Totton U3A

Home page Co-operative learning and leisure for those who are over 50yrs and are retired/semi retired.

2011-12-29T12:11:00.005Z

Thank you for your interest in the Totton University of the Third Age group. We meet on the second Wednesday afternoon of the month from 1.45-4pm at the Eling Masonic Hall, Lexby Road, Totton, SO40 9HD. Generally at each monthly meeting we have a speaker and members are brought up to date with group activities and can opt in to activities/new groups. We currently have groups for Walking, Theatre, Bird Watching, Lunch Club, Genealogy, French, Italian, Book Appreciation, Tai Chi, History, Craft, Singing, Art, Philosophy, Discussion and Computing. Annual Membership/joining fee is £12. Extra costs would be for refreshments and any costs incurred from the activity eg theatre tickets. Members are encouraged to think about hosting an interest group in their home and sharing any skill or hobby they have with other members.It is a very friendly group and membership is growing all the time. Visitors can come along for two monthly meetings paying £2 per entrance fee before deciding if they wish to join.If you would like any more information, contact the Secretary, Ann 02380 867417or Sue via suelivelybird@talktalk.net We look forward to meeting you.

2012 Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting

Roger Bricknell
Canals and narrow boats
A full hall with at least one hundred memberss came to listen to Roger Bricknell talk, this time about Canals and Canal boats. Previously he gave a talk on his experience flying with the Concorde. From the fastest plane to the slowest form of travel. He told us about the history of the canals. Birmingham is the centre of a network of canals and it was in this area that a coalmine owner decided to build a canal to transport coal from his pit to the suppliers. Transporting coal by horse and cart was expensive and when the canals started to be used the price of coal came down considerably. Soon other businessmen in the area, such as Josiah Wedgwood, saw the advantage of canals and provided money for more to be built. Soon factories were being built beside the canals.

February Meeting
Mrs C Salter
Homeopathy as an alternative to healing

March Meeting
David Greenway
Humour in Uniform

April Meeting
A.G.M

May Meeting
Paul Gouldstone
BBC radio archives

June Meeting
Martin Lloyd
Passports Assassins Traitors and Spies

July Meeting

August Meeting
Cream Tea

September Meeting
Richard Burton
Forgery in British Currency

October Meeting
Geogina Babey
New Forest Art and Artists

November Meeting
Katy England
Stone Age

December Meeting

Home page Co-operative learning and leisure for those who are over 50yrs and are retired/semi retired.

2010-12-09T14:41:00.025Z

2011 Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting

John Smith

Up to 96 members came along to hear the speaker tell of the Secret Agents at Beaulieu. Some 3,000 agents, including Andrée Borrell, Nancy Wake, Odette Sansom, Peter Churchill, Francis Cammaerts and Joachim Rønneberg, who later led the Gunnerside Mission to destroy the heavy water plant in Norway that was part of the German atomic bomb programme, were trained at a number of large country houses scattered across the Beaulieu Estate, before returning to occupied Europe to work with Resistance groups. Many paid the final sacrifice – and did not return

February Meeting

Bill Hall

Marwell Zoo

A full gathering of members for Bill Hall's talk about the animals kept in Marwell wild life centre. He showed the many cats of the world. Another topic was the lemurs from the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean a unique ecosystem. Separated from the mainland of Africa millions of years ago, its wildlife developed in isolation and lemurs and the predatory fossa are found nowhere else in the world.

March Meeting Tim Selwood

Furzey Gardens

Tim, sporting his badge of office a vicar's collar, spoke quietly and interestingly about his purchase of the house and grounds for what is now a laughable amount of money. Minstead Lodge is also one of his charitable projects teaching youngsters with learning disabilities to be self reliant and hopefully an independent future in the community

April Meeting Fiona Walton

"Catch" Charity

John opened the AGM by thanking all the leaders for all their work during the year. It was then proposed that the four year limitation of the chairman's office be removed and this was passed. The speaker Fiona for the charity Catch told us of the decision to terminate the funding of what seems a worthwhile project to look after the section of society who need help mainly young mothers and the children who suffer from neglect.

May Meeting Jonathan Fryer

Actor

A well attended meeting to hear Jonathan Fryer once again. Using all new material he regaled us with stories of larger than life celebrities he's met during his long career on the stage. He promised that if he couldn't make us laugh he would not take the money but despite our attempt to keep glum faces it was impossible not to laugh. His mannerisms and effected posture were amusing enough.
Prior to the talk John asked the members if they were happy with the accounts and this was passed

June Meeting

Tony Wright

"Are you willing" Making a will

Despite the seriousness of the subject Tony Wright made the talk light hearted with jokes that brought a laugh. Most of us learned something from the talk and there are many traps lying to rob our beneficiaries from their full inheritance.

