Bridport & District

Groups

GROUPS ….(ACTIVE NOW)….

Bridport U3A has developed an expanding new range of ‘AT HOME GROUPS’ for our use during this most uncertain period, for fun and learning, and to keep interest and momentum going as we cannot meet successfully as we have been used to e.g. in pubs, members’ homes etc. Two new ‘At Home’ groups are launched this month – ‘At Home - Haiku Writing Group’ and ‘At Home - Knit and Natter Group.’ Also please note the Zoom chat possibilities in section 8 below on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve. There are places in all these At Home groups currently:

1. ‘At Home – Art History’ – Monthly project, via email. A choice of artists is given month and you select a couple of their paintings that impress you and comment on why. All contributions are circulated by email to other participants at the end of the month. Places.
2. ‘At Home – Birdwatching’ – Share individual bird sightings visually via ‘WhatsApp’ with other members of the group. Places.
3. ‘At Home – Board Games’ – Suggest and learn about challenging Board Games for 1 or 2 people - e.g. Sequence, Rummikub, Chess. Your ideas please! Places.
4. ‘At Home – Broadcasting’ – Interesting programmes on e.g. Art, Music, Current Affairs, Politics and World Issues are posted on the website each Saturday a.m. for the week ahead for Radio and TV. Places.
5. ‘At Home – Classical Music’ – Via email, weekly, a member’s personal selection of one or two moving pieces of music is sent to you, together with a brief commentary and the link(s) to the YouTube recordings. Places.
6. ‘At Home – Creative Writing’ – Via email you can be sent information at least monthly about creative writing, hints, sources of help etc. and a topic to write about in 300 - 500 words. Members of the group can then share their work/ideas on Zoom, fortnightly on Friday afternoons. Two places.
7. ‘At Home – Limerick Club’ – Weekly challenge placed on website every Saturday! Results published there, (see them now) and a new challenge for the following Saturday. Places.
8. ‘At Home – Mon a.m. Zoom Chat’ - Every Monday a.m. at 10.30a.m. click a Zoom link that we’ll email to you and join in on informal chat about last week’s broadcasting and events and anything of interest in the week ahead. Plus share any ideas for making the best of this week in our unaccustomed way of living. Places. NB Our Zoom Chat Room is open on 4 – 6pm 25thDec, Christmas Day, and 4 – 6pm on 31st Dec (New Year’s Eve) – email john.grantham4@btinternet.com if you’d like to join in on 25th on Christmas anecdotes and views on the Queen’s Christmas Message, etc, and on 31st on Thoughts for the New Year and possible New Year Resolutions to adopt or to avoid!
9. ‘At Home – New - Dorset Museum’ – The previous ‘Dorset County Museum’ has been totally transformed by the grant of £10.3m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. We are learning, through our desk research, of exciting new exhibits, including several of Elisabeth Frink’s works; newly discovered letters from Thomas Hardy’s 2nd wife; and about existing exhibits. Museum plans to open early 2021. Places.
10. ‘At Home – Non-Fiction Club’ – Just 6 books a year. We have read ‘How to Feed a Dictator’, Emily Maitlis’ ‘Airhead’ and are currently reading ‘The Secret Barrister’. we email to each other an extremely brief summary of our views and then have a chat about the book on Zoom. Three places.
11. ‘At Home – Opera’ - Each month one or two top opera recordings from e.g. ROH, Glyndebourne etc., (that can be viewed free on-line), are identified and we meet subsequently on ‘Zoom’ monthly to share our views on them. You don’t have to be an expert! Places.
12. ‘At Home – Political Discussion 1.’ - The subject of the monthly discussion is confirmed to members a few days before the Zoom session. One or two places.
13. ‘At Home – Puzzles for Fun’ – Monthly, 4 puzzles are sent out and you email answers back. One example: (a) Find a word using the 3 letters given – to be used in that sequence. e.g. If you are given ‘chs’ an answer could be ‘matchsticks’. Try: (i) rtb (ii) mth (iii) mpl (iv) thm (v) ckn (vi) ckw (vii) ygr (viii) dst (ix) wkw (x) byr. Places.
14. ‘At Home - Thomas Hardy Poetry’ – Each month, we select three or four of Hardy’s poems for us to look at and to express our views on. The results are then circulated by email to all participating. You don’t have to be an expert! Two places.
15. ‘At Home – World Service Archive’ – Research, and share links to, truly outstanding human interest stories from around the world in BBC’s huge ‘Outlook’ archive. Recent ones include Mohammad Ali’s daughter, Nigel Owens and Director of film ‘Il Postino’. (You could be listening to any of these in 15 seconds’ time by going to the At Home – World Service Archive below now). Places.
16 'At-Home - IT Self Help' We deal mainly with Windows systems, but are happy to try and help with any IT difficulties using other systems, the group hopes to be able to offer assistance to members who have IT problems of any sort. It is proposed for regular sessions to be convened on the 1st Thursday every month at 10.30 am. The group sessions will be open and welcoming to any U3A members that would like to join us. Please contact Mick Holgate in the first instance on techsupport@bridportu3a.org.uk or tel: 01308 420301.
17 ‘At Home – Haiku Writing Group. We study and write Haiku (Japanese 3-line poem of usually 17 syllables) sending our work by e-mail to all the members on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. Guidance available! Places.
18 ‘At Home – Knit and Natter Group’. For experienced knitters and beginners. Knit (or crochet) and chat on any topic that is of interest to the group. Initially the sessions will be by Zoom on-line but, it is intended that we will continue using both Zoom and meeting together when possible. Places.

More At Home Groups currently planned.

Why not start a new ‘At Home’ group, or adapt an existing group to make it work from Home? Please let Paul Tebbutt know your plan - email him a message by clicking top-right.

Please click on the ‘Groups List’ chart below to find more about the individual ‘At Home’ group(s) here that interest you: