In this edition:
Notices
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Upcoming Events
Monthly Meeting at the Assembly Rooms on North Street – 20th March at 2pm
Life is a Lottery – Story of Mary Russell Mitford
This is the story of Mary Russell Mitford (1787 – 1855) who became a successful author, dramatist, poet and renowned prolific letter writer. She is best remembered today for ‘Our Village’, a series of essays describing village life, written from her tiny workers cottage where Mary lived with her mother and father after he had recklessly gambled and spent his way through two large fortunes, and despite constant family struggles to deal her father’s wayward behaviour, she still managed to achieve literary success and popularity.
Our speaker, Nigel Gossop, has been a book collector, researcher and keen writer for more than forty years. During his time working as a local authority arts-officer he organised several literature festivals that developed his interest in literature and fired an enthusiasm for learning about the lives and works of ‘forgotten’ and lesser-known authors.
Tea and coffee will be served from 1.15 pm until 1.45 pm and the talk will start at 2pm.
April Coffee Morning – Tuesday, 1st April, 10am-12noon
Always on the First Tuesday of each month, so please mark your calendars!
Our March Coffee Morning will be held in the Cafe, upstairs at the MINERVA THEATRE. The Minerva is the building across from the Chichester Festival Theatre.
It’s a great opportunity to chat with our groups team and learn about current and new offerings, meet old friends and make new ones!
Groups Notices
“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”
– George Burns
World of Books
We currently have a couple of vacancies in our group. We meet on the last Friday of each month at one of our member’s home, near Donnington Parish Hall. It’s a really interesting group where you get to read a variety of books of your own choice.
If you want to know more, get in touch via the Groups message link HERE or pop along to the April coffee morning where we’ll have a table.
Climate Change Group
The climate change group have a meeting on the 19th March to listen to a presentation on how to retrofit an old house with insulation and green energy. We will also be discussing a potential response to the latest government consultations in land use planning which have some really important implications for this part of the country re housing development, agriculture, the environment and climate change. Please email Colin to let him know if you intend to join the meeting which will be at 2pm to 4pm in the Friends Meeting House, Priory Road Chichester.
Pilates Anyone?
Join a new friendly Pilates Group for Chichester u3a members at Fishbourne church hall, a light and comfortable space in which to switch off from the outside world and focus on you. It will be on a Wednesday 4.30 – 5.30 pm. Pilates exercises are mainly functional movements, which will improve your strength and flexibility for everything you do in daily life. Pilates focuses on strengthening every muscle in the body, so that they work in harmony together creating a balanced body. Muscle imbalances cause postural issues which can cause pain and injury, so reducing muscle imbalance will mean less pain, injury, and improved posture. Class numbers are kept under 12 to ensure Taya, the instructor, can give you the best feedback and one to one support.
If you’re keen to simultaneously improve your strength, flexibility, alignment and posture, then Pilates may well be for you.
It is recommended you bring a Pilates mat, towel and water. There is free parking at this venue. The group will run throughout the year. The cost will be £8 per session (paid in advance by bank transfer) for each six-week block. This is non refundable to ensure we cover the cost of the hall rental and the instructor.
These classes already run in Emsworth and Havant u3a and have proved very popular so don’t delay in registering your interest with Val Johnston at the Groups Team HERE.
Once the group is up and running, a group administrator/facilitator will be needed. Please say if this is something you’d be interested in taking on, it’s really straightforward and there always someone happy to help you if you get stuck.
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-february-2025-screenreader-edition
Chichester u3a Magazine
Our local u3a winter magazine is well worth a read, click HERE if you haven’t yet read it, and start thinking about your contributions for the spring edition!
The next bulletin is due out on 28th March, 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, 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. You can reach the Membership Secretary either via this link (membership secretary) or by calling 07490 654524.