Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
1
Our meeting this month…
Wednesday 16th January, 2pm, Tiverton Rugby Club Gordon Hutchinson from the Met Office - Gordon joined the Met Office nearly 30 years ago recording and noting down observations on Tiree in the Western Isles (the one on the shipping Forecast!). His career has included designing marine and land weather observing systems, running observations networks, project management and then onto people management. His varied background enables him to give wide ranging talks on the Met Office and its varied roles. He will give us an overview of our Met Service and be happy to take questions.
…and next month…
Wednesday 20th February, 2pm, Tiverton Rugby Club Teaching English in Tanzania - Dave Harvey In 2009 I decided to take on a new charity venture – teaching for 3 months in Tanzania. How difficult could that be, I thought? This illustrated talk covers my time in Yamba, 1,600m up in the West Usambara Mountains, the village way of life and my successes and failures while teaching English in the Primary School there. Also my abiding memories of the people, the spectacular scenery and the realities of poverty in Africa.
News from the Committee
Book and CD Table – The Books and CDs will be back in their normal place on a table – 50p each. Notice Board – items we do not put in the Newsletter (e.g. if they are not specifically from Exe Valley U3A) will often be displayed on the notice board, so it’s worth having a look at it each month. Chairs – many thanks to those of you who arrive early to set out the chairs and pack them away again at 3.30pm. Your efforts are much appreciated. Nomination Forms – will be at the registration table. The existing committee members who are willing to continue will be looking to be nominated and seconded by non-committee members. There are also some gaps to be filled and we would love you to join us. The deadline for returning forms is Tuesday 5 March. AGM – this will happen at the beginning of our March monthly meeting, when you can vote in a new committee. An Agenda for it will be circulated at the time of our February monthly meeting. Committee Meeting – our next committee meeting has been moved from 6 February to 30 January. 10am at OHSCC as usual. There will be no committee meeting in February.
Exe Valley U3A Newsletter 132 - January 2019
Committee Members Chair - Vice Chair & Webmaster - Wendy Cook Secretary - Chris Redhead Treasurer - Eric Oakley Minute Secretary – Joan Kelly Membership Secretary - Jill Riddiford (01884 258091) Programme Secretary & Social Organiser - Joan Kelly Monthly Meeting Organiser & Publicity - Martine Downes Interest Groups Coordinator - Kathy Senior PA Technician, Printer - Tim Dyke
http://www.u3a.org.uk/
http://u3asites.org.uk/exevalley
2
North Devon Link – this is a network of all the U3As in our area and Wendy Cook and Paul Fitzmaurice will be attending their next meeting on our behalf on Friday 8 February in Filleigh. Among other things they will be discussing plans for a Theme Day which will be held in October in Barnstaple. Watch this space (and the Notice Board!). FINAL REMINDER – ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS – Anyone who has not paid by the time of the AGM in March, will no longer be considered as a member, so please do not delay if you are one of those who has not yet paid for 2019. If you do not intend to renew your membership, it would be helpful if you could let our Membership secretary, Jill Riddiford, know. If you are staying, you can renew at the next monthly meeting, forms will be available, but if you can, please download a renewal form from our website to lessen the queue at the meeting, or post to our Treasurer. You can also renew online following instructions in this month’s reminder email from Jill.
Welfare Officer
Marilyn Dawson Marilyn prefers to be contacted by email. If you know of anyone who is ill or has been admitted to hospital, or anyone who has a special anniversary to celebrate, please email Marilyn with details and she will send a card on our behalf. We will also add an item to the monthly committee agenda so that Marilyn can let the committee know via the secretary if she has sent anyone a card. It would also be helpful if group leaders could keep Marilyn informed of anyone in their group who they think should receive such a card.
New members…
We warmly welcome new members Jenny Justice, Ken Kelly, Christine Luttman and Richard Stevens. We hope you will enjoy your time with us.
News from the Interest Groups
Art
Vicki Stuckey We celebrated Christmas last month with coffee and mince pies and a visit from Kathy, our groups co-ordinator. This month it was back to normal with everyone working on their own pieces of art. We are very sociable and are a group of different abilities working in all kinds of media. Our next meeting is on February 14, usual time usual place.
Arts Appreciation
John Massey, Patricia Bailey and Glen Morgan The January meeting will take place at 2 pm on Thursday 17 January at the OHSCC and will feature a film about the 20th Century American art collector Peggy Guggenheim.
