U3A - Area University of the Third Age Registered Charity No: 1049254

Newsletter ~ September 2018

Picture by Philip Cakebread Printed by Chipstead Services

CONTENTS OPEN MEETINGS and OTHER EVENTS 2 ……. CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS Meetings are held at 2 ……. MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY The Banstead Community Hall

Park Road, BANSTEAD SM7 3AJ Banstead 3 ……. ALISON’S CORNER and St Mark’s Church Hall 3 ……. NEW MEMBERS Great Tattenhams, Downs KT18 5RD A.D.2012 (See Page 6) 4 ……. QUIZ Meetings start PROMPTLY at 2.30 pm

4 ……. GROUP UPDATES ****** 4 ……. Explore London 1 Wednesday 19th September 2018 otium cum dignitate

4 ……. Explore London 3 Open House 5 ……. Tadworth Table Tennis At Banstead Community Hall ****** 5 ……. ANSWERS TO QUIZ Wednesday 17th October 2018 Annual General Meeting 5 ……. PREVIOUS OPEN MEETINGS At Banstead Community Hall

****** 6 …… FUTURE OPEN MEETINGS and Sunday 11th November 2018 EVENTS Remembrance Sunday 6 ……. Change of Venue Banstead War Memorial 6 ……. Open House ****** 6 ……. Annual General Meeting Thursday 22nd November 2018 7 ……. Remembrance Sunday & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 7 ……. Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust At St Mark’s Church Hall, Great Tattenhams 7 ……. Christmas Drop-In ****** 7 ……. Canine Partners Monday 10th December 2018

7 ……. Surrey Hills and the Surrey Hills Christmas Drop-In Society At Banstead Community Hall 7 ….. The Odette Ellicott Lecture ****** Wednesday 16th January 2019 8 ……. MEMBERS NOTICE BOARD Canine Partners 8 ……. Banstead Combined Charities Banstead Community Hall Christmas Event ****** 8 ……. Banwood Folk Dance Club Monday 18th February 2019 8 ……. Sutton Highfields Lawn Tennis and Surrey Hills and the Surrey Hills Society Petanque (Boules) Club Banstead Community Hall

****** 8 ……. LOOKING BEYOND BANSTEAD For more information and updates 8 ..…… The Joint Local U3A Science Lectures visit our website: https://u3asites.org.uk/banstead/home 9 ……. SURREY NETWORK STUDY DAYS 2018

CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS

What a hot summer!. It’s just as well that many of our groups don’t meet in August thereby having more time to get out enjoy the warm sunshine.

Our Annual General Meeting [AGM] will take place on Wednesday 17th October 2018 in Banstead Community Hall. See full details on page 6 of this Newsletter. We have had a busy year revising and adopting new policies and procedures arising from changes in the law which this year seem to have been more than usual. The details of these changes and the likely effects on you and our U3A will be explained at the AGM.

The annual membership renewal starts 1st September 2018. The card for the next year will be coloured pink. We referred to the renewal process in our last Newsletter and have decided to repeat the procedures and instruction as outlined below by Robin Brodie, the Membership Secretary. Please be aware that, if you attend a group, the Group Leader will be asking to see your pink card at your next meeting. Our experience is that more often than not, it is the long term regular group attenders who just forget to renew. The Group Leaders will need to see everyone’s cards, not just new joiners.

We have had the very, very sad situation of Sue Webb, Group Leader for Italian and Committee Member, and her husband, Jeff Webb, Group Leader of French, both dying within a matter of weeks of one another. Obviously our first thoughts are for their immediate family especially as circumstances moved very quickly. However, these two members were dedicated supporters of our U3A and readily gave their time and energy to us. Sue also baked the best meringues ever, as tasted by those who attended the annual Odette Ellicott lectures. Alison Gaitonde has endeavored to find new leaders to keep both vibrant groups up and running as outlined in her regular column on page 3, but the personal loss will be felt by many.

I am still concerned that a number of you are not receiving the Newsletter either by post or email. Later this year we intend to change onto a new computer system which should enable us to improve our communications. Could I ask that you check with other members who you come across to see if they have a problem? Please refer any Newsletter problems to the Group Leader who should pass on the information to us; or inform Margaret Solomon on [email protected] or Alison Gaitonde on 01737 351782.

I look forward to seeing you at the Open House event on 19th September and the AGM on 17th October. Gill Ross

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

The annual membership renewal process is now in full swing keeping us very busy. I explained the various renewal processes in the last Newsletter. If you want to continue to access U3A’s various activities, you must be a member and as such renew your membership now. As a reminder I have decided to re-issue the renewal instructions as printed in the last Newsletter.

