Monthly Open Meetings
A resounding success
The Monthly Open Meetings at the Chequer Mead Theatre have been very successful, we are delighted to see so many of you coming along and many new members have joined the U3A in the last 4 years thanks to these meetings.
We had many very interesting speakers in 2019:John Bowers - Life in prison and after(that was in Oct 2018)
- On January 23rd the Speaker was Ian Porter who talked about charles Dickens Early Life. About 55-60 people came. It was a very informative, interesting and successful talk. In March we heard from Malcolm Wells in " so far so good" - Malcolm spoke about his 24 years in the Army as a musician, then a medic serving in N. Ireland and the Gulf War. He also talked about receiving the MBE at Buckingham Palace and his time with the Canine Partners, incl. how to teach a dog to use a washing machine. In May, we welcomed Len Brook who talked about "Myths and Folklore of the South Downs".
In September, Melanie Gibson-Barton talked about "Bruges, it's more than just chocolate"
and in October,we welcomed Laurence Leng who talked about Grafton & Simpson the writers of Steptoe & So, Hancock hour, and more.
On the 1st September, The coffee shop was taken over by the Chequer Mead Theatre and called "The Apron Café". Prices will stay the same: £1.50 for tea/coffee and £3.50 for drinks and cake. We now have the use of the 2 studios next to the Coffee shop for our speakers' talks.
In early 2020 we welcomed Howard Slater speaking about Audrey Hepburn, and in February Dick Benson-Gyles talked about T.E. Lawrence ( Lawrence of Arabia's early life) at the Meridian Hall, and also in February Paul Umney from Crawley Police told us how to keep safe from Scams etc.
Then everything changed due to the pandemic lockdown and we started zoom meetings in the Autumn We had the pleasure to listen to Melanie Gibson Barton talking about the Suffragettes and Philip Caine in December talking about his life "Barrow to Baghdad and back".
For 2021 we have the following zoom meetings:
Fri 15th January: Speaker: Michael Smith - Captain Oates and the Antarctic Tragedy. This was well attended with 60 members.
Wed 24th February: Speaker: Anthony Poulton Smith - What's in a Name
Wed 24th March: Speaker: Kevin Little - Fishy Tails and my life with Animals
Wed 28th April - Speaker: Dan Allen - The Pig War
Wed 26th May - Speaker: Mary Smith - A Schoolgirl's War
Wed 16th June Meeting will be at the Meridian Hall - To be confirmed
Details will be in the April Newsletter.
Thank you - Danielle Clarke
01342-326400 or 07917694736
| Dates for your Diary | |
|---|---|
| Wed Mar 24th | MONTHLY OPEN MEETING We have booked Kevin Little to give us a talk entitled Fishy Tails and my Life with Animals Kevin Little has been a speaker for the last 6 years at various U3A meetings. His talks are humorous and are about the antics of cats, ponies, goats and a mule on his small holding/animal sanctuary, about amusing incidents while travelling around the world and about his eccentric customers -He recently retired after 54 years as a fishmonger in Reading, Berkshire. As we are still unable to meet in person this talk will be held by Zoom, so you will need to join online by Zoom. If you haven't already used Zoom, you can prepare by creating your own login. Details are available on the ZOOM tab above |
| Wed Apr 28th | MONTHLY OPEN MEETING We have booked Dan Allen to give us a talk entitled The Pig War The Pig War was a trade war between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia in 1906 to 1908 in which the Habsburgs unsuccessfully imposed a customs blockade on Serbian pork. At the beginning of the 20th century, Serbia was economically a satellite of the Habsburgs, its major export being pork, most of which was bought by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When Serbia started trying to evade economic and political control by the Habsburgs and build links with other countries, particularly Bulgaria and France, the Hungarian government decided to punish the Serbs with economic sanctions. Specifically, in an attempt to reduce its economic dependence on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia began to import French rather than Austrian munitions in 1904 and established a customs union with Bulgaria in 1905, ending the sale of tariff-laden Austrian goods in Serbia. Russia supported Serbia's actions, and war between Austria-Hungary and Russia was averted only because of a German ultimatum in 1909 that demanded the end of Russian aid to Serbia. As we are still unable to meet in person this talk will be held by Zoom, in which case you will need to join online by Zoom. If you haven't already used Zoom, you can prepare by creating your own login. Details are available on the ZOOM tab above |
| Wed May 26th | MONTHLY OPEN MEETING We have booked Mary Smith Jones to give us a talk entitled A Schoolgirl's War at Chequer Mead This talk will be held as a normal meeting only if the COVID19 restrictions have been lifted. As we find out more of what the future holds we will update this event. If we are still unable to meet in person this talk will be held by Zoom, in which case you will need to join online by Zoom. If you haven't already used Zoom, you can prepare by creating your own login. Details are available on the ZOOM tab above |