U3A WOOLER E-BULLETIN: SUMMER 2020 - U3A Site Builder
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U3A WOOLER E-BULLETIN: SUMMER 2020
WELCOME
On behalf of U3A Wooler Chair Pat Boyd, Trustees and members ... welcome to this
quarterly e-bulletin which keeps you in touch with the many and varied activities of one of
the largest voluntary sector membership organisations in Glendale. Apologies if you
receive more than one copy of this e-bulletin; better to see it twice than not at all?! Many
apologies for not producing a Spring 2020 edition of the e-bulletin.
“It’s my party and …”
U3A Wooler should have been celebrating 25 years of great activities on Monday 30
March 2020. Former Business Secretary Gloria Connelly and her team of volunteers had
arranged a sumptuous buffet lunch culminating in the cutting of a mouth-watering
birthday cake. But, sadly, it was just after Covid-19 Lockdown, so it had to be postponed.
It is interesting to recall that, in March 1995, Queen Elizabeth II visited South Africa for the
first time in fifty years and Northern Ireland for the first time after the IRA ceasefire. Also, in
1995, there were Brixton Riots after a black 26-year-old (Wayne Douglas) died in police
custody, all telephone area dialling codes in the UK changed and the US Space Shuttle
Atlantis successfully docked with the Russian Mir Space Station.
In 1995, Steve Fossett made the first solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a hot air balloon
and there was a volcanic eruption in Montserrat. World leaders included John Major (UK),
Bill Clinton (USA), Boris Yeltsin (Russia) and Nelson Mandela (South Africa). Sprinter Dina
Asher-Smith was born in 1995 and tennis player Fred Perry died in 1995.
Well-known local resident Barbara Rattcliff looked back at the beginnings of U3A Wooler ..
“It was a sunny day in 1995 when I received a telephone call from Gertrude Carr asking me
to have tea with some of her friends in the garden of Geoff and Joyce Moore. At the time,
I was unaware of U3A and was surprised to hear that the purpose of the ‘tea party’ was to
form what was then North Northumberland U3A.
“I do remember that Roy and Helen Ancrum were present at the tea party, as was Ken
Sherwood and several others. Roy took the Play Reading Group, which was mainly
Shakespeare, although there were other plays. Helen instigated the ‘2000 Tapestry’ which,
now, hangs on the upstairs landing of the Cheviot Centre. Ken, who was extremely
knowledgeable where classical music was concerned, started the Music Group.
“Originally, most of the Groups met in Group Leaders’ houses and a few Groups met in
Glendale Hall (eg the Exercise Group which was led by Liz Dickinson. At that time, the
Cheviot Centre was a semi-ruin. Originally, the Painting Group was taught be Joyce Tully
and we crowded into her sitting room, as we did at Ken’s home for the Music Group. At the
beginning, membership was smaller than at the present time, which enabled us to meet in
people’s homes.”
More U3As start
In 1995, U3A Wooler was the very first to be launched in North Northumberland (followed
by U3A Alnwick in 2001, U3A Berwick in 2004 and U3A Coquetdale in 2010). U3A Wooler was
the third to be developed in Northumberland (following U3A Tynedale in 1983 and
Ponteland in 1994) and the joint sixth to be developed in North East England in 1995 (with
U3A Whickham and District and U3A Morpeth). Now - in 2020 - twenty-five years later,
Northumberland has eleven U3As with over 3000 members; the twelfth in the county, U3A
Blyth, was due to launch as the Covid-19 Lockdown began.
U3A WOOLER is 25 years old in 2020
Lockdown has meant re-discovering and discovering
During Covid-19 Lockdown, U3A Wooler members began to rediscover long telephone
conversations, sending text messages and ‘telephone trees’ as well as writing and posting
cards, notelets and letters.
Also, many members discovered email discussions, Zoom, online learning resources, virtual
tours of UK gardens, museums and art galleries and tourist sites around the world as well as
Facetime, WhatsApp and Facebook. The Bridge Group discovered the Trickster app and
had great fun trying it out.
This U3A Wooler E-bulletin is produced for and circulated to a wide range and large number
of external contacts (individuals and organisations).
However, when members were unable to meet each other during the Covid-19 Lockdown,
U3A Wooler Trustees were concerned that regular contact should be retained and Vice
Chair Susan Turner volunteered to edit, produce and distribute a members’ monthly
newsletter.
Enthusiastic contributors told readers about Pepys’ Diary, how to make No-knead Bread,
their gardens and daily walks around villages and in fields, cutting a fringe, Virtual U3A,
seated exercises, living and working around the world, vaccinations, lawns and ‘weeds’,
harvesting crops, sailing adventures and essential oils.
Useful information about the Wooler Parish Council initiative, Keeping Wooler Well was
included (shopping, prescription and food deliveries etc) and every edition included a
cartoon and a wordsearch. More recently, as HM Government guidelines changed, a small
group of members began tidying the Cheviot Centre garden on Sunday mornings and
other members met in the garden on Thursdays for a takeaway coffee and a natter.
Lots of ideas and initiatives
The UK-wide website (https://www.u3a.org.uk) and Monthly Newsletter has provided local
U3As with a huge variety of activities …
Join the Virtual Choir Maths Challenge Bird Watch
U3A Quiz: week 17 Interactive Creative Writing
How things have changed since 1995!
U3A Wooler member Helen Astley remembered 1995 in verse. Helen has given her
permission for extracts from her poem to be reproduced here and she writes “originally, I
composed this poem to go on the Cheviot Centre notice board at our 25th birthday lunch,
alongside the photos of our younger selves …”
No one had a Spotify
When we were twenty-five.
We had LPs and gramophones.
Elvis was still alive.
We didn’t have the internet.
Our phones weren’t interactive.
We used Quink ink and fountain pens.
Our text was not predictive.
Our skirts were short.
Our jeans were tight.
Our stomachs weren’t convex.
We had a lot more teeth and hair
- and several yards of legs.
HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON … when things return to a new normal …
U3A Wooler is waiting to welcome you –
whoever you are, wherever you live and whatever your circumstances.
Once a month, all members are invited to a meeting
where you can get together, chat and listen to some great speakers.
Anyone can attend two Monthly Meetings or try out two Interest Groups for free,
before deciding to join U3A Wooler
(please note: there may be a small charge, to contribute towards room hire).
Following an informal agreement with other U3As in North Northumberland,
U3A Wooler members can attend Monthly Meetings and Interest Groups
at U3A Alnwick, U3A Berwick and U3A Coquetdale on the same basis.
Full details of U3A Wooler monthly programmes (Film Nights and all Interest Groups)
can be found on the U3A Wooler website (https://u3asites.org.uk/wooler).
REMEMBER
If you are no longer in full time work or raising a family – we call it your third age – U3A
gives you opportunities to develop your interests, make new friends and have fun.
U3A Wooler has sixteen Interest Groups including -
Art Appreciation, Carpet Bowls, Board Games, Bridge, Exercise - Pick and Mix, Film,
Geology, History, International, Painting and Drawing, Philosophical Discussion, Quiz,
Reading for Pleasure, Table Tennis, Science and Wine Appreciation – the choice is endless
and the decision about what to do is made by the members for the members.
In order to comply with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR),
notice is given to U3A Wooler e-bulletin readers (who receive copies direct) that a list
of their names/email addresses is maintained so that they may continue to do so.
Names/email addresses are kept confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties,
nor will they be used for any purpose other than the effective distribution of this e-bulletin.
Any U3A Wooler e-bulletin recipients who do not wish their data to be kept,
for this purpose, may have their names/email addresses removed from the distribution list
by contacting the Editor, Kelvin Rushworth, on kelvinnspc@outlook.com
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