CHARD,
ILMINSTER & DISTRICT
U3A
www.chardilminsteru3a.org.uk
Autumn
2007 Newsletter Editors: Janet Brown &
Martin Shirley
CHAIRMAN’S CHIT-
CHAT
When
framing press reports and publicity leaflets, we often rightly stress what a
good deal the U3A offers to local residents, and how amazingly cheap it is,
especially compared with college courses and such like. We don’t often mention
why this is so, which of course is because the U3A is a ‘self-help’
organisation. The U3A is all about sharing and cooperation. We couldn’t exist
without the voluntary efforts of our group leaders, who generously share their
knowledge, skills and ideas with the rest of us. I know from personal
experience that many of them devote an enormous amount of time and energy to
preparing for their group meetings. We are indebted to them all.
It’s also
timely to express our gratitude to our ‘helpers’ – those non-committee members
who quietly keep our U3A ticking over in so many ways. To mention a few of
them: we have Beryl Genge, Pat Dixon and Marion Pye organising our vitally
important raffle each month; Pamela Bamber, Pat Scrivens and others serving
refreshments at the monthly meeting; Barbara Ingrams running the book stall;
Janet Brown assisting in producing this newsletter; Ron Hall lending an
artistic hand to our publicity displays; and Brian Harper, Sue Smith and
others providing advice and practical help on all manner of things. Nor should
we forget those who provide car lifts, pass on newsletters, and generally help
their fellow U3A members in similar ways.
A big
‘thank you’ to them all.
Alan Bamber
YOUR COMMITTEE FOR 2007- 2008
Alan
Bamber Chairman, also Publicity and
Website 01460 234041
Adrian Cornelius Vice Chairman
01460 62926
Margret Hall Monthly
Meetings/Reception 01460 62664
Sandra Kibble-White Membership
Secretary 01460 66711
Rena Moxon Assistant Secretary, Monthly
Meetings/Reception 01460 221201
Wendy Payne
Treasurer
01460 259174
Martin Shirley
Newsletter
01460 62608
Gill Taylor
Secretary, Minutes Secretary
01460 238567
Beth Toman
Groups Coordinator 01460
65093
Hilary Williams Visiting Speakers
01460 65930
LIVERPOOL ART TOUR JULY 2008
I am arranging a five day stay in Liverpool
departing 1st July 2008. We will be visiting various art galleries
such as the Walker, the Tate, the Lowry and the Lady Lever. We will also visit
the Shugborough Estate, Speke Hall, Hanbury Hall, Port Sunlight Village and
Liverpool cathedral.
We stay for four nights on bed and breakfast
basis at the 3* Britannia Adelphi Hotel in the heart of Liverpool. All rooms
are en suite and feature television, telephone, tea and coffee making
facilities and a hairdryer.
All excursions are included and there will be
guided tours at every venue. Of course, the art gallery visits are not
mandatory and non-members of the U3A are welcome to join this tour.
Twenty people have already signed up and I
have been in touch with other U3A groups in the area. I am hoping to reach up
to thirty three at least so we can qualify for three free places which will
bring down the overall cost, which at the moment is £349 plus £59 for single
supplement.
Should you be interested in joining us on this
tour either telephone on 01460 65093 or e mail on
beth@toman.eclipse.co.uk
Beth Toman
PORTUGUESE GROUP
Is there
anyone in our U3A who would be interested in learning Portuguese?
As
there is a strong Portuguese influence in Chard you may just want to be able
to speak a few words to get by, or for those who intend to spend some time in
Portugal, Madeira, Brazil, Cape Verde etc,
some deeper understanding of the language may be what you are looking for.
If so you will be as disappointed
as myself to find that there are no formal or leisure educational courses,
within easy reach, or being held in the whole of Somerset this coming year.
(To my knowledge). I therefore wondered if other folk may have had the same
difficulty and been put off by this lack of availability.
Teach
yourself is fine for the basics but to progress one needs the interaction
which can only be obtained within groups, so if there are any interested
members could they please initially contact Beth Toman (groups co-ordinator)
with the aim of setting up a U3A group of our own in the autumn. (possibly
starting October/November).
I have been
in contact with one of the Portuguese link workers in Chard who believes he
can find someone who would be prepared to spend a couple of hours every
week/fortnight to guide a self help group of 5 or more.
Please do
NOT rush out and get any materials at this stage, as I have plenty for you to
see and then decide which would suit you best.
