Holme Valley U3A
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Holme Valley U3A Update for Holme Valley U3A members. February 2017 Welcome This is our first update of 2017. Our chair, Sue Steeples has started the year by visiting some of the groups. We think it is important you all have one familiar face to turn to if you need us, so other committee members will be joining her in that task over the next few weeks. You don’t have to wait until a visit to let us know your thoughts on our U3A though – do feel free to send ideas to the committee or just let us know how much you enjoyed something Several of you said you were pleased to have the larger December newsletter sent by post. Our committee looked at this last month. Posting items is expensive, but we know downloading long documents from a web-site is not easy. Our next quarterly news will therefore also be posted to you, but we will continue to put these shorter updates on the website and only post to those who have asked for paper copies. The March newsletter will be looking for nominations for all our committee posts in preparation for the Annual General Meeting. Our constitution only allows individuals to carry on doing the same job for three years, so we are keen to start involving new possible committee members so we don’t all change at once. If you think you would like to join the committee, or shadow one of the current members in their final year do talk to Sue or another committee member. You can also just come along to one of our monthly meetings to get an idea of how we work. Some of the work could be shared, so you could shadow and support someone for a year before taking on a full role. We meet on the first Wednesday morning each month. To help you think if you could contribute, I have reproduced some information from the web-site about current roles. Our monthly meetings We have speakers booked for the next few meetings, but our monthly Friday morning sessions are about more than just listening. Do come and meet other U3A members, hear about our plans and share your thoughts with us. Please note there is no meeting in April as Easter falls in our usual meeting week. Fri Feb 10th Roger Parkinson: The Woodlands Trust, its origins and aims. Fri Mar 10th Tom Dickson: 'Pontefract cakes; The Sweet Fifties' Fri May 12th Our Annual General Meeting, with an update from the Regional U3A. There are details of two regional events on our website: A Study day in Saltaire on March 15th and residential summer learning break from 7th-9th of August. Full details are available from any committee member if you are unable to access the website. Shirley is looking at the possibility of a chess group and swimming at the moment. The latter might be difficult to find a suitable venue for, but suggestions welcome. Holme Valley U3A http://u3asites.org.uk/holme-valley [email protected] Holme Valley U3A Days Out Please note there are some changes to booking dates. We are booking the Thursford trip through an outside organisation. As this trip is proving very popular we are being pressed for final numbers. In view of this we have to bring the booking date forward and the trip is now open to friends as well. Please see further information below. *All trips are now open to friends on the same date as for partners.* Two dates in our 2017 Days Out programme, launched just ahead of Christmas, now need your urgent consideration as they are about to close to further bookings. The first is the trip to Liverpool on Tuesday 21 March. The cost of £40 includes a fully guided tour of both the city itself by coach and its famous St George’s Hall on foot before a two course lunch and free time at the Maritime Museum and a return trip to New Brighton on a Mersey ferry. The second date is perhaps surprisingly the final trip of the year and our first to include an overnight stay (dinner, bed and full breakfast in a four star hotel). The trip departs on Wednesday 22 November and the £185 cost (single rooms £25 supplement) includes an afternoon matinee seat at the much lauded Thursford Xmas Spectacular show with three hours of song, dance, and comedy before the overnight stay in Norwich and a morning walking tour of the historic city. Bookings for both these trips (which are now also open to non U3A friends) will close after the monthly U3A meeting on Friday 10 February (but can also be sent to Jenny Bagworth at [email protected] prior to that date). Theatre Trips There are still spaces on some theatre trips. Filling a few more seats in the mini-bus will help reduce the costs. Contact Pat [email protected] if you are interested. 'SISTER ACT', 2.00pm Wed 22 Feb, Bradford Alhambra Tickets £25.50. Minibus travel approx. £8/10.00 'LORD OF THE DANCE', Michael Flatley production 8.00pm, Tues 7 March, Bradford Alhambra Tickets £32.50. Minibus travel approx. £8/10.00 'THE RED SHOES', new Matthew Bourne ballet 7.30pm Wed 29 March, Bradford Alhambra Tickets £29.00. 35 seater luxury coach travel approx. £10.00 'FUNNY GIRL', with Sheridan Smith, 2.00pm Wed 7 June, Bradford Alhambra Tickets £34.50. Minibus travel approx. £8/10.00 Digging for Spring? One of our members is looking for someone to share her allotment plot in Wooldale. This is an opportunity to grow your own produce with someone to work alongside. If you are interested do let us know and we will pass on our details. Gardening trips Our Gardening group have planned a couple of trips that can be open to other members. The group will be taking a mini-bus to Harrogate Spring show on the 20th April. If you are interested in joining them do ring Rosie on 07552 637936. Rosie would also like to know if members might be interested in a trip to the National Trust Gardens at Bodnant in North Wales on 9th October. If there is sufficient interest a coach will be booked. For groups who meet in the Methodist hall The Methodist hall now has a full wi-fi facility we can use. The U3A will contribute a little each month towards the costs. It means if you want to play music or watch a film clip you can now do so on-line. We also have a little storage space in a filing cabinet available if you want to leave equipment between your events. Holme Valley U3A http://u3asites.org.uk/holme-valley [email protected] Holme Valley U3A About our committee Most of the day to day practical arrangements of Holme Valley U3A are looked after by an elected committee. Members of the committee are also trustees, so they have obligations to make sure we all respect the Third Age Trust ethos. The committee meets once a month, usually on the first Wednesday, timed to help us prepare for the Friday all-member meeting. We welcome ideas, so if you have one please share it with any committee member. We have reports on finance, membership and progress with setting up groups. The constitution sets out that we elect some individuals to specific posts. They are the ‘Chairman, not more than two Vice Chairmen, Treasurer and Secretary’. In 2016 you elected: Chairman As well as chairing most committee meetings and your monthly meetings, Sue is adjudicator and Sue Steeples leader, making sure all works smoothly. Business Secretary Ian is our main liaison with the regional and national U3A. He also coordinates our Media and Ian McCulloch publicity and is the committee member who would deal with any disciplinary issues. Vice-chair Barry will assist Sue as necessary, having previously served as our chair. He will also help other Barry Dale officers with specific projects. (We can elect two vice-chairs) Treasurer David keeps a close eye on our finances. He has also ensured each group can manage their David Barnett finances, including setting up an account so we can pay for things like theatre tickets in advance. Our constitution says there are a maximum of ten people elected to the committee. The remaining committee members have taken on specific tasks, but to ensure flexibility these are not specified when they are elected. Membership secretary Jenny is the first point of contact for most members and deals with many phone enquiries. She keeps records and issues membership cards. She also ensures new members know how to find Jenny Bagworth out about activities and adds them to our email database. Groups co-ordinator Shirley makes sure we have the groups people want. She keeps in touch with group leaders and Shirley Boardman ensures members know about changes to groups, including the creation of new ones. Speaker finder Alan gathers details of potential speakers and arranges for their attendance at each monthly lan Ainley meeting. He arranges payment and ensures they have the equipment they need on the day. Minute secretary Dorothy keeps records of the monthly committee meetings. Dorothy Foster Newsletter editor Anne set up and updates content on our website, with some group leaders taking responsibility for Anne Baldwin their own pages. Anne also edits and compiles our quarterly newsletter and the monthly updates. We are able to co-opt two additional members to the committee after elections. In 2016 we co-opted Tom Tom has developed a pastoral role, so that when we find a member hasn't attended for a while or we hear Green they are ill, we can offer some practical support.