Category Archives: News 2016

This is a really slow time of year for new Posts appropriate to the News page.  So, before clearing out the Page for 2017,  I’ve selected and republished some 2016 News and Reports Posts that might interest you or trigger some memories. It certainly illustrates what a range of activities and topics are provided or addressed through our U3A!

Note:  The ‘last updated’ dates have sometimes been affected during selection of posts.  But generally, they are still ordered latest first.

Joyce Nolan (Web Manager)

Many of us have enjoyed celebrating  Christmas  in December this year with our U3A friends. Some events were run for a particular group, but others were open across  the whole U3A.

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Recently Alan and I were very fortunate to get a last-minute opportunity to join in the U3A Holiday to Keswick organised by John and Kathleen Spurr.  Aside from a Science Group trip to Bletchley Park a few years ago, this was our 1st U3A holiday.  It was thoroughly enjoyable! Great company, really good food, a handy location in Portinscale, just a short and pleasant walk from Keswick and, once the steep flights of stairs were negotiated, into the garret, a very comfortable room.

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Click on the Gallery below to run a slideshow about some special events going on in our U3A this month.

See the Sunday Social web page for November details.

An entertaining and sociable Sunday afternoon

Buy your Diaries for 2017 and your tickets for the Christmas Lunch from Val and Elva on the Social Desk at Horizons.

Have Ukulele? Then think about joining the new Ukulele group stating this month

See Short Courses page and the Computer Courses Group Page.

Click on the Gallery below to find out about some special events that were going on in our U3A back in October 2016.

An entertaining and sociable Sunday afternoon

See the Event Website or click / tap on poster fro more details.

Click on the Poster for details.

This Computer Tutorial may well be of interest to the general membership. It will be presented  by Bill Soens on Tuesday 1st November, starting at 2pm.

Bill will compare three ‘free to download’ and ‘free to use’ photograph manipulation software programs:- Google Picasa 3, IrfanView and Gimp. Say about 20 minutes each. All the software demonstrated is 100% legal and free to use.

The talk will take place in the smaller room of the Scout and Guide Headquarters.  There will be a £1 charge to cover tea/coffee and biscuits in the interval.

Our Old Time Music Hall show is now completed and was a huge success, thanks to your support!  Both nights were very well attended and generated lots of smiles and laughter – which is just what we’ve all joined the U3A for!!

The show was directed jointly by the very talented Chris McCabe and Gaynor Hale who both have many years of stage experience behind them!  It was staged at Aughton Village Hall on May 13 and 14, 2016.

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If you like gardening, please read this plea from the Gardening Group.

This Group has provided us with enjoyable and informative meetings this Spring and Summer, but it now needs volunteers to help it continue into the Autumn and Winter.

We’ve been treated to an excellent Summer Social this year, thanks to the sterling efforts of Val Bullen and her Social Sub-committee and helpers. We were served a delicious and copious afternoon tea topped up by one of Pearl’s famous cakes.  The entertainment, hosted by John Tomlinson, included Performances from the Drama and the Recorder Playing Groups, Monologues from the inimitable Pearl Webster and a Sing-along  led by a guitar-playing band made up of U3A members. What a display of talents!

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Information about this year’s AGM is now available.

We had a wonderful visit and were very grateful to our guide, Kate (head groom), who is an expert in her field. Kate has been with the force for twelve years and the horses have become her “family”. One can tell at a glance that the horses love Kate as much as she loves them.

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Everyone is welcome to attend Jazz Appreciation – just come along.

Next Meeting is on Friday May 20th.

The members of the ballroom dancing group enjoyed an evenings dancing when in April they visited the new venue of Rainford Village Hall. The music was provided by Kevin Breen and as normal he managed to ensure that everyone had a most enjoyable evening.

The use of Rainford Village Hall was a new venue for the group due to the unavailability of Ormskirk Civic Hall.

Please check out the details for this year’s AGM.

Jewellery Workshop

One Saturday morning in March, Megan Tomlinson ran an excellent Taster Session in making Jewellery from wire and beads and a whole range of other colourful craft materials.  A variety of attractive and useful items were produced by the attendees who were also having a great time making them under Megan’s expert tuition.

Click on any pic above to run a slide show of full size photos.

And here are some of the beautiful finished articles:

Results of the Jewellery Making workshop

The 2016 programme of bird group meetings began on 19 January with Steve Halliwell’s excellent talk ‘St Kilda the lonely Isle’, based on 4 visits to the group of islands which have double World Heritage Site status.

The 15 resident bird species include significant breeding populations of Gannets, Petrels, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Puffins, Razorbills, and Guillemots, but we learned that the sustainability of the birds is threatened by climate change, lack of active management of the bird colonies, and the recent arrival of the Arctic Skuas. The latter are serious predators.

The talk was wide ranging covering geology, extreme weather, botany and the history of human settlement which itself became unsustainable in 1930.

The audience or bird watchers, digi-photographers and science group members enjoyed a stimulating and entertaining morning.

After refreshments the Bird Watching Group reconvened for the AGM.

A Computer Tutorial on Windows 10  was held at the Scout & Guide HQ on Tuesday 2nd February at 2pm. It was presented by Ken from KC Computers.  Continue reading →