Boules
Janet Phythian In hibernation until next Spring.
Bridge
Tuesday Bridge Group - Doreen Burton Our group has recently increased in size which means that sometimes we now play twice a week. Most of our members have been playing Bridge for several years. We meet in different members’ houses in Tiverton and play ACOL Rubber Bridge from 7pm - 10pm. We are not serious Bridge players and the onus is always on enjoyment. If anyone is interested in playing with us please get in touch as we are often short of players to make 2 tables of 4. You will be made very welcome.
3
Thursday Bridge Group - Vicki Stuckey A very happy New Year to all our members. We kicked off 2019 at Richard’s with quite a few of the group absent. We are a friendly bunch who meet weekly in each other’s homes. Sorry but this group is more than full.
Canasta
Dave Dark
Craft
Carol Mcilwrath The Craft Group's meeting this month was after the newsletter deadline. We will, however, have met for our annual planning meeting for the year. Hopefully we will have enjoyed the company of Kathy Senior, Group Coordinator, and there will be a full timetable arranged for 2019 by the end of the afternoon. Thanks to Margaret for hosting us this month. For details of our February meeting, please contact the Group Leader, and please don't forget that should you have a craft hobby you could share with us, please contact the Group Leader - we are always looking for fresh ideas.
Cribbage
Brian West January 2019 – twenty years ago we worried about the approaching millennium bug, now it’s the Brexit Bug looming up on us, not much we can do about it. Normality has returned as Crib is starting up again for the new year, the dates and venues for the next two months are:-
Monday January 14th at Dave’s; Monday January 28th at Pete’s February venues to be confirmed
We will continue to meet on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. If any member is interested in an afternoon of friendly crib, whether as a beginner or experienced player, please contact Brian West.
Discussion
Irene Oakley Our first meeting of the new year was on a grey, damp day but the discussion group always brings laughter and a little bit of sunshine into our lives. Our first topic was our favourite film and why we liked it. Although many of us like the same type of films, mostly musicals, we had chosen a wide variety. From the 5 hour epic, Fanny and Alexander to the 'feel good' Mamma Mia. Life of Pi and Titanic were chosen partly for the wonderful CGI effects, along with the grace of Fred Astaire in Top Hat, the innovate dancing in West Side Story and the good old oldies, Wonderful Life, Lost Horizon and African Queen. Our second topic was to reveal something unknown about us. We discovered we had a thief amongst us, a mountaineer, an English Country dancer, a non-swearer, a union member who lobbied for better wages, a teacher who achieved her qualification in middle age, a TV star and the sharing of family photos!! What a diverse and interesting group. Our February meeting is on Friday 8 February at 10:15am at Helen's home. Our subjects will be 'Rewriting History in the Modern Era', and Theatre versus Film?
Folk Dancing
Anne Wood We meet on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month, 2.30 – 4.30pm, in Halberton Village Hall (car park and bus stop adjacent). New members are always welcome….no partner or previous experience required! If you would like to give it a try just come along. (Co-ordinator Pat Robertson, Tiverton U3A.)
French Conversation
Le Mélange Français - Pat Bawcombe Our January meeting took place in Uffculme, with some unseemly French hilarity. Our next meeting will be in Uffculme on Wednesday 13th February at 10.15. The topic will be Le Régime….
4
Friday French Conversation Group - Deborah Lal There was no meeting of the group in December as we were all too involved in other things during the week between Christmas and New Year. Our next gathering will be at Vicki's house on Friday 25th January, when we will be continuing our French Scrabble challenge and indulging in a French- themed bring-and-share lunch.
Gardening
Carol Mcilwrath
Knit 2, Chat 2 together
Marian Murrell Although there were not many of us for the first meeting of 2019, we had an extremely pleasant afternoon and shared some interesting ideas for future projects. We also chatted on various topics from stopping badgers getting into the garden, shared access and troublesome leylandii but we did manage to avoid Brexit for the most part! Marion served a delicious ginger cake with our cuppa.
Latin
Margaret Wallwork At our last meeting before Christmas we got to the end of Book 2, so at our meeting on Tuesday 15 January at Sheelagh’s house, we may have begun on Book 3, though I think most of us would prefer to do some consolidation before we do that. Our meeting on Thursday 7 February will be at my house. The venue for our meeting on Tuesday 19 February has yet to be arranged.
