June 2016 U3A Newsletter Broomfield & District From The Chair GROUPS At our meeting on Wednesday 8 June we will be th celebrating the Queen’s 90 Birthday. Barbara Thomas has baked a special celebration cake to share Art Group with our tea. It is not compulsory but we would encourage you to come wearing items of red, white Book Club and blue clothing. If you have a Union Jack flag Bridge bring it along. Canasta At a recent meeting the Discussion Group agonised Cookery over the forthcoming EU Referendum and tried to come to a consensus view. Some members of the Discussion Group Group suggested that we have a ballot at our meeting Gardening Club in June to find out the voting intentions of the U3A Geology Group members present in the Hall. This is completely anonymous and without any obligation. Tim and History Group Lyn Collins have volunteered to act as Returning Lacemaking Officers for the count and when you book in you will be offered a ballot paper giving you the options Luncheon Club of YES or NO or UNDECIDED. We will announce Natural History Group the result at the end of the meeting. Needlework Finally we are very aware that the acoustics in the Photography Hall are far from satisfactory and many of us have difficulty in hearing the speakers. The committee Scrabble have considered the purchase of a portable sound Sunday + Club system but the Hall management are hoping to install Swimming Group a fixed system incorporating a hearing loop as soon as funds have been raised. So we are loath to invest Table Games when a solution to the problem is on the horizon. In Table Tennis Group the meantime we are going to try the Hall PA system again and also the portable Hearing Loop system Travel Club which they have. However the latter is only Ukelele Group effective over a limited range so we would ask that you leave the front 2 or 3 rows for those with a Visits/Outings hearing difficulty. Hopefully this will all be resolved Walking Group before too long. Best wishes David 1 MONTHLY MEETING - FUTURE SPEAKERS 2016 June 8th 2016 My Life as a Freelance Comedy Writer - Nick Thomas July 13th 2016 The Thames Barge - Tony Earle September 14th 2016 Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary - Fran Smith October 12th 2016 Kentwell Hall - Joan Williams November 9th 2016 One Day in the Battle of Britain - Neil Wiffen December 14th 2016 Holly Ivy and Miss. L. Toe - Three's Company OUR SPEAKER FOR JUNE AND JULY In June we welcome Nick Thomas. Nick has been writing humour for broadcast, publication and live performance for more than 30 years. His talk will tell us how he started, what goes on behind the scenes at a radio comedy show and how real life is always funnier than a comedy writer's inventions. In July the title of Tony Earle's talk is Thames Barges. The barges we see today are the survivors of a fleet of over 2000 that carried goods to London. Tony's talk, with a model and pictures, outlines their history and use to the present day. U3A 2016 EVENTS 1. Brooklands Museum - “VC10 and her Royal Connections 2. National U3A Summer Schools 2016 Royal Ag. Uni. - 8th - 11th and 15th - 18th August. 3. Annual Science Seminar – Harper Adams – 8 - 11th Aug. 4. North West Regional Summer School Newton Rigg Ag. College 30th Aug - 2nd Sept. More information on all the above can be found on the notice board or website BROOMFIELD AND DISTRICT WEBSITE – www.u3a.uk/broomfield ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION AAAAA ANNUAL The annual subscription was due on 1st April and we are aware that there are several of you who don't attend the Monthly meetings when our membership Secretary is present. If this is the case with you will you please complete the attached form and post it with a cheque for £17 (£13.50 if a member of another U3A) to our Membership Secretary, Jo Bowman We regret that you are not permitted to attend Group meetings unless you are a member of Broomfield & District U3A or on a one-off basis as a trial. 2 CALENDAR FOR JUNE/JULY 2016 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 6th June 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th Gardening Swimming 10 am Table Tennis Needlework Gardening visit Sunday + Club Group Home 3 pm 2pm Boreham 11am 12.30pm meeting 2pm Monthly Meeting 1.30pm Ukelele Group 2pm 13th June 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th History Visit Table Games Swimming 10 am Bridge 1.30pm Lacemaking Photography Hylands house 2 pm 2pm Little Waltham 11am Art Group 10am Heart & Sole Memorial Hall 12.30pm 10am Discussion Group 2pm Summer Solstice Stride 6.30pm 20th June 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th Canasta 2pm Walking Group