MEDWAY U3A GROUPS REPORTS Special Interest Groups Annual Report 2019 New Groups That Started 2019 Applied Philosophy Joe Cannavina Applied Psychology 2 Suzanne Lucas Bridge (Beginners) Royston Bakewell / Suzanne Lucas Current Affairs 1 Joan Bridge-Taylor / Joe Cannavina Current Affairs 2 Joe Cannavina French 3 Michele Robinson Learn to be Retired Sarat Chick MOTO - Members on Their Own Linda Potter Natural RI Archive Monica Albinson Play Reading 2 Keith Whitnell Spanish Beginners 2 Alfredo Perez Proposed New Groups Architecture Planning first meeting in 2020 Cribbage Waiting for sufficient members interest Walking Football Waiting for sufficient members interest Walking Netball Waiting for sufficient members interest Group with New Group Organisers Lunch club 2 Marilyn Curtis from Janet Waters Walking Group Heather Gilbert from Sheila Field I would like to thank “Janet” and “Sheila” for their work setting up and running the groups Groups Looking for New Group Organiser Nature Janet Adkin can no longer organise the group Travel (sharing the experience) Margaret King can no longer organise the group So far Janet and Margaret have failed to find a new Group Organisers and the groups are facing closure I would like to thank “Janet and Margaret” for their work in setting up and running the groups Groups That Closed in 2019 Cycling Ian Lucas Film Rosemary Corner Osgood Journey’s end Rob Palmer I would like to thank “Ian, Rosemary and Rob” for their work setting up and running the groups I anticipated that my first year as Groups Coordinator would be a steep learning curve. It did prove a challenging year made manageable by the support and advise I received from the members of Committee and of the GAP. Working groups came together for different tasks such as to update documents to comply with changes in the law and the organising and running of the Group Organisers meeting. There are to many people to thank individually hence I would like to convey my grateful thanks to everyone that helped to make the last year manageable and dare I say enjoyable. Joe Cannavina Groups Coordinator Applied philosophy – Joe Cannavina The members indicating interest in Applied Philosophy has been slow. Recently sufficient members have shown an interest and a meeting will be arranged for January 2020 when the group will decide the format and topics it wishes to consider. Should any other member be interested in Applied Philosophy a descriptor has been added below. Philosophy at its simplest is the study of knowledge, or "thinking about thinking”. Applied philosophy considers building bridges between theory and practice and, in particular, that philosophy is not only an internal movement in philosophy but also that it can and should play a role in public debate. Over the millennia expanding knowledge, “from necessity”, has been separated into discreet specialised subjects. Epistemology considered a branch of philosophy is the study of the nature of knowledge, justification, and the rationality of belief. Beliefs are fundamental in the branch of Moral philosophy with distinct and differing philosophical approaches like Utilitarian, Rational and Virtue Ethics. An example of building bridges between philosophical theory and practice is: “Science can be seen as a tool and like a tool it is amoral. Some concerned societies have established Ethical Committees and Codes to control perceived unethical behaviour in Scientific Research. A question is, can or should societies control scientists to behave ethically in their research?” Other topics could be: the nature of knowledge, the practice of ethics in our society and our institutions, the efficacy of Human Rights, the construct of Justice. The Applied Psychology 1 – Suzanne Lucas Group started at the beginning of 2019. We have met in a member’s home and each month a different member of the group has presented a subject for discussion by the whole group. Subjects that we have covered so far are Free Will; The Criminal Mind; Manipulation; Narcissism; Parenting; Sleep; An overview of Applied Psychology - history and developments. The Applied Psychology 2 – Suzanne Lucas Group started in the middle of 2019 as there was interest from a few people. It has taken a while for the whole group to meet together and we are still finding our feet. We meet in a member’s home and we have been looking at an overview of Applied Psychology - history and developments and we have also had a session on Asperger’s although there is still a lot that could be covered on this particular subject. Going forward the group will use the Applied Psychology book from Dorling Kindersley to cover topics of particular interest to the group. Art and Chat - Muriel Davies Art Appreciation - Shelly Green Art. Painting for Pleasure - Sue Bullock This year has seen a big change for us as we have had to move venue from the much missed RVS Cafe which was used by various U3A groups. We are now at the Nucleus Arts Centre in Chatham High Street and have upgraded ourselves from the Creative Cabin into the main studio room there starting from January 2020. Once we have acclimatised ourselves in this larger space, I am sure we will be able to explore some different mediums, although it is hard to come out of your comfort zone! Some of our group members already use the Nucleus Arts Centre as they attend the "Young At Art" sessions - which are free and introduce you to all kinds of mixed media ie lino cut work. I am very proud that the group members always step up to contribute to our monthly meetings, whether it be as the Spotlight subject or, as in November and December, with hand painted Christmas cards for sale. 2020 will hopefully be another year of enjoying painting, sketching, and putting the worlds to rights as we do so, in our new venue. Art Workshop - Brenda Gifford Badminton - Ian Lucas The Badminton Group has met most Mondays in 2019 and there is a regular core of players of mixed abilities and we play a combination of single and double games depending on the number of players. Ballet Appreciation - Janet Adkin and John Smith We are a small group co-led by Janet Adkin (contact person) and John Smith and meet on the second Thursday afternoon in the month, usually at the home of John and Jane Smith. The meeting consists of a mix of watching ballets on DVD and discussing them, going on a visit to either the Dockside Odeon to watch a live link-up from The Royal Opera House, to The Marlowe Theatre to see a performance by The Northern Ballet or occasionally Sadler’s Wells– with follow-up discussion and evaluation at the next meeting. Also we track certain leading dancers or choreographers and share items on them that have appeared in the press or share information on other performances individual members have attended. This year we have focused on: Tamara Rojo in ‘Good Swan, Bad Swan’, studied a programme entitled ‘The Perfect Partnership’ of Nureyev and Fonteyn , ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Matthew Bourne’s production of ‘Cinderella’ at The Marlowe, Akram Khan’s ‘Giselle’ and also Petipa’s choreography of ‘Giselle’ and the Royal Opera House production of ‘’Manon’. Attendance at live performances or ‘live link-up’ performances have been: Don Quioxte – produced and choreographed by Carols Acosta, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ - choreographed by Kenneth McMillan also Matthew Bourne’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at The Marlow and Sadler’s Wells, and a triple bill of ‘Concerto’, ‘Enigma Variations’ and Act III of ‘Raymonda’. Before Christmas there are two more live link-ups to attend: ‘Coppelia’ and ‘The Nutcracker’ – always a must before Christmas! In the autumn of this year we were pleased to have made a link with another (newly formed) Ballet Appreciation group in Wales! We have shared our programmes and hope to stay in touch. We would warmly welcome anyone with an interest in ballet to come to the group. Board Games - Sue Davis-Sur We now have 16 members in the group and meet twice a month with good attendance between 5-10 members. This year we have developed a board game about the U3A and have been play- testing this and tweaking the rules accordingly. I have had a discussion with Ian McCannah, Chair of National U3A and we will be able to use the U3A logo. The next stage is to develop the game further with artwork and production. So far I have contacted Medway University of Arts to see if their students may be able to do this as a project as part of their course. We can also contact U3A art and craft groups to help out with the artwork for a mention in the credits. We are hoping professionally produce the game for sale across the country which will be a good way of promoting Medway U3A. We always welcome new members come along to give the grey matter a workout and have fun. Book Group (Monday) - Gloria Crick We have read a very wide range of fiction this year. Exposure by Helen Dunmore was a good read and the discussion was really interesting. The Buried Giant by Kasuo Ishiguro really divided opinion, a fascinating book, Snap by Belinda Bauer was another book which led to a lengthy discussion. It is very interesting that we go along to the meetings with a fixed opinion of the book we have just read then find that we start looking at it in a different way after talking about it. There have been times when some of us wondered if we had all read the same book. We meet in Chatham Library and the staff there have proved very helpful, even providing tea and coffee with an honesty box for contributions.