CALDICOT & DISTRICT November 2020 www.u3asites.org.uk/caldicot/home Reg Charity No. 1071447 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Thank you to Caldicot and District U3A Members and Committee. I can say that now because at the time of writing this report we have received over 350 renewals of membership. Given the months of lockdown and our inability to fully function as a U3A that is a huge endorsement for us not only from a financial perspective, but also in your commitment to our U3A and what we stand for. A huge thank you also to our Committee and Officers who have been integral in planning our way through uncertain months so that we managed to keep going. Everyone is a Volunteer and has given up their time to keep us on track. A special thanks goes to Angela Hodson-Hirst, our Membership Secretary and Newsletter Editor for her efficiency and resilience in getting our membership system ready and putting this publication out every month. So what next? In this edition I would ask you to please take the time and read the Committee News section. In there you will find a report from our meetings with Convenors written by Vice Chair Linda Stewart. You will also find an advanced notice to all members of an AGM planned for January 2021. In that note there is an explanation of why and how we are obliged to have an AGM even in these difficult times so please read that and especially the Nomination of New Committee Members part. You will also see that the Committee has agreed that we need to make plans for the next 6 months no matter how uncertain that is. The priorities that we have identified are Finance, Public Relations, Our 25th Anniversary Celebrations and further developing our collaboration with Convenors and our Interest Groups. These priorities will be delivered by Sub Groups and have an identified lead person. The fundamental principle of these Sub Groups is to involve as many Convenors and members as possible. More detail of the work of these groups will follow in future editions of Committee News. However, the work related to the Interest Groups will be commencing asap and you will find a Rallying Call from Glenice Dallow the lead for that group in this edition. Again please read it and why not contact Glen with your ideas. Finally you have every right to question how on earth these initiatives can work if we cannot meet in our groups. That is a challenge but to begin to meet that challenge I have asked Angela (Newsletter Editor) and Ann Taylor-Heard (Website Manager) if we can utilise those media to the maximum. Essentially I want to substitute what were group sessions with articles and inputs into the Newsletter every month and also via Visual inputs on the Website of all aspects of the work of Interest Groups or members ideas. As I have said previously this is the Members U3A and you have renewed your membership so we have to give you value for money. However to make it work we need your ideas and your inputs into this. So to start the ball rolling .... I was out walking earlier today and the colours of Autumn are astounding. So when you take Lockdown exercise, why not take some pictures of our wonderful countryside and we will put them on the website. All you need to do is to email them to me on: [email protected] I will then forward them to Ann, our website could be a riot of colour! Please stay safe and well Rob Harry Chairman COPY FOR THE NEWSLETTER We welcome reports from all groups for inclusion in the Newsletter or forwarding to our website. Word doc is preferred with NO LIMIT TO HOW MANY WORDS and should be sent to: [email protected] or tel. 01291 424997 by midday on the 26th NOVEMBER 2020 Typed or handwritten notes should be submitted a few days earlier if possible. Angela Hodson-Hirst Editor MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS - TO BE RENEWED BY THE END OF DECEMBER Despite the wording of Rule 5 (iv) of the Constitution the closure date for subscriptions has been extended to the end of DECEMBER from the normally required end of June date as recorded in the September Committee Minutes and as the AGM will not take place now until the New Year. I would like to add that Should you change your address, telephone number or email address please inform me so that I can keep our records up to date. Contact details: tel: 01291 424997 email: [email protected] Angela Hodson-Hirst Membership Secretary LINK SECRETARY I would ask that if you hear of any member(s) who reach their 80th, 90th, 100th birthdays, Golden, Diamond, Platinum Wedding Anniversaries or even Marriages between members to please contact me so that I can send a Congratulatory card. Also, if you hear of any member, in your group, or their family who are in hospital, sick or any other reason I would be grateful if you would please inform me. [email protected] Tel: 01291 421484 Betty Waite CARDS SENT Pat Burrin sadly unable to continue membership through ill health. We wish her well. Betty Waite CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to Heather Chappell, Myfanwy Bennett and Megan Kanneh who celebrate their 80th Birthday in November. THANK YOU Thank you all for the Golden Wedding Anniversary card sent to us on 29th August. We look forward to meeting up with our walking group friends soon, and hope that you are all keeping safe and well. Dianne and Brian Cox APOLOGY Lesley Jones makes apology for misspelling John JEFFERY's surname and similarly to John MUSSELL in her article in October's Newsletter. DOWN THE LINE by Pam Ayres Down long-forgotten railway lines and over broken bridges Came the young men, From vanished stations with frilled eaves, past coal yards and sidings, Over points switched by signalmen unseen, They came from valleys green, From blackened cities mean, To battlefields obscene. We ruined tracks that run below, We saw them go, we saw them go, Over continents this was enacted, Don’t let them hear the song of the track, Young men from their loving homes extracted, The clickety clack, the clackety clack, Faces white and yellow, brown and black, They won’t come back. Believing that, one day, they would go back. Drawn like single threads to forge a cable, In haunted carriages I see them yet, From factories and shops, from farm and Khaki-clad, with kitbag, cigarette, stable, Through dim-lit panes they see me, far below, Football teams and banks and streets entire, I look into their eyes and watch them go. Through cuttings deep and scarred by summer They weren’t to know, as they travelled the lea, fire, The hideous scenes they were going to see Through tunnels dark, embankments steep, to The flame, the gas cloud drifting, pale, face the threat, In Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele. To learn the ways of rifle and of bayonet To draw a last despairing breath, Hands which held the reins and steered the Man and beast in a dismal death. plough, Carved names that crumble soft away, Must carry out more bloody service now, In churches and on crosses grey, Make hard the heart and subjugate the will, At cenotaphs where poppies fall, To fire the bullet, stab and choke and kill, Embrace the life denied them all. For men, our country must more deeply delve, In hamlet soft, and city loud, Now some are fifty-six and some are twelve* I still the clamour of the crowd, You mothers on windswept platforms, crippled And mourn them from this heart of mine: by the gash of fear, The soldiers, sailors, airmen fine, Go home. The boys who travelled down the line. You aching sweetheart bent and crying for your young man, Go home. You have shared a last embrace. Hold it tenderly, remember it, safeguard and cherish it, For it must last a lifetime. And pity the straight-backed fathers, who weep alone. *In April 1918, the Earl of Derby, Director of Recruiting, directed that the age of recruits could be raised to 56 “if the need arose.” Sidney Lewis was sent home in August 1916, one year after joining up. He had run away to enlist when 12 years and lied about his age. He was sent to the Somme and fought on the front for 6 weeks. His mother then discovered where he had gone and sent his birth certificate to the War Office and demanded his return. COMMITTEE NEWS REPORT ON CONVENORS QUESTIONNAIRE This report has been compiled from the analysis of the Convenors Questionnaires. The aim of the Committee in August/September was to re-engage with our Interest Groups via their Convenors/Representatives, following a long period of isolation due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. Another aim was to ascertain whether our Interest Groups could be re-started. We discovered that the majority of our groups could not be facilitated in their present venues because the Covid restrictions/regulations did not make it viable to re-start. We also discussed alternative venues but new rules brought in by the Welsh Assembly Government prevented this happening. FINANCIAL Our first priority was to re-start our Interest Groups if possible and the finances were an aside. However it came to light during this analysis that the costs for each group for the venue averaged £2,000 annually, and when the monthly meeting and committee meeting costs were added to this, the annual spend rose to £9,000 plus.