Monthly newsletter - March 2026

In this Newsletter:

  • Dates for your diary
  • Notices
  • Review of visits
  • Group notices
  • Fun page (quizzes)
  • Monthly moan
  • Feature
  • Family history

Dates for your diary

March 16th – Trip to 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 to protect Portsmouth in WWII and the importance of Hayling in the D-Day landings.

March 20th 10.30 HICCA Group leaders' meeting (Open Day planning)

April 16th – James Taylor - Grace Darling and the fine art of saving lives 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 28th – Open day 10.00 – 15.00 (NB, the fourth Thursday)

June 18th – Roger Browne – Not Father O’Malley. Currently a Manchester Jazz 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 an 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 AGM

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, several breakages and damage as well as ferocious storms and being struck by lightning.

November 19th – Andrew Negus – Winchester: Bishops, buildings and bones. Andrew a retired history teacher is a recognised local historian and a blue badge holder as an offcial guide, 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

Membership renewal 2026/7

  • Memberships are due for renewal on 1st April 2026
  • There's nothing you need to do just yet
  • You will be able to renew from the beginning of March; detailed instructions will be sent out.

Planned visits

My Fair Lady

We have applied for 30 tickets for a matinee performance in July of My Fair Lady, which is this summer's show at Chichester Festival Theatre.

These tickets will be offered at a discounted price and will be available to us for a limited period on a sale or return basis. More information should be available in March.

Bletchley Park

We are planning to offer a visit to Bletchley Park, the cracking of the Enigma machine and British military intelligence in World War Two, in August or early September. 20 members have already said they are very interested in the visit. We will start taking firm bookings and payments for this visit in March.

Open day - date change

The Hayling Island U3A Open day will now be on May 28th.

More information will follow as planning progresses however we will be requiring volunteers to help during the day.

The plan is to hold the event on May 28th at the Community Centre from 10.00am until 3.00pm - the building has been booked.

It is planned to have indoor rooms organised to give groups a display and discussion area, outdoor activities will be shown in the tennis courts and on the grassy park (fingers crossed the rain stops).

For your entertainment the Island Shanty group will be performing between talks and presentations, as will the D’ukes of Hayling, and chance for a sing along.

A not-to-be-missed talk is planned in the afternoon when we hope to have the guide dogs present.

More information will be available next month but time now to put the date in your diary.

Emergency medicine

As we all know accidents do happen whilst we in our homes and ‘out and about’, but do you carry that important information to help the emergency services when you need that all important urgent medical help!

My son, who is a GP Doctor, has made sure that our Health details are listed in the Emergency section of our smart phones. This data can be accessed even though the phone is locked. All Accident & Emergency plus ambulance staff are trained to access this data on your smart phone, which could help them speed up your emergency treatment.

In my case I have listed the medicines that I am taking, my Blood Group, my GP name, telephone and address and my emergency contacts. Even if you do not have a smart phone with this app on it you can still carry the list in paper form in your purse or wallet.

Bob Hornby

The Apple Health app that Bob uses is described here. A similar Android app from Google is described here.

Hayling at War

The Speaker this month is Richard Coates who is a fire consultant experienced in fire prevention and protection, but who has a wealth of knowledge about the role Hayling Island played in both the first and second World Wars.

Due to its proximity to Portsmouth and the importance of protecting this vital port, it was used by the military in a variety of ways. Some evidence of the role in 1939-45 is still with us some 80 years later, with several pill boxes and a gun emplacement, which hark back to the major role in the second world war (WW2)

In the first world war there were lots of changes to the Island, with buildings and land requisitioned for military use. The building which we now know as Clapps Newsagents was the School of Musketry organising courses in the use of weapons such as the Lewis Gun.

In both WW1 and WW2, the Island was militarised and the population trebled as holiday camps, and hotels, were requisitioned for military use.

Secret operations were planned and rehearsed with the COPPs base established at the Hayling Yacht Club.

The beach was ideal to practice landings on, the most famous being the rehearsal for D-Day and near the date of departure every creek and harbour were full of landing craft.

Hayling was ideally isolated from prying eyes as access was only via either a rickety wooden bridge not suitable for heavy transport or the light railway line, also limited in payload.

Come and discover more about the effect of war at 2pm on March 19th in the Hayling Island Community Centre.

Alan Bartlett

Help shape accessible technology: Take part in a University of Surrey research study

Are you a person who is blind or visually impaired? Would you like to help design a more accessible chatbot-based survey? If so, you are invited to take part in a research project to make online surveys more accessible for blind and visually impaired users.

