In this edition:
Notices
Reminder of Annual u3a Membership Renewal
A gentle reminder that the new membership year starts on 1st September. As in the previous couple of years, the fee for 2023/24 will be £18.00. Please note if you pay on line, your details must match what our database has so if you have changed your address or phone number please change these online before trying to pay this way.
How to pay:
- Online, using the link www.chichesteru3a.org.uk/renewal
Using Paypal or Credit Card. This is the easiest way for us to process your renewal. Please note you do not need a Paypal Account to pay by Paypal, simply use your credit card. Paypal administer the system on our behalf and do not keep your details.
- By Bank Transfer to:
- Lloyds Bank
- Account number: 34913960
- Sort Code: 30-91-97
- Using Reference MBR#MEMNOP
Note: This Reference is unique to you
- Using Reference MBR#MEMNOP
- or By Phone
We can now take card payments over the phone. If you wish to pay this way, please contact our Membership Secretary, (membership@chichesteru3a.org.uk or 07460 109600) and she will call you to take your payment.
Some of our members have a standing order in place, which usually comes into our account on 20th August. Please do not pay any other way if you have a standing order in place.
If you do pay by standing order can you please check in advance of this date that the payment is £18 (or £36 if joint member) or £14 if Associate Member. We cannot change a standing order for you. Last year we had to contact over 40 members who had paid the incorrect amount.
We will send a reminder email out to members closer to 31st August.
Call for Submissions for the Fall Newsletter
The autumn issue of the u3a Newsletter is scheduled for the end of September, and we’d love to have lots of your contributions!
MEMBERS: poems, photos (we love photos!), recipes, short stories, quizzes – you get the idea.
GROUP LEADERS: brief reports on your past and planned activities, especially if you are accepting new members, and photos! (Did I mention that we love photos?)
Please send all contributions to Miriam here at the Bulletin.
Call for Volunteers
As you know, the Interest Groups are the backbone of our u3a, and the number of Groups that are available is increasing every month. For the last 5 years Caroline Davis, in her role as Groups Coordinator, has taken responsibility for the setting up and maintenance of the Groups. Over the last year we have started to build a new Groups Team, whose members are responsible for various aspects of the Groups functions.
We are very keen to recruit some more volunteers to join the Team, particularly to help on the Groups Table at the Coffee Mornings. You may have seen – or visited – the Groups Table at the Tuesday Coffee Mornings, held once a month at the Minerva Theatre, which are hosted by a couple of the members of the Groups Team who give information about the activities provided to our members. If you decide to help, you would be emailed once a month to ask if you were available for a couple of hours, you would have an experienced Groups Team member with you, and the commitment would be limited to as many or as few days as you prefer.
Please think about joining us, and contact the GROUPS TEAM for more information.
Upcoming Events
Coffee Morning – Tuesday, 5th September, 10am-12noon
Always on the First Tuesday of each month, so please mark your calendars!
Our Coffee Mornings are held at the Bar & Grill at the MINERVA THEATRE, with plenty of parking and a lift. You can chat with our groups team and learn about current and new offerings, meet old friends and make new ones!
Groups Notices
Do you enjoy a walk on the South Downs?
We are thinking of starting a monthly walking group to enjoy nature at its best. Surrounded by chalk hills, scrub, mixed woodland and ancient yew forests, the South Downs nature reserve offers a great opportunity to come upon much of the wildlife. As wildlife changes from season to season, with many spectacles coming into their own at certain times of the year, there’s always something to see. Walks will be no longer than 5k and well-behaved dogs are welcome.
To express your interest, please contact Group Leader: ID 3894 via the u3a website using: THIS LINK or directly by pasting this address into an email: groups@chichesteru3a.org.uk.
HEAT PUMPS: Presentation & discussion
Climate Change Group (CCG) – 14.00. hrs, 6th Sept., Friends Quaker House, Priory Rd., Chichester
Heat Pumps are much in the news these days. Promoted as the best way through which households can cut CO 2 emissions from oil and gas boilers, there is mounting discussion over their effectiveness, initial costs and the critical shortage of qualified heating engineers to install them.
The u3a Climate Change Group have been encouraged by recent discussions with local experts and are hosting a meeting to clarify the local situation. There will be a
presentation by a qualified and extremely experienced heating engineer, followed by questions and discussion.
