1. Monthly Social Mornings
At the January Social Morning Peter Turner, a Magician, mystified us all with some of his magic tricks. He also taught us how to do a couple of tricks. Those of you who did not come missed a really good talk. Keep looking, we are hoping to have him again next year. At our Social Morning on 3 February, John Parsons a Town Crier will deliver a talk on ‘My Grandads an Oyez Man’. Please do come along as I am sure it will be a most interesting talk.
The speakers for March and April have been switched around. On 3rd March Sergeant Mark Ellershaw will speak on his life as a Motorway Cop and on 7th April Professor Ian Morison will speak on the Story of Jodrell Bank.
2. Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
The RHS is offering a discount for U3A Groups to visit their gardens and flower shows up and down the country. For more information please see the leaflet on the notice board in Sandbach Library. If anyone would like to organise a trip to one of their gardens or shows, please contact one of the committee members.
3. Chair Yoga
Chair Yoga started in September at the Oasis Centre in Green Street on the 1st Thursday of each month. It has been successful and from January a second session has started on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 10-30 until 11-30am.
The sessions are led by Jenny Bull who also leads the other U3A Yoga sessions.
The sessions are not full at the moment. If you are interested in joining this group could you email the programme organisers on sandbachu3aprogramme@live.co.uk who will let Jenny know.
4. Knitting/Discussion Group
This group started in September and though there has been some interest, not sufficient to make it viable. The group members wondered whether the inclusion of knitting in the title was putting people off attending as discussion groups in other U3A groups have been popular and successful.In order to test whether there is any interest in the formation of a Discussion group could people forward their views to the programme organisers on sandbachu3aprogramm@live.co.uk and if there is sufficient interest then it is envisaged that such a group could commence in March/April.
5. Devonshire Delight Holiday
Bookings for the above holiday will be taken on Tuesday 28th January from 9.30am – 11am in the Marriott Room at Sandbach Library.
The holiday departs on 22nd September 2014 and is for 5 days at a cost of £425pp (single supplement £80). Members will be required to provide their own travel insurance.
There is a fully inclusive and varied itinerary and the trip is accompanied throughout by a Regent tour manager. Full details are available on the Sandbach U3A website and on the U3A notice board in the library.
Wendy & Kelly from Regent Travel will be present during booking to answer any queries and help members with booking forms. A deposit of £75 (Cheques to be made payable to Regent Travel) per person will be required to secure the booking.
6. Woodlands Brewery Tour – Tuesday 11 March 2014
Further to the article regarding the above event, that appeared in last month’s newsletter, if you would like to go, you can reserve your place(s) either by booking at the U3A desk in Sandbach Library or by contacting the organiser, Barrie Hacking on 01270 500428. If you telephone Barrie and there is no reply please do leave a message.
7. New Study Groups
Last summer a questionnaire was sent out inviting responses to the idea of study groups which would operate without a lecturer or leader, but where each member would contribute input of some kind and so share in the running of the group as well as the learning process.
A small, interdisciplinary 17th CENTURY STUDIES group has just been formed, which aims to trial various methods of working to this pattern while looking at a wide range of topics within a 17th century context.
Also in the pipeline are two further groups which plan to follow the teamwork model: ART APPRECIATION and PHILOSOPHY. There is interest, too, in forming a similar HISTORY group, and JAZZ APPRECIATION has also been suggested.
If you are interested in this type of study group which depends on input from all members, please phone Margery on 01270 766964 for more information
If any crucial information is missing from any of the above items, please accept our apologies and check the website where it might also appear. We shall certainly make sure it’s on the website once the questions start flying back.
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Membership Team