What’s involved:

  1. Consent call – The university will arrange a short phone or video call to go over the study and answer any questions.
  2. Online survey – You’ll then receive a link to complete a short survey online, using your preferred assistive technology.
  3. One-to-one interview – The researcher will talk about your experience completing the survey, and ask a few extra questions in a relaxed online conversation.
  4. Group workshop – Finally, you’ll be invited to join a small online workshop with others to share ideas and help shape accessible design solutions.

Interested? Register to take part and, if you are eligible, the university will send you detailed study information and a consent form in an accessible format.

This research has been reviewed by the University of Surrey Ethics Committee and given a favorable ethical opinion.

Review of visits

Wimbledon

Last month the speaker was Alan Chalmers who gave us the inside view of Wimbledon and its world-famous Centre Court from the perspective of his being a steward for 40 years.

Using anecdotes about competitors and their friends, as well as the rich and famous, he managed the seating arrangements and security of, for example Frank Sinatra, Louis Hamilton, David Beckham and members of the Royal Family.

He described the essential role, together with 6 other staff, of keeping the area secure and ensuring that no unauthorised personnel gained entry. At times he had to manage conflict when dealing with some very important people!

He described the foundation of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in 1888 as the national governing body for tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, responsible for promoting, developing, and governing the sport from grass roots to elite level.

Based at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, it led the world by launching the first Open tournament in 1968, allowing professionals to compete.

It has built on historical ties with events such as the Surrey Grass Court Championship, started in 1890, and now manages major events and supports elite performance through the National Tennis Centre.

We gained a picture of the complex worldwide organisation involved in major Open Events, with the key countries, England, USA, France and Australia being the earliest to establish them, and now they are the most prestigious.

Alan Bartlett

Group notices

New group for Hayling u3a

The Meals out group is now active and we enjoyed our first events in February.

Two regular meals are arranged each month:

  • The evening one is the buffet at The Moghul, every third Wednesday.
  • The lunchtime one is timed for the day of the film at HIADS and, at least until April, is at MadHatters.

We plan to organise additional one-off meals out at various restaurants e.g. Seacourt and the Newtown House Hotel, and maybe venues off the island.

If you are interested in receiving a monthly email about what we are doing, either signal your interest on the web site or contact Angie Driscoll or Richard North via the group page.

Mexican Train

Mexican Train is a game played with dominos. The object of the game is for a player to play all the dominos from their hand onto one or more chains, or trains, emanating from a central hub or "station". More about the game here.

The Group meets fortnightly on Wednesdays. Contact our group co-ordinators for more information.

Change of Leadership

I have been looking after the Social Bridge group for the last five years or so, but have decided to step back, though will still be attending our meetings.

Sue Frost has kindly agreed to take over as group leader, and I wish her the very best in the role.

Geoff Belding

Science and Technology

Our meetings are held in St Patrick’s Church Hall at 2pm for tea and biscuits, presentation starts at 2.30pm. These presentations are open to everyone in HIU3A, so if you are free then please come along, you do not have to be a Boffin and it is good value for a £2 donation towards refreshments and the hall hire.

The Spring programme is varied to say the least.

The first presentation in January was about the History and Science behind Dentistry. As the presenter who has only been on the receiving end of the dentist’s drill, I did learn a great deal compiling this presentation. What was quite amazing was the time span between the major breakthroughs in treatment. The Chinese and early Egyptians some 3000 BCE were carrying out rudimentary dental treatments, can you image tooth extraction with anaesthetic! The Greeks and Romans using gold wire to hold teeth in place, the first braces.

In the Middle Ages we had the barber surgeons, where the physician would call in the local barber or butcher to perform the tooth extraction under their supervision. The physician or doctor would usually be an academic, you could say the conductor of an orchestra, but with one instrument. From this period, we get the current medical practice of a qualified doctor who has and carries out surgery in his specialisation reverting to being called Mr. (Mrs) at consultant level.

The instruments used in Dentistry from 3000BCE hardly changed and it was not until the late 19th century that the hand tools used were being developed with bends in them to allow access to the back teeth. In fact, what surprised me was that the 19th century was the era when all modes of science suddenly came to the fore, it was like the golden age, batteries, electric motors and Maxwells equations for radio communications. The first clockwork dentist drill, toothbrushes and paste and anaesthetics were developed.

