As a group we managed to meet in March prior to lockdown little knowing that the next few months were going to be so restrictive. When I realised that we wouldn't be meeting for a while I set about designing cards that could be completed at home putting together card kits which I delivered out to everyone.
This was lovely because it did mean that I could catch up with some of the group as they received their kits from me on their doorstep. In August when it appeared that although Covid hadn't gone away but that it seemed to be under control I invited the groups (I run 3 groups with a maximum of 6 people to a group) an opportunity of meeting up to make a card together. I purchased face shields, disinfectant wipes and hand gels and designed cards that required little sharing of equipment.
Some decided that they would like to do this and others felt it was too soon for them to socialise. We met in August. In fact each group was small so I could easily offer working space which adhered to the guidelines, the chatter and banter that went on over these 3 small sessions was lovely, many of the group live alone and really enjoyed the social interaction.
I offered the same in September when we started our Christmas cards. I have designed 5 different Christmas cards and 2 types of tags to put onto presents. As you can see from the photograph everything that is required to make each card is packed into an individual basket so there is very little (if any) sharing of equipment. On arrival hands are sanitised and face shields donned and then they have a choice of 2 large workstations where they can sit and make their card for the day and if there is time a tag as well. These sessions have been welcomed by those that have decided to attend and I look forward to seeing those who are still self-isolating when the time is right for them.
The Hayling U3A S&T Group was invited to a very interesting activity by Waterlooville U3A Science Group on Tuesday 14th July at 2pm. They had arranged for a Zoom lecture from Greenpeace titled “Oceans and Super Trawlers”. The meeting itself had many aspects, and I list some of them below.
It was the first zoom meeting I had attended; lessons learned from it include have good lighting to your face so others can see, and don’t have sun streaming through a window behind you, or the image will be blacked out.
Attendees should arrive on time; late arrivals are disruptive
The chairperson had to establish a protocol for speaking; Zoom may cut out others when one person speaks; a raised hand is a useful device.
The speaker must be able to put across ideas in an informative but interesting manner because of limited audience feedback
There should be enough time for questions at the end
In this meeting I felt all the above were met – well done Waterlooville U3A and Greenpeace
During the lockdown period we kept in touch via e-mails and telephone calls but then, thanks to the expertise of Peter Haskell we set up some sessions together using Zoom. These gave us social contact but the playing together was difficult. So when things were eased and the weather was fine we held a session playing in Peter’s back garden. Immediately this was better and we have held a second session (see picture) always observing social distances, and we will continue with these as long as the weather holds and rules allow.
The Huggers Band (minus Peter Haskell taking the photo.)
We have not been performing at the various places we were booked in to play at in 2020 because of lockdown and the coronavirus preventing groups and events taking place, but we look forward and hope to play for them in 2021.
Well, we have all been finding many things to keep us occupied but have certainly missed our interest groups.
Each month we kept in contact and shared poems and circulated by email past subjects of local history. Many subjects which have been presented can easily bear revisiting, having been going for eleven years we have files which have long been forgotten or newer members of the group have missed. It is certainly a way to stay connected and engaged in the group.
We actually had our first 'meeting' in a member's lovely garden the first week in August. Six members all socially distancing really enjoyed catching up and planning for the future.
While the weather allows we plan to meet outside and when the weather is inclement we will have to find suitable accommodation inside or failing that it will be circulation of past papers!
Here is just a taste of the many poems circulating.
Moving On
It's been six weeks of being home,
What have I done so not to moan?
First do all the jobs I hate,
Get rid of stuff I do not rate.
Out go the clothes I used to love,
But at my age? 'Heavens above!’
Photos meant to recollect the past,
Just prove one’s looks do not last!
So pack away for future kin,
Who may well exclaim my, she was thin!
Onto jigsaws, not my thing and never done,
But oh! why choose a thousand piece one!
Lost a piece that caused me to lament,
After hours of harassment,
Piece by piece my interest grew,
Vintage aircraft which once flew.
Weeks of sun and time to spare,
Can't just at daffodils stand and stare,
Into the garden, so much to do,
Won't do itself, it's up to you,
Cut, sow, dig and feed,
Make it clear of every weed.
Now sit back and read a book,
One's from my shelf I need to look,
Those gathering dust for far too long,
Now's the chance for Hiawatha's song.
Well, I seem to have kept up pace,
But must not forget my bike to race,
All along the seafront way,
Back and forth each single day.
Now I count the miles I've done,
Don't believe it, hundred and forty one!
So now what of weeks to come?
Till we, this virus overcome.
Carry on with hope and cheer,
Look forward to a time without this fear,
To future health for young and old,
We all stood firm and bold.
As a result of Covid-19 restrictions since March, the group has had to limit the number of our twenty-six members playing at any one time, initially to six, later rising to twelve as the social distancing rules were gradually reduced from 2 metres. We are playing to guidelines laid down by Pétanque England and are optimistic that, as we are an 'outdoor organised sport', we will be permitted to continue in this vein, possibly even rising to our self-imposed limit of sixteen players using the two rinks. This has yet to be agreed with Seacourt.
