All posts by Sue Galley

Group report

Improvers' Bridge

The slightly misnamed Improvers Bridge Group continues to meet, every Tuesday, at 10.00am, at the Royal British Legion, Mengham. We play until 12.00 noon.

This Group has now been meeting for over 11 years, many having learnt bridge with the U3A. It has become more of a friendly, social Bridge Group, playing ACOL bridge, enjoying a relaxed morning of bridge, with coffee and biscuit break included! All reasonable players, but not sure about improvers!

Periodically, we arrange a local lunch after the bridge games.

We normally have 4/5 tables, and will welcome new Members. Cost for the morning is £2.00 per person.

If you are interested in joining, please call in on a Tuesday morning.

John Moore

This is an article published in the Winter 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter....

Group report

Painting & drawing 1, Painting & drawing 2, Painting & Drawing 3

We meet every fourth Friday of the month 10.00 to 12.00am, at The Radford Hall. We usually have between 10 and 12 attendees, and there is always room for more. It is always a very relaxed morning, we meet to have fun and experiment with different techniques and approaches. Since Christmas we have done portraits of someone you know, printing with potatoes and other things, and wild animals in any medium.

Lesley Vincent

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Music appreciation 1, Music appreciation 2

Our group continues to meet on the fourth Friday of each month at 2pm, usually at Maura’s home.

We normally choose a composer to discuss and one of us will give a presentation on his music. Often we choose a composer whose birthday falls on the day we are meeting and we have discovered some very interesting “unknown to us” composers in this way.

We discussed the music of Henry VIII on whose birthday we met. We were all surprised to learn how much music he composed and we listened to several pieces played on instruments which were used in his time. Apparently he would ask his musicians, of whom he had many, to play for him whilst he entertained his lady friends in his bedchamber!!

None of us were surprised to learn that he did not in fact write the music for Greensleeves, though there is some evidence that he might have written the words for Anne Boleyn! We enjoyed listening to the song anyway!!

Sue Humphrey/Maura Chapman

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

History 2

The object of the U3A is to learn. In this group, we have found that a sure fire way of ensuring that you learn something is to be told that you are going to have to give a talk to your peers on your chosen historic subject.

Over the last year we have had talks on a wide variety of topics which have included:-

The Huguenots and their impact on British society; Constantine the Great from 324 BC; The Neolithic period of Prehistoric Britain; Royal Navy Press Gangs from 1664 onwards; The motion of the Earth round the Sun and its influence on how we measure time; Conflicts between the USA and Mexico, Cuba, Spain and the Philippines; What it means to be 'Celtic' in Britain from 1707 AD onwards; The contrasts between reality and the Hollywood versions of the lives of Wyatt Earp and other western 'gunslingers'; Admiral Fieldhouse 1st Sea Lord during the Falklands War; and The connection between the Meteorological Office and Pitcairn Island.

A very original and thought provoking talk was given by Richard North on what we mean by 'History', how it was taught when we were all pupils, and how it is taught now.

At present we are at maximum capacity but if we have any vacancies in the future it will appear on the U3A website.

William (Ben) Lyon,

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Ukes for U, Ukulele Thursday afternoon, Ukulele Thursday morning

We have had a number of gigs since the beginning of the year. Some have been for the groups themselves ie Memory Clubs and some we have received donations for playing enabling us to send £230 to Naomi House/Jack's Place.

We will be having quite a long summer break before rehearsing Carols for our Christmas gigs already booked.

Avril Keyes

Ukulele Thursday and Ukulele Friday

For those relatively new to the Ukulele or wish to gain confidence and enjoy playing in a small relaxed group for fun.

When? - from first week of September on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month from 10am and/or the 1st and 3rd Fridays from 4pm.

If you would like to know more please contact Peter Haskell.

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Card making & paper craft 1, Card making & paper craft 2, Card making & paper craft 3

Since my last update the 3 Card Making Groups have made lots of beautiful cards ranging from Easter cards, Thank you cards and Birthday cards for men and ladies using different layouts and designs. The groups have also learnt new techniques, an example being how to emboss 3 ways using embossing paste, embossing folders and embossing powders. Each month there is a different project and from September the groups will begin to make their Christmas cards and present tags. We always have fun and there is always lots of laughter as well as making our cards.

If you are interested in this type of activity please contact me

Anne Hollis

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Reading 1, Reading 2, Reading 3, Reading B

As members of a reading group we have varied interests and tastes: how, therefore, to choose books that satisfy us all?

We like biographies, so read two over the past year, but though interesting books, neither of the subjects appealed to us. “Sheila” by Robert Wainwright, chronicled the life of a beautiful Aussie socialite who married into the British aristocracy and was rumoured to have had an affair with the future King George V!. (There was a Hayling connection – one of her lovers was the ex-husband of the Russian princess buried in St Peters’ churchyard). In “Spilling the Beans” well-born Clarissa Dickson Wright (one of the two fat ladies of TV cooking fame) told of her abusive childhood and descent into drunkenness. We thought her at times too boastful and economical with the truth and found some of her views abhorrent.

Choosing books by authors we have previously (separately) read and admired does not always guarantee a popular read. Robert Harris’ “The Fear Index” (topically about Artificial Intelligence) and Eric Newby’s “Departures and Arrivals” (snippets from his extensive travels about the world) were agreed not to be their best works.

