South East U3A Forum

Events

In 2019 the South East Forum committee was pleased to offer our main regular events of a one-day conference in the Meridian Hall, East Grinstead on Wednesday 3 April and a summer school at the University of Chichester from Monday 24 June to Thursday 27 June. Both the conference and summer school were very successful. A short account of the innovative Falconry Course presented in 2019 with some photographs is shown below. In 2020 the main event is our sixteenth summer school to be held in June and all the details of the courses and how to book are shown below.

Summer School 2020
The South East U3A Forum Summer School will be held at the University of Chichester from Monday 15 to Thursday 18 June 2020. Thirteen courses are being offered and the costs are unchanged from 2019. The Flyer 2020 lists all the courses, the full course details are in the Courses Programme 2020 and the Booking Form 2020 contains instructions on how to make a booking and send off a deposit to secure your place at summer school. The previous three downloads are in pdf format but if some members find them more convenient in Word the following three downloads are in that format; Flyer 2020 Word, Courses Programme 2020 Word & Booking Form 2020 Word. Sheila Hill who was the contact for summer school bookings and who helped organise the summer school for several years died at the end of December 2019. We were extremely sorry to hear the news and have sent our condolences to Graham and Sheila's family. There is a new contact for summer school bookings on the Booking Form link above.

The summer school courses are listed below:-
Music – Classical Albums of the 50s & 60s
Hatha Yoga for the Third Age
Folk Dancing
Cycling
The Fascination of Maths
Walking on the Downs & Coast
Researching Your Family History
Natural History
Needlecraft
Ukulele for Beginners
19th & 20th Century British Poets
Four Centuries of the British Raj in India & its Aftermath
Writing Life & Family Stories

Falconry Course at Summer School in 2019
I recently had my first experience of a U3A Summer School at Chichester University. My course choice was Falconry and I was certainly not disappointed. Our group of sixteen were fortunate to have Dawn Simpson as our excellent tutor over the four days. Firstly we listened avidly to Dawn’s experiences in handling and training falcons and hawks. She introduced us to Anukis, her Saker falcon who sat peacefully on her perch next to Dawn during our classroom-based sessions. Anukis was the main bird to be flown for our practical sessions outdoors and is shown in the photograph on the right. Progressing from the fascinating history of falconry to breeding them in the UK, we were shown images of different types of falcons and hawks with discussion about the characteristics of each, a video about the breeding of them and also one showing how hawks are used in Saudia Arabia. Dawn taught us the differences between falcons and hawks – something that had mystified most of us. She was very approachable and as she imparted her vast knowledge upon us during the theory sessions, we were able to ask questions, which were answered with enthusiasm and great examples. Our first practical session involved handling Anukis and getting her to fly from one to another at the back of the classroom. Anukis wasn’t keen on this so we moved outside where we had more success. For two sessions Dawn’s partner brought one of their Harris hawks in for us to handle and fly outside. Both birds were easy to handle but became bored with flying back and forth, even though their crops (the crop is a bird’s stomach) were empty of food to start with. However, we had plenty of handling time with both stunning birds which gave plenty of photographic opportunities. Throughout the course Dawn introduced us to many falconry terms, most of which we remembered. The course ended with an interesting Q&A session and Dawn giving us some handouts on topics covered, together with a list of extra resources to investigate – books to read, shows to see, places to visit and You Tube examples to watch. She certainly instilled a keenness in all of us to find out more about falconry opportunities. A great time was had by all. Thank you Dawn. Pauline McKenzie, Crawley U3A