Cathie Garner – Chairperson, Newsletter and Web site

I was born in Lancashire, England and emigrated to South Africa in 1981. I lived and worked in Johannesburg for 28 years and retired to Knysna, with my partner Rob in 2012. My main hobby and passion is dog training and I am a trainer for Happy Dogs Knysna. I am involved with KAWS as a volunteer fundraiser as well as working in the KAWS charity shop and I was a volunteer dog walker for 8 years. I have been a member of U3A Knysna since 2013 and have been on your committee since 2015. I compile and produce the monthly U3A newsletter for our members and keep our web site up to date. I am also the convenor for the Anything Goes and DPSS courses.

Emil Möller – Vice Chairman and Courses Co-ordinator

I was born in The Netherlands, and  grew up in South Africa and The Netherlands. I have lived in lived in 7 countries, working in the Hospitality Industry. I am married to Sesel and have 3 sons from my previous marriage. We have lived in Knysna since 2008.   My hobbies are sailing, golf and classical music. I have been a member of U3A since 2013 and a committee member since 2015. I produce the U3A Courses Schedule each month and collate Course Notes for the Newsletter. Also I am part of the Audio-Visual set-up team. 

Amanda Louw - Catering

I am married to André Kruger and we moved permanently from Johannesburg to Brenton-on-Sea in 2020. In my previous life, I was an educator at the University of Johannesburg.

Now, I enjoy the freedom to do my “one day” things, like gardening, painting and in general making things pretty. I love the outdoors, sport and friends, and I try very hard to have my days mostly regulated by the season, the tide and the weather.

I love my role in U3A as I am working with a great catering team to welcome attendees with refreshments to our monthly meetings. Apart from inviting the very important ETPs (Efficient Tea Pourers) each month, my function entails using the allocated budget to ensure that we always have enough treats to put smiles on faces, with extra tidbits (prompting extra wide smiles) for our birthday and year-end meetings!

Carol Schonegevel – Secretary

I am a married clinical psychologist with two daughters who are both studying at Stellenbosch University.  My husband, Shane, and I recently moved from Kimberley to Knysna.  Shane moved his whole business and most of his staff to Knysna and has continued working while I am taking a break from my private practice.  The move has been a wonderful change for us and has allowed me more time to pursue interests such as reading, cycling, music and birding.  In time, I plan to return to work in a way which allows me more flexibility and an opportunity to give back.  My duties as the U3A secretary involve taking minutes at meetings, setting up agendas and archiving information. 

Janet Upsher - Treasurer and Memberships

I was born in Cape Town. I am married to Derek and we have 3 children and 2 grandchildren. We moved to Knysna in 2010 and I joined U3A in 2018. My background is in accounting. My duties are to organize the tables at the entrance of the monthly meeting and to keep track of expenses and plan future budgets for U3A Knysna. I also manage the Memberships database and keep track of all new members and record renewals and new memberships.My interests are reading, wildlife, music and walking. I was a volunteer dog walker at KAWS for 10 years and served on the KAWS committee for a while.

Doug Emanuel - Policy Advisor

I was born and educated in KZN and qualified as an Electrical Engineer in 1971. I spent most of the next 40 years running a consulting engineering practice in the platinum mining sector. I am married with three children and eight grandchildren.

My hobbies are golf, photography, travel and birding. I have previously spent 7 years on the U3A committee, three of them as Chairperson.