July Meeting

Maurice Bennett

A Look through my Window

Brian stepped in today as acting chairman as John is still on holiday. Brian's relaxed manner went down with the members who enjoyed his humour. Even the speaker' s wife congratulated him on doing such a good job.
Surprisingly despite holidays the hall was filled to hear Maurice Bennett the speaker tell with passion and professional knowledge of the art of making coloured glass and the difficulty when a peice may take two weeks to finish and the heartache of seeing the glass break after a long preparation. In Western Europe they constitute the major form of pictorial art to have survived. In this context, the purpose of a stained glass window is not to allow those within a building to see the world outside or even primarily to admit light but rather to control it. For this reason stained glass windows have been described as 'illuminated wall decorations'.

August Meeting Cream Tea

Successful meeting all enjoyed Sally's singers and their selection of songs and the audience involvement. A good display of Arts and Craft on show. Dave supplied a quiz.
Joan and Pat did a grand job supplying cream tea for all the members.

September Meeting David Sullivan

Life as a shepherd part 2

A good speaker David got us all laughing He was a shepherd and manger until he was 38 and had a further 6 years managing the farm of a philanthropic gentleman. In these six years, working in unison, they moved toward a share farming system. The agreement was he could build up 25% of the flock in his ownership. The owner would have allowed him more but this level was what David deemed fair. Integrity is everything for David Sullivan.
The next step was to expand. He asked his local landlord if he could rent some land. The landlord said no. Importantly David asked him “why not?”. The issue was security of tenure. David went away to find a solution to his limiting factor. If the landlord owned half the stock then security of tenure was not an issue. Over the next few years, David developed the share farming concept on his own, without realizing there were similar agreements elsewhere in the world. He created a local sub culture, with his original landlord’s neighbours joining in. He had land and stock coming out his ears. He had approaches from the City, as he was achieving 25% return on capital for his investors.

October Meeting Christine Ames

Glimpse of No 10

Members were given an insight into life at “Number 10” by Christine Ames, after attending boarding school Christine moved on to a very select secretarial college in London where she studied under a Mrs Hoster. Here she received a diploma which led to her appointment as a secretary at Number 10, Downing Street. She was the youngest member of staff and had to serve a six weeks trial during which time she was positively vetted. She enjoyed walking along Downing Street and passing the policeman on guard before
knocking and the door being opened to allow her to enter.

November Meeting

Mike Mockler

Africa 100 not out

Over 30 Years of Wildlife Travel .....
Full attendance for Mike's talk. He has for over 30 years travelled the world in a quest for unforgettable encounters with wildlife and stunning photographs of the natural world. And, for more than a quarter of a century, he has shared his passion for wildlife with others through his photography, writing, lecturing and, most notably, his tour-leading and safari-guiding. Many hundreds of people have enjoyed wildlife tours with Mike and Conde Nast Traveller magazine identified him as one of the world’s top wildlife travel specialists.

December Meeting

Yuletide Tales

Vera Hughes BA FRSA an international speaker on many topics, actor, director, trainer and writer with David Weller an international speaker, presenter and actor entertained us with a collection of stories, poems and anecdotes around a festive theme.
The hall was nearly full capacity and entertainment combined with the mince pies made it a good meeting.

2008-12-13T14:45:00.053Z

2010 Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting

Colin Van Geffen

Despite the cold and remaining ice a good attendance to hear the speaker give a good account of his involvement with the Red Arrows and their annual flypast in Bournemouth. The Red Arrows are renowned throughout the world as ambassadors for both the Royal Air Force and the United Kingdom. Since the Team was officially formed in 1965, the Red Arrows have completed over 4,000 displays in 53 countries.

February Meeting

Sue Bowser

Ponies and the people of the New Forest

All the seats were taken to hear Sue Bowser tell us about her experience as a New Forest Commoner a right she inherited when she bought her current home. She told us about her encounter with the gypsy who threatened to have a pony killed unless she bought it and after succeeding in getting £55 for the horse departed in a brand new Landrover. They later became good friends.

March Meeting
Louis Atkinson

Fashion and the House of Dior

What a surprise the speaker was, so entirely different from what was expected. He started off by telling jokes that we wondered if he was the person booked to talk about the House of Dior but he soon introduced fashion and his many years learning the trade. His starting pay of £1 a week (that is all I got in 1950) his time with the Jewish Tailor and successful business deals with Harrods and the £1m investment in an Italian factory.

