STRAY BITS – June 2009

 

A Day to Remember

The Dream that came true

 

Thank you every one for helping with this day.

                                                                                                          Ivan

 

 

This will be the last edition of Stray Bits until October – after the AGM.  Have you all remembered the date?  Friday 25th September.  Pop it into your diary now please.  This will again be held at the Cairn Hotel where we had the last two very successful AGMs. 

Science Group.  There are 4 places left for our afternoon outing to the National Science Learning Centre on 15th July.  This Centre is in York University and is a government initiative to try to improve Science Teaching.  We leave on a coach from Trinity Church at 1pm and return before 5pm. The outing is free.  There will be some light refreshment which you can buy if you wish. 

Please contact John Kendal - 01765 676399 to book a place.

 

Croquet Section now in full swing

 Bishop Monkton Croquet Club has been congratulated for growing in the space of one year to be probably the largest in Yorkshire today.  The club has 65 members, including 39 in the U3A Section, putting it ahead in membership numbers of clubs in York, Sheffield and Huddersfield.

'Your achievement in trebling your membership in a single year is probably the most impressive performance of any club in the UK - it is a real coup for your village', Pat Kennett, National Chairman of the Croquet Association Development Committee, told a large group of croquet enthusiasts and local dignitaries.  She congratulated Bishop Monkton Club on its achievement in spreading the popularity of croquet in the North and hoped other communities would follow suit.

The gathering at the club was to mark the opening of a new clubhouse store and sitting out area, which has been created thanks to the generosity of three organisations - The Croquet Association (£1,500), The Dales Millennium Trust Grassroots Grants (£5,000) and The Shepherd Charitable Trust (£300).  The money has financed the purchase of a new building which will be used as a store room for the club and in front of which there will be a sitting out area where members and guests can relax between sessions on the lawns.  Thanks to the donor organisations were voiced on behalf of the club by Chairman Richard Field.

Previously in the same week, the U3A Croquet Section elected its own committee. New officers are: Dawn Hey (Chairman), Ros Gillingham (secretary), John Kendal and Janet Blake (Club Day Leader and Tea Rota Co-ordinators) and Eileen Davies.  Two U3A Croquet Section members, Ray Dixon and Marcel Boughton were included in a Bishop Monkton Croquet Club team which took on Bishop Monkton Bowling Club in a fun challenge. The match included members playing both croquet and bowls!

The U3A Section has clubs days are on Monday and Friday afternoon and these sessions are being greatly enjoyed and well supported. The afternoon sessions conclude with tea.

FOOTNOTE: Currently the U3A Croquet session has 39 signed-up members, meaning that there is just one place remaining vacant. If anyone wishes to apply for this, they should contact Richard Field at tel. 01765 677795. A trial game can be arranged if the applicant wishes.

Philosophy.            We shall start again in September. There is still some room for new members to the Tuesday Group who will start with Aristotle, moving on to the Stoics, neo Platonists and the Romans.

As always anyone interested should give me a ring on 01423 872476.  David Broadley.

 

 

Strollers Group   On July 7th Margaret Douglas will lead a Strollers walk at Knaresborough and Barbara Peel will lead a walk at Ripon on August 4th.

The Strollers meet between 12-30 & 12-45pm in the round shelter at the bottom end of Harrogate bus station.

 

Photography.  We put on an exhibition for "A day to Remember" which was appreciated by visiting U3A groups.  Since then we have been busy selecting photographs for our exhibition "Celebrating Yorkshire" to be held at St. Peters Church, Harrogate from Saturday the 1st August to Friday the 7th August, between 10.00 - 16.00hrs.  Admission free.  Don’t forget to go! Before that – a fun day out to Staithes with 30 of our group members will happen on the 29th June.

 

Current Affairs:

 I would like to voice my feelings about the low interest and turn out to the Current Affairs meetings.

As stated by Brian Elias in Stray News, we have had a series of brilliant speakers!

It is very disheartening and an embarrassment that having arranged for speakers to visit us, mostly at their own expense, that our U3A of 850 members based on discussion and learning, is only able to muster a small audience (13 at the last meeting).

The speakers are highly qualified, enthusiastic and first rate and the subject matter should be of concern to us all.

Meetings are announced on the website, e-mail and in Stray Bits and Stray News and we meet on the first Friday of each month at 2pm at St. Robert's Church Hall, when no other groups are competing. (I propose that we endeavour to increase our visibility by producing a poster each month to be displayed at the Open Meetings.)

Other than that, we should review the viability of the group on the basis of response and commitment that is shown at the AGM in September.

 Siggie Mattison

Current Affairs – Next Meeting – 3rd of July.

 "Waters of Life - art, ecology and climate change related to the 3-river project”

Speaker - Dr. Brian Lewis has been involved with the Three River Project of the areas of Gujarat-Yorkshire-Eritrea for some time now and many scientists contribute to this very important project.

Keep Fit  The last official session will be on 7th July but we shall celebrate  the beginning of the summer break with a lunch at Vivado on 21st July.  We shall restart at the beginning of September, (Confirmation of the date to follow.)  Contact Val Cooke on 01423 506837 for more information.  

 

Tai Chi groups.  The final date before the summer break for the Bilton group is 20th July.  The Jennyfield group  continues until 28th July.  But I invite anyone from Bilton to join Jennyfield on that date too.  Both groups will restart in September again (date to be confirmed).  Contact Val Cooke on 01423 506837 more information.

 

Oh, We do like to Paint beside the Seaside…

A coach trip to Whitby on 2nd June was arranged by the Painting Group. Although the journey takes 2 hours, the varied scenery over the moors on a glorious sunny day, made it a joy.

The 30 members arrived in time to squeeze in coffee before a wander round the town and then seriously investigating lunch options. Whitby offers a host of popular scenes to capture but Peter had set us a theme involving boats and so we sketched and took photographs to prepare for paintings which we completed during the following two meetings.

Our next trip will be to Fountains Abbey to produce Paintings to exhibit at the AGM in September.

 

 Have you changed your email?  Do make sure you send your new email address to:  u3a.harrogate@googlemail.com. Otherwise you will not receive important emails and information – like Stray Bits! 

Please put this date in your diary now.  The AGM will be held at the Cairn Hotel on September 25th.

 

Stray News is now published in June, October and February.  Deadline for the next issue - 2nd October

 

Stray Bits is available at Open Meetings, and also via Group Leaders. Sometimes!

Read Stray Bits on the website - www.u3a-harrogate.org.uk   SPREAD IT AROUND!

If you have information to be put into Stray Bits - please contact Val Cooke by

the 14th of the month - on 506837.