In this edition:
Notices
Social events team – needs you!
The committee is very keen to form a social events team for 2024. We currently organise a an annual thank you tea for U3A helpers and group leaders, a monthly quiz, theatre trips and a Christmas lunch. We advertise and book social events using our IT systems and full support will be offered to help with this.
We would like to consider a few more local social events so we are now looking for a team of about six people who, with the backing and support of the committee, could organise some social events during the year. By creating an enthusiastic social events team, we hope the time, effort and energy required would be well distributed. It would involve meeting once a month, liaising with the committee and taking on board ideas and suggestions from the membership in order to organise a few more social events than we currently have on offer.
Please consider joining this new, exciting social events team – you don’t need any special skills just enthusiasm!
Please click here to register your interest.
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart.”
– Elizabeth Andrew
Upcoming Events
Monthly Meeting at the Assembly Rooms on North Street – 18th January at 2pm
Our speaker will be Brian Freeland, his subject is: ” Women of the Raj”
Brian is a playwright and author and tells the story of when the Colonial Administrators arrived to take over from the East India Company they were often accompanied by their wives: wives who spoke only English, who mixed only with other wives, and who couldn’t even communicate with their household staff. Wives who made great demands on their husbands. As one Indian wrote later, “I don’t think they realised what a menace they were. If the memsahibs had stayed in Britain there might never have been a Mutiny”.
Tea and coffee will be served from 1.15 pm until 1.45 pm and the talk will start at 2pm.
Groups Notices
Tell us what you’d like:
Beginners’ German Course
We are already running successful beginners’ courses in Spanish and French, and we are now considering whether there would be enough interest in starting up a course to learn German. We would especially like to hear from anyone with some knowledge of German who could offer to lead it. Please contact us via THIS LINK.
Wine Tasting
A few members have expressed an interest in joining a wine tasting group recently. As our established group has been very popular and not able to take new members for a while, we are looking into the possibility of starting a new group. The huge selection of wines available can be rather daunting & tasting in a group is an opportunity to sample & compare wines, which will give you more confidence when buying.
The current group investigates a particular region, wine style or grape variety each month sampling the relevant wines. If you would be interested in joining a similar group click on THIS LINK. Please let us know also if you think you have the right skills to lead such a group.
Art Group
Would you be interested in joining a taught art group? A few members have expressed an interest in starting a group that could help build a variety of skills, including life drawing, still life, drawing and painting. Please let us know if you are interested and also if you have the skills to teach a regular or occasional session or one-off workshop. Contact the Groups Team on THIS LINK.
Groups’ News:
Table Tennis
Good news about the new beginners table tennis group. It starts on Friday 19th January.
Please spread the word about the new table tennis group or better still come along for a taster session on Friday. On Friday 19th January some experienced table tennis players from the Tuesday group will be there to help. There are spare bats available if you don’t have one.
Westgate Leisure Centre on Fridays 2.00-4.00pm – £4.20 pay on entry at the reception desk. You don’t have to play for the whole two hours – see how it goes. Stay and enjoy a sociable coffee in the café afterwards.
Parking is free. To get your ticket simply use the pay and display machine as though paying but press the green button without inserting any money and a ticket will be produced. Display the ticket in your car windscreen as normal.
Greek for Beginners
Starting Wednesday 10th January in East Wittering, but it is still possible to join. To register your interest or to find out more, please contact us via THIS LINK. Thank you.
Ten Pin Bowling
If you’re looking for something to do on the first and third Friday of each month why not come and play ten pin bowling? We are a friendly, non competitive bunch and would welcome new members. We meet at 9.55am at Ten Pin Chichester, Chichester Gate, Leisure Park, PO19 8EL. No experience or equipment needed. Two games cost just £6. We play until 12pm (approx). Any questions then do get in touch via THIS LINK; otherwise, we hope to see you there!
National u3a & Regional Events
National u3a
The u3a offers a wide range of learning activities beyond the zoom talks listed below: for example, their online interest groups and subject advice, and they’re busy planning Festival 2024 and U3A Week. To get more information on these, have a look at their website
Following are the Third Age Trust zoom talks currently listed to the end of the month: please remember you can always find the latest, and fullest, information on these talks here.
Monday, 15th January at 10:00 – Blue Monday Bollywood Laughter Yoga
Wednesday 17th, January at 10:00 – Fun Mathematics with Platonic Solids
Thursday, 18th January at 10:00 – Mindfulness and Meditation
Thursday,18th January at 14:00 – Toulouse-Lautrec and the Music Halls of Paris
Friday, January 19th at 10:00 – Chinese Wand Exercises
Wednesday, 24th January at 14:00 – Secrets of the Human Brain (Talk One)
Friday, 26th January at 14:00 – Holocaust Memorial Day – The Story of Major Leonard Berney
Tuesday, 30th January at 15:30 – Maggie’s Laughter Yoga
Local Events
Tuesday Talks at the WSRO
Talks have been arranged for January to May 2024, all at 19:00, all costing £8 to attend in person. All the talks except the last (Returning to the Moon) also provide attendance by Zoom for £5. More information here .
30th January – Ford Madox Ford in West Sussex – finding a ‘rhomboid of green’
27th February – Recovering Britain’s Amateur Theatrical Past 1789-1914 – A West Sussex Perspective
26th March – The Material Culture of Life in Elizabethan Chichester
30th April – What did the Victorians do for Chichester?
26th May – Returning to the Moon – Sir Patrick Moore’s Legacy.
Wednesday Coffee Time Workshops for those interested in Family History: topics for the workshops scheduled for next year include Researching the History of Your House, How to Start Your Family Tree, Getting Started with Ancestry.co.uk, and Reading Old Handwriting. Cost £7.50.
Oxfam Talks 2024
These talks take place at the Oxfam shop, 36, East Street, Chichester, and are arranged by Chichester University. They all run 17:30 -18:00 on a Wednesday evening, usually the first Wednesday in the month, but not the first one., They cost £5 (tickets can be bought in the shop – in advance, I assume). The talks currently on offer are:
Wednesday, 7th February: Revisiting Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’
Wednesday, 6th March: Writers of Exile: Kafka, Murdoch, Nabokov
Wednesday, 3rd April: Poetry Reading
Wednesday, 1st May: Finding Stories in Things: A Creative Writing Workshop.
Wednesday, 5th June: What are the Five Best Books in this Shop?
Wednesday, 3rd July: Lady Chatterley’s Lover
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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.