April Meeting
Nicky Carter

The donkey Sanctuary

About 80 attended the AGM which was soon finished and after a late start Nicky gave a good account of the Donkey sanctuary and how it all began. Dr Elisabeth Svendsen MBE, who founded The Donkey Sanctuary, was born in Yorkshire and, although her love of donkeys started at a very early age, it was not until she was married, with a family, and helping her husband to run the Salston Hotel at Ottery St Mary in Devon that she was able to own her first donkey since then more and more donkeys have been taken into care, and to date over 12,500 have passed through the Donkey Sanctuary's gates in the UK and Ireland.

May Meeting
The Greater Bustard Group

Georgina Babey stepped in to give a talk on Alice in Wonderland. Lyndhurst's famous resident. Alice Pleasance Liddell was destined to become the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Carroll’s real name was Charles Dodgson. His first recorded meeting with Alice took place on 25th April 1856, after which he became friendly with the Liddell children, entering their world with his telling of the nonsense tales that were to become the basis for the fictional Alice

June Meeting

Derek Drew

Professional Toastmaster

Lower turnout than usual due perhaps to the holiday period. Derek Drew told us of his many years as a toastmaster.Toastmasters are appointed for many occasions including Weddings, Masonic Ladies Festivals, Civic Receptions, Dinners, Corporate Events, Burns Night Suppers, Product Launches and Topping Out Ceremonies.

Many members have officiated at palaces and stately homes as well as some of the world’s best hotels. However members are equally at home working in smaller function rooms and marquees.

July Meeting
John Coombes

A to Z of the New Forest

Quite a good number in attendance to see the large high quality projected pictures taken by John Coombes of the many places of interests in the forest. His expertise with a camera was evident especially the photos of horses jumping at the New Forest Show and the extreme motorcycle events.

August Meeting
Cream Tea
The singing group entertained us with some nice songs which you can see a short video of on the News Web page with photos of the art and craft exhibition. Dave put on a quiz for us. The cream tea was excellent and all seemed to enjoy the afternoon.

September Meeting
Adrienne Debrou

The Honeypot Charity

Adrienne shocked many of us with how children are left to cope looking after a parent and siblings at an age when they should be enjoying childhood. She told us that since 1996 Honeypot has been working to enhance the lives of vulnerable children and young carers aged 5-12 years by providing respite breaks and on-going outreach support. They give young carers a break from demanding and stressful responsibilities at home and provide a safe, nurturing environment where children at risk can develop their full potential.

October Meeting
Bob Smith

Steam Engines

A well attended meeting listened to Bob Smith telling us about his trip to John of Groats by a SEC lorry with a small container to sleep in on the lorry bed. He said as he promised to stay at B&B's as well and intended to go by the most scenic route his wife Barbara agreed to join him. His slide show gave a good idea of the journey and with preplanning to visit places that interested him the trip was one not to be forgotten.

November Meeting
Stan Roberts

Magic Lantern Show

Over ninety attended including three visitors to see what sort of entertainment the Victorians would enjoy and going by the murmurs of surprise and appreciation they were not disappointed. The amusing animation and beautiful images many hand painted were exceptional. To country people and even townspeople of that era it would have been a delight.

December Meeting
‘Praizin’ Hands Puppet Group

The hall was well filled with members to see Praizin Hands a group of people who attached to the church bring their show to schools to teach the folly of smoking and carrying knives. It takes a rather large number of puppeteers and stage hands to put on the show and it would certainly impress young children.
A video is on U3A news of the event.

2009 Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting

Peter Frost New Forest Verderer

We met at the Masonic Hall in Eling to hear Peter explain about the role of the the Verderers who derive their offices, powers and responsibilities from an Act of Parliament in 1877.The Court comprises the Official Verderer (Chairman), five elected Verderers representing the Commoners and four appointed Verderers: one each appointed by the Forestry Commission, DEFRA, the National Park Authority and Natural England. The post of Official Verderer is a statutory appointment made by Her Majesty the Queen.They work in conjunction with the Forestry Commission (which manages the Forest on behalf of the Crown), Natural England, and with owners of other areas of common land within the Forest, such as the National Trust.

February Meeting
Roger Downton

In the wake of the Cockleshell heroes

Roger and Sandra Downton from Poole in Dorset who, in July 2004, inspired by the heroism and daring exploits of the Cockleshell Heroes, retraced, with very little knowledge or experience of canoeing, the course of the daring mission. Paddling in the wake of those commandos, our intrepid married couple set off up the perilous River Gironde. In a canoe, lovingly called ‘Sardine', follow their frightening struggle with the ferocious currents, the uncertainty of where they would stop over night, and the peregrination that took them past the famous, picturesque wine regions of France, eventually culminating in their triumphant arrival at the scene of the attack in the splendid harbour of Bordeaux

March Meeting
Chris McColl

Chris McColl gave an affectionate talk of the television series which had us all laughing throughout the late 60s, 70s and 80s. A lad who grew up in the place where the BBC did all the outside filming, he became a "Dad's Army" groupie, watching the filming, talking to the stars and producers and soaking up the atmosphere.Still fresh and worth a watch, Captain Mainwaring and the cast have been voted "best ever comedy show" in many of those television polls.