We have had to adopt sensible modifications to our method of play to help stay safe. Payments for the hire of the rinks and for refreshments from the Club House are paid by contactless debit/credit cards. One upside from our current arrangements is that, in theory, any member of the group can now organise a match at any time on any day. In practice, one of our members, Bill Tait, who cycles from Bedhampton every time to play (weather permitting), has landed himself with organising teams meeting three days a week at present. He has also developed an impressive spreadsheet which he maintains in order to monitor (and he hopes equalise) card payments by all the players.
On balance we believe the group has been able to cope with lockdown far better than we originally envisaged that we would. We have also had several U3A members expressing interest in joining the group. To these, we would ask them to be patient as we cannot increase our present membership until we come out of lockdown and the number of our currently 'shielding' members return to play.
Geoff Hollis and Steve Walker (Joint Group Leaders)
This was the 10th time U3A walkers met at Thelma's beach hut for mulled wine and mince pies. This year 30 members imbibed, then most of them were led, by Sue Humphries, on a short beach walk. Just after midday, we met again for a delicious fish and chip feast at the Coastguard Café. They had opened especially for us and was festively decorated. We hope to repeat this next year... Perhaps you will join us?
Ukulele Thursday and Ukulele Friday are two groups that meet fortnightly to enjoy playing Ukuleles informally in small groups for fun. Our standards are variable but nobody worries about that, only about gradually getting that little bit better as time goes by. Some are new starters or have started only recently, perhaps after a few lessons, while others have been playing longer and just like to play in a small relaxed environment where we can try out new or different songs or playing styles without worrying about going wrong – we do that quite often! Sometimes though we amaze ourselves by sounding quite good. Songs range from those we enjoyed as teenagers to the more contemporary.
Most of us sing as well as play and gradually build enough confidence to play with other groups in the area. Some but not all of us do this.
If you have a Ukulele lying about or it was an unused gift why not give it an airing – it is a very therapeutic activity. At the time of writing we are welcoming new members on Ukulele Friday although Ukulele Thursday is almost full.
Our meetings are on the 2nd and 4th Thursday mornings of the month or the 1st and 3rd Friday afternoons and we break for tea and coffee – see the last biscuit in the photo that everybody was too polite to take!
Contact details are on the Hayling Island U3A website and in the Newsletter.
The following information has been received from Ron Kerridge giving further information about the Tea Gardens at the bottom of Sinah Lane in the 1930s and 1940s. It is mentioned in the ‘Changing Years Book’, and may be of interest to members who purchased the book.
The article the Sinah Road Lodges caught my eye, it was about Allen’s Popular Tea Garden as it was run after William Allan died by my Great Aunt Rosina Trigg who had been employed as his housekeeper. Rosina took over the lease and her Sister Amelia Lyne came and worked with her. They did not dress in black dresses but blouses and skirts and were still living in the cottage/lodge when the gun site was bombed in April 1941. At the time of the raid they were in the Anderson shelter in the front garden; the cottage was badly damaged and was not rebuilt. Rosina moved to Purbrook and lived with her nephew, her sister Amelia Lyne moved in with her daughter who lived on Hayling Island and died in 1948. She is buried in St. Mary’s Priory Churchyard.
It is interesting that people outside the U3A circle read the book and are willing to send us further information.
In September, we had a very interesting visit to Hilsea Lido and we invited the Local History Group 1 to join us.
Group members admiring the hand knitted swimming costumes! There is an exhibition of photos, posters and swim wear relevant to the decades of the Lido's history.
The Lido was built on the site of the fortifications known as Hilsea Bastion which was demolished in 1919. Early on this was known as Hilsea Bastion Gardens and as a forerunner of the Lido was an amenity with a tea stall and open-air music. In this area there were terraces, pergolas plus lovely gardens known as Hilsea Lagoon. The whole site was eventually known as Hilsea Lido, an Art Deco building with deco terraces and two large fountains, an adult pool large enough for swimming competitions and high diving, children's pool, cascades, flower beds and plenty of space for sunbathing and physical recreation. Previously considered 'a dirty corner of Hisea' the Lido became the seafront in the north of the city.
The opening ceremony in 1935 was a grand affair attended by dignitaries, the workers who constructed the pool, hundreds of spectators to whom the lido was a source of great pride and a 'fine city achievement.' It was a great success, immensely popular, used by hundreds of people and was visited by the 1936 Olympic British Diving Team who gave a demonstration in August 1936.
During WW2 the main pool was closed to the public and was given over to various military units in the area for their recreational use. After the war it came back to life, boating on the lake and the roller skate rink were very popular. A miniature railway ran along the Lido site from 1946 -1951.
In 1949 Sean Connery was in the Royal Navy, training at HMS Excellent when he was snapped rising from the pool, much to the delight of the girls!
Other notable visitors were the GB Diving Team who trained there for the 1952 Olympics. The Lido continued to provide a wonderful amenity for local people for several decades.
