Middlesbrough

October 2020 Newsletter

I hope that you are all well and have been keeping safe during these very strange times.

This is the first of a series of, hopefully, monthly Newsletters which will be sent to you by email or post to keep you informed of what our U3A are currently able to do. In this letter you can see how some groups are managing to run.

Please note that our AGM is set for Wed 2nd December 2020. It remains highly unlikely that we will be able to hold the meeting face-to-face at St Barnabas in the usual way so we plan to carry out the business of the AGM by mail and email and, if it is possible, to hold a Zoom meeting on the 2nd December. I appreciate that Zoom is not for everyone but all members will have a chance to participate in the business of the AGM by post or email. We will let you have more details in the next few weeks.
Nominations for election to the committee should be sent to the Secretary, Gillian Moore, in writing, to arrive no later than 17th November 2020.

Please enjoy the information below and contact me (Neil Cooke) or any of the other Committee members or group leaders for more information about activities ongoing. Check out our website too.

Whatever you do please stay safe.
Neil Cooke (Editor)

U3A Diaries: Diaries for 2021 are now available for us to order from the U3A, priced £3.00. Anyone who wants a diary should send a cheque for £3.00 to the Treasurer, Flo Cowell, as soon as possible and, in any case, by Nov13th.

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Zooming with Groups

Recently I have offered people the opportunity to do Zoom training with Ageing Better Middlesbrough A couple of Group leaders have responded and are now running their Groups with Zoom Well done to them. I am sure their Group members are happy too!

Maybe you would like to have a go If so - or you simply want to find out more about Zooming - please contact me either by telephone or by my email If you don't want to learn to Zoom please let me know in what other creative ways you are keeping in touch with your group.

Note: Mike McCann has given a step by step instruction on how to set up and join Zoom You can find a link to this on the Groups page.

Marjorie Homer, Group Coordinator

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Groups Activities

Note: The latest advice from U3A Trust for restarting and running groups can be found on the Groups Page (link)

History Group: When lockdown started the History Group decided to keep going with ‘on-line’ discussions, sharing questions and comments by email. By April a few members had heard about ‘Zoom’ and started using it to keep in touch with family and friends. Zoom uses the camera and speaker on your iPhone, iPad, Laptop or computer and through your internet connection enables you to see and speak to family and friends – or take part in meetings and activities. We decided to try Zoom for our History Group. At first, only a few members with Zoom joined, and then others decided to install it and have a go. So, we organised a number of one to one practice sessions to help others to become Zoom users and by June 90% of the group had mastered the technique so we decided to continue History Zoom Meetings throughout the summer! Everyone loves it because we can see and hear each other, have a bit of chat, then start the session with a member giving a short introduction on a history subject followed by a discussion. Since September we have been able to replicate the meetings we held in St Margaret’s Meeting Room in Brookfield before lockdown. Our current theme is ‘Britain 1965 to 2000’. We have a few places available in the Group and would welcome new members. If you are interested you can find contact details on the History Groups page

Jazz Appreciation: Since March the group has functioned by means of a weekly blog recommending reading and U-Tube listening for a nominated musician. From October these have become fortnightly with Zoom meetings on alternate weeks.
David Smith

U3A Reading and Poetry Group: Our Reading House Group has continued all year albeit in a modified form. We take turns to choose a title from the Acklam Library List, a set of nine books are collected and distributed each month. We phone each other to discuss our reactions and have a chat-‘It’s good to talk’. Did you know there are 10 Local Libraries offering this service-open 2 days a week? Books can be returned to any of them. The Poetry Group choose a monthly theme and members search for poems or write their own to be read and discussed over the phone. The October theme is ‘The Sea’ and November ‘Fire’.
Several members of these two Groups are not keen on Zooming so we will continue in our current mode which works for us.
Avrille McCann

Avrille’s RAP

Alfresco Art: Following an experimental session held via Zoom, Alfresco Art has resumed its normal calendar with all sessions taking place in this way. Our next meeting will be Nov 12 with the theme of coastal scenes. If anyone would like to join us you would be most welcome. Any art materials you choose to use are fine - our members use anything from watercolours and colouring pencils, to digital art. Please contact Alice Wood via the Alfresco Art Group page if you have any queries or for a Zoom invite to the session.
Pictures Attached (See the link to Coastal Scenes of the right) are two illustrations the Alfresco Art group will be using as the basis of their next meeting. Please feel free to download, print out and colour them, or use them as a basis for a picture of your own. If you complete a picture you can scan or photograph it and send it to Alice. She will be using them to put together a display for U3A Day (when it finally gets here!).Please contact Alice via the Alfresco Art Group page for information on how to send it.
Alice Wood

Social and Local History is planning to restart via Zoom. We plan to meet monthly on the first Tuesday initially but will increase that to the first and third Tuesday if all goes well. The first meeting will be on Tuesday 3rd November. If you are interested please contact the group leader via the Social & Local History Group page so he can issue an invitation.
Geoff Walker

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The next Newsletter will be at the end of November 2020. Please can I have contributions by Friday 20th November 2020. Short items about topics and activities covered by those groups who have been able to run, poems, artwork, suggestions for activities that may be possible in this lockdown times are some ideas that would be welcome. As long as I can scan it, copy/paste it or type it, I will do my best to include it. For details on sending your item, contact the Newsletter Editor via the main Newsletter page.
Neil Cooke, Newsletter Editor