Decided by a majority vote to change our venue to the Masonic Hall. John told us afterwards that there would have been continued disruption at the Beaumont due to remedial work

April Meeting
A.G.M.
Air Ambulance Services

Good that the weather was warm and sunny as we were unable to enter until 2pm but never the less we soon made up the time. We listened to the Air Ambulance Services make a case for raising money to fund a very expensive but a life saving scheme.

May Meeting
Carol Locke

Carol Lock a well respected reporter from Radio Solent gave us an amusing account of the time she enjoyed working for the station until the whole department became a victim of swingeing cut backs.
Membership numbers were increased with nine new people joining us.

June Meeting

Mel Rees

An amusing author
Over 80 members came to listen to Mel Lees seemingly deprecating his own abilities, his nerd interest in railway engines, even his failure to get diabetes type 1. An amusing hour.

July Meeting
Jake Simpkins

The hall was filled to hear the story of So'ton Blitz to D-day. Southampton was raided 57 times, and three raids were classified as major attacks. The first bombs fell on 20 June 1940 after which a pattern emerged of strategic daylight raids on aircraft factories, shipyards, docks and railway lines, with occasional small scale attacks on populated areas and sometimes machine gun strafing of streets. There is a strong folk memory of certain incidents and attacks. These include the leaflet drop,' A Last Appeal to Reason, by Adolf Hitler': the sight of Flight Lieutenant J. B. Nicholson baling out of his burning Hurricane over Millbrook, only to be shot by an over excited Home Guardsman: the attack on the International Cold Storage Depot setting alight 2300 tons of butter, which ominously burnt for 9 days: and the harrowing destruction of the Civic Centre School of Art. In late September heavy raids destroyed the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire factory at Woolston, but amazingly Spitfire manufacture continued through the dispersal of production into a variety of buildings including garages, laundries and bus stations.

August Meeting
Cream Tea
A nice meeting at the Masonic Hall with tables all laid out for us. The gifted artists and some not so gifted (me) displayed really good exhibits in the way of paintings in various mediums and a fine display of the craft work . David provided a challenge in deciphering the meaning of all the Acronyms he could find. Kept everybody quiet for some time. Marie and helpers produced a tasty cream tea. Pictures taken of the art to be posted on U3A All Groups

September Meeting
Roy Godfrey

Beekeeping

His informative but light hearted talk with a slide show was well received. Roy Godfrey started beekeeping thirty years ago, after a visit to a self-sufficiency show where he saw his first live bees and was hooked. He now manages over fifty hives in Hampshire and West Sussex, producing a variety of pure local honey, which is mostly sold at Farmers Markets at Fareham, Chichester, Arundel, Midhurst and Petworth.

October Meeting
David Sullivan

Life time as a shepherd and a story teller

David spoke to us very amusingly about his experience as a shepherd with up to 3,000 sheep but no farm – his was “rent-a-flock”. There were no farmers in his background – his father owned a grocery shop – but from a very early age David determined to farm, starting off with two dozen chicks which he reared in a chest of drawers in his bedroom. He found their cheeping put him to sleep

November Meeting
Gwen Appleton

Travel courier experiences
The hall was well filled with members and four guests to hear Gwen Appleton tell us all about her rich experiences as a travel courier for an unnamed company. After going on several holidays with the same company Gwen was offered a job as a courier and being effectively single decided to leave her safe civil service. Despite a rocky start she stayed with them for many years, Her scariest time was in the West Indies where one of her holidaymakers was brutally shot down in front of her.

December Meeting
Party Time Productions
Puss in Boots

About 90 attended the December Party Time Productions pantomime Puss in Boots with the usual fairy godmother with a wand transforming the cat into a talking one. Three young troupers injected enthusiasm to an appreciative audience. The singing was to good standard. Very enjoyable.
Jack presented £86 to the Totton Garage Youth club money collected at the very successful Coffee morning arranged by Jack.
John presented Sheila with a bouquet of flowers for her valuable contribution of handmade cards for U3A funds. A good raffle with many prizes gave us £71 clear for U3A funds.

