs and programs. The program expense goes to offering a very small honorarium to guest speakers at events like the CALL Café and the Science and Environment series. The administration and organization of CALL programs is strictly done by volunteers, many of whom spend countless hours so that CALL can continue to be the vibrant, cost-effective organization that it is.

CALL Kickoff Café

The Mostly Broadway Trio presents After All These Years
Monday, September 18, 1:00pm–3:30pm
Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church
4612 Varsity Drive NW

Save the Date for the CALL Kickoff Café, Monday, September 18. The performance by The Mostly Broadway Trio will start at 1 pm in the Sanctuary and will feature songs from 14 musicals spanning nearly fifty years. At 2:00pm we will move to the Ruby Walker Room and Scott Hall for a reception and the opportunity to meet with facilitators, learn which interest groups are accepting new members, and sign up. Registration will open August 1st.

For more information about the performers Katheryne Perri Edwards (soprano), Malcolm Edwards (pianist) and Richard Heyman (baritone), go to the CALL Café page. If you would like to volunteer for this event, please contact volunteer@calgarylifelonglearners.ca. If you have any other questions, contact Adrienne Kertzer.

Are you Interested? Beginners’ Italian Conversation Group

Would you like to communicate more confidently while travelling in Italy? Would you like to brush up on your beginners’ Italian by meeting as a group to practice through conversation?

The purpose of this article is twofold: first, CALL wants to gauge how much interest there is in this topic, and second, CALL is seeking one or two people willing to facilitate the group. If you log into your CALL account, and look under the Resources tab / Members Only Resources, you will find the tasks expected for a Facilitator.

You don’t need to be an expert, just someone who loves the Italian language and wants to share your enthusiasm with others. As facilitator/s, you could select a topic for each session, with an emphasis on Beginner’s Conversation, for example: At the Airport or train station in Rome, ordering a meal/drinks at an Italian restaurant, Pizzerias and Pizza, Italian Breakfast, Cooking, Food Rules, Greeting one another, Days of the Week, Time, Months. Or consult one of the many language learning websites such as Duolingo to guide the group’s learning.

If you are interested in the topic, contact program@calgarylifelonglearners.ca.

If you are interested in learning more about facilitating or co-facilitating a six-week study program on this topic, contact program@calgarylifelonglearners.ca.

Summer Message

For many of us, the end of June will always remind us of the joy we felt when school was out for the summer: freedom from responsibilities, days spent in the sunshine – hiking and biking or reading, lounging and sleeping in! So it is for CALL as we wind up another busy and successful “school” year as lifelong learners.

On behalf of the Board of CALL, thank you for your participation as members and volunteers. Thank you for leading and participating in interest groups, helping to run events, managing our finances, providing technical support and all the other ways you may have contributed to our association.

I wish you all a happy summer holiday. Whether at the lake, on the pickle ball court, in the mountains or on a patio – I hope it’s a time of fun, relaxation and rejuvenation with family and friends.

See you in September!

Linda Flanagan,
Chair, CALL Board of Directors

Your CALL Newsletter

The Newsletter team is taking a summer break!

The next newsletter will be posted on Friday, August 25.

Meanwhile, If you are wondering what is happening in CALL, or if you want to peruse the Interest Groups, check all the items on the CALL website.

The CALL Newsletter is our way to communicate what is going on in our community. It's a way to highlight events of interest, ‘peek behind the curtain of CALL’ and to give some general information about CALL groups and members.

You are invited to send your ideas and suggestions for future issues to newsletter@calgarylifelonglearners.ca. We reserve the right to edit submissions and to determine when submissions will be published.

Meanwhile, be well, stay well in every sense of the word.