Cannock Chase

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Covid19 ** CORONAVIRUS ADVICE **

In view of the PMs' announcements of 16th March, many CCU3A members are over 70 or have underlying health conditions which render them vulnerable to the Corona virus, COVID-19. Indeed, some of our members have already succumbed to effects of this virus. Consequently, all CCU3A meetings, groups and events have been suspended so far. Although the situation was reviewed at the committee meeting on 10th August, and a members' letter (see Members Letter August 2020) indicated that some groups could plan to re-start, the new government guidelines effective from 14th September now make most of this impossible.

The 2020 AGM will not now take place, nor will there be any monthly speaker meetings or social events for the time being, and the Robot Challenge event scheduled for October is cancelled. The Trent river boat cruise is hoped to be re-arranged for 2021 however, and the trips to Kew Gardens and Hampton Court Palace may be re-scheduled for some time in 2021, subject to further notice.

The U3A National Newsletter August 2020 contains a further update including links to guidelines for Risk Assessments in preparation for restarting U3A Groups wherever possible. September's Newsletter (|U3A National Newsletter September 2020), contains more about shared learning, social media, Zoom tutorials, Covid Collaboration and access to the latest Government advice.
Meanwhile there is more content below on:

- Lifelong Learning
- Quizzing
- Keeping in Touch
- Streaming

...and more links to Covid-specific advice & guidance.

LIFELONG LEARNING - ONLINE

While you're social distancing or self-isolating, you can keep your mind active by self-educating too, using some of the many online resources such as MOOCs ("Massive Online Open Courses"). Check out MOOCs, Futurelearn, Learn for Pleasure, and the Open University, among many others. Most are freely available (hence "open") with a wide range of topics. The Great Courses has a wide range of DVD and downloadable courses too, mostly presented by American academics and available for a reasonable charge.

You can also find other courses (often free) on the web, such as drawspace.com for learning to draw, chess.com for learning to play chess, duolingo.com or babbel.com for languages. For short instruction videos try searching YouTube for a subject you're interested in.

Another absorbing and constructive way of using your newly-acquired time is to research your family tree, using Ancestry.co.uk, Find My Past, or similar (you'll usually need to pay a subscription for these).

The Natwest Bank set up some video-based talks for U3A members on matters of interest during the coronavirus crisis, during mid-May. The first was entitled "Friends Against Scams" and the second was on "Robotics". You needed to register for either of these talks if interested - see Natwest Talks for details.

Now these are over, watch this space for any further such talks.

QUIZZING 1: MAGGIE's PRIZE QUIZZES

To keep us all occupied, Maggie Causer has been devising a series of Quizzes, with a prize for the first correct answers for each one. Click on each quiz title to see the quiz, as follows:

1. Shopping Quiz. Correct answers at Shopping Quiz Answers; prize winner Katryna Nicholls, closely followed by Gillian Heather and Eddie Lyons.

2. Body Quiz. Correct answers at Body Quiz Answers; prize winner Gillian Heather.

3. Alliterative Quiz. Correct Answers at Alliterative Song Titles Answers; prize winner Dianne Hooper.

4. Flower Quiz. Correct answers at Flower Quiz Answers; prize winner Eddie Lyons.

5. Music Quiz. Correct answers at Music Quiz Answers; Prize winner Dianne Hooper.

6. Film Quiz. Correct answers at Film Quiz Answers; joint winners were Dianne Hooper and Edie Lyons, with a prize too for Pauline de Pretorio for coming close.

7. Birds Quiz. Correct answers at Bird Quiz Answers; winners were 1st Dianne Hooper, 2nd Katryna Nicholls, and 3rd Bryn Wellings.

8. Musicals Quiz.

To win, send your completed answers to Maggie at Maggiecauser@hotmail.com. No end date; if you're not quick enough to win, have a go anyway. It passes the time.

QUIZZING 2: DAVID St JOHN's FACEBOOK QUIZ SESSIONS

CCU3A member and local entertainer David St John does a weekly live quiz on Facebook every Sunday at 8-00 pm, "David St John’s Sunday Sermon Quiz". David can’t add more Facebook Friends now but you can click on ‘Follow’ to join in, then click ‘Going’ or ‘Interested’ to register intent.

QUIZZING 3: U3A WEBSITE. The Home Page of the National U3A Website has some quizzes too.

KEEPING IN TOUCH

If you have any queries or suggestions to raise with CCU3A Committee members, please use the group email address cannockchaseu3a@gmail.com or the CONTACT page. New ideas for keeping in touch across CCU3A would be most welcome.

If you want to contact any other CCU3A member or group leader, use this method too. The intended recipient's contact details may be supplied subject to their agreement. You can then use phone or text to contact them, as well as Facebook Messenger, Google Duo, Instagram or WhatsApp. You can create a WhatsApp group too. Skype, Facetime, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp will also enable you to make video calls if your device supports them.

If you want to make group video calls, applications such as Zoom, Houseparty, Facebook Messenger Rooms, MS.Teams, JITSI Meet or Google Hangouts will support this. If your device won't support these, try a specialist device such as Facebook Portal, HiHi or Grandpad.

Remember too that Cannock Chase U3A has a Facebook presence (see link below), to enable members to communicate between themselves.

See the main U3A WEBSITE for further guidance on communications.

Further information will be made available in due course - watch this space.

ADVANCED FRENCH GROUP

Maggie Causer posted this update to illustrate that people really can keep occupied (and Zoom really works!)…

"Despite my aversion to technology I organised my first ZOOM conference for the French group on Friday 22nd May. It really was very easy to set up and this particular App seems to be the chosen one for many of the National U3A groups. It is free for the first 40 mins and then paying. However at the moment we are getting 80 mins of free time which is perfect. There were 7 attendees and as always there was a lot of laughter. The group had been asked to prepare a statement on how they were entertaining themselves during the lockdown. There has been a lot of reading, watching TV, doing jigsaws, walking and mostly gardening. Rob has painted Maureen’s Summer House and it sounds beautiful. Karen and myself have been sewing masks for the NHS and one couple are learning ballet dancing on line.

I am delighted that most of my group are also doing a daily workout on a range of French learning websites to keep their language learning going. We are now into our 7th session with an average of 10 attendees and the progress has been quite noticeable due to everyone carefully preparing before each session as they know they will be very much in the spotlight! I am very proud of them all.

I really enjoyed “working out” my upper body with Mr Motivator when he was back on the BBC recently. To keep my brain active I am creating a weekly quiz for our U3A group and although not everyone submits their answers to me I feel that people are enjoying the challenge".

Regards to all .Stay Safe. Maggie Causer

STREAMING

Now autumn is here and winter is approaching, members might like to take advantage of the many video & audio streaming services available. Members may already be familiar with popular services such as Netflix & Spotify, but the Autumn 2020 edition of U3A's "Third Age Matters" (TAM) contains a section on streaming for theatrical performance such as:

- Digital Theatre (see digitaltheatre.com)
- Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (shakespearesglobe.com)
- Gilbert & Sullivan Operas (gsopera.tv)
- Royal Opera House (rob.org.uk)
- Broadway on Demand (broadwayondemand.com).

There is a charge for using these services, but not all. You can view them on Smart TV, Laptop PC, Tablet or smartphone, but if using the latter TAM advises that you should be aware that streaming can be very expensive over the mobile network; better to use your domestic WiFi router.

FURTHER ADVICE

For further information and advice, click on the following links:

National U3A - U3A National Newsletter September 2020
National U3A - U3A ADVICE (this includes a useful Q&A section)
National U3A advice to local U3As - CORONA VIRUS
HM Government - HMG ADVICE.
Covid19