Moving to the modern day with electronics, miniature electric motors has allowed the modern very high-speed drill to be created which includes LED lights to highlight the area on a tooth needing treatment and includes water cooling.

Automatic anaesthetic dispensers which calculate the amount required and delivered to the patient’s jaw. Artificial Intelligence software being used to generate dental plans for each patient ensuring that the correct treatments are being administered. Video conference appointments are being used in rural areas, where the patient is sent a swab kit, which is then analysed and the dentist using gene markers can tell if there are any teeth becoming infected, along with other oral diseases and then the patient can be called to the surgery for the actual treatment saving them travel time.

If anyone has a particular topic they would like to hear more about then please get in touch and let me know. Or anyone who has a presentation and can come along and present it.

Our next presentation on the 25th February is by Chris Skerry on “Solar PV or Battery”. This presentation is building on Chris’s previous presentations, bringing it right up to date, so if you are tempted to buy solar panels then this could be a great start to learn more about the technology. The March presentation is all about the Channel Tunnel, how it was built and its operation.

Bob Hornby

Fun page (quizzes)

Countdown numbers game

Make 885 using these numbers:

25 2 7 4 2 9
Reveal the answers

Countdown conundrum

Find the anagram of:

N A S O D O R E T
Reveal the answer

Countdown words game

Find the longest word you can using these letters. We know of one 7-letter word and five 6-letter ones...

S O R F I O P Y R
Reveal the answers

Quiz

Name the highest building in the UK?
What is the fastest growing plant?
When was the U3A formed?
What is the oldest building on Hayling Island and still used?
Where was the first Holiday Camp built in the UK?
What country covers only 0.77 square miles?
What the meaning of the word “Bumfuzzel”?
Which is the biggest Commercial Airport in the World?
How many full member states in the UN?
Name the deepest part of the Ocean?

Using Google is cheating...

Reveal the answers

Wordsearch


Reveal the answers

Word wheel

Make as many words as you can from these letters. Each word must include the 'N'. There is an anagram that uses all the letters.10 words: average, 15 words: good; 20 words: above average; 25 words: excellent.

Show some answers

Monthly moan

"Nothing makes the British quite so happy as moaning. We just can’t stop, whether it is the weather - rain or shine, it doesn’t suit us - traffic hold-ups, work, neighbors or the price of a pint of beer, we are there with a gripe.

A study has revealed just how much the British and Irish love to complain, moaning about something 10,220 times a year on average, or 28 times every day. Queue jumpers, pot holes, call centers, you name it, we will whinge about it."

Here’s your chance to send in your moan of the month to editor@haylingu3a.org.

I’m starting off with services work teams, digging up our roads.

In our road we had a small water leak, nothing major just a gentle meandering stream across the footpath to the gutter.

It only took about 4 weeks for the repair crew to come and fix our leak:

  • Day 1 – Van arrives early morning and cones off half the road and places a barrier round the leak, and goes.
  • Day 2 – Nothing
  • Day 3 – Van arrives with 3 men, a hole is made and pipe exposed, this takes about 40 minutes; they sit in the van for the rest of the morning and they leave.
  • Day 4 – Van arrives and 2 men fix the leak, again about 40 minutes, it's Friday so
    they go quite quickly.
  • Day 5 & 6 – Weekend so no work
  • Day 7 – Van arrives and 3 men fill the hole and replace tarmac not sure how long but less than an hour.
  • Day 8 - Van Arrives to remove the cones and barriers.

8 days for 3 hours work – Is this the most efficient way to work?

Paul Taylor

Feature

Dear diary

Day 1

Dear Diary, today I attended a lecture at the college. I was running a bit late as usual, but I managed to scrape in at the last minute. After about twenty minutes, I wondered why I had bothered. Honestly, I’ve had more fun watching paint dry. The topic was supposed to be about the daily life of someone in the Middle Ages, or so I thought. I was expecting to be transported to a scene of domestic activity, descriptions of housing and social interaction, very different to today, with no modern help in the way of heating and lighting, no machinery for washing or cooking, or even ironing. Instead, we were presented with a list of items that a merchant of the time would have purchased, and told to analyses each item with its cost, then compare with today. Who buys a bolt of coarse linen today? Really! Next came a sack of horse feed, and half a hogshead of ale. I looked around at my fellow students and noticed several with glazed looks. Not just me then. I gathered my notes and left as soon as I could, to come home for a cup of tea, made with my modern teabag and my modern electric kettle. I suppose I will have to do some of the things to show willing.
Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Day 2

Today I had to attend a lecture on arms of the Middle Ages. That’s weaponry, not limbs. Actually, it was really quite interesting. Those soldiers were incredibly strong! We were shown an example of a longbow and not one of the students could pull the string hard enough. Obviously, they hadn’t had enough Weetabix. We were then told how they were made and how far an experienced bowman could fire it. The distance was unbelievable. The poor old foot soldiers had very little in the way of protection though, not like their masters who were on horseback in full metal armor. All in all, it was a good morning, and tomorrow we look at food. Can’t wait.

Day 3

Dear Diary. Today I was up with the lark, well maybe not the lark, but bright and early and ready to go and find out all about food in the Middle Ages. I grabbed some toast and a quick coffee before setting of with my trusty notebook to write down some recipes. We were not disappointed, really. I didn’t expect it to be quite so dull though, and limited to whatever was available at the time. Winter was the worst, with nothing but root vegetables and possibly some rabbit or pigeon on a good day. Grain, stored from the harvest, or maybe from the merchants shopping list, would be made into a sort of porridge with water. Milk was obtained from the cow in the yard and was a good source of calcium and if possible, some sort of cream cheese may have been made. Cooking was done over the open fire with pots either hung from a hook or sat on the hot flames which had to be fed constantly with wood. As sugar was not around, honey was used to sweeten any sort of cake, but this relied on having a beehive, and bees in winter need the honey to survive so… no sweet cake then.
Summer was better with more variety of vegetables and fruit, but the main diet was still porridge, with extras. I didn’t record too many recipes as you may have guessed. Tomorrow, we investigate travel and transport. Right now, I’m off for tea and a slice of Victoria sponge.

606 words from the short story group

Family history

The Lincolnshire poacher

We need to go back to a time when my grandfather was a young man, a true Yorkshire Man, even taking his wife, my gran, back to Yorkshire for the birth of my father, just in case he wanted to play cricket for the county.

No meal was complete without a great big slice of Yorkshire Pudding and Gravy served as a starter.

The family business was breeding and training coach horses, a trade that was destine to die out.

Moving to Lincolnshire he opened a butcher’s shop, purchased a small holding and was the first person in the area to buy a van, these actions proved essential for the trade he was about to enter.

With the van he managed to secure a contract with the Post Office to collect mail from the local stations and take regular trips down to London for “special” deliveries, a cover that proved essential for his other work.

The small holding produced sufficient vegetables to start a second business, so next door to the butchers, a greengrocer’s shop was established, freshly picked in the morning and sold during the day.

The small holding seemed to employ far too many men, sometime they turned up for work, sometimes they were away for days, I remember “Old Albert”, with his dog, can’t remember ever seeing him work, but he visited quite often.

The small holding also had lots of sheds, lean-tos and odd buildings, the biggest shed housed an enormous bird Avery full of Budgerigars of every colour, I did not understand until much later in life why the shed was always called the “Rabbit House”.

He and my dad went out in the van every other night, driving the narrow roads of Lincolnshire stopping at pre-arranged spots to pick up rabbit, hare, pheasant the odd pike and any game the local lads could acquire.

Returning home and storing the Game in the hidden room behind the Budgie cage (Rabbit House).

The pheasants were hung for a week, then making a trip to London along with the post in the van, with the rabbit pelts that were delivered to small workshops in the East End of London, finishing up as fur wraps and shawls.

The butcher’s shop was the ideal cover to sell the meat, rabbit stew a firm favorite in the area, the chicken pies proved a big seller, chicken at the time was not a plentiful therefore the meat could easily be substituted with the meat from the rabbit, no trades description act then.

The workforce on the small holding, were seen to draw their pay packets, often with bonuses depending on the bounty they managed to poach during that week.

I left home in 1967, going to seek my fortune in the industrious south, returning home every other week to get fed and have my washing done.

Remember “Old Albert” still plying his trade, whenever I got home a treat would be hanging up in the shed still referred to as the Rabbit House.

Paul Taylor

Do you have any interesting Character’s in your Family? Let us share your history - Paul.

Next edition

Monthly Moan – we all like a good moan, send in your gripe. No politics or religion and keep it clean.

True History – We would like to hear your historical interesting or notorious facts; your name can be a secret if you prefer.

Are there other topics you would like to see...

The next newsletter will be April, if you would like more information on any subject and don’t know where to go, please contact me and I will pass on your request to the appropriate persons: editor@haylingu3a.org

Paul Taylor, editor