Reading classics has been an aim of our group, and Daphne du Maurier’s “The House on the Strand”, deemed an example of a modern classic, was thought to be a very good read. Far more sombre, “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, published in the USA in 1899, and described as the first feminist novel, was rated rather dull and tame. (The author’s beautifully crafted prose went unappreciated!) Taking as its subject the growing sexual feelings of a married woman for another man, it was thought scandalous in its day, ending its author’s novelistic career.

Comedy novels were surprisingly unpopular. Chosen as lighter summer reading “Mapp and Lucia” by E F Benson (between-the-wars social rivalry) and “Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it All” by Jonas Jonasson (a Swedish satire from the author of ”The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared”) proved flops. Taste in comedy is very personal, and it may be best to steer clear in future!

So, does it matter that some books are not liked by some of the group? We feel that the challenge of trying books we would not otherwise have come across, thus widening our reading experience, is what a reading group is for.

Now it is time to choose again for 2020 ………..

Jen Cayley

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Social Bridge

I have spent most of my life living outside of the UK – mostly in Australia. Upon returning to England a year ago I joined the U3A Tuesday morning bridge activity and am so pleased I did.

Vera Smith, who runs the bridge morning, has encouraged bridge players of differing levels of play to meet and help each other to learn from each other as they play. I found it to be a very welcoming, relaxed, informal atmosphere, and as a player of some 20 years I hope that I am able to contribute by giving some useful guidance to the beginners in the group.

In Australia the bridge players do not utilise the standard Acol method of play as much as here in the UK. They play as much “5 card majors” and “precision” as they do Acol. I partnered a lady who insisted on a “schenken” strong one club opener, I didn’t argue with her as she was from South Africa and was trained in the use of small firearms (she used to own a handgun in SA!!).

My wife and I feel very settled in Hayling Island, and it is due, not only to the friendly Island residents, but also to the welcoming nature of the U3A members. If anyone is thinking of learning/playing bridge, I would urge them to contact Vera regarding the Tuesday sessions.

Terry Downs.

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Philosophy

This year has been influenced by the ever present topic of Brexit. We have tried to avoid it as much as possible, but inevitably we keep brushing up against it. Our format has remained the same, we decide amongst ourselves what topics to look at, and then a ‘volunteer’ is found to lead off the discussion with a short written introduction. Our membership has changed slightly however. We have lost one of our founder members who felt the advancing years now made attending too difficult.

She was always a thoughtful and lively member and is much missed. Another has had to give up owing to ill health, and two others now have other commitments which prevent their attendance. The result has been a rather more manageable group size.

Our topics this year have touched on issues such as ‘free speech’, ‘free will’ and ‘human rights and human responsibilities’. As can be seen, all these can be related to the Brexit discussion, but they are also pertinent to the theme of individual liberty and its limits. We also had a session on the ‘philosophy of war’, in particular the idea of a ‘just war’ and the concept of ‘rules of war’ (are there any?).

After over ten years of meeting and one hundred and twenty meetings, we are beginning to find new topics which have wide popularity more difficult to find. Most of us have now explored those topics about which we have some knowledge and interest. In an attempt to broaden out from social and political and economic aspects, we are next due to start looking at ‘Philosophy and Art’. We had hoped to start looking at this after March 29th, but it seems we haven’t finished with Europe as a focus of interest. So, I urge all our group members to have a good think and come up with suggestions for new topics to carry the group forward for the next ten years.

Mike Silvester.

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Woodwind

Amongst the distinctive benefits of the Hayling U3A is the fact that we have the only Woodwind Band involving several different instruments in the South Central Area of the U3A. Hayling U3A also has other playing groups for Hand Bells, Music for Fun, Ukes for U. Windsong, a group for recorders. Music appreciation has 2 groups.

The Woodwind Band has been developed so that instrumentalists can play with others. If you play a musical instrument but only play by yourself, you have little incentive to improve but playing in a group you are constantly given new and different musical challenges and have a real spur to work and practice.

The repertoire is very wide and ranges from rounds, through popular show songs and even to light classical works.

We welcome all players of woodwind instruments. At present, the group consists of 3 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 flutes, an alto sax and a keyboard player. We have all levels of ability and the music that we use is in parts so that all ranges of ability can take part and benefit from playing at their level.

We do not actively seek public performance but we have played for groups on Hayling that provide help for various handicapped people including the Blind Club and the Dementia group. We were supported here by volunteer singers and by electronic backing. We also brought together all the other music groups in Hayling U3A to spend an afternoon making music which went very well. We had a Christmas Party last year, including spouses, where we played and sang carols before enjoying the food and chat.

We continue playing for fun, enjoyment and hopefully to improve. If you would like to know more about our group with the possibility of playing with us or indeed composing or arranging music for us to play, please contact the organiser, Norman Tyler

This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter

Group report

Creative writing

Each month the writers look forward to a very entertaining morning, listening to a reading of the creative writings of their fellow authors. We do also chat and drink coffee, of course, but our main business is to share our writing and hopefully, give and receive a little constructive criticism. Our July meeting took place in the Kench, due to the generosity of one of the members who also provided us with lunch on that occasion!

At present we are six, due to ill health and bereavement affecting two of the members, but we have a new prospective member and are happy to welcome anyone else who feels that this is the group for them.

Maggi Bridgman

(Don’t miss Maggi’s short story at the end of this newsletter ! -Ed)

“This is an article published in the Summer 2019 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter