In this Newsletter:
- Dates for your diary
- Notices
- Review and visits
The next newsletter will be March, if you would like to include information on your group activity or have interesting stories please send to: editor@haylingu3a.org.
Dates for your diary
Feb 19th – Alan Chalmers – Behind the scenes on Centre Court.
For 40 years Alan has been responsible for the seating arrangements and security of the guests and competitors on Centre Court Wimbledon.
The talk will start with how the All- England club was formed and how the championships are run, along with anecdotes of players and celebrities.
He will describe typical days play on Centre court.
March 16th – Trip to the Houses of Parliament
March 19th – Richard Coats – Hayling at War
Richard is currently a fire consultant, experienced in fire prevention, protection and emergency planning. During his talk he will describe the roles played by Hayling Island in both world wars, illustrating how the military used Hayling Island to protect Portsmouth in WWII and the importance of the Island in the D-Day landings.
April 16th – James Taylor - Grace Darling and the fine art of saving life at sea
James is a former curator of the National Maritime Museum.
The rescue of steamship passengers off the Northumberland coast brought Grace Darling to international fame.
Her bravery and artistic contribution at a young age will be highlighted.
May 21st – Open day
June 18th – Roger Browne – Not Father O’Malley
Currently a Manchester Jaz Pianist and President of the Stockport Operatic Society, as well as Director of the Manchester Athenaeum Drama Society, Roger will give an account of growing up in Salford and the music that inspired him to learn the piano.
Told with facts and amusing anecdotes.
July 16th – Jeff Evans – The quiz show
The talk will trace the history of TV quiz shows from 1930 up to the present day, with illustrations Jeff will give an insight into how the shows have developed along with big winners and losers as well as cheats.
As well as being a free-lance journalist and author of 30 books he writes questions for quiz shows including Mastermind.
August 20th – John Perry – How to avoid being scammed
September 17th – Hayling U3A Annual General Meeting
October 15th – Ian Worley – Racing through the southern ocean
Ian was chosen to crew on Great Britain II in the 1977/78 Whitbread Round the World Race as a watch leader, taking over as the skipper in the southern ocean on a temporary basis. The race was completed after a number of setbacks such as being knocked on her side, breakages as well as ferocious storms and lightning strikes.
November 19th – Andrew Negus – Winchester, bishops, buildings and bones
Andrew is a retired history teacher and a recognized local historian as well as holding a blue official guide badge.
Among his hobbies he lists keeping chickens, bees and daughters.
He will cover history from 1100 BC and the development of cities from iron age huts to cathedrals.
December – Christmas party
Notices
Please review your membership details
Please can you take a few minutes to review your membership details. The important areas are your contact details and, more critically, your emergency contact details.
Recently, we've had problems using emergency contacts because they were missing, out-of-date, or incomplete (we suggest you provide at least two).
To review the information we hold about you, use this link (it will ask you to log in if necessary). Check your information and make any changes you want. Finally, use the 'Update' button at the foot of the page to confirm your changes.
Nb. emergency contact information you provide is automatically available to the leaders of all the groups you belong to.
Hayling Businessman’s minibus
During 2026 we are looking to make use of the Hayling Island Businessman’s minibus, it is currently used by several local charity organizations but when not booked out for these organizations we may be able to use it for trips and local events.
The minibus takes a maximum number of 17, including the driver. There is some modification for ease of access and the bus carries a first aid kit and defibrillator.
The minibus is covered by a fully comprehensive insurance policy but we would be liable for the £250.00 accident excess if we were unfortunate enough to have an accident.
The bus does not come with fuel so a charge would be needed to cover the cost for any trip.
It would be appreciated by the Businessman’s club if we made a small donation to the bus charity to help with costs and future replacement.
Minibus drivers wanted
We need to supply drivers. As the bus is not used for fares and hire, the license requirements are:
- If you are over 21 and under 71 years of age, to carry up to 16 passengers you need a standard category D1 licence with at least 2 years’ experience
- If you are 71 or over, you need to complete a D2 form for the DVLA and have a D4 medical examination form completed and signed by a doctor. The forms are available from the post office or can be downloaded from the government web site.
