January 2017

The next monthly U3A meeting will be held at St Andrew’s Methodist Church Hall, Merton Road, Slough, SL1 1QW, on Wednesday 18 January from 2-4pm. Jean Sharman-Golder will share her experiences of working in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Jean is well known in the local area for her charity work in DRC and her fascinating talks which draw upon this.

Entry to the meeting is free to members as well as to first-time visitors.

Upcoming meetings:-

  • Wednesday 15 February – Chris Chadwell – “Travels to the Roof of the World”
  • Wednesday 15 March – Steve Moll – “The Fantastic World of Honeybees”
  • Wednesday April 19th – Squadron Leader Garretts – “Berlin Airlift”

Slough University of the Third Age welcomes retired and semi-retired people – those in their “third age” – who are interested in participating in any of our activities or groups.

Sports and Activity Sessions

The first of our fortnightly activity sessions will be on Thursday 12 January 2017 at the Mencap Centre in Spitfire Close, just off Common Road, Langley SL3 8SX, starting at 10:30. You will have the opportunity to participate in Table Tennis, Air Hockey, board games, and Beginners’ Bridge.

In order to pay for hire of the hall, we request a contribution of £20 for four sessions. It may be possible to reduce this if there is sufficient interest.

In partnership with Active Slough we are looking into groups for Pilates, Yoga, seated exercise, and walking football. Please let Geraldine know if you would be interested in any of these.

Outings

A U3A sub-committee is working on an exciting program of outings for 2017. We are looking at possible visits to Windsor Castle, Bletchley Park, Brooklands Museum, and a number of other venues. Watch this space for more information!

What’s on around Slough?

Slough Older Peoples’ Forum meets monthly at Kingsway United Reformed Church, Church Street Slough SL1 1SZ. Meetings start at 1:30 pm

  • Thursday 19th January – Safety at Home.
  • Thursday 16th February – Fire Service consultation on re-ordering of local Fire services
  • Thursday 16th March – Falls & Things.

Slough Senior Citizens Group – Friday 20th January 2017 at Chalvey Community Centre, Slough, SL1 2QB 10am to 2.30pm. Programme includes: taster sessions on Keep Fit, Yoga and Reiki, Conclusion of Charity Appeal, Music, Networking, Refreshments and much more. Open to all, but please bring an item for the Slough Food Bank.

Carer Café – Monday 30th January – 6.00pm at New Horizons, Pursers Court, SL2 5BX

  • Do you look after someone with a mental health problem?
  • Would you like to meet others in a similar situation to you?
  • Would you find advice or guidance helpful?
  • Could you benefit from knowing about other organisations which could support you?

For more information, please contact: Nikki Anderson on 01753 690950

Slough Cooperative Film Society – starts the new season with L’Avenir (Things to Come) directed by Mia Hansen-Løve on 17th January at 8 pm in Datchet Village Hall. Nathalie is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled existence, but one by one the pillars of Nathalie’s life start to crumble. This new film is an uncommonly intelligent, soul-searching look at what it means to create a life of one’s own.

Slough Cooperative Film Society have in collaboration with Resource Productions programmed a further six films into a six week film course to be held at The Curve in Slough. The course is designed to explore and debate filmmaking (genre, process and content) illustrated by the films. The course begins on Wednesday 11th January 2017 and continues until Wednesday 15th February.

Upcoming events at Burnham Beeches –

  • On Sunday 29 January, find out how to identify trees in the Beeches when they don’t have their leaves, on this 2 hour gentle stroll. Booking required.
  • BB Volunteers meet and help the Rangers every Thursday, from 9am to 4pm. Also the next weekend session on Sunday 22 January, 10am to 3pm.

The 6th Windsor Festival International String Competition seeks out the exceptional string soloists of tomorrow.. Booking will open in February with the final taking place in the Waterloo Chamber, Windsor Castle on Friday 17th March. Are you interested in hosting one of our semi-finalists during the competition? If you live locally, please get in touch via rosemary@martindenny.co.uk

Technology Surgery on Tuesday 7th February at 2.00pm at Burnham Library, Windsor Lane, Burnham, SL1 7HR. Bring along any computer problem you need to solve plus we will talk about using your new technology! Cost £5 per session. 01628 559286

Author talks at The Curve – Screenwriter and crime thriller author Matthew Hall is visiting the Curve to tell us about his latest novel “A Life to Kill”. Listen to him tell us all about it on Wednesday 25 January, 5pm in the Café @ The Curve.

The Herschel Stars Choir is looking for more members. All standards of singing ability welcome – all you need is a love of music. The choir sings a wide variety of songs including popular classics and carols, show tunes  and some original music composed for the choir. They meet at 12 noon every Wednesday at St Francis’ Church, London Rd, SL3 7LN. For more information email choir leader Rob Harris at rob.harris@inbox.com.

Invitation to attend Hedgerley‘s traditional Orchard Wassail on Saturday, 14 January, starting at 3pm. Datchet Border Morris Men will be dancing at the White Horse, Hedgerley from 3 pm. The Wassail Ceremony will include traditional folk songs and the making of noise to ward away evil spirits, and the raising of toasts to the trees to help bring a bountiful harvest in the Autumn !   There will also be a bonfire and local cider (Salt Hill), beer (Hillfire) and hotdogs available.

U3A National Events

Click below for more information:

National U3A Summer Schools for 2017

  • 17 – 20 July at Harper Adams University, Newport, Shropshire
  • 14 – 17 August at Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester
  • 11 – 14 September at Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester
  • 7 – 10 August – U3A Science Network Annual Meeting at Nottingham University

U3A Principles and Membership

The U3A approach to learning is “learning for pleasure”. There is no accreditation or validation and there are no assessments or qualifications to be gained. Members share their knowledge, skills and experience, learning from each other; the teachers learn and the learners teach. You can find out more about the University of the Third Age at the national website www.u3a.org.uk

Membership of Slough U3A for 2016/2017 is £20 per annum. Subscription monies will be used to pay for (among other things) hire of the hall, speakers’ expenses, magazines & newsletters during the coming year.