Judy Brentnall

I am 41 years old and the youngest daughter of a retired Uniting Church minister. I live in the lovely Blue Mountains in NSW, Australia. If you'd like to find out what happens in this part of the world you can see a great site Info Blue Mountains and we have a great community resource at Blue Mountains Web. Blue Mountains Region Wiradjuri Aboriginal Pages are fascinating, and you can see the Katoomba Weather Forecast anytime. When I need to find out what is happening in Sydney, I just look at Sydney Sidewalk.

My brother John is the oldest, followed by my 2 sisters, Sue and Beth. John is married to Janet and they have 2 wonderful kids - Mark is 27 and Kristy 25. They live in Mt Annan, about an hours drive from here. Sue has just moved down here to live with us after 12 years living in Alice Springs. Beth is married to Paul and they have a 13 year old son, Trevor. They live in Alice Springs in Central Australia.

I work part time at Uniting Kids Care - a Uniting Church Long Day Care Centre and Pre-School. I have an illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I won't bore you with the details here but if you want to know about it you can visit either the CFS Home Page or another good page is CFS.

The Disability Resource Page has excellent information about various disabilities and support options. If you live in Australia and like to keep yourself healthy the natural way, you can visit the Golden Glow Health Products page. They have many good quality products available which are often less expensive than buying from the health shops.

I love to read, mostly mysteries but I also like some biographies, and I collect childrens' books. My favourite childrens' author is Elsie J Oxenham and I belong to a group called the Abbey Girls. We were brought together because of our love of the Abbey books written by Elsie J Oxenham early this century, but we seem to have many other things in common. An Abbey friend of mine, Barbara, has set up the Abbey page, and also a great Collectors Page. The Abbey Girls hold a camp each 2 years. The 1st camp I attended was held in Adelaide in 1997 - you can read all about it in my holiday pages - and the next camp (which I help to organise) was held in Sydney October 1999. It will be great fun: people are coming from all around Australia, and even from New Zealand and England! Here are some websites I have found for some of my favourite authors.

Agatha Christie ; Cleveland Amory ; Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels ; Carolyn Hart ; Dick Francis ; Dorothy L Sayers ; Elliott Roosevelt ; Helene Hanff ; John Dickson Carr; Kerry Greenwood ; Leslie Charteris ; Mary Higgins Clark ; Rex Stout ; Monica Dickens ; Ngaio Marsh ; Patricia Wentworth ; Anne McCaffrey ; Sue Grafton .

All Creatures Great and Small and Rumpole were of course great book series and television programs.

Girls Series Books is a good site. Harlequin Mills & Boon is here, just for fun. If You Like Index is a great site. You can type in an author's name that you like and it will recommend other authors who write the same kind of books. The Readers' Corner helps you to find information about some of your favourite authors.

To buy books within Australia Dymocks Booksellers are very good; they will even gift wrap and send to wherever you like. Amazon.com are excellent value - even with the exchange rate and postage costs, it is often cheaper to buy from this American company located in Seattle.

I love most kinds of music (except heavy metal), had a years singing training when I was younger and was able to enter the Sydney City Eisteddfod. I didn't take a place but it was a great experience. I have sung in church choirs most of my life and for have sung with combined choirs for "The Messiah" and a modern oratorio "The Jerusalem Passion". 

I have been a presenter on Community Radio which was a lot of fun as well as hard work sometimes.

If you like listening to good singers you can visit and enjoy Tenorland. I have also found web pages of some of my favourite singers. My all time favourite singer is definitely the incomparable Jack Jones. I went to a concert of his (I'm not saying how many years ago!) and had the best time! I also enjoyed - and still enjoy - the music of Dusty Springfield; Dean Martin; Enya; Don McLean; Carole King; Harry Secombe; Cleo Laine; Joshua Kadison; Debbie Reynolds; Cliff Richard; Edith Piaf; Elvis Presley; Linda Ronstadt; Nat King Cole; Rosemary Clooney; Michael Crawford; Whitney Houston. You will have noticed that these singers are a little diverse, but I did say I like all kinds of music. Of course, these are by no means the only singers whose music I like, nor are they in any particular order, they are just a few whose pages I have been able to find.

Through the Abbey Girls I came to love English folk and country dancing. I have been to some dance classes and workshops and I find it is much more interesting than other types of dancing. I also enjoy seeing Morris dancing - although it is a bit too energetic for me to attempt! I am a member of the Parramatta Folk Dancers (their web site will be available soon!) and we have given demonstrations at various events including the National Folk Festival in Canberra.

Here are some folk and Morris sites I have found interesting.

Brisbane Folk Page ; About Morris Dancing; Cecil Sharp Page; English Country Dancing - Cecil Sharp; Rhod's Dance Home Page; English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS); Elements of English Country Dance; Cecil Sharp - Biography; Folk Alliance Australia - Directory; The House of Musical Traditions; Ilmington Morris Men; John Playford - Biography; Morris Dancing; Palmer's Pocket Playford; The History of Rapper; Morris: Set Dances & Sword Locks.