In 1974 the Lido was used as the set for Bernie's Holiday Camp when Oliver Reed and Ann Margaret visited to film a scene for the film 'Tommy'.
However, in the late 70's the diving platforms were removed, the advent of cheap package holidays abroad saw the attendance drop off. This triggered a downward spiral of under investment and it fell into disrepair over the next 30 years with limited use. The Council spent years trying to close it but there was an outcry from people of, 'no you can't possibly do that!'
It was close to being flattened in 2008 when Portsmouth City Council (PCC) abandoned plans to refurbish the Lido but with great support from the community, a group stepped in and has helped return the historic site from the brink of extinction.
In 2010 'Hilsea Lido Pool for the People' (HLPP) acquired the Lido and adjoining Blue Lagoon Building on a 99 year lease from PCC. The rejuvenation of the Lido began!
In 2011 the splash pool was damaged by freezing conditions and PCC replaced the pool with a new design featuring two pools named Hilsea Jubilee Splash Pool.
In 2012 Sport England gave HLPP £50,000 grant towards restoring the pool and the money was used to refurbish the pool's pumps and fit new lockers and showers.
The Lido reopened in July 2015 and in 2015 a new 2 metre diving platform was added to the pool. The Blue Lagoon Tea Room and Venue is open and providing great food and music events every Sunday and some Wednesdays.
This was an extremely interesting visit; we had a very good lunch, an excellent tour and talk. We learnt how the HLPP Trust volunteers have brought life back to the Lido, students from Highbury College have become involved using skills they are studying to help with renovation issues. The pool is open and swimmers come to train there as well as the recreational swimming available. There is obviously a long way to go but the Trust works hard to take steps to secure funding to help reinstate Hilsea Lido as a premier venue at the heart of the community.
This group has been in existence for only 8 months, we have had some wonderful sessions led by Deanne Cushion who has been instrumental in teaching us the core elements of walking netball. I would like to give Deanne a huge THANK YOU! because although I came up with the idea of starting this group I hadn’t played since my school years and couldn’t remember the rules at all!!
We have increased our knowledge and become a little fitter but most of all we have had great fun and laughed a lot. We meet weekly and currently have 18 lady members but we are an open group and if any lady reading this report would like to find out if walking netball is a game they would like to try then please contact me and I will give you the details.
Cast your mind back to the early seventies, when we left behind the lager & lime and Babycham and ventured into the world of wines with Mateus Rose and Blue Nun Liebfraumilch. Yes it was a modest start but a start never the less.
We spent decades living in Australia where we visited a number of wineries in areas such as the Hunter Valley (NSW), Barossa Valley (SA) and Margaret River (WA) in order to sample the excellent wines that Australia has to offer. We were able to gain a little knowledge about the wine production and the type of wines we preferred.
One of the first things we did upon arriving back in the UK two years ago was to join the U3A. It was one of the best things we did. We quickly joined a number of group activities and made some lovely new friends. Hayling Island made us very welcome and we settled in quite quickly.
It wasn’t long before a couple of friends suggested we start a U3A wine appreciation group. We didn’t need a lot of encouragement to do so, and it wasn’t long before we had a full group of 12 members and then assisted a second group to form.
None of us are experts but we all enjoy researching, tasting and learning about the different wines that the world has to offer. We meet once every 2 months at each other’s homes and the host chooses the theme for the evening – this could be for instance, white wines from different areas of France, red wines from different countries or a certain grape variety from different countries.
We arrange ourselves into pairs – each pair does research on the wine/region they have been given by the host, purchase one bottle of wine between them with a maximum price of £10. The research is then presented at the meeting. This means we have 6 different wines to taste at our gathering, and it is interesting what background facts and stories we can discover during this process.
Just for fun and not to be taken too seriously, we comment on our opinion of the wines and give them a score out of 10.
If anyone is interested in joining a wine appreciation group then we encourage you to contact us. It really is a very enjoyable social evening with good friends, good wine and a few nibbles.
In January Elissa gave a thorough and entertaining talk after our monthly read of 'A Study in Scarlet' by Sherlock Holmes. She also gave a resume of his life as well. This was an unusual and enjoyable novel, rather dated obviously, unusually constructed, most of the group were pleased to have read it.
In February, Gill reported on Sweet Caress by William Boyd. Again, it was an unusual novel, a kind of autobiographical love story. Enjoyed by all and we hope to find another novel by this prolific Irish author.
In March, we read a book of short stories compiled by Tracy Chevalier. Titled 'Reader I married him', each story had a link with Jane Eyre. What changes a woman's life depends on if or who she marries. Exceptionally interesting and entertaining.
As a group leader I can recommend this to other groups. A wide range of writers contributed and each member of our group spoke about the author as well as the story. Personally I think this would last longer than a single meeting...
Usually at our get togethers we choose a poem to read aloud with a given theme. Such as children, the sea, humour, holidays, travel... most of the group enjoy this but I do have to twist one or two arms!!! I consider myself very lucky to be in charge of such a varied and delightful group of friends where everyone contributes to running it.