Those of you who pay your annual subscription by Standing Order will need to do nothing. The cost remains £10 per year if renewed by October or £12 if renewed after 1st November 2018. Those of you who pay by cheque or cash will need to keep this in mind in order to ensure you qualify for the reduced renewal fee. The colour of the new 2018/19 membership card is pink. The current green coloured card will be void.

The system for those members paying by cheque will be as other years. Send to me, Robin Brodie, Membership Sec. Banstead Area U3A, 31, Balmoral Way, Belmont, SM2 6PD. An envelope enclosing:

 A cheque made payable to Banstead U3A for £10 per person, [£6.50 if Banstead is not your first U3A];  A note stating your name and address and current email address and  A self-addressed envelope. 2

There will be an opportunity to renew your membership at the Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 17th October 2018 in Banstead Community Hall. Best arrive early as there are always long queues.

I would also remind you to keep me informed of any contact changes such as home and email addresses.

As always, any queries get back to me on 020 8642 1718 or [email protected] Robin Brodie

ALISON’S CORNER

Very many thanks to all our group leaders for their continued support.

Sadly, we have lost both Sue and Jeff Webb; [see Chairman’s Address]. John Hopkins has taken on Sue’s Italian, John McCrea Jeff’s French.

Bernie Hardy-Robinson offers a new group, Beginners French. I have contacted those on the waiting list and several are keen. Bernie, is unable to make an immediate start for personal reasons. In September, I will contact those interested. She is bilingual and offers spoken French for beginners.

John Austin has taken over as leader of Local History as Richard Herrington has retired. Thank you Richard for your support in leading this popular group.

Tony Goring now leads the Photography group as Pauline Bezodis is moving to Cardiff.

The Monday Drawing & Painting group has been taken over by Vivian Clarke as Jenny Shaw has retired. Thank you Jenny for, your “more years than I can remember”, leadership. Eric Engel is continuing with the Computer group and Colin Revell is currently looking after both Scrabble groups.

Canasta is being offered by Sheila Bigwood. Outdoor Sketching may be offered by a new member. Any interest?

Mike Vingoe has suggested a group on Practical Science to meet on an evening in a Sutton school laboratory. Anyone interested?

Spaces are available in Art, Table Tennis, Grandparenting or Crosswords. Is anybody still keen on Gardening or Crafts?

First Aid training: 45 people have applied for this free Red Cross training session and 15 attended the first day in July for what was a very instructive course. A second training session is offered on Friday 26 October 2-5pm at the Mead Room, in the Community Hall. I will be contacting those on the waiting list. I am not sure whether Red Cross would offer us a third course.

I visited Helping Hands at Eastgate, Banstead (near station) to see a room they are offering us free of charge. It would be good for a group wanting WIFI, but parking is very poor. Any group leader interested, ask me. Alison Gaitonde (01737 351782)

NEW MEMBERS

A warm welcome to the following new members:

Helen and Shaw Bazzaz; Renate Beard; Liz Brown; Vivian Clarke; Maggie Corner; John Kemp; Marie Morrison; Margaret Sandilands; Steve and Pauline Shanley; Susan Stansby; Patricia Wood.

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QUIZ

My thanks to David and Kathleen Churchley for providing this quiz.

1 Who played TVs Inspector Barlow? 2 Which composer had the forenames Piotr Ilyich? 3. Who portrayed Ugarte in Casablanca? 4. Who created Harry Lime? 5. Who had a dog named Jip and a pig called Gub Gub? 6. Who was the pilot of the first fatal aeroplane crash? 7. How many hearts does an octopus have? 8. What is the resting place of those buried at sea? 9. Who died with over 1000 patents to his name? 10. From what is banana oil produced? 11. What is sometimes referred to as Liffey Water? 12. What food got its name from the way it hung in bunches like grapes?

GROUP UPDATES

Explore London 1 It’s been a busy summer and unusually we have had to cope with exploring in very warm weather. The month of May saw us wandering around St. James’s. There is so much history packed into such a small area. In June the group explored quite the opposite end of the social spectrum. We were in Spitalfields in the East End of London. This is an area that has seen waves of immigration since Roman times leaving a rich culture of architecture, people and many markets. We remained in the East End in July with a visit to Hoxton. The highlight of this walk was a short visit to an undamaged, complete Victorian Music Hall contained within a theatre complex in Hoxton High Street.

