Monthly newsletter – November | Hayling Island u3a

In this newsletter:

Our Christmas party
Vacancy for a publicity officer
Dates for your diary
Group news
Pop up talks
Short story
Just for fun

Our Christmas party

Organisation for the Christmas Party is well under way, food ordered, the wine has been delivered.Tickets are on sale now. Place numbers are limited so book now to avoid disappointment.

Arrangements

The party starts at 1.30 on the 10^th December. All member are invited at a cost of £5.00 per ticket. This includes food, drink, a quiz and entertainment. The party will be held at Hayling Island Community Centre in the main hall.

Booking is open here. Bookings must be made by 24^th November.

Last year we had a problem with parking, this year, this is being discussed and we are looking at several alternatives to ensure everyone can attend and enjoy the day.

It would help, however, if you know someone who is attending to car share.

Party speaker: Danielle Barnett

You've sung them whilst clutching mugs of hot cocoa around a log fire, heard them played constantly in Shopping centres - but do you know why some of the best-known Christmas songs were created?

Danielle Barnett will lead us in a fun and enlightened Christmas sing-a-long. Danielle has had over 30 years in the entertainment industry.

She was a lead singer in two bands, touring world-wide and performed in front of 100,000 strong audience.

She is a songwriter with five top 10 chart hits and has managed two top ten chart bands.

Danielle has worked with Simon Cowell, appeared on BBC Dragons Den and was an early investor in Bitcoins, so you could say she has had a varied life journey.

Party quiz

Prizes to be won, brush up on your general knowledge.

Book your ticket before it’s too late.

Vacancy for a publicity officer

Do you have a little spare time?

Would you like to get more involved with the u3a?

We are looking for a publicity officer to take over from Alan Bartlett, who is stepping down after many years of excellent service. Find out more from Julie Taylor.

Dates for your diary

November 19^th - Winchester, bishops, buildings and bones

Andrew Negus is a retired history teacher is a recognised local historian and a blue badge holder as an official 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. More here.

December 10^th - Christmas Party

January 21^st - Nutrition and our bodies

Gill Wood is a self-employed nutritionist with a passion for helping people feel more confident about food and their health.

Gill writes...

"I grew up just outside Edinburgh in Scotland and now live in the South Downs with my husband and our rescue animals: two dogs, a cat and a rather large collection of elderly chickens, which we affectionately call our very own ‘Buck Buck Retirement Village’. If you don't see me running with my very active golden retriever, you'll find me out riding my bike through the many hills!

My own journey into nutrition started after years of being overwhelmed by conflicting information about food. There always seemed to be another rule to follow, another food to avoid or another way I was supposedly eating wrong. It made eating well feel far more complicated than it needed to be.

After completing my nutrition training and gaining my UK Government-recognised 'certified' nutrition qualification, I became particularly interested in nutrition through later life. An intensive part of my training focused on ageing, how our nutritional needs change as we get older and how we can support our health before we get there.

It sparked something for me.

I now have a real passion for helping people understand what their bodies need as they age, prepare for later life and cut through the noise around nutrition. My aim is to make good nutrition feel practical, realistic and much less confusing, so you can feel confident that you’re doing the right things for your body now and for the years ahead."

Other events next year

February 18^th - The family’s incredible story - Sohail Husain
March 18^th - Winchester part 2 - Andrew Negus
April 22^nd - Horticultural talk
May 20^th - Spy stories from WW 1 and 2 - Rob Smith
June 17^th - Weddings and other problems - Judy Theobald
July 15^th - Voyage of HMS Beagle - Dr. James Taylor
August 19^th - An Atlantic Odyssey - Ian Worley
September 16^th - AGM
October 21^st - The beauty of the South Downs National Park
- Martin Small
November 18^th - My tutu went AWOL - Lesty Edwards
December 9^th - The Joe Meek Story, 60’s Music.

Group news

Visits

Our last visit of 2026 will be to the Hovercraft Museum on Monday 30^th November. We will keep the travel cost down by using car shares to get to Lee-on-Solent, and entrance to the museum will be only £7.50 to include a free cup of tea and a biscuit! Email the visits team if you would like to join us.

Future Visits

To hire a coach for a day is now in extremely expensive, if we cannot fill each coach, it will be difficult to justify making visits.

Over the past few months discussions have taken place to try to maintain regular visits to places of interest at a reasonable cost:

Our neighbouring u3a groups are experiencing similar problems, therefore we are discussing joint trips, this should make it easier to fill a coach.
Using the Businessmans mini bus. We can use the bus when it is not required for its current regular duties, a driver must be provided and fuel covered. This is a good solution for smaller group visits. (We do need a pool of drivers to help spread the load).
Car Share when visiting local attractions car share looks a very good option to keep cost down and still enjoy visits. When sharing the transport we would expect the cost of fuel to be shared between all passengers.

