March 2017

Slough U3A Newsletter, March 2017

The next monthly U3A meeting will be held at St Andrew’s Methodist Church Hall, Merton Road, Slough, SL1 1QW, on Wednesday 15 March from 2-4pm. Entry to the meeting is free to members as well as to first-time visitors.

The Incredible World of the Honey Bee

Steve Moll of Brightwell Bees will explore many attributes of the honey bee which has earned this captivating insect the accolade of being a ‘superorganism’. From the eyes of a beekeeper we will follow the activities of a bee colony through the calendar year; looking at how the colony survives winter, their sophisticated methods of communication, and why they swarm. On a more sombre note we will look at some of the pest and disease challenges facing honeybee colonies throughout the world.

brightwell-bees-viv-and-steve

Upcoming meetings:-

  • Wednesday April 19th – Squadron Leader Garretts – “The Berlin Airlift”
  • Wednesday May 17th – Ian Jones – “40 Years of Bomb Disposal – Still 10 Fingers”
  • Wednesday June 21st – TBA.

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.

Notices

Appeal for a Secretary

The wonderful secretary of our U3A Committee, Maggie, will be moving away shortly. Is there any member of our U3A who would like to help by keeping the minutes at committee meetings (once per month) and generally taking care of administration? Please contact our Chair, Richard Emerson.

Outings etc.

The first trip of the year, to Windsor Castle, was a great success. The Outings committee is now planning a trip to Bletchley Park, please tell Marie, Sue or Jan if you would like to take part. The all-inclusive cost, including coach from Slough, will be £30. Payment needs to be made either at the meeting on March 15th or by post before March 22n. Email outings@sloughU3A.com.

A trip to Dorneywood House, country home of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is planned for Thursday July 13th. This private visit is limited to 20 people – book soon!

U3A Group Activities

Salsa Dance

The Salsa group continues twice per month – on Friday 10th and Friday 24th of March at 12 noon at St Marys Church Hall, St Marys Road, Langley. A charge of £2 per session

Table Tennis, Board Games & Bridge

Next sessions are on Thursday 9th and Thu 23rd March from 10:30 – 12:30 at the Mencap Centre, Common Road SL3 8SX. A charge of £4 per session covers the cost of hall hire.

Creative Writers

So many people have expressed interest in Creative Writing that we can’t fit them all in – so we hope to start a new group. This will need a coordinator and a venue with good wheelchair friendly access. Please let Beryl know if you are willing to coordinate (it’s not difficult!) or can suggest a venue.

We have just completed writing a memoir for grandchildren and great grandchildren, with information about things we take for granted today that may seem very strange to them in the future. The task for the next session is to write a piece containing imagery and inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day…).

Drawing Group

Our members have been making excellent progress by researching and presenting sessions. For example, Kalini led on ‘Composition’ and Anita with ‘Colour Pencils’. Following this we will agree on further themes which also allows us to re-visit areas that members wish to re-focus on.

New Drawing Group proposal

We are trying to establish if there is sufficient interest among members to start a second Drawing Group. Although some members have shown an interest but at present the numbers are not sufficient to get a new group going. If you would like to join or find out more about this, please contact Sukhpal Grewal by email sukhpal.grewal@btinternet.com or during the next monthly meeting on the 15th of March.

Wine appreciation

The Wine appreciation group continues to explore wines from around the world, and following some interesting and well received wines from Lebanon in early January, we tried wines from Austria in January and then “Sommelier Graham’s Selection” in February. From March the group will move on with a new venue and a new co-ordinator.

Play Reading

The group has a healthy 12 readers now. The February play was “The Odd Couple”, a comedy by Neil Simon. After being kicked out of their houses by their wives, two friends try to share an apartment, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day. In March we’ll start “A Murder Has Been Arranged” by Emlyn Williams.

What’s on around Slough?

Langley Neighbourhood Forum meeting on Tuesday 7th March at 7 pm at the Langley Hall Primary Academy. The theme of the Forum is “Social Care – What you need to Know”, with speaker, Simon Broad, Head of Adult Safeguarding and Learning Disabilities at Slough Borough Council, who will give a presentation and answer questions.

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

  • Thursday 16th March. Postural care, nutrition and exercise with Edwin Cheung, Chiropractor and Arwen Hobday, Dance.
  • 20th April – Falls & Things
  • 18th May – Discussion on access to Information and Advice in Slough

Forthcoming events at The Curve Slough’s new community centre & library www.thecurveslough.com.

  • Slough Arts Forum – Thursday 23 Mar at 19:00. An evening for Slough based artists and local arts organisations to discuss their work and future collaborative work.
  • World Poetry Day Tue 21 March from 6pm. This is a spoken word event organised by Aik Saath; it is normally an amazing event with some impressive local talent on display
  • Slough Justice and Peace Group are showing Naomi Klein’s Climate Change Film “This Changes Everything” on 28 March at 8pm

The Slough & Windsor Railway Society meets on Friday evenings at The Manor, adjacent to Slough railway station, from about 7:15pm. The meeting is open to all, and usually features an illustrated talk on a transport-related theme. There is a small admission charge to cover costs.

  • Mar 10 Poland Revisited              Jim Ballantyne
  • Mar 17 British Second Generation Tramways      John Laker

Slough Philharmonic present a concert of Beethoven, Finzi and Schumann on Saturday 11th March at the Centenary Hall in Farnham Royal. www.sloughphil.org or phone 0300 365 7445

Friends of Herschel Park –  A competition has opened to carve the cedar stumps at Herschel Park into a feature for current and future generations to enjoy. The competition is open to all. Entries should be submitted no later than: 30th April 2017 to Ian Judd, Herschel Park Manager c/o SBC St Martins Place 51 Bath Road Slough SL1 3UF

Stoke Poges, Wexham and Fulmer Horticultural Society are holding a Plant Sale on Saturday 22 April at 10:00 to Noon in Stoke Poges village centre.

National U3A Events

  • “West End Sing Out” – 9 May at The Savoy Theatre, London Details & Book
  • “Beneath Your Feet: – Hidden Depths of Roman London” on 18 May at The Guildhall Gallery, London. Details & Book

U3A Local Study Days

  • “Heritage Crafts & Industries” on 12th April 2017 at St Paul’s Parish Rooms, Wokingham. Flyer & Application
  • “Social History of the Thames Valley” on 17th May 2017 at the River & Rowing Museum, Henley. Poster & Application
  • “The work of William Morris” on 10th August 2017 at Kelmscott Manor – Poster & Application

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.