The Explore London 1 Group at the Pop-Up garden in the front of the Geffrye Museum, Hoxton.

Explore London 3 Explore London 3 chose the interesting area of Greenwich for their May walk. This was obviously, a sunny dry day with a wonderful panorama of London’s north bank in the background.

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Tadworth Table Tennis

This group took advantage of the warm summer days and moved out into a member’s garden for their twice monthly Tuesday morning table tennis sessions. The photograph shows the group at their “Ping Pong and Pimms” event. The group has a couple of vacancies. Members interested are advised to speak to a Table Tennis representative at the Open House event.

ANSWERS TO QUIZ

1. Stratford Johns 2. Tchaikovsky 3. Peter Lorre 4. Graham Greene 5. Dr. Dolittle 6. Orville Wright 7. Three 8. Davy Jones Locker 9. Thomas Edison 10. Coal 11. Guinness 12. Grapefruit

PREVIOUS OPEN MEETINGS

Thursday 14th June 2018. St Marks Church Hall, Great Tattenhams – A Virtual Tour of Big Ben. Speaker Tim Redmond.

Tim Redmond was an excellent speaker and his talk on a Virtual Tour of Big Ben was very good as was the number in the audience. Since his retirement from the Metropolitan Police, and other jobs involving public services, Tim’s regular work now involves him leading tours of the Elizabeth Tower which contains the bell known as Big Ben. Tim explained that the whole of the Elizabeth Tower is now surrounded by scaffolding as it is undergoing major repair works which are expected to last until 2021. Tim talked about the history of this Augustus Pugin designed building and about the bells themselves with Big Ben being the largest of 5 bells. Tim explained that until its closure, only British Citizens were allowed on tours of the Tower and that access required a lot of stairs. The current renovation work will include a lift and other access improvements but Tim was unsure if thereafter, British only access would be maintained.

Wednesday 18th July 2018. Banstead Community Hall. – The work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Speaker Fiona Smith formerly with the RAF.

This talk was well supported by our members, many of whom knew a lot about this subject. This proved to be very useful as the Speaker, Fiona Smith admitted to us from the start that she was new to the job and really only had a basic knowledge. Our U3A had booked this talk some time ago and the regular speaker had since left the organization before Fiona joined their team.

Fiona gave a background to into the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) which honours the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars, and ensures they will never be forgotten. It is an intergovernmental organisation whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. Much time is spent trying to locate those “missing in action” who may have been buried elsewhere but the information not centrally recorded.

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We were fortunate to have in the audience James Crouch, who is a member of the “Surrey in the Great War” team which is a Council sponsored Heritage project who spoke about local war graves and, local activities regarding those war graves which proved to be an interesting addition to Fiona’s information. Many members of the audience then became involved in the question and answer sessions, on some occasions providing the answers. The outcome was that many of us learnt something new – even the experts!

FUTURE OPEN MEETINGS.

Change of Venue - We will be ceasing our use of St. Marks Church Hall, Great Tattenhams partway through next year. We intend to hold all of our Open Meetings in Banstead Community Hall, Park Road Banstead. We made this decision mainly for the reason of access to buses. Banstead is far better served for buses than Great Tattenhams, and with an increase in members from the north and east of our area, this made sense. We usually hold our Banstead Hall Open Events on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. The talks which we would have had at Great Tattenhams will on the whole take place on a Monday afternoon but this will vary. Members are asked to pay particular attention to dates and time in the future. We had a good relationship with St Marks and thank them for their assistance.

Wednesday 19th September 2018. Banstead Community Hall. Open House.

The times are different to our regular meeting times. Doors open at 2pm and close at 4pm with refreshments ceasing at 3.30pm

This is our annual event when we promote and provide information about our U3A and in particular details about the various groups. It is open to the public and U3A members who can come along and find out first- hand what the groups do or how the U3A functions. Group Leaders host “stands” and are either able to recruit new members to their group, or gather a waiting list for their future use or pass on the list to the Groups Co-ordinator to set-up a second group. This is a very sociable event with members taking the opportunity to meet and catch up with each other.

Wednesday 17th October 2018, Banstead Community Hall - Annual General Meeting.

Doors of the Banstead Community Hall open at 2.00 pm with the AGM starting at 2.30 p.m. Those members wishing to renew their membership at this meeting are advised to arrive early to avoid a queue. The Agenda is enclosed with this edition of the Newsletter. If you have not received your AGM notes please contact Paul Williams on [email protected] or telephone 01737 211618. There will be some spare copies available at the meeting. Only fully paid-up members may attend and you must show your membership card at the entrance. There will be no entrance charge and there will be tea/coffee and biscuits provided at the end of the meeting. This year there will be no Speaker or entertainment after the meeting.