All members of u3a Chichester are invited. If you will be coming, please let me know at ccgu3a@gmail.com, so that we can ensure sufficient seating. (Your email address will remain confidential).
Group Leader CCG
National u3a & Regional Events
National u3a
The monthly Radio Podcast will be back on September 17th, and back numbers can all be found on youtube here. The u3a has a channel of its own on youtube, with numerous items, here.
Here are the Third Age Trust zoom talks currently listed for September – quiet at the start of the month, but busy by the end, and some very interesting topics, it seems to me.
Friday, 1st September at 14:00 Heritage Open Days (a talk on England’s largest festival of history and culture, which runs from September 8th to 17th)
Tuesday, 12th, 19th and 26th September at 10:00 three talks on Electing the President
Wednesday, 13th September at 10:00 Judith’s Laughter Yoga (monthly)
Thursday, 14th September at 10:00 Platonic Activities (Maths Activities Day)
Tuesday, 19th September at 10:00Climate Modelling
Tuesday, 19th September at 15:00 Future Lives (a talk by Wales’s Commissioner for Older People)
Wednesday, 20th September at 10:00 Trees, woods, climate and nature (about the Woodland Trust)
Thursday, 21st September at 10:00 Mindfulness and Meditation (monthly)
Thursday, 21st September at 10:00 How to Age Better (embracing ageing as both a privilege and an adventure)
Friday, 22nd September at 14:00 British Secret Intelligence Services
Monday, 25th September at 10:00 Setting up a World Faiths Group
Tuesday, 26th September at 15:30 Maggie’s Laughter Yoga (monthly)
Wednesday, 27th September at 14:00 The Scottish Colourists 1900-1930
Thursday, 28th September at 10:00 Tales of cycling, invention and rebellion
Tuesday Talks at the WSRO:
Tuesday, 26th September at 19:00 The Victorian and Edwardian leisure estate in the Sussex Weald. £8 in person, £5 by zoom.
Tuesday, 31st October at 19:00 The Women’s Land Army: a Sussex connection. £8 in person, £5 by zoom.
There are Wednesday Coffee Time Workshops for those interested in Family History
Spectacular exhibition coming soon to Portsmouth Cathedral
Textile art at Portsmouth Cathedral – creating the world with eight million stitches!
‘Threads through Creation’ is an astonishing textile art exhibition showing at Portsmouth Cathedral from 5th September to 15th October. It might be a bit of a journey for some, but it’s probably right Spectacular exhibition coming soon to Portsmouth Cathedraltheir street for many u3a people – a real treat for anyone interested in the applied arts, textile art and sewing.The show is touring twenty cathedrals, and consists of twelve beautiful silk panels re-imagining the story of creation from the bible. They’re huge – 2.7m high, up to nearly 4m wide. It’s one of the largest textile art projects by a single artist, ever. It took artist Jacqui Parkinson three years – and eight million stitches! You’ll find the huge scale, vibrant colours, dramatic and complex designs truly breathtaking. You’ve never seen anything like it – www.portsmouthcathedral.org.uk
www.creation-threads.co.uk (includes touring schedule to end of 2024)
Admission free/donations welcome. FREE PDF
Whether or not they visit the exhibition, some u3a members will find this very interesting: a free downloadable 24 page pdf: ‘Behind the scenes’ is full of detail – especially for people with a focus on textile art and stitching. It explains the background and shows the extraordinary techniques used: visit www.creation-threads.co.uk, go to the bottom of the page and click on the button.
The next bulletin is due out on 8th September, so if you have an item to submit, you may use this link.
Links to our Website
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If you wish to unsubscribe from the Bulletin emails, please contact the membership secretary with subject “Unsubscribe from Bulletin”. This will not affect other email communications with the U3A. Please do NOT put the bulletin emails into spam! 😒
Please send a message via the usual channels if you wish to have some item of u3a news put in the Bulletin. Likewise, if you have suggestions as to how to improve the Bulletin or would like to join our team.
Best wishes, Miriam Knight and David Rees😎
The Constitution of the Chichester U3A is available to view here, and its Terms of Use here.
Enquiries If you wish to write to the Chichester U3A, then the correspondence address is: U3A Chichester, Box 809, MailboxesEtc., 26 The Hornet, CHICHESTER, PO19 7BB If there is an urgent matter that needs to be discussed then call 07460 109600, or contact the membership secretary.
Spectacular exhibition coming soon to Portsmouth Cathedral