Notices

Notice to Group Leaders Re: Venues

If your group is currently using a cafe and wants to expand or try somewhere a bit quieter, the Quaker Meeting House in Priory Park and St Pauls Church on Churchside are both reasonably priced venues in central Chichester.
There is also a list of tried and tested venues on Beacon to check out, and you may always contact the Groups Team for more information about any of these sites.

Volunteers needed at St. Richards

Do you have a couple of free hours a week? The Friends of Chichester hospital are currently recruiting volunteers to work in their shop at St Richard’s and/or take the trolley around some of the wards. The work is fun and interesting and is a great way to get more involved in the local community. The Friends help raise money for equipment and resources for the hospital and also provides a valuable service to staff and patients. You can read more about the work of the Friends at https://www.friendsofchichesterhospitals.org.uk/

If you are interested or want to know more, please email admin@friendsofchichesterhospitals.org.uk

Upcoming Events

Monthly Meeting – 18th July at 2pm
at the Assembly Rooms on North Street

Our speaker will be Andrew Negus. His talk is titled “Southampton Water, Slaughter and Trade”
We shall find out what attracted the Romans, Saxons and Normans to each
build a Southampton. How it became so prosperous by the 14 th century that it encouraged ‘Pirates’ to loot and burn the town. We shall see how the now impoverished town adopts a completely new persona and so attracts Jane Austen and The Prince of Wales to stay. We will make a tour of the mediaeval town walls and see its vaults, towers, gates and the remains of the castle (with its magnificent loo). There will be friars, murderers and special bowls…

Andrew is a well-known local historian, and he tells of the history of Southampton water and it’s interesting and gory past. In his own words: “I am a retired history teacher, an around the world backpacker (twice), a Blue Badge guide for central southern England, and I aspire to be a local historian. I also keep chickens, bees and daughters.”

Tea and coffee will be served in the Crush Bar at the rear of the Assembly Room from 1:15 to 1:45pm and the meeting starts at 2pm.

Groups Notices

“Once you stop learning, you start dying.”
–Albert Einstein

BEGINNERS BASIC BRIDGE COURSE
Places remaining

Have you taken Bridge classes but don’t feel confident enough to join an established Bridge club? This new group aims to be sociable and welcoming, helping improvers find their ‘bridge legs’ and enjoy the game.

Donnington Parish Hall (West Wing) has been reserved on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (10am – 12 noon) for this ten-week course in the Autumn. The actual start date, to be decided later will be between 3 September and 1 October.
This compact course is based on a previously successful format requiring attendance for 2-hour sessions on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings for 10 weeks. This highly inconvenient schedule has too often been a deterrent, but those who have made the necessary adjustments have found the sacrifice for just 10 weeks to be worthwhile. The last three classes have each taken over one of their course days to establish their own playing group which explains why we are now limited to Tuesday and Wednesday at this venue. This 40-hour course will enable you to play proper Acol Bridge at a basic level even if you start with no experience of card play. Those with ‘faded’ knowledge of Whist or Bridge may also benefit from this experience as a refresher.
Please apply or seek further information using this link. Perhaps you know someone who is not yet a U3A member who might be interested and, of course, they would be especially welcome.

Groups News

Practical Science Group

July Field Trip at Pagham

With the sun shining and the blue sea in front us ,eight members of the Practical science group set out along the shingle beach at Pagham sea front. The plants all seemed to respond to the fine weather with a colourful array of flowers all along the shingle in front of the beach houses . Most striking were large swathes of perennial sweet peas and the the architectural tufts of yellow flowered broom ,all seen at their best in the warm summer sun .Vipers bugloss (echium vulgare) were much in abundance along with purple toadflax. We noted an unusual variation due to a mutation that causes a flattening of their stems know as fasciation .Also present were a few of the very endangered species such as the annual small carnation, Petrorhagia nanteuilii commonly known as the childing pink. Botanists come from all over the country to see these rare plants on our southern shores.

Many leaves and seed heads were also carefully examined and discussed before we all sat down for lunch in a sheltered part of the beach . Particular thanks to Helen for sharing her very extensive botanical Knowledge with us all. Next month we will be looking at moths in our back gardens provided the warm weather continues.

National u3a & Regional Events

National u3a

There is a wealth of information on the National u3a website –www.u3a.org.uk , including online groups, u3a Radio podcast, upcoming events like Festival 2024 (18th-20th July, at York), and the latest issue of Third Age Matters, the monthly national u3a magazine (the link to the current version is:

https://www.u3a.org.uk/news/publications/u3a-matters-spring-2024-screenreader-edition

The next bulletin is due out on 2nd August, so if you have an item to submit, you may use this link.

Links to our Website

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Please send a message via the usual channels if you wish to have some item of u3a news put in the Bulletin. Likewise we’d love to hear from you if would like to join our team or if you have suggestions as to how to improve the Bulletin.
Best wishes, Miriam Knight

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.