WOKINGHAM U3A NEWSLETTER JUL - AUG 2006

U3A Summer Outing

to

The Vyne

A National Trust Property near

Basingstoke

Tuesday, 25th July 2006

Book by 6th July

 

Wokingham U3A

Chairman: Colin Mitchell, 0118 978 2824, e-mail colinfmitchell@hotmail.com

Secretary: Muriel Froom

Membership Secretary: Mrs Carole Beswetherick, 31 Hatch Ride, Crowthorne, RG45 6LF, 01344 771303

Editor: Paul King

Registered Charity No: 1049995

WEBSITE www.wokinghamu3a.org.uk

E-group sign-up: wokinghamu3a-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

A View From The Chair

One of the really nice things about Wokingham U3A is the involvement of you, the members. I went to the national conference last year and found commonly-held views that "Nobody volunteers any more" or that "The trouble with U3A is that 'everybody' sits back waiting for someone else to organise things". My initial reaction was to go along with the crowd but that changed when I thought about it and realised that Wokingham U3A actually has a high level of involvement.

Judging from the groups that I know you only need to look around to see what a high level of involvement there can be. This usually starts with one person organising a programme but from then on there are lots of things that others may do. For example, depending on where groups meet there may be notes to prepare and copy, a hall to book, rent to pay, money to collect, register to keep and refreshments to prepare and clear up. With many groups these jobs are shared between several members to make the whole thing more enjoyable for everybody - including the group's leader.

Hopefully you recognise this involvement from the group(s) you belong to. Multiply it up across our many groups and I estimate that about one in three of our members is actively involved in 'running' the U3A. Far better than the 10% involvement that others at the conference were quoting. My Parthian shot for this note has to be that if you don't recognise the high involvement in your group(s) then try offering to help - or even just getting on with it.

Colin Mitchell, Chairman

If you know of any member who is ill please inform Marion Povall so that she can contact them.

U3A Summer Event

This year, instead of a garden party, we are arranging a group visit on Tuesday 25th July to the house and grounds of The Vyne, a National Trust property near Basingstoke.

Tickets are available from Paul King (40 Nash Grove Lane, Wokingham, RG40 4HD - please send SAE and make cheques payable to Wokingham U3A) or from Muriel Froom or Carole Beswetherick.

The Vyne (grid ref SU637565, post-code RG24 9HL)) is 3 miles N of Basingstoke and lies on the road between Sherborne St John and Bramley.

Paul King

Group News

By the time you receive the Newsletter for July and August I will have had a second meeting with some more Group Leaders. The first meeting in April went well and the feedback was positive. Many Group Leaders offered to create a display for the Open House which I can now confirm will be the morning of 17th October 2006 (exact time to follow). Please give us all your support. Those leaders I still haven't had a chance to meet for one reason or another please contact me regarding your group as it would be nice to have as many groups as possible representing our various talents and interests.

Recently, Elizabeth Manley has had a first meeting of a new group 'World Music'. Anyone who is interested contact Elizabeth. Penny Raven is very keen to get Scrapbooking up and running from September. Hopefully you will see some of her work at the Open House. However Penny is no longer going to lead Calligraphy so if anyone feels they could take this on please contact me with a view to a new group forming in September. Several members expressed an interest in Digital Photography and Colin Mitchell has offered to lead this so contact Colin. Another request is for the French card game Belote and Alan Ager has written about it. Also Catherine Britton expressed an interest in a Guitar Group. I'm sure we've got members who play the guitar and might help out here.

Many thanks again to all those who give their time and use their talents for the benefit of us all.

Lastly don't forget OPEN HOUSE 17th October 2006 A.M.

Members -
Bring your family, friends or neighbours to see what Wokingham U3A does. Refreshments will be available thanks to Kay MacDonald and a team of helpers.

Phyll Smith

 

Belote

A French National card game
Point tricks & needs 2-4 people
Belote is the King & Queen of trumps in one hand

I would like to start a U3A group to play the French card game Belote.

Although I have never played the game before, it seems a rather fun game and certainly many French people are hooked on it.

I have seen rules for the game, but it really needs someone who knows the game to get it off the ground.

So, is there anyone out there, presumably, although not necessarily, a French person, who has played this game and would like to offer their services to show me and other like minded people how to play the game?

Please give me a ring on (0118) 901 6592 or mobile 0798 591 5032.

If a group can be started, I would be happy to hold the games at my house.

Alan Ager

Scrapbooking

Are you interested in Scrapbooking? What is Scrapbooking?

Scrapbooking is an art form by which means photographs and other mementoes are presented in the most interesting way possible.

The art of scrapbooking is fun and will ensure that your memories are transferred from the photo box to the photo album.

By preserving your photos in an attractive and personalised but acid free environment, where they are protected from damage and the ravages of time, you are creating an heirloom for your family.

The pages can be as simple or as complicated as you want them to be. It's terribly important to remember that you can't make a mistake in scrapbooking, there is no right or wrong way, only creative fun.

Scrapbooking is one of the fastest growing hobbies today, it requires minimum skill and materials are readily available.

Penny Raven

Calligraphy

The U3A Calligraphy Group has discontinued at present. I have been running this group for almost eighteen months but not as a Calligraphy teacher.

During this time we have had from nine to four members attending, the majority of the meetings being held in my home. The members have changed, for one reason or another over this period. Unfortunately I have found Calligraphy very difficult and therefore not easy to be a leader of something you are not enjoying or mastering!! If anyone is interested to take over as a convenor of this group in the future I would be happy to help them but not as a member.

The decision to close the group at the moment was understood by the four members who came to our last meeting in May.

Penny Raven

MOTO 3

MOTO 3 has had a very successful year culminating in our First Birthday which 25 members celebrated with a lunch at the home of our Convenor, complete with decorated birthday cake.

