In this edition:
Notices
Join Our Media Team
Communications are central to the functioning of our u3a, so we’re looking for volunteers to expand our Newsletter and Bulletin production team. A variety of skills are needed, and training would be happily provided.
Front End
Do you have any of the following skills/interests or would like to learn them:
- Reporting on what is happening in or of interest to our u3a
- Writing, editing, proofreading
- Graphic design, layout
Back End
Can you use any of the following programs, or would like to learn them :
- Publisher or other desktop publishing platform
- Photoshop or other graphics package
- Word or other word-processing program
If so, we need YOU! Please contact Miriam HERE or simply reply to this Bulletin email.
Upcoming Events
Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. Choose to keep the fun in learning and the playfulness in your heart.
February Coffee Morning – Tuesday, 6th February, 10am-12noon
Always on the First Tuesday of each month, so please mark your calendars!
Our Coffee Mornings are held in the Bar at the MINERVA THEATRE building, opposite the Chichester Festival Theatre. You can chat with our groups team and learn about current and new offerings, meet old friends and make new ones!
Quiz Night – 13th February, 2024 starting at 7:00pm at the White Swan, Bosham
The White Swan is on the A259 at the Bosham roundabout and there is plenty of parking. The 700 bus from Chichester stops just across the road. Although the 700 back to Chichester stops running before 9.30pm, one of the members will no doubt be happy to give you a lift home.
The cost of dinner is £14.50, not including dessert.
The food choices are:
Chicken Casserole
Sea bass Filet with new potatoes, green beans and Hollandaise Sauce.
Mushroom Stroganoff with wild rice.
Chicken Casserole and Sea Bass can be Gluten Free.
Booking opens on Friday 2nd February and closes on Thursday 8th February. Payment is required, please, within 48 hours of booking in order to avoid any confusion on the night.
Booking is done here on the website. This payment is non-refundable so if you are unable to attend, please find a replacement.
Monthly Meeting at the Assembly Rooms on North Street – 15th February at 2pm
Our speaker will be David Gane. His talk is titled “Anyone One Can Do It – A Beginners Guide to Science”
David touches on some of the ways our minds are “hard-wired” to give us wrong answers, explains the simple steps scientists follow to try to avoid such errors, and looks at how to tell good science from bad. Along the way he asks: How sure are we that the sun will rise tomorrow? Is Evolution a theory or a fact? Does “standing tall” for two minutes before an interview really improve your chances of getting the job?
Tea and coffee will be served from 1.15 pm until 1.45 pm and the talk will start at 2pm.
Groups Notices
Learning has no age limit – curiosity is timeless and the joy of discovery is ageless!
The Groups Team has been busy facilitating some wonderful new groups: Relaxed Chamber Music, Nordic Walking, Tai Chi, World of Books 2, Wine Tasting 2, Poetry 2, Flower Arranging, Astronomy, Drawing, Table Tennis for Beginners, Dining Group 2 & 3, Thread and Greek and French for beginners.
Do check them out (and lots more) here on our website.
NEW GROUP: Flower Arranging
“Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul”. Luther Burbank
Indoors and outdoors flowers bring us so much pleasure, arranged either informally or to enhance a special celebration. Would you like to come along and join a group of flower lovers who have a fun, light-hearted approach to flower arranging? Each month we will use videos to stimulate creativity, and share tips and ideas on how we can, sometimes with little cost, and by using greenery from the countryside and gardens, create beautiful and imaginative displays. We hope to learn from each other how to prolong the life of blooms and the mechanics of using unusual containers.
We will be having a ‘Break-Out’ table at the next coffee morning on Tuesday, 6th February … so please do come and chat about joining in!
To register your interest please click THIS LINK. Thank you.
Friday Table Tennis Group – all levels welcome
This new Friday table tennis group has started successfully. It is a relaxed, social group who play for fun. New members are extremely welcome. The group meets every Friday at Westgate Leisure Centre from 2.00-4.00pm. £4.30 per session.
Please click on THIS LINK to register an interest.
PROPOSED GROUP: Beginners’ German
We are already running successful beginners’ courses in Spanish, Greek 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.
To register your interest please click THIS LINK. Thank you.
NEW GROUP: New Art Group
Members have expressed an interest in setting up a taught art group so we are looking for someone with experience in drawing or painting. You don’t have to be an expert, just willing to share what you’ve learnt with others. If this could be you please contact groups using THIS LINK.
We have had one offer of help, but if others were able to teach a session here or there I am sure she would be delighted!
National u3a & Regional Events
National u3a Film
National u3a Activities
The national 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 details of Third Age Trust zoom talks up to the scheduled date of the next bulletin: please remember you can always find the latest, and fullest, information on these talks here.
Monday, 5th February at 10:00, 12 places only, restricted to yoga group leaders – Yoga Group Leaders Workshop
Tuesday, 6th February at 10:00, devised for members of the Aviation Network, but it is open to all u3a members, I believe – Apollo Missions 11 and 13
Tuesday, 6th February at 14:00 – Housing Options in Later Life
Wednesday, 7th February at 10:00 – Mindfulness and Meditation
Thursday,8th February at 11:30 – Introduction to the Air Fryer
Wednesday, 14th February at 10:00 – Laughter Yoga
Wednesday, 14th February at 14:00 – Locks and Keys
Thursday, 15th February at 10:00 – Cryptic Crosswords
Thursday, 15th February at 10:00 – Mindfulness and Meditation
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. More information here. The next two talks are:
27th February – Recovering Britain’s Amateur Theatrical Past 1789-1914 – A West Sussex Perspective
26th March – Life in Elizabethan Chichester
Oxfam Talks 23/24
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. They cost £5 (tickets can be bought in the shop). The next two talks listed are:
Wednesday,7th February: Revisiting Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’
Wednesday, 6th March: Writers of Exile: Kafka, Murdoch, Nabokov
The next bulletin is due out on 16th Febuary, so if you have an item to submit, you may use this link.
Links to our Website
Follow these links to see:
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.