Tony Schofield
ALL ABOUT BISCUITS !
Some time
ago our committee decided to serve Fair Trade tea and coffee at our monthly
meetings. Such products cost a little more than the normal alternatives, but
they provide third world producers with vital support and protection against
exploitation. Members may have noticed that we now also serve some Fair Trade
biscuits. This has been less straightforward because we can only find luxury
types such as chocolate-chip cookies, which are several times dearer than
standard plain biscuits available in supermarkets. We are therefore currently
serving both types, which means that we can’t claim to be a fully Fair Trade
organisation.
We have
been in contact with the Fair Trade Foundation about this gap in the market
and have pointed out the huge nationwide potential for fair trade biscuits
given by the number of organisations similar to ours. They have acknowledged
this point, and have suggested that at a personal level we take every
opportunity to draw attention to this need when we go shopping at local
supermarkets. One reason why ordinary biscuits don’t figure in the fair-trade
range is that, unlike tea and coffee, they aren’t made of one basic
ingredient. For compound products there are rules about the minimum fair-trade
content of each ingredient, and it is probably difficult to achieve this.
There are
currently around 250 designated ‘Fair Trade Towns’ in this country, but at the
time of writing Chard and Ilminster are not among them. It would be nice if
our modest action were to contribute in a small way to achieving that goal.
Alan Bamber
TEA BREAK
Our ‘tea ladies’
Pamela and Pat much appreciate the help given by members in serving
refreshments at the monthly meeting, and would welcome any further offers of
assistance. Please phone 01460-234041
U3A NATIONAL TRAVEL
The Autumn 2007 tour list from U3A
National Travel features destinations as widespread as Hungary, South Africa
and Market Harborough. It is available from
u3atravel@u3a.org.uk or via the members' area of the
www.u3a.org.uk website
NEW MEMBERS
If you know or meet people who might
be interested in joining U3A, you can :
- suggest that they request an information pack from Sandra
Kibble-White on 01460 66711
- ask them to have a look at our website
www.chardilminsteru3a.org.uk
- invite them to a monthly or group meeting as visitors
DATES FOR MONTHLY MEETINGS 2007-8
(Mondays at 2pm, Guildhall, Chard)
November 19th Philip
Nichols, The History and Workings of the Library Service
December 17th,
Christmas Lunch at Noon, Please bring a plate of savoury or sweet food for a
shared seasonal meal
January 21st Dr
Roger Poland, Conservation expeditions in the rainforest
February 18th Joe
Burlington, Climate change & global warming
March 17th (AGM),
Ben Keogh, The life of St Patrick
April 21st Malcolm
Welshman, My life with animals
'MY U3A' - INTERNATIONAL LINKS
I was asked to prepare an
entry for our U3A to join the 'My U3A' project on
http://worldu3a.org
Here are the information
headings I had to complete, with my answers, which I trust are reasonable :
1. Name and location of my U3A Chard, Ilminster and District U3A,
in the South Somerset cider-making area
of the beautiful English West Country see
www.chardilminsteru3a.org.uk
2. How many
members? 175
3. Range of
Activities Monthly meetings with invited speakers at the
Guildhall in Chard, and 30 subject groups, from Art to Genealogy to Spanish to
Writing for Pleasure
4. What I like best about my U3A The number of decent and
likeable people that I have met through becoming a member and getting involved
5. My personal message "Being retired is a full-time
occupation - U3A can help you to get the most out of it!"
http://worldu3a.org is also where you can
obtain the Signposts bulletin, sent by the U3A International Group UK and U3A
Online Australia, once a month, to any and all U3A members anywhere in the
world. You get lots of very interesting and informative websites, try it and see
for yourselves.
Martin Shirley
NEWSLETTER MATTERS
In the last issue
we offered to distribute the newsletter by e-mail, to save on paper and
printing, as a modest environmentally-friendly initiative. Two members have
asked for this, as have Crewkerne U3A. So – either the paper version is
genuinely popular, or hardly anyone reads the newsletter to the end! If you
would like to receive the newsletter by e-mail in future, please let Martin
Shirley know on
martin@crich.eclipse.co.uk (Paper copies will still be made available
at monthly and group meetings).
The
next newsletter will be due in February, so may we ask for any contributions
(interesting and/or entertaining) to reach either of the Editors by mid-January
; please contact Martin on 01460 62608 or Janet on 01460 66462. Comments and
suggestions for improving the newsletter will be welcome at any time
