In this edition:
Notices
Christmas Lunch 2024 at Chichester College
Wednesday 4th December at 12:15 pm – 3:15 pm (13th December fully booked)
There are some places available for the lunch on Wednesday 4th December, but the 13th December is now fully booked and there is a waiting list.
A Welcome drink, three course lunch and coffee costs £32.00 per person, not including wine or other drinks with your meal. You can order these at your table. Each table can seat up to 8 people.
We have to give menu choices to the College by Friday 18 th October. You may book as individuals, couples or as a Group booking. If you are booking for your Group, it would be helpful to have one person making the bookings and payment. Please send an email using this LINK as soon as possible giving the names of the people you are booking for, together with their menu choices, which you can find HERE. You can find a list of allergens HERE.
Payment: We will contact you after we receive your booking choices to give you details of how to pay, by a bank transfer. Please note that this is the only method of payment. Please do NOT try to pay until we contact you.
There will be parking spaces at the College, including for disabled drivers, but both will be limited, so please consider car-sharing.
Renew Your Membership – Last Chance!
A number of our members have yet to renew their membership for 2024/25. The renewal payment was due by September 1st. Anybody who has not paid by the end of October will be removed from our active membership and will not be able to take part in any Chichester u3a activities. Please check your records to ensure that if you wish to stay, that your payment has in fact been made. Any doubts, please contact the Membership Team. See my recent emails or check the website HERE for details on how to pay.
Peter Robinson
Membership Team
Monthly Meeting on Thursday, 24th October at 2pm at the Assembly Rooms on North Street
Talk: “Tales of a Roving Reporter”
Our speaker will be Alun Jones.
Twenty years of weird, wonderful, and downright crazy stories, from nudists to royalty, dangerous animals, and nervous Bishops.Anything can happen and go wrong when there is a “Live Microphone” Enjoy anecdotes from the unfortunate experiences of a radio reporter and discover what really happens “On” and “Off Air
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.
The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood and Chichester Cathedral Choir
CHRISTMAS CONCERT
We have 20 tickets for the above concert on Tuesday 3rd December at 19:30.
The tickets are £36.00 each, reduced from £40.00
Booking is open HERE ON OUR WEBSITE and will close on Monday 21st October. You can book up to 4 tickets.
Please make your payment, using our pay u3a page, when you book your ticket. The Social Trip is the “Christmas Concert”.
‘Brimming with cherished carols and classic Christmas melodies, alongside some enchanting new arrangements, you’ll also have a chance to cast your vote for Chichester’s Favourite Christmas Song for an uplifting rendition of the winning number, complete with an audience sing-along!
This festive celebration promises to wrap you in the warm glow of holiday spirit.’
Groups Notices
Want to Research your Family History?
Our Family History Group are planning another series of informal meetings to guide you on how to start your family history research. The meetings start in January 2025 in Chichester. You can find out more in the “Interest Groups” section of the website.
Please contact the FH Group organiser for more information and indicate your interest as numbers are limited. We are also planning to have a table at the November Coffee Morning
PROMOTING FELPHAM BRIDGE GROUP (‘FBG’)
This notice is addressed mainly to those who already play ‘Bridge for Fun’ at one of our existing groups (at Boxgrove or Donnington) on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Just in case you have the time and inclination to play more Bridge each week, please consider the following:
The FBG, our longest standing Bridge group, has always met at Felpham Memorial Hall on Wednesdays from the days when it was our only bridge group. Just now we are experiencing a slight decrease in numbers attending and are having to temporarily raise our attendance fee to £3 to cover the hire of the large Hall. For this reason, we are hoping to attract a few more regular playing members. Most of our FBG fraternity play at least two days each week. Those who play competitive Duplicate bridge elsewhere enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere at Felpham and play ‘for fun’ as a welcome change.
At FBG we play 4-card standard English Acol in the Chicago format. For anyone who has recently completed a beginner’s course, this is the perfect environment to mix with more experienced players who are only too pleased to encourage and inform new members. As we start from 1:15 onwards and play until 4:30pm with a short break for tea and biscuits (included), this means you get a lot of bridge for minimal expense and the whole experience is well worth the 20-minute drive. The venue is Felpham Memorial Hall, Vicarage Lane, Felpham. PO22 7DZ.
Please feel free to simply turn up any Wednesday for a trial visit and we hope you will enjoy it enough to come again. (Just bring £3 cash and a note of your U3A membership number, but keep your crib sheet out of sight!)
Clive Grinyer (FBG)
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
Proposed Classic Literature Group
Classic literature is quite simply the very best that has been written in English over the centuries. We will sample a ‘taster menu’ of landmark texts, from Shakespeare to the modern day, including classic American works. Each month an iconic author will be introduced and discussed, with recommendations for further reading. Suggestions from the group are also welcomed.
Nick Johnston-Jones, the leader of the proposed group, has 20 years’ experience teaching and publishing on literary topics, and is the author of 3 novels, none of them classics – yet!
National & Regional
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, 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/u3a-matters/screen-reader-editions/u3a-matters-autumn-2024-screenreader-edition
The next bulletin is due out on 25th October, 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, please get in touch if you have ideas on to how to improve the Bulletin, and especially if you would like to join our team!
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.