2007-12-29T12:33:00.013Z

2008 Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting

Avril Owton

"The Show goes on"

Avril Owton proprietor of Cloud Hotel, Brockenhurst, New Forest gave an inspiring talk to a packed hall. When she lost her husband suddenly from a heart attack 14 years ago, Avril’s life transformed and she commenced on a journey of juggling - running a hotel business while raising a family of four. Her husband had neither life or mortgage insurance and there was no safety provision for their children’s education – in those days she did not know her bottom line on the balance sheet from her washing line. Coming from a show business background, the former Tiller girl had no experience of management, administration or finance.
Avril took on the hardest challenge of her life and learnt how to run the business she had inherited overnight – cleaning bedrooms, cooking guests’ meals and doing everything else within the hotel in between doing everything a caring mum would do for her children.

For an interesting report on the web go to Avril Owton

February Meeting

Jonathan Gerrelli Head N.F. Agister

The talk “The work of a New Forest Agister” was well received by a very good turn out of members. Four agisters are employed by the Verderers of the New Forest to look after the day-to-day welfare of the commoners stock. In late Summer and Autumn, round ups (‘drifts’), which are the responsibility of the Agisters, are held throughout the Forest. The Agisters collect a ‘marking fee’ for the depasturing of the animals and cut the tails to show the fee has been made - each agister has his own individual tail marking so it is known to whom the ‘marking fee’ was paid. The animals are also wormed at this stage and any ponies that are to be over-wintered on properties or taken to the sales are removed. Another duty of the agisters is to attend any accidents involving commoner’s stock.

March Meeting

Eye Specialists

Andrew Luff & Roy McCleanaghan

Another very good speaker on a subject that for the squeamish is hard to take but it was very informative Age–related macular degeneration (AMD) accounts for nearly 50% of all visual impairment in the developed world. It is associated with adults over the age of 50, and is characterized by thinning and atrophy of the macula, an area of the retina responsible for detailed vision. Vitamins play a part in prevention

April Meeting

A.G.M.

A well attended meeting with 78 members. John started the proceedings followed by the Secretary's written report and then the treasurer's explanation of the annual accounts. After that Sally Barrett led her group singers to entertain us by a rendering of many favourite songs. Ending with an audience participation of "Smile while tho' your heart is breaking" to "I did it my way".

May Meeting

Pam Goodall

“Riding it Out”

About eighty members came to listen to Pam Goodall, an excellent speaker. Approaching her sixtieth birthday, she set off riding a tailor-made Roberts expedition bicycle on a journey which would take her around the world – twenty countries in all. She was chased by a rabid dog in Mexico, attacked by teenage boys in Rumania, searched and questioned by police in Vietnam, and all but prevented from entering America because of a permit crisis. She appeared on Indian television with two spectacular black eyes, the result of a major crash which rendered the bicycle unridable. At Islamabad airport the bike emerged on the conveyor belt in several pieces. And the night of her birthday was spent holding down the tarpaulin of the tent which had collapsed during a dramatic storm. New Year's Eve found her alone in remote woods and sufficient frost to freeze the condensation inside the tent.

June Meeting

Jake Simpkins

An Introduction to Soton’s History

His talk started by describing the surrounding region, then focused on Southampton's history. Highlighting benchmark events, including the French raid, the sailing of the Mayflower, the loss of the Titanic, the Blitz, post-war reconstruction, through to the dynamic city of the present day. And, explaining why Southampton experiences its phenomenal double-high tide.
An interesting well attended talk backed by a graphic slide show.

July Meeting

Denise Edwards

Stunt Coordinator

Small numbers today due most likely to the continuos rain we experienced. John told members that we were once again successful in winning a £3250 Awards for All grant for IT equipment and tuition in its use from Totton College. He then intoduced the speaker.

Denise started her TV life swimming alongside Miss Piggy in the Muppet Show! Since then she has coordinated stunts on many Feature and TV films. Her many credits include Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Aliens, Miss Marple, Midsummer Murders to name just a few. In a fascinating account of her professional life, Denise reveals some of the secrets of the film world's most dangerous job.Denise gave a marvellous talk telling all about how she got into stunts - the first time she was set on fire, the first time she was shot, having to jump off a 27 story building but still being frightened of the lift going up. Her repertoire of stories seemed endless as she told of her present co-ordination role, and the many films and TV series she had worked on.

August Meeting
Cream Tea

No speaker this month so the chairs were left so that we could all sort them out as we wanted. The art and craft group displayed their artistic work created during the past year. Marie and helpers produced an excellent cream tea for 50p. David supplied everybody with a quiz, all in all very entertaining.

September Meeting

Brian Kidd

Looking forward to Spring

Full house to listen to Brian Kidd's well delivered talk with lots of jokes to keep everybody awake. Many useful tips for gardeners.
Two new members bringing us to 129.

October Meeting

Roger Bricknell

The Concorde Experience

A packed hall on a nice day for a very interesting slide presentation by Roger on his long service as a flight engineer which coverd the whole lifetime of the Concorde. His many pictures of the controls which were nearly all mechanical with no computer input show the compexity of flying such a plane.

