Speaker Meetings

A Message from the Speaker Secretary, Pam Ball – appropriate to normal times.

• Speaker meetings are open to the public.  So do invite your friends even if they are not U3A members.
• Parking can be tricky on Thursday mornings.  So, if you can, please consider car-sharing or alternative modes of transport.  The handy half-hourly  310 Ormskirk – Liverpool bus stops very nearby on Holborn Hill. Some members ‘get active’ and walk, while a few even cycle now and then.

But here is a special message from Pam – especially for the the current times of lockdown.

Hello everyone

Here is an update on the situation regarding Speaker Meetings.

First, a warning – on 5^th March we welcomed Natalie White, Community Banker for NatWest bank, who spoke to us about different types of scams. Since the outbreak of the corona virus there have been reports of scammers attempting to take advantage of people’s vulnerability, so now it is more important than ever to be extra vigilant.

At the time of writing I still have the following talks in place:

1st October           Carolyn Kirby:   Women with Wings (see videos below)

5th November     Pete Turner:       Through the Eyes of a Magician

Please note that Philip Caine’s talk on 3rd September has been cancelled. Philip will hopefully come and speak to us in November next year.

Whether these talks will actually take place depends very much on government advice and the views of the Third Age Trust and our insurers. At the moment there is no clear way forward, so my plan is to leave these arrangements in place for now.

Dennis Moore will hopefully be coming to speak to us next year, but in the meantime he has now self-produced a video talk for us, titled “Keeping Sane During Lockdown” and you can watch it on our YouTube channel. As this is a new venture for him, Dennis asked for feedback which I was able to send him a couple of weeks ago – thank you to those who contributed, Dennis was most appreciative.

Those of you who attended Carolyn Kirby’s talk in the Ministry Centre last year will remember that she gave a very interesting and entertaining talk on the background to her first novel, The Conviction of Cora Burns. Carolyn has written another book, When We Fall, based on the female pilots of WW2, which has been published through a small publisher, No Exit Press. She will be coming to talk to us in October (all being well), but in the meantime Carolyn has produced a short video by way of an introduction to her talk:


Please email any ideas to email Pam Ball, our Speaker Meeting Organiser,  at:

speakerteam@aughton-ormskirk-u3a.co.uk  or phone 07974 749362.

 

---

Much appreciation and hearty thanks to Sue Watkinson, who ‘retired’ in 2019 from the Speaker Secretary role, for a wonderful series of Speaker Meetings over her time of office. The variety and quality of the speakers arranged by Sue was truly excellent. Please take a few minutes to view and recall the extensive and interesting range of Past Speaker Meetings organised by Sue (as well a few from her predecessors).

---