Local History
David Meredith Our 2019 programme got off to a wonderful start on Thursday January 10th with a talk by Sophie McCormack, Project Director for the digitising of old photographs held by the Beaford Arts Centre. Photos taken by James Ravilious and Roger Deakins captured the unusual and sometimes bizarre moments of rural north Devon life. Also included were short extracts taken from the now retired doctor of South Molton treating a local cricketer injured by a cricket ball in the eye and the farming couple who moved sheep through north Devon lanes by pick-up truck (and a dog) with any poorly sheep carried in the back! The archive is a wonderful record of past times, lives and communities and is now available on line for all to enjoy. Sophie was warmly thanked.
On Thursday February 14th we meet at Old Heathcoat School Community Centre at 2pm to hear a talk by Bill Horner, Devon County Archaeologist. Bill will tell us about current archaeological projects underway but primarily will tell the story of the south west maritime defence line set up between Seaton and Minehead. With a real fear of Nazi invasion in the early 1940’s a series of defence dug out and pill boxes was hastily constructed. Many of these defences are now in poor shape but archaeologists are hoping to preserve the most significant. It should be a fascinating story.
Lunch Group
Ron Bawcombe Lunch club will be held at the Bear, Wivelscombe on Wednesday 23rd January at 12noon.
5
Mah Jong
Bunty Coffin We usually meet on the 1st and 3rd Fridays, 2pm - 5pm. The next meetings at Pete’s place are on the 18th January and the 1st and 15th February, when we are going to have our post-Christmas celebration! We look forward to seeing you there.
Members On Their Own (MOTO)
Wendy Cook We held our Christmas Lunch at Mad Hatters and had a really good time and a very good meal, as you can see from the photo on our page on the website. We also met for our regular coffee morning, again at Mad Hatters although our numbers were slightly down due to the closeness of Christmas. We don't have any outings planned as yet for the New Year, but I'm sure we will be discussing it at our next get together on Saturday 26th January. If you have any ideas, or just want to join us for coffee, you will be very welcome.
Musical Discoveries
David Fogg On Tuesday 22 January John will be playing music by Rossini before tea and then it’s your shorter choices. Then on Tuesday 12 February, music of your choice. Ending the month on Tuesday 26 February with music by Bizet, famous for the opera ‘Carmen’, and finishing with your choices. Recent selections have included Dire Straits, Harry Belafonte, Peggy Lee, Glen Campbell, Neil Diamond, ‘Me and My Girl’ and Blundell’s School Choir. So we cover a wide range of music! We are generally very full on the 4th Tuesday, but have spaces on the 2nd Tuesday. All meetings are at 2 pm at the Group Leader’s House.
Poetry
Margaret Wallwork There was no meeting in December. Our next meeting is on Thursday 24 January. Please remember that it will be at Tim’s house. Please don’t forget to let him know whether or not you will be there. For our February meeting, on Thursday 28 February, we shall be back at my house, when we shall read some of Edward Thomas’s poems.
Rambling
Keith Dawson This month’s walk on Thursday 24 January will be on the fringes of Exmoor with a four mile circuit from Simonsbath; it is mainly level with gentle hills on tracks through moorland, fields and woods leading back alongside the Upper Barle to the Exmoor Forest Inn for lunch. Leave from the Homebase car park at 09.30.
Reading
Reading Group 1 - Ro Darlington We next meet on Monday January 28th 2019, 2pm at Philippa's home when we share our formidable reading lists over the festive season.
Reading Group 2 - Chris Redhead Our first book for 2019 was Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. There had been much controversy about the publication of this book – said to have been a compilation of ideas which led to the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, and never intended for publication. Some of us had read the book and some had seen the film of To Kill a Mockingbird and it was helpful to have done either in order to understand the setting of Go Set a Watchman. The story provoked a lively discussion about the situation of the black and white population of Southern States USA and related situations in South Africa, India, Zimbabwe and other places where European colonisation and subsequent changes in civil rights have brought about conflict and power struggles. Some of us found the book unsatisfactory in its construction, and some light was shed on this in researching the way it was edited over a period of years. Harper Lee seems to have been in a powerless situation at the end.
6
Our next book is Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig, “a powerful novel of love and war, colonialism and ethnicity, and the ties of blood” according to its flyleaf. We meet to discuss that on Monday 4 February at 2pm at Chris’s house as usual.
Old Road Group - Sally Butler
Scrabble
Sue Dark
Table Tennis
Deborah Lal We are a joint group with Tiverton U3A and meet on Mondays at Sunningmead Community Centre from 10am to noon.
What We Have Noticed
Chris Brown There will be no meeting in January, but we will meet again on Friday 1st February 2019, 10:30 - 12:30, at the group leader's house in Tiverton. If you've come across something you'd like to share that's unusual, fascinating, funny, interesting, or just simply amazing, please phone me, Chris Brown on 01884 256885.
Wine
Deborah Lal & Helen White The group met this month at The Ashill Inn to celebrate the New Year. Three of our number were ill on the day and so were unfortunately unable to join us but the remaining 18 enjoyed a delicious lunch and a good time was had by all! We meet again on Wednesday 13 February. Unfortunately our group is full.
World History
David Fogg & Chris Hammett If you are reading this before Monday 21st January we start at 1.15pm with a DVD presentation by Kay Morris "The price Of Coal:- A Colliery Disaster". Kay's father was the under-manager at this colliery. Then at 2.30ish, after tea, Sally Butler will give us an introduction to the extraordinary life of Dr. James Barry. Followed by Kathy Senior with "Eavesdropping on Jane Austin's England" or How our ancestors lived two centuries ago. Moving on to Monday 18th February at 1.15pm we will be having a DVD "The Hidden World Of Communism - The great belief Of The 20th. Century". This will show us what life was like in Eastern Europe in the 1960s. This will be followed at 2.30ish when Nick Saville will give us a talk centred on Johannesburg.
7
Diary for January – February
Monday 14th
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 2pm Scrabble Contact Group Leader 2pm Craft Group Margaret’s House 2pm Cribbage Dave’s House
Tuesday 15th
2.15pm Latin Sheelagh’s House 7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Wednesday 16th
2pm Monthly Meeting Gordon Hutchinson from the Met Office Tiverton Rugby Club Thursday 17th
2pm Arts Appreciation OHSCC 6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Friday 18th
2pm Mah Jong Pete's Place
Monday 21st
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 1.15pm and 2.30pm World History OHSCC
Tuesday 22nd
2 pm Musical Discoveries Group Leader’s House 7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Wednesday 23rd
12 noon Lunch Group The Bear, Wivelscombe 2.30pm Folk Dancing Halberton Village Hall
Thursday 24th
9.30am Ramblers Meet at Homebase 2pm Poetry Tim’s House 6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Friday 25th
French Conversation Vicki’s Home Saturday 26th
10.30am MOTO Mad Hatters
Monday 28th
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 2pm Reading Group 1 Philippa’s Home 2pm Scrabble Contact Group Leader 2pm Cribbage Pete’s House
Tuesday 29th
7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader Wednesday 30th
8
10 am Committee Meeting OHSCC Thursday 31st
6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader Friday 1st February
10:30am What We Have Noticed Group Leader’s House 2pm Mah Jong Pete's Place
Monday 4th
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 2pm Reading Group 2. Chris’s House
Tuesday 5th
7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader Wednesday 6th
Thursday 7th
2pm Knit 2, Chat 2 together Group Leader’s House 2.15pm Latin Margaret’s House 6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Friday 8th
Discussion Group Helen’s House
Monday 11th
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 2pm Craft Group Contact Group Leader 2pm Cribbage Contact Group Leader
Tuesday 12th
2 pm Musical Discoveries Group Leader’s House 7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Wednesday 13th
10.15am Le Mélange Français Uffculme 2.30pm Folk Dancing Halberton Village Hall 7pm Wine Group Contact Group Leader
Thursday 14th
10am Art Indoor Bowls Club 2pm Local History Group OHSCC 6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Friday 15th
9am Newsletter Deadline Group Reports to Lynne Lyddon please. 2pm Mah Jong Pete's Place
Monday 18th
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 1.15pm and 2.30pm World History OHSCC
Tuesday 19th
2.15pm Latin Contact Group Leader 7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
9
Wednesday 20th
2pm Monthly Meeting Teaching English in Tanzania - Dave Harvey Tiverton Rugby Club Thursday 21st
6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader Friday 22nd
Saturday 23rd
10.30am MOTO Mad Hatters
Monday 25th
10am Table Tennis Sunningmead Community Centre 2pm Cribbage Contact Group Leader
Tuesday 26th
2 pm Musical Discoveries Group Leader’s House 7pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
Wednesday 27th
2.30pm Folk Dancing Halberton Village Hall Thursday 28th
2pm Poetry Group Leader’s House 6.30pm Bridge Contact Group Leader