Meals Out

The Meals Out group has been active since February.

We go to the Moghul for their Indian buffet on the second Wednesday of every month. We also meet somewhere different each month, possibly at lunchtime though usually in the evening, and this year we have enjoyed meals at Seacourt, the Golf Club, Langstone Quays Hotel and the Ferryboat (where these pictures were taken).

We now regularly have a dozen or more members attending each of our meals out which gives us all another chance to make friends and socialise as well as helping local businesses.

The meals out group is open to every Hayling u3a member, married or single. You don't have to come to every meal out we organise - just respond to the monthly email if you see something which takes your fancy.

Email Richard North if you would like to receive the monthly email.

4^th Thursday solo lunch

There won’t be any lunch for the month of December.

Bowls group

Following the HIU3A Open Day in May we had several people who had never tried playing bowls come along to four 'taster sessions' which we ran in June / early July.
We are delighted to say that this has led to some more new people coming to our Thursday morning u3a roll-ups, also several people have become full members of the Hayling Island Bowls Club.

Anyone interested in having 'taster sessions' can contact Jo Mills so she can make arrangements.

We can provide all the equipment, but please bring flat smooth soled shoes to change into as we play on an all-weather carpet.

Next year is the Bowls Club's 50^th anniversary.

Scrabble 2

Places are available in the Scrabble 2 group; we play Scrabble from 2pm every 2^nd Tuesday of the month to meet up for a game.

Contact Sue Vincent for more information.

Current affairs - one place available

The group discusses contemporary issues of national and international significance in political, social and economic spheres.

We meet at St. Peter's Church, Northney for 1.5 hours 10.30 till 12.00 (price £2 each) on the second Wednesday of each month.

Specific topics for discussion are suggested by group members. Since the group formed in April 2024, we have discussed the 2024 Election, Trump, Starmer, Burnham, AI, Iran, welfare cuts, illegal immigration, and whether we have a 2-Tier justice system in our country, amongst many other topics.

We have recorded group members' predictions for 2026 and will keep those under review.

We proceed democratically, enjoy lively debate, let everyone who wants to speak do so, and disagree respectfully.

More details

History allsorts

We take it in turns to choose an historical subject, research it and deliver a talk on it.
We are "History Magpies" - it can be anything historical - Local, British, European, World - Ancient or Modern.

We also challenge each other to make a case for e.g. Who was the best King Henry? Who was the best English/British Queen? Who was the best peacetime Prime Minister of the 20th century?

We meet at the British Legion. The contribution towards room hire is £2 each and in addition they would like us to buy a drink.

Recent topics have included the Portsmouth Forts, the Battle of Trafalgar, Margaret Thatcher and the EU issue, The Holodomor, Palestine, Spain at the height of its Empire, the 2nd Duke of Richmond, Tesla (the inventor), Greatest American Presidents, Lord North, The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire, The History of Racism, Dick Whittington, Queen Victoria and the Irish Famine.

We have places available - more detail

The Chess section

The Chess Section is friendly sociable group of members which welcomes all levels of those who enjoy the opportunity of meeting and participating in games of chess.

We meet on the first Thursday of each month at the Royal British Legion Club where facilities are provided in their lounge. Meetings start at 11am and apart from playing chess games we have a refreshment break with time for a chat.

All HIU3A members are welcome to join with us with the next occasion taking place on Thursday 5^th November. Please, if you have a chess set, bring it to the meeting.

Following the November meeting our December chess games take place on Thursday 3^rd December. A convivial opportunity - along with a discussion about planning for next year's chess sessions and enjoying a mince pie and coffee break. Again, the meeting for December will commence at 11am.

For any further information you are welcome to contact Norman Payne, the Chess Session organiser.

Looking forward to the chance of meeting together.

Round the world at 35 knots

Well, who would have thought?

There we were, sitting in the Community Centre Hall with this smart gentleman in a suit, looking like your bank manager standing before us.

Ian Worley. then proceeded to take us on a wild adventure, sailing round the world in a yacht called GB11, in a madcap race called the Whitbread, now known as the Vendée Globe.

If you say it without thinking, it sounds quite straightforward, but then Ian gave us an insight to the actual practicalities of squeezing a crew of 18 people (17 men and 1 woman) onto an elegant 74 foot yacht of classic lines and proportions, together with 35 enormous sails, enough rations for all to avoid starvation, ropes, known as sheets which were incredibly heavy and long, and electrical navigation equipment to make sure they were going in the right direction.

All this would have been a challenge on dry land, but on the ocean, there are waves of up to 40ft not to mention currents and weather squalls strong enough to knock you for six.

Ian himself had done a deal with the BBC to film the race so we had colourful photographs and video to add to the excitement of the conditions.

Meals were particularly interesting as the damp conditions caused all the tins to lose their labels, making it a lottery as to the contents. Several of the photos showed us a very different Ian to the suited gentleman giving us the commentary, with wild hair and bushy beard he resembled Man Friday standing on the foredeck with a sarong round his waist. At every stopover, Cape Town, Aukland New Zealand and Rio, the crew took the chance to party hard, sometimes behaving in a completely bonkers way to the delight of their hosts.

The race was taken very seriously however and the time differential at the end of an incredibly long and tortuous journey was amazingly close.

GB11 came third, having successfully navigated tropical doldrums and freezing seas in the Southern Ocean.

Science and technology group (Open group)

Leader Bob Hornby

Our meetings are held in St Patricks 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 with a £2 donation towards refreshments and the hall hire, it’s a bargain.

Last month I gave a presentation about the development of ultrasound scanners and their uses in medical, industrial and military applications.

The first recorded use of underwater sound detection was in 1490 by Leonardo da Vinci, who used a tube inserted into water to detect vessels by listening with his ear to detect any noise.

In 1916, during WW1 under the British Board of Invention and Research, a Canadian physicist Robert William Boyle with A. B. Wood, produced a prototype active sound system for testing in mid-1917 and an operational passive system in use by 1918.

This work for the Anti-Submarine Division of the British Naval Staff was undertaken in utmost secrecy and used quartz piezoelectric crystals to produce the world's first practical underwater active sound detection apparatus.

This work was top secret and never mentioned the words ‘sound’ or ‘quartz’ experiments. The word used to describe the sound work was "ASD"ics and the quartz material to "ASD"ivite: "ASD" for "Anti-Submarine Division", hence the acronym ASDIC. In 1939, a question from the Oxford English Dictionary to the Admiralty made up the story that it stood for "Allied Submarine Detection Investigation Committee" and this is still widely believed, though no committee bearing this name has been found in the Admiralty archives.

Today, modern Sound Navigation and Ranging (Sonar) is a major component of a Navies armoury against submarines, with towed arrays, dunking sonar from
helicopters each trying to detect a submarine or even today mines that sit on the seabed waiting for the right ship to cross over it.

Side scan sonar is used extensively to detect sunken vessels and features sitting on the seabed.

Medical developments are now very advanced and almost any part of the human body can be looked at by the ultrasound systems deployed in hospitals. Differing types of scan heads can “see” into the body for example:

Musculoskeletal evaluations
Obstetrics and foetal assessment
Abdominal and pelvic diagnostics
Cardiac imaging and blood flow analysis
Vascular access guidance and procedural support

Industrial uses of ultrasound are essentially about Non-Destructive-Testing (NDT). Looking at welding joints in pipelines to ensure that the weld is complete and has no voids which could create leaks, this is especially important prior to the pipe being buried underground. Aircraft engine inspections use ultrasound to check for defects in the fan blades before they fail. Ultrasound is used to clean objects, by placing the object into bath of detergent and then the liquid is vibrated with ultrasound has a non-destructive cleaning action.

November’s presentation is thought provoking one, "Preparing for a jobless society - more than just Bread and Circuses." by John Worley from Havant u3a. Over the years John has given us a number of presentations which have all been thought provoking so I look forward to seeing many of as possible to come along to hear him.

I am looking for inspiration for next year’s presentations, so if anyone has any ideas then let me know. I have asked this for the past 8 years but to date my plea has landed on deaf ears.

Thanks. Bob Hornby S&T group leader

Play reading

Have fun being a would-be thespian by joining the HIU3A play reading group.

No acting experience required and no commitment to becoming a world-famous film star.

But for two hours or so every month you can forget your worries and cares and live in the make-believe world of the theatre.

We meet in the foyer of the Station theatre at 1pm on the last Thursday of each month. Play sets are provided and you will participate by assuming a character role in the selected play.

The readings range from well-known classics to comedies, sit coms and everything in between.

This is a small fun group which has been running successfully for a number of years.
The only requirement is a small donation of £2 per reading which helps fund our use of the theatre and refreshments.

For more details, please contact John Cushion

Our next "production" will be on Thursday 29^th October and you will be more than welcome to join us.

Pop up talks

The first pop up talkwas very successful and the discussion was much appreciated by those who attended. As it’s a smaller group it becomes easier to ask questions and discuss the subject in full.

Meetings will be held in St. Patricks Roman Catholic church hall on the first Friday of the month. The hall will be open for 10am, tea and coffee will be served first.

There is adequate free car parking in front of the church, plus toilets. Admission is open to all members but there is a charge of