Ramsey and District U3A

UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE NEWSLETTER

A warm welcome to all our members

Our meeting on Tuesday 12th September 2017.

Autumn has come, the harvest gathered in, thus the chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, the first after our August break. Usual safety notices were read out. Enid then re-introduced group activities, and reminded members that it is polite to let group leaders know if you are not available to attend meetings. If you are interested in joining the cycling group, please contact Linda Van Der Meer, Table tennis would like more members, and the Family History group are hoping to start a basic family history sub group for those who would like to start searching for ancestors, but have little or no knowledge of how to go about it. Ros then spoke about the next Walking Group outing which will be a 5 mile walk around Alwalton, stopping at “The Cuckoo” for a well-deserved lunch! Sign-up sheets were available in the foyer.

April 16th to 20th 2018 the Holiday Group have planned a trip to the bulb-fields, a deposit of £75 per person to reserve a place, if you would like to join the trip see Enid/Terry, and in September 2018, the Holiday Group are planning a visit to France to visit WW1 sites, approximate cost £500, see Enid/Terry for further details if you would like to join, then a £10 non-refundable deposit will be required. Our September trip will be the 100th anniversary of the ending of WW1, so hotels are booking quickly for this period

The chairman then thanked John Austin for his sterling efforts in running the Trips Group for many years, his efforts were much appreciated. There is a need now for a small group to get together to select trips/venues and bring them to the general meetings for approval.

Of great interest to all members was the advance notification of our Christmas party. This will be held on 12th December and will be a buffet lunch, followed by in-house entertainment and a quiz. Tickets will be on sale during our October and November general meetings.

The chairman then introduced the singer for this afternoons session, Andy Smith who was on a return visit to our U3A. His theme this time was “Sings a Century.” Andy had the inspiration for this presentation from a talk from a Northampton W.I. who asked him to perform songs from 100 years of music.

We started with songs from the 1960s and we learned that Andy’s favourite group were the Beatles – and their song “Norwegian Wood,” was the first to be featured. He then told us of a New Year’s Eve that was most embarrassing for him and a group of friends who caught him naked trying to set up a video recorder to record Help/A Hard Day’s Night!

1970 – Andy was still at school and wanted to grow his hair long like his musical heroes from the era, but school regulations prevented this. He then sang “American Pie and Vincent,” in tribute to Don Mclean. A trip down memory lane to 1930 and a rendition of “I get a kick out of you,” from “Anything Goes” by Cole Porter. Back to the 1990’s and a rendition of  “Wonderwall,” by Oasis and “You do something to me,” by Paul Weller.

1950’s and the time of Elvis and Rock’n’Roll, so a tribute to Buddy Holly with songs “Raining in my Heart,” and “Peggy Sue.” We moved to 2012/13 and Andy then sang a Joe Brown classic, “Tickle my Heart,” we moved on to the Naughties and listened to a rendition of “Make you feel my Love,” written by Bob Dylan but as sung by Adele.

In the 1980’s we listened to a Chas and Dave classic, “There ain’t no way of pleasing you,” followed by the 1940’s version of “As time goes By.” The 1970’s was the time of the folk clubs and Andy treated us to “Sister Josephine,” by Jake Thackeray, with a tale that he sang this song in a church for a local W.I. half way through the song there was a power cut – was it divine intervention?

Andy then finished with Joe Brown’s version of “I’ll see you in my dreams.” He said that he was supporting two charities this year, any donations would be welcome to Cystic Fibrosis and Macmillan Nurses, as members of his family were grateful for their help. He was finally persuaded to perform on of his funny songs, so he played out his session with a song that he had been forbidden to play at his daughter’s wedding!

The chairman thanked Andy and the wordsmiths of harmony for a brilliant afternoon.

 

Future Open Meetings

Our next general meeting will take place on Tuesday 10th October 2017 at the Community Centre, when Mike Petty will be telling us how the Fens were tamed. Christmas party tickets will be on sale.

Our next letter for the competition is ‘T’ and will take place at this meeting.  The winner of ‘S’ was David Cusworth with a squirrel diorama and second Jane Cusworth with a sphere of Selenite

Regional U3A Quiz

Whittlesea U3A are the current holders of the Regional Quiz Trophy and have issued a challenge to other regional U3As to take part. The venue is St. Andrews Hall Whittlesea on Friday 27th October. The format will be like that held on previous occasions and the winning team will be awarded the trophy. Whittlesea can host a maximum of twelve teams of between four and six people. Can you get a team together to win the trophy for Ramsey U3A. More details later.

 

Other dates for your diary

Ramsey Rural Museum 

Sunday September 24th 11am to 5.00pm Plough day and Country Fayre

Sunday Octber 29th 11am to 3.00pm Winter Food and Craft fair

Mentors 

We are looking for volunteers to meet and greet new members by becoming ‘friends’ or ‘Mentors’ and help them settle-in at our U3A. Please contact any member of the committee if you think you can help, thank you.

And Finally

Car Parking – Please remember to park your car considerately and use car sharing, if you are able.

 Jokes:

Before going in for surgery, I thought it would be funny if I posted a note on myself telling the surgeon to be careful. After the surgery, I found another note pinned on me “Anyone know where my mobile phone is ?????????”

Editor: Mike Lewis