November Meeting

Rona White

Jamaica

Rona White with the help of a slide show and hand chopped sugar cane and other tit bits gave us a good illustration as to the Island's charm and history. Jamaica (pronounced /ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə/) is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, 234 kilometres (145 miles) in length and as much as 80 kilometres (50 miles) in width situated in the Caribbean Sea

December Meeting

John presented a donation to the Garage youth centre. A photo is on the News blog page. We were then entertained by the Maskers theatre company with songs and music in a Christmas theme.

2007 Monthly Meeting Programme

2007-01-10T17:00:00.000Z

January Meeting

Mrs M Emery
Not just another roll of wallpaper.

An excellent forceful speaker who needed no prompt to recount the life of William Morris Always fascinated with tapestries, Morris set up his first tapestry loom in 1877, and after experimenting, he started weaving tapestries in 1879, using an upright loom. The production of tapestries moved to Merton Abbey in 1881, where all of the famous Morris & Company tapestries were originally woven. Today, the tapestries are woven by machine on traditional jacquard looms in France, Belgium and the United States. For further information go to http://charlesrupert.com/tapestries/index.html

February Meeting

Rona White - Israel - Past present and Future

We had ninety-five members and visitors attend this month's meeting where Rona White gave a spirited historical review of the land of Israel from a Christian perspective. From the pre Diaspora to the present day. History of Israel

The art and craft group put on an exhibition of paintings and sketches in various mediums as well as decorated craft work.

March Meeting

Captain Greenway - Airborne Early Warning

We were told many facts about the U.K's A.E.W, which had been using Shackleton bombers equipped with surplus Fairey Gannett radars. Wishing to avoid a multibillion - dollar acquisition of modern U.S. replacements, the U.K. tried to develop its own system, based on the Comet jetliner. The Nimrod AEW.3 was an unmitigated disaster and inevitably led to a U.K. acquisition of seven E-3s in 1986. This was the only concerted effort to develop an alternative to the two dominant U.S. systems.

April Meeting

AGM - Hammond Angoras

Jane-Ann and Rita Knott of Greystones Titchfield Lane Wickham were quite productive while telling us of their experience of commercially producing Mohair wool from Angora goats and not rabbits as most people think. UK Angora Goat web page Sixty-two attended the meeting including two visitors. We had two new members join and it was decided by a big majority to stay where we are for our monthly meetings.

May Meeting

Brian Kidd

Colour all the year

Brian Kidd a lively speaker is well known in the City of Portsmouth and beyond for his vast knowledge and practical experience in the realm of horticulture. Retired as head of the City's Parks and Gardens department, Brian is still very busy writing a weekly column for The News, appearing on Radio Solent's gardening program and speaking to groups and societies across the South. His talk encompassed the whole year giving us the benefit of his extensive knowledge.
About 80 attended with four new members and three visitors

June Meeting

Tim Craven

Curator So'ton Art Gallery

Peter Jones stood in for the booked speaker and to a well filled hall he gave an outline of the museum's acquisition policy after the first foundation money. His obvious interest in surrealistic art work was not evidently shared by many U3A members and led to a spirited response in questioning the notion that making a mould of the underside of a bed could be classed as art.
Notes on British Surrealism at Southampton City Art Gallery by Peter Jones

We now have maximum membership numbers for the hall and a waiting list has the first names added.
The sum of money raised for the Parkinson's Disease was £51.

July Meeting

Jonathan Fryer

Humorous side of being

an actor

Actor: Jonathan Fryer
Character: Landlord of the George & Dragon.
Catchphrases: "This weather is bad for my trade."
Appearances: Series Three, Episode Six
Biography: Born in London. Trained at Bournemouth Drama School. Now does after-dinner speeches.
Notable Credits: Z Cars, Keeping Up Appearances.
Remembering Reggie: "During rehearsals I said my lines and Leonard followed up with a couple. When we had finished, he looked at me with a smile, and said: "You must be exhausted, you'd better have a sit down!"

Jonathan received an almost standing ovation he was extremely funny.
We had a packed hall, 91 including 9 guests. We now have 11 on a waiting list.

August Meeting

Cream tea

The hall was nearly filled to capacity to hear our own U3A singing group who bravely sang and entertained all of us. Sally was brilliant singing "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World" in the style of Gracie Fields. Thanks to Marie for providing the cream tea and those who helped. A sunny day allowed us to display the art and crafts stalls outside in the garden. Quite a few of the art and craft works shown were professional in quality. On the art table Pat's painted orange looked edible.

