In this monthly newsletter:
- Announcements
- Monthly meetings
- Events
- Your committee needs you
- News from the groups
- u3a Trust events
- A short story
Announcements
Helping others
We will collect tins and dried foodstuffs for both "Hayling Holiday Lunches" and "Community Pantry" food banks. The collection will be at each Hayling u3a monthly meeting (put food donations on the stage). In addition, a collection bucket will be available at the meeting if you prefer to give a cash donation. Please ensure that any food products you donate are within the sell-by date.
Volunteers Required
We are always looking for volunteers to help run our various activities. Currently we need additional tea monitors for making the tea/coffee at the monthly meetings. We run a rota so that you would only have to cover once or twice a year.
A couple of people to help set up the projector and audio system at our monthly meetings. Full instructions will be provided, and no experience is necessary.
Monthly meetings
July meeting
A grandmother's legacy. Jenny Mallin presented a memoir of five generations who lived through the days of the Raj. Now a writer, Jenny has had a career at the BBC in television production. Jenny lives in Kingsclere with her husband, Westie dog and three cats.
Next meeting
Wonderful world of beekeeping on Thursday August 15th at 2pm. Mike Cotton has been a beekeeper for 20 years and has chaired Portsmouth beekeeper's association for 12 years. He will bring a hive to the talk and hopefully some honey for tasting.
Events
We arrange occasional visits to places of interest. The next trip, on 21st August 2024, is to the three Solent Forts. You don’t have to join the Visits 'group' to go on one of our trips.
We recommend traveling to Portsmouth Hard by bus and meeting there at 10.40 before going together to the Gosport Ferry. This involves catching a 30 or 31 bus to Havant as early as 8.40 a.m. At the time of writing there are no tickets left but there is a waiting list in case of cancellations. Tap/click here for the latest information and to add yourself to the waiting list.
Your committee needs you
There will are vacancies on the Hayling Island u3a committee. Applications are invited. Being a committee member is not scary! Committee ‘visitors’ are welcome so you can see what goes on. It’s an opportunity for you to influence the way that Hayling u3a is going.
Bob Hornby has agreed to stand as Vice-Chair. Elaine Picton will come to our September Committee meeting with the view to shadowing Bridget Docwra if she feels able.
What’s it like to be a Committee Member in Hayling u3a?
As a member of a supportive and enthusiastic team you are always made to feel welcome and valued. Each member of the committee has specific responsibilities but help and advice are always available from your fellow officers to ensure that no individual has too many things to do. Team working is essential to provide support to all. Our committee meetings are held monthly, last no more than 1½ hours, are very informal and most of all fun. Tea, coffee and biscuits are always available, an essential part of making decisions to continue to develop Hayling u3a and be successful going forward.
Why not come and see the work of the committee at one of our monthly meetings? We meet at Wimborne Care Home at 10.30am on the third Thursday of each month. Please contact Julie if you want further information.
News from the groups
Philosophy
This month we will be starting a second Philosophy group. If everything goes well we will be able to accept new members before the end of the year. Chris Skerry
Croquet
We're in full swing now that the weather has picked up, and we'll be playing our King Charles III coronation cup match at the end of this month, and our end of season contest sometime in September. Both will end with awards of trophies and a picnic meal with a glass of Prosecco. Sue Blagden
u3a Trust events
u3a online events
The u3a Trust conducts a national learning programme month by month. For details of the June 2024 events tap or click here for details.
u3a Friends and Friends Extra
u3a Friends is a new initiative to bring together stories and interests from across the u3a movement. Tap or click here for more details. Friends Extra is a new benefits website exclusively for u3a Friends. Tap or click here for more details of Friends Extra.
Southeast u3a forum summer schools
Tap or click here for details.
A short story
Seashells
She parked the car under a tree. Its bare branches were fingers pointing at the overcast sky, daring it to rain. Gemma didn't care if it did rain. She stared at the bleak scene that was reflecting her mood, allowing self-pity to wash over her like the dark collapsing waves.
The sea kept clawing its way up the beach like a hungry animal, sucking at the pebbles as it retreated, then curling in on itself preparing for the next charge. Gemma watched for a while imagining walking into those cold churning waves, not looking back, walking deeper and deeper into her watery grave. Of course, she had no intention of doing this, but she enjoyed the melodrama.
Gemma pulled up the collar of her coat. In the foreground she noticed a line of seashells and she wondered who'd put them there.
Then she thought about Adrian's reaction to her news and the sadness expanded inside her again. It was probably time to go home.
A gust of wind tugged at her coat and as she turned away, she caught sight of the top of a head. It was briefly visible before it disappeared below the line of concrete blocks that formed a defence against the sea fuming angrily, a slate grey presence in the background.
