Events
The regular Monthly Meetings are an important part of the Liphook u3a programme. Held at the Millennium Centre on the first Monday of each month (or second if the first is a bank holiday) at 2pm, they invariably attract a large audience. The refreshment break afterwards helps make the Meeting a valued social occasion.
The cost is £3.00 for members and for non-members £4.00
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SPEAKERS (from January 2024 to December 2024)
| Date | Speaker | Title | Description of talk |
| Mar 4th | James Taylor | 'Grace Darling and the Fine Art of Saving lives at sea' | Dr James Taylor, a former curator of pictures at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich will talk about Grace Darling’s daring rescue of steamship passengers off the Northumberland coast in 1838 that brought her international fame. Discover more about her bravery and short life living in the Brownsman and Longstone Lighthouses, alongside the artists who helped to keep her in the public eye well into the 1970s. She became the ‘poster girl’ of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, that celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2024, and was the first woman to be awarded their medal for gallantry. |
| Apr 8th | Ian Goodall | 'The Story of Vaccines, Edward Jenner to the Covid 19 vaccine' | This highly illustrated talk tells the story of the development of vaccines, from Edward Jenner’s vaccine against smallpox, through Louis Pasteur’s work on cholera and rabies, through to the most modern mRNA vaccines which have been used against Covid. |
| May 13th | Phil Holt | 'Keep Calm I'm an Air Traffic Controller' | To the casual observer, looking up on a summer's day, you see the white contrails and perhaps the inkling that there is a pattern to it. Who controls it? What are the systems and procedures? Phil was an Air Traffic Controller for over 30 years. This humorous yet factual presentation will fascinate you, so, standby for take-off! |
| Jun 3rd | Steve Herra | 'The Body Through the Porthole' | A true story from 1947 when a young actress sailing from Cape Town to Southampton aboard the Durban Castle had a liaison with a deck steward. During one such liaison, she died and he pushed her body through the porthole! The ship was 90 miles from the nearest land and in shark infested waters. Liphook u3a will act as the jury and decide if the accused was guilty or not guilty of murder. ** Did Gay Gibson’s ailments cause her death? ** What was the significance of the alarm clock left on deck? ** Who rang the cabin alarm bells? ** What happened after the trial? |
| Sep 2nd | Dan Ball | 'The Watercress Line' | The Watercress Line through time! Explore how and why the watercress line was built and developed over the past 160 years from a Victorian railway moving Watercress to being rebuilt and preserved after the Beeching cuts of the 1960s to Hampshire's heritage railway of today. Discover some of the personal stories of those who used to travel and work on the railway from the notorious navvies of the 1800s to the 450 volunteers who help to operate the railway today, including sounds, smells and video clips of the railway's history and heritage. |
| Oct 7th | Maureen Truss | 'At Your Service' | A talk about the servants at Petworth House, what they did and how they were treated. The talk will also cover the various celebrations held at Petworth House (parties, balls and coronations). |
| Nov 4th | Jeremy Prescott | 'Sacrifice and Remembrance' | The overarching title of the Sacrifice and Remembrance Project this presentation covers how the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorates the fallen in two World Wars ; the scale of the sacrifice, the personalities involved, the founding principles of the CWGC, the outrage these principles caused amongst the general public, and stories behind some of the headstones. The presentation concludes with the building of the latest cemetery to be built since WW1, Fromelles Pheasant Wood in 2010 and how we now remember the fallen killed in recent conflicts. |
| Dec 2nd# | Paul Tracey | 'Paintings at the Water's Edge, 100 Piers' | Paul Tracey spent 5 years visiting and painting piers in the UK, Europe and the USA. His talk concentrates on the piers along the south coast, their history and how they ended up as they are. Every pier has its own story to tell. There will be fascinating illustrations of the paintings plus a few stories regarding the job of selling paintings. |