September Meeting

John Foster.
The hobby of metal detection

John Foster gave an interesting and amusing talk backed in the second half by slides of his hobby or disease as he called it of metal detection. Although saying that he was far from lucky in finding anything other than ring pulls, having three of his finds on a National database is proof enough that he was being modest.
The hall was mainly filled, with members and three visitors.

October Meeting

Rhys Jones

About seventy-five members and visitors came to hear Rhys Jones speak about his Greenland adventures. With the extra dimension of having a screen set up for his slide show and even the short films to illustrate the talk he gave Rhys was even more entertaining then before. Sheila who was instrumental in starting the U3A in Totton joined us today making 128 in total

November Meeting

Carol Wilson
River Meon
from source to sea

Another filled hall to listen to the illustrated talk.
The River Meon is a river in Hampshire which flows generally southwards from the South Downs to the Solent. For most of its route it is a chalk stream, with a length of 21 miles (34 km)The River Meon rises approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the village of East Meon. It first flows due north to that village, then northwest to West Meon, and southwest to Warnford before adopting its principal southwards flow. From Warnford the river flows through the villages of Exton, Corhampton and Meonstoke, Droxford, Wickham, and Titchfield. From Titchfield the river flows some 2 miles (3 km) through the marshes of the Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve before entering the Solent through the small harbour at Hill Head.

December Meeting

Xmas event
Andrew Burns a cabaret magician

A very good performance by Andrew with a the help of members acting as assistants in what were clever demonstrations of the art of stage magic. Plenty of prizes were won in the lottery and we had mince pies with the tea. A good response to the form filling as to interests in new groups. We now have a Wine Tasting, Quester, Poetry and Writing group. Also we have a leader for the meditation as well. Hopefully if we can get volunteer leaders several other well supported interests may come to fruition.

2005-06-18T18:22:00.000+01:00

2006

Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting
Carol Swift - My Visit to Ghana.

We thank Carol Swift and her daughter Rachel for giving a very clear idea of the poverty and despite this the spontaneous joy of the children at the Ghanaian church school. Very brave of them to venture into a society so different from ours with limited facilities we take for granted such as running water, lavatories that flush and decent transport.
The meeting was well attended and four new members joined our company making us sixty-five in number.

February Meeting
Gordon Lewis - Genealogy.

A large number of members including 15 visitors came to listen to Gordon Lewis's inspiring talk on his own family tree he told us he was descended from John Stump(e), brother of the clothier William who gave the Abbey back to Malmesbury after the dissolution. His grandparents left the area around 1920 to eventually settle in the New Forest. Not all of us can be cousins to royalty but he said even finding out the distant paupers was as fulfilling. Standing around an old grave site imagining the long dead relatives is a feeling worth experiencing.

Out numbers are now up to 70.

March Meeting
Ken Brown - British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.

The dreaded moment when the booked speaker calls in on the very day he is due to speak cancelling his appearance happened. Nevertheless through the willingness of Rhys Jones the local young mountaineer to step in and entertain us by relating his adventures amongst the highest continental peaks saved the day. Thanks Rhys and we all wish you a safe and successful completion of your long cherished ambition. All of us enjoyed his descriptive and glorious video display of pristine snow top mountains. His ambition was fired when only 10yrs old after hearing Hampshire Expedition Scout Leader Russell Parkes talk about his dream of putting a Scout on the summit of Everest for the Centenary of Scouting in 2007.
It was a well attended meeting including eight visitors. Five new members joined us making seventyfive in total.

April Meeting
AGM

The AGM was surprisingly well attended and it was a busy time for the committee in particular for Rusty who chaired the meeting in Liz's absence. Sue the retiring secretary gave a summary of the years activities. The treasurer reported the current financial state which enhanced by the two grants is extremely healthy. Hopefully all those who did not renew their subscriptions will do so next month.
The speaker was Gordon Lewis who previously gave a talk on genealogy. This time his subject was the Eurovision song contest. Despite the feeling the subject was interesting as train spotting after Gordon told us of his connections and perks in being the number one fan we all felt he was on to a winner. He recounted the time when entertained at a grand residence he looked at previous guests and they included a Philip and Elizabeth.
These are some of the ESC facts.
The most used words by Eurovision fans in connection with the song contest are "Abba", "Eurovision", "Dana" and "Leandros" according to a study by the University of Leiden.
More women than men win the Eurovision Song Contest. On average, for every three or four women who win, only one man has won the contest.
Until now, the most covered Eurovision hit is "Volare". Stars like Dean Martin, Al Martino, Marino Marini and David Bowie have all made cover versions of the song.

May Meeting
Group Capt Greenway - Queens Flight & Royal Family

May's speaker supported by a good showing of members, including six new ones, was a tall distinguished charming and well spoken airforce professional. Captain Greenway, veteran of the Queen's Fight, easy manner and wit was appreciated, He told us of his admiration for the Royal family and the work they do and his dislike of the scurrilous media that pursue them looking for the negative rather than supporting our unique traditional heritage. He felt privileged to have served all the Royals on the many foreign and commonwealth tours over the years

June Meeting
Caroline Tite - Taxation, Inheritance & Death Duties

Carol Tite gave an informative talk on addressing the need for advice before we leave the chancellor 40% of our gross worth above £285,000. It was news to me that leaving an IOU for that amount to the remaining spouse got you out of paying. Perhaps paying out the equivalent of one week's care home costs to an advisor may be money well spent for those lucky enough to have the problem.
A well attended meeting and four new members joined and two renewed their subscription We now have 79 fully paid up members.

July Meeting

Michael Sparkes - Retired Solent Pilot gave a vivid talk on the hazards and responsibilities of the Trinity House Pilotage. The Corporation of Trinity House was incorporated by royal charter in 1514 giving exclusive rights as to who could bring the ships into harbour. He gave us a scary description of how they have to gain access to the ships scaling the incredible height of the super tankers on a swinging rope ladder. One could imagine being tossed about in a wintry rain swept night, making your way along the deck to the main structure several stories high then taking a lift up to the bridge. On one vast ship when awe struck by the size he asked the captain how long was it to which he replied it is equivalent to par 4 in golfing terms. Impressive.

August Meeting

About 50 members attended the August meeting for a cream tea and quiz which Dave provided, John played the quizmaster and it was a very pleasant 2 hours. Thanks to Marie and those helping her for a very smooth operation in providing the food and drink.

September Meeting
David Plunkett - Eling Tide Mill

A very full hall greeted David with 67 members. We were told about the history and the restoration work.Some of the facts included this. Eling Tide Mill is a water mill that harnesses the power of the tide to grind wheat into wholemeal flour.
Situated on the edge of Southampton Water beside the renowned New Forest, there has been a mill on the site for over 900 years, although it has had to be rebuilt several times, with the current building being some 230 years old. Tide mills were once an important part of the economy of many countries, such as Great Britain and the United States of America - the latter having many hundreds of tide mills on the eastern coast from the 17th to 19th centuries. Tidal power was harnessed in this fashion not only for milling flour, but for everything from sawing lumber and operating the bellows and hammers in ironworks, to manufacturing paper and cotton, to grinding spices, pepper and gunpowder. Before the advent of the steam engine they were the one kind of large-scale mill that was pretty much guaranteed to be able to run 365 days of the year.

October Meeting
Col Peter Chitty - History of the Mary Rose

About 70 members attended to hear Col Peter Chitty give a very lively talk illustrated by many slides. Many of the artefacts found on the ship were personal possessions of the crew. Gaming appears to have been very popular, dice were found in chests and leather pouches and a splendid backgammon set was discovered in the carpenter's cabin.
http://www.maryrose.org/life/life1.htm

November Meeting
Sandra Simmonds - Behind the veil

Seventy members attended November's meeting to hear a speaker with a difference. Sandra sprang out of the kitchen recess covered in a full Hijab and addressed us in a stream of Arabic. This she told us was an invitation to join her in prayer. Her terrible life under Islamic rule hadn't smothered her spirit and perhaps had strengthened her will. Marrying an Iranian and going to Iran was a terrible cultural shock made worse by the subsequent revolution against the Shah.

Conditions of Hijab
A wide enough dress that does not outline any part of the body. The ideal way to do this is to wear a cloak over other clothes.
It should cover the whole body. The clothing must be thick enough so as not to show the colour of skin it covers or the shape of the body.
The clothing should not attract men's attention to the woman. It should not be flashy or shiny so that everyone notices the dress and the woman.
A dress that does not look similar to men's wear, for Muslim women are prohibited from looking like men. The Prophet (SAW) cursed the men who looked like women, and the women who appeared like men. (Bukhari)
A dress that does not in any way resemble the dress of the disbelievers.
The clothing should be modest, not excessively fancy and also not excessively ragged to gain others admiration or sympathy.
The clothing should be free of any perfume or fragrance.

December Meeting

What a treat the Segalula are, a splendid group of enthusiastic lady singers who imparted their joy of singing to us. We moved from a gentle appreciation of their rendering of medieval hymns to a full volume audience participation of the 12th day of Christmas. We also had tea and a tasty mince pie between the singing. Sixty seven members attended with three guests.

January Meeting
Mrs M Emery

Not just another roll of wallpaper.

February Meeting
Rona White - Israel
Past present and Future

If anyone knows of an interesting entertaining speaker please give details to Julie.