Swimming 10am Scrabble 2pm Needlework 2pm Table Tennis 2pm 27th June 28th 29th 30th 1st July 2nd July 3rd July Natural History Swimming 10am Book Club 2pm Lacemaking 10 am 2pm Luncheon Club 12.30pm 4th July 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Gardening Cookery Swimming 10 am Bridge 1.30pm Needlework History visit Group Home 12.30pm 2pm Dunmow Flitch meeting 2pm Heart & Sole Geology Trip 12.30pm 11th July 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th Table Games Swimming 10 am Bridge 1.30pm Lacemaking Photography 2 pm 2pm Little Waltham Memorial Hall Monthly 10am Meeting 1.30pm 18th July 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 3 Broomfield U3A Group Reports Art Group Wednesday 15th June – Painting in Pleshey. Meet at Pleshey Village Hall. All sessions are from 10 am - 12 noon weather permitting. If it is really bad weather the session will be held at my house. Jo Bowman Book Club Seven members of the Book Group met at Broomfield Library on Thursday, 26th May 2016 where we discussed Nora Webster by Colm Toibin. This is a personal portrait of grief and politics in 1960's County Wexford and centres around the main character, Nora Webster, who is a mother of four, recently widowed and struggling to come to terms with her changing life. The book was quite well received by the Group with a couple of members saying they would read another by this author. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, 30th June at 2 pm in Broomfield Library. We always look forward to welcoming new members, please contact me on 01245 441435 if you are interested in joining. Barbara Bartlett Bridge We meet 1st & 3rd Thursdays. 1.30pm Melanie Pimm. Canasta We meet on the 3rd Monday of the month. Next meeting is therefore on the 20th June Marie Mackie 4 Cookery NO meeting in June , July date is Tuesday 5th. It was agreed to change the day from Wednesday to the first Tuesday of the month Jacqui Barnaby Discussion Group Subject: The Police. Our discussion was based around our perceptions of the police forces in 2016. Are they doing a good job, do we have faith in them and the reliability of the service and the people who run it? Two members declared a personal interest as on person had a brother-in -law serving in the Met and another has a daughter retired at 29 years old on medical grounds after being disabled by a burglar whilst on duty. All of the group had no doubt that society would never manage without a police force. We also agreed that on the whole that they do a good job despite all the changes inflicted upon them by cuts to budgets. Today's force is very different from the one we remember from our younger days. So often a bad light is shed upon them by individual officers behaving badly. Social and political correctness means that every action by the police comes under close scrutiny and media outcry occurs if things are not 'done by the book'. The cut back in the funding has seen fewer officers seen on the beat. The cost of employing PCSO's was also a topic of debate as it is felt that they are ineffective, known as 'plastic policemen' by most of us and very much so by the younger generation. Some members felt that requests for help from the force are given very little or sometimes no response eg car break ins which the police even tried to turn back on the victim of the reported crime. Alcohol and anti-social behaviour takes up a great deal of police time as do the hours and expense that is given to the 'going back over past incidents' such as Hillsborough, the miners strike, the 1974 Birmingham Bombings etc. The cost of the 'Top Brass' needs to be investigated, as sometimes even though costing a large amount of the forces budget, they have not got a grip on the problems of the officers doing the work in the public domain. Conclusion: most members of the public value and respect the police but not as much as in the past. We feel that they could do a much better job if given more leadership and support from the 'Top Brass' Report compiled by Thelma Nickerson. Next meeting Wednesday 15th June at 2pm. Subject - What has happened to Respect? Thelma Nickerson 5 Broomfield and District U3A - EU Referendum – 8th June 2016 Some of us thought that it would be both informative and good fun to hold our own mini-EU Referendum at our next U3A meeting in June. So the plan is that when you register for the meeting, you will be offered a voting slip that will look something like this: The EU Referendum Ballot – Please Tick one box STAY IN GET OUT UNDECIDED Please note that unlike the Referendum for real on the 23rd June there is the option of an “Undecided” votefor those who have not made their minds up yet.