Group report

This is an article published in the Winter 2017 edition of the Hayling Island U3A newsletter...

We arrange four visits a year on behalf of all Hayling Island U3A members. At around this time of year a small committee meets to consider places to visit that should have general appeal. Visits are arranged to venues within a 100 mile radius of Hayling Island. Start times are usually 8:30am from HIADS returning between 5:30pm to 6:30pm depending on traffic.

The visits usually take place in April, June/July, August/September and December. Once dates have been finalised and costs calculated the visits are published on the web site and displayed at the U3A monthly meetings. You do not have to join the Visits 'group' to go on one of our trips. Bookings for visits are limited, and we take bookings on a first-come first-served basis, but (because of issues we've had in the past) we do not recognise a booking until we've received your payment. That means we cannot start taking bookings until we have calculated the cost to members.

Cheques are not cashed until nearer the date of the visit when various payments have to be made.

Visits are available for 50 members although if we have sufficient notice, we can book a 59 seater coach. If visits are under subscribed we reserve the right to offer places to members of other U3A Groups in order to avoid making a loss. Our last visit to Denbies Winery was a case in point and we were joined by U3A members from Havant and Emsworth. Naturally Hayling U3A members have priority.

The easiest way for you to book a place on a visit is to go to the visit page on the web site. Look under the heading ‘Events’ then select ‘Visits” and follow the instructions shown under 'Your bookings' at the end of the description. If 'Your bookings' doesn't appear it means we are still calculating the cost of the trip so can't yet take bookings. You can also book visits at the monthly meetings. We'll have a table set up for this purpose.

You can now make payment by bank transfer using the internet. You need to login to the members' area to see the bank account details. Click here to do that now.

Cheques can also be taken or sent to Debbie Wilsher. To see her address, click here to log in to the members' area.

Visits planned for 2018 are to The Globe Theatre, Borough Market, the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern in April and Longleat Safari Park and House in June.

A special visit is planned for August. Our destination is Swanage where in addition to sightseeing it will be possible to go sailing on “Moonfleet” a 70 foot Gaff rigged cutter for two hours with the opportunity of some ‘hands on’ experience if desired. There will be two sessions available each taking 12 members. Alternatively you can take a trip to Corfe Castle via the Swanage Railway. The cost of these two activities is not included in the visit basic cost but what is included is dinner in Bournemouth at the Laguna Hotel. As you can see this will be a full day’s outing.

December will carry on what has become a tradition with a visit to a Christmas Market - in Bristol. This will be combined with a visit to Brunel’s “SS Great Britain”.

This year in April we visited Beaulieu and Buckler’s Hard:

Visits1Visits2

Next was Hampton Court in July, followed by a visit in September to Denbies Winery

Visits3Visits4

To finish the year we shall be visiting Salisbury to see the Christmas Market, the Cathedral and other nearby attractions.

We welcome suggestions for visits which should have wide appeal for members.

Patrick Hulls


Go to the Visits group page