For your information the current Banstead Area U3A Committee is made up of the following people;

Gill Ross, Chairman; Robert Lowes, Treasurer; Paul Williams, Committee Secretary; Alison Gaitonde, Groups Co-ordinator; Robin & Dee Brodie, Membership Secretaries; Ken Baldwin, Speakers and Open Meeting Equipment Organiser, Margaret Solomon, Data Manager; David Rowles, BAF Event organiser; Joan Cowlard, Minute Secretary; Doreen Oliphant, Functions Co-ordinator; Janice Bridger, Room Bookings Co-ordinator. Long-term members Julia Simmonds and Roger Findlay are standing down from the Committee this year.

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Sunday 11th November 2018. Remembrance Sunday. From 10 am in Banstead High Street.

Every year, Banstead U3A sends representatives to this event. We join other local groups in laying a wreath of poppies at Banstead War Memorial located on the junction of Park Road and High Street Banstead. It is always well supported by the local community who line the street to watch the various groups, led by local youth organisations, march from Waitrose to the War Memorial. Once assembled, they are joined by members from the local churches who lead a service. This year is special being 100 years since the end of the First World War and some members, who will not be elsewhere marking this day, may feel that they would like to spend an hour and join others lining the street to pay their respects on this important anniversary. A local [non-U3A] group “Surrey in the Great War” are honouring the memories of more than 130 men and women from and Banstead who fell in World War One. Contact www.surreyinthegreatwar.org.uk for more details.

Thursday 22nd November 2018, St. Marks Church Hall, Great Tattenhams. Speaker, Mr. David Heller, Chief Pharmacist, Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.

Mr Heller is head of the Pharmacy Department containing about 80 staff. His remit involves him in many services such as medicines, surgery, cancer services, women’s and children’s health, and maintaining the Patient Medication Helpline.

Monday 10th December 2018. Banstead Community Hall, Christmas Drop-In. 2.30pm - 4pm.

All members are invited to drop in for a cup of tea / coffee and mince pie or other traditional Christmas fare. There will be no guest speaker or formal entertainment. The Drop-In is aimed at getting members together purely to be sociable. This will be the third year that we will have organised this event and we hope to see as many of you as possible.

Wednesday 16th January 2019 or Wednesday 17th June. Banstead Community Hall. Canine Partners [who provide all sorts of help dogs], Canine Partners have been unable to confirm which of these dates suits them best so, so for the meeting on the 16th January we have, as back-up, Bernard Smale, one of our Group Leaders, who is prepared to step in and repeat the talk he gave to the U3A Summer School in Chichester this year. Bernard’s talk was very interesting and covered the similarities in various societies throughout the world.

Monday 18th February 2019. Banstead Community Hall. Surrey Hills and the Surrey Hills Society. Speaker Mr. Ken Bare. The Surrey Hills Society is an independent charity promoting the positive enjoyment and care of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty for those who live, work in, or visit the area. The Society encourages people to explore and learn about the special qualities and distinctiveness of the area. .

Wednesday 17th April 2019. Banstead Community Hall. The Odette Ellicott Lecture

The Speaker this year will be Terry Johnson who is a retired Metropolitan Police Superintendent. The title of the talk is The Profumo Affair. A story of sex, violence, lies and spies.

This is a special annual event to commemorate a benefactor and founder member of our U3A and is for members only. No visitors allowed at this event. The talk is followed by a cake tea.

Wednesday 1st May 2019. Banstead Community Hall. Banstead Arts Festival. The Metropolitan Police Choir. 7.30 p.m. Every year we sponsor an event for BAF and this year it is the Metropolitan Police Choir which is made up or active and retired police women and policemen. They are very entertaining and we have been lucky to get them. Price of tickets to be confirmed.

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MEMBERS’ NOTICEBOARD

The Member’s Notice board was introduced for Banstead Area U3A members, who are involved with other local events or groups [not part of the U3A], to publicise up and coming events or activities that may be of interest to our members. Any articles for the Noticeboard must be accompanied by relevant contact details as Banstead Area U3A will not take any responsibility for the information provided nor will it follow-up or pass on messages.

Banstead Combined Charities Christmas Event - Sat 6th October 2018

The Event is in its 39th year and will run from 9.30 am until 2.00 pm at the Community Hall in Park Road, Banstead. It will be opened by the Member of Parliament, . Over twenty charities, both national and local, will have stalls selling their Christmas Cards, Calendars and other items. Last year the charities raised around £4,000. It provides an opportunity to find out more about the work of the charities and to meet some of the volunteers who give their time willingly to support good causes. Refreshments, provided by the Diamond Centre for Disabled Riders, will be on sale and there will be a raffle. Entry is 20p with children free. Further details from Richard Hughes telephone 01737 355342 or email [email protected].

Banwood Folk Dance Club. Wednesdays 8pm until 10pm in St Anne's Church Hall Banstead SM7 1BS - www.surreycommunity.info/banwoodfdc Chris 020 8642 4301

There is a lot of social interaction in folk dance (similar to Barn Dancing) so you can come on your own and just join in or bring a friend/partner. Beginners very welcome. Just £3.00 a night!

Sutton Highfields Lawn Tennis and Petanque [Boules] club, Mayfield Road, South Sutton, SM2 5DT

Want to give Petanque a try? Come along to see how you get on. Thursday 20th September 2018 starting 2pm. No charge. We are a friendly group and no previous experience is necessary. On your own or with a friend, it doesn’t matter. Just turn-up. All welcome.

We are looking for rusty tennis players. Did you play tennis a long time ago [even at school], still reasonably active and feel like giving it another try? Join us on Tuesday 18th September 2018 from 9 a.m. till 10.30 to play with existing members or to discuss a free coaching session. Just come along to see how you get on. We are a mixed friendly group. Coaching places are limited and need to be booked. Contact Gill Ross 01737 362675 or [email protected]

LOOKING BEYOND BANSTEAD.

THE JOINT LOCAL U3A SCIENCE LECTURES

These are held at Trinity Church, Sutton www.trinitychurchsutton.org.uk and are for members of Banstead, Sutton and Epsom U3As and are free to Banstead members. Talks begin at 2.00 p.m.

The talks, on science subjects, will be on research topics, with some biographic, and given by university speakers and knowledgeable U3A members. The forthcoming programme is:

12 September 2018: Dr Graham Hill, Gravitational Waves

10 October 2018: Professor Bernie Cohen, The History of the Alphabet

14 November 2018: Dr Peter Edwards, Roehampton University emeritus, Historical Geography and Land Use in Surrey

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9 January 2019: David Fishwick, Astronomer, 13 February 2019: Carol Harris, on Medicine at the Pole 13 March 2019: Professor Cyril Isenberg, Canterbury University emeritus, on some interesting results in number theory 8 May 2019: speaker from Imperial Cancer Research Foundation. Please note:  the programme may be subject to change  no refreshments: the Church has a cafe serving lunches until 2pm;  no parking is available on the site. Hill Road access is for drop-off only;  nearest parking is the Gibson Road car park;  nearest railway station is Sutton;

The Church is on the following bus routes: 80, 151, 164, 213, 280, 407, 413, 470, 613, 627, S1, S3, S4. Contact Alison Gaitonde 01737 351782

SURREY NETWORK STUDY DAYS 2018

STUDY DAYS

Fri Sep 21 2018 The Development of Major Infrastructure Projects Presented by John Kennedy, Alan Dyke & Bernard Gambrill Places available

Fri Oct 19 2018 Creative Therapies & Singing for Health & Pleasure Presented by Bekah Duncalfe, Rebecca Hitch & Ursula Steiger With the Canterbury U3A Singing for Pleasure Choir. Places available

Fri Nov 16 2018 Landscape, Society & Agriculture Presented by Dr Richard Baines, Royal Agricultural University Places available

Fri Feb 15 2019 Philosophy in a Day! Presented by Marianne Talbot, Oxford University Booking opens on 1 November

Fri Mar 15 2019 Mediaeval Times - The Bayeux Tapestry & Other Topics Presented by Imogen Corrigan, Lecturer for The Arts Society Booking opens on 1 November

All Study Days take place at the Menuhin Hall, The Yehudi Menuhin School, Stoke d’Abernon, KT11 3QQ and cost £10 for members and £12 non-members. Coffees and teas are provided. Bring your own lunch. Times are 9:30 am - 4 pm. There are plenty of car parking spaces. Applications and SAE to John Kennedy, 20 Greville Park Road, KT21 2QT, [email protected], 01372 273561

Deadline for January 2019 Newsletter with articles to Gill Ross by email is 15th December 2018 (send to [email protected]) or by post 12h December 2018 (send to 5 Harpurs Tadworth Surrey KT20 5UD)

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