When the head reappeared Gemma realised it belonged to a small boy. He seemed to be on his own so she went to investigate. He was crouching over a bucket of shells and had been lining these up on top of the concrete shelf. It was taking a lot of concentration on his part and he paid no attention to her. So absorbed was he that he didn't seem to hear when she asked why he was on his own with no-one to play with.
Eventually he glanced up at her before turning his attention back to the contents of his bucket.
Gemma decided on a different tactic and began admiring what he was doing. 'Those shells are very beautiful. Where did you find them?
The boy had got to the end of the line and was about to start another one. He waved his arm vaguely encompassing the beach behind them.
"Were they hard to find?"
This time his response was a shrug of the shoulders.
Their conversation seemed to have come to an end but Gemma now felt unable to leave him on his own. She stood and surveyed the deserted scene. The promenade stretched far into the murky afternoon without a single person taking a stroll along it. A man on a bicycle came briefly into view but then disappeared behind a row of beach huts.
There was a fun fair in the distance. Hopefully there would be someone working there who could share the responsibility. She didn't want this to be yet another thing to deal with on her own.
Her thoughts returned once more to Adrian. He didn't want to share the responsibility of what she carried inside her. He was a banker and saw everything as a plus or a minus. A baby was a minus and would unbalance the accounts. The timing wasn't right he'd said.
Gemma looked again towards the fun fair.
"Would you like some popcorn?"
There was always popcorn at fun fairs.
The child clambered over the concrete barrier and put his hand in hers. This simple trusting gesture caused a lump to form in her throat. He had become her responsibility.
As they walked along in silence Gemma kept glancing at the child who seemed perfectly happy to be with her.
"So, where's your mummy?"
The child stopped walking and removed his hand from hers.
Gemma looked into the upturned face. He had the same grey eyes as Adrian and was wearing a similar expression to the one Adrian had worn that morning. It was the one used to indicate she'd just said something unacceptable.
"Don't be silly mummy. You're here with me."
He took her hand again, obviously hoping she hadn't forgotten about the popcorn.
The deserted promenade and empty beach now felt like a parallel universe that she had wandered into by mistake. The boy was staring up at her expectantly. He definitely resembled Adrian. She fumbled in her pocket for her mobile phone. She needed to make contact with reality, but then remembered her connection to the rest of the world was in a car parked at the other end of the promenade.
The little boy was tugging at her hand.
"Come on."
The popcorn stand at the fun fair was closed, as were all the rides. Apart from a snogging couple on a bench near the dodgems, there was no-one there. They unglued their faces briefly to observe Gemma and the boy before continuing with this activity. Gemma kept walking, hoping for rescue from a situation that was becoming more and more surreal. At the exit to the fun fair there was a shop that appeared to be open. It was called World of Chocolate and had an impressive variety of chocolate items on display in the window.
They went inside and Gemma asked the Chocolatier if he had a phone on the premises. He shook his head paying more attention to the boy manhandling the chocolate on a nearby stand and who had now picked up a chocolate shell. The man was becoming very agitated so Gemma paid for the shell and they quickly left the shop.
She decided it would be better to return to the car so she could collect her phone and call the police about the lost boy. Gemma noticed that the bottom half of the boy's face was smeared with chocolate and she couldn't help smiling, her earlier sadness having somehow evaporated. She went to take the boy's hand but he wasn't there. Where had he gone?
She began calling to him, panic in her voice.
"Little boy. Little boy."
She felt a bit foolish not knowing his name. She was standing by the dodgems and the couple there on the same bench. They were looking at her as if she were mad.
"Have you seen the little boy?"
"What little boy?"
This was asked by the girl.
"The one that was with me before."
"We didn't see no little boy."
Gemma turned and began running towards the chocolate shop. Perhaps he had gone back for more chocolate. She burst through the door.
"Have you seen the boy. The boy with the chocolate shell?" "What boy? What chocolate shell? You asked about a phone; I didn't see any boy."
Gemma was running again, this time in the direction of her car, spurred on by fear. What was happening to her? She needed to reach her car and hope that normality would take over. She managed to keep on running by focusing on this thought but eventually she was out of breath. Bent double and gasping for air she realised she would never find the little boy. When she straightened up, she saw the line of shells made by a child who hadn't been born yet. As she walked towards her car her mobile phone was ringing inside it.
"Gemma! Where have you been! I've been frantic trying to reach you. I'm an idiot and I'm so sorry. Don't know what I was thinking. Ignore what I said this morning. It's great news. It really is. When will you be home so we can celebrate!?"
"I’ll be back soon. And Adrian guess what."
Gemma looked at the line of shells.
"He’s going to look just like you."
© Terry Bones Hayling Island Writers group 2017
Feedback
Any comments would be welcome. Please send any feedback to editor@haylingu3a.org.
Robert Bull