Although we are in the early stages of setting up this service it will be a way to keep costs of trips down as well as providing help for our local events.
U3A Oversights
The u3a Trust publishes details of u3as, their groups and events on its “oversights” page. You can use it to explore what other u3a’s are doing and look to collaborate, or learn what works and what doesn’t for given types of groups. This may prove to be extremely useful if you are thinking of setting up new groups.
We have recently collaborated with a new service that allows u3a's like ours, that don't use the Trust's SiteWorks software, to add our details. Group leaders might therefore be contacted by other u3as.
Reviews and visits
Houses of Parliament
Alan Mak approached Ann Hollis and Bridget Docwra at the Community Fair in April 2025 to propose that Havant Conservatives lead a visit to the Houses of Parliament.
When this was arranged and offered to our members, the visit filled up more quickly than any since at least 2023.
42 members joined the coach for London on 12th January, with a waiting list of 27 who will be offered a place on Havant Conservatives' next coach trip to Parliament on 16th March.
The visit had a very early start for January, leaving Langstone Quays Resort at 8am so we could have a tea or coffee at our destination before our tour of the Houses of Parliament. That plan was foiled by two accidents at Petersfield which slowed traffic to a crawl for 10 miles and delayed us by about 45 minutes.
After passing through airport-style security to Westminster Hall, we split into 2 groups for a tour of the building.
Unfortunately, one of our members tripped and fell on the steep stairs at the back of the hall and gashed her head. She was put in the care of the paramedics then transferred to St. Thomas' Hospital and was kept in for 5 nights. We wish her a full recovery.
The rest of us proceeded to a very interesting tour of the House. The highlight for most of us was to go into the House of Commons and stand in the row behind the government front bench and see the line on the floor that cannot be crossed in even the most heated exchange of political views. We were generally surprised how small the chamber is in real life.
We went on to a question-and-answer session with our MP, Alan Mak.
There was time for lunch and a quick visit to the shop (branded keyring - £8) before a walk back to the coach and a remarkably quick return to Hayling.
Richard North
Wimbledon Centre Court for 40 years
This month the speaker is Alan Chalmers who will go behind the scenes of Wimbledon Centre Court where for 40 years he has been responsible as a steward. He is an undisputed authority on all racket sports (Real tennis, Lawn tennis, Badminton and Squash). Having been a player of Real tennis for 30 years, in 1988 he opened the Tennis Bookshop to deal in rare books and memorabilia, and as a dealer and author he trades across the world buying and selling items. As a steward he was originally responsible for the seating and security of the world-wide journalists on Centre Court but progressed to being responsible for competitors and their guests as well.
He will talk about the All-England Club, how it was formed, and how the championships are run. By using anecdotes of players and celebrities he will describe a typical day on Centre Court.
Come and listen to this fascinating story at 2pm on February 19th in the Hayling Island Community Centre.
Alan Bartlett
Pantomime
We all love a good pantomime and so the talk last month (January 2026) by Wayne Newport gave us an insight into how they originated and evolved over several hundred years. His talk explored the history of pantomime from its earliest origins in Greek/Roman mime, evolving through street artistes Italian Commedia (16th Century) who had stock characters like (Arlecchino) and (Pulcinella).They told their stories of Pantalone, the old man, Pierrot the clown and Colombine, the maid servant, in love with the naughty servant, Harlequin. Possibly the most famous clown in England was Joseph Grimaldi, who carefully avoided the laws banning speaking on stage by using mime and dance, introduced slapstick and chase scenes, and merged with native French and Elizabethan masques.
As the laws changed to allow speaking on stage so real-life rags to riches stories. E.g. Sir Richard Whittington Mayor of London, became a fairy story and evolved into the modern Christmas pantomime.
February 22nd is the closing date for the next News Letter.