We have had a very varied programme from organised walks around the hidden gardens in the City, conducted tour of Eton, to pub lunches. Already in our second year we have visited a beauty salon, had our treasured heirlooms valued by a jeweller and visited the Cotswolds, to name but a few. We have all made new friends and have many exciting events planned for the coming months including a 4-day trip to Lille on Eurostar

Canoeing for all

You may see our group gently paddling down the river this summer in kayaks and open Canadian canoes. After an initial session on the 12th of June to get to know the equipment, we will be meeting once a fortnight on Monday afternoons, usually from 3pm to 4:30pm. Dates planned are the 26th of June, the 3rd, 17th and 31st of July and the 14th and 28th of August.

Sessions will cost £6 cash or cheque to the centre (which does not accept credit cards), and will include equipment, buoyancy jackets, supervision and changing facilities. The venue will be on the River Thames at the Wokingham Waterside Centre, Thames Valley Park Drive, Earley, www.wokinghamwatersidecentre.com , where the A329M ends and curves into the Thames Valley Business Park.

For your own safety, avoid clothes which waterlog quickly such as jeans, as well as wellingtons and heavy boots. Tracksuits and plimsolls would be a good choice. For more details please contact Paul Brooks

New Latin group?

The Latin group has now been in existence for nearly four years. We have almost finished Book V of the Cambridge Latin Course, and next year we shall go on, with some trepidation, and new leaders, to read the Latin literary texts made available for students in the Oxford Latin Reader.

I believe there are some members who would like to form a new group - either to start Latin from scratch, or to renew long forgotten "O" level skills. If you are interested, please contact me and we'll arrange an initial meeting for September. I shall not be leading this group, but am happy to help it get off the ground.

Sheila Smith

Copy date for the next issue is Friday 28th July

Food and Drink

I would like to form a new group covering topics such as current food and drink issues, cooking recipes, diet, farmers markets, growing own food, organic versus non organic as well as the obvious eating and drinking activities.

As I already am a group leader I would be looking for someone to lead it soon after the formation of the group.

Nancy Tompkins

Think About It

Japanese Haiku

Some more Japanese Haiku from the Poetry & Creative Writing group. The subject is Earth.

Note no punctuation is used in this form of poetry, it consists of 17 syllables in a 5-7-5 pattern

Sixty Years Ago

July 21st. Bread rationing starts today, but as nobody understands the scheme I don't think it will last very long

July 26th. Very close all day. Terrific thunderstorm this evening. I've never seen so much rain fall so quickly. Pridham's lawn was under water and Philip sailed his toy boat on it. 'Podge' (her friend Edna. R.) was late coming to see us due to flooding on the railway line.

August 6th. The first Family Allowances were paid today.

August 12th. Owing to the gas strike our pressure is very low. Terry, Jill and Andrew Linskill have arrived home from India. Things there are far worse than the papers suggest. They are very glad to be back in England.

August 15th. Caught the 7.30 am train non-stop to Waterloo: 9 am train to Honiton. Breakfast on the train. Uncle Bill was asleep when we arrived at the nursing home. He looked pale, thin and older, but was just as alert as ever. He was very pleased with the grapes we took him. I felt very sad when we left-it seemed as though we were leaving him alone, a long way away; although he seems quite happy and content there, so that is the main thing. Honiton is a most attractive town and we would like to have spent a longer time there, but after looking in the lace shop and tea in the cafe in the main street, we had to catch the 4 pm train. We had a 35 minute wait at Axminster for the London train, arriving at Waterloo at 8.35 PM Home at 10 PM

August 22nd. Dull early, but as it gave promise of being fine later, we went to Brighton. A slight sprinkle of rain at 1.30 developed into a steady downpour. We went along to Lancing, which as far as we could see, has become a rather ugly suburb of Worthing. Disillusionment complete, we were glad to get home at 6pm.

August 26th. My 52nd birthday, and the first really lovely day for weeks.

August 28th. Dull, wet and cold. Met Ruth and Mrs. Rodgers at 2pm. at High Street Kensington station. The sun for a time shone brightly as we sat in Kensington Gardens, but as we were looking at the Albert Memorial the wind sprang up into a gale and the rain pelted down. We took the 'bus to Barkers and had tea there. Still raining when I got home.

Rosemary Goldschmied

U3A/HSBC "What Retirement Means To Me"

Photography Competition

Closing date: 31st October 2006

U3A and HSBC's ' Future of Retirement' team invite all U3A members to submit entries for the inaugural photo competition based on the theme "What Retirement Means To Me".

Illustrative theme

"A new vision of later life" is a key theme in HSBC's 'Future of Retirement' report. People increasingly see retirement and later life as a time of reinvention and an "opportunity for a whole new chapter in life".

Given this positive image of later life, the theme for the competition is "What Retirement Means To Me". This could cover ideas such as; what you enjoy or what you would like to do in retirement, how you perceive retirement to be, the challenges and rewards of retirement. We are looking for different and imaginative photographic images of retirement activities rather than the more general stereotypes. Entries that display innovative, multicultural and diverse images are particularly welcomed.

Prizes A panel of judges at The Third Age Trust and HSBC will select three outright winners. The judges' decision is final.

1st prize The winner will be able to select a two to three day residential photographic course to suit them from a choice of stunning locations in the Lake District or on the Pembrokeshire coast - up to the value of £450 + £100 spending money.

2nd prize A two to three day residential photographic course, up to a value of £250, at one of the attractive centres run by the Field Studies Council + £100 spending money.

3rd prize Gift voucher for a photography shop to value of £100. Contact National Office or website for more details and entry form. Tel: 020 8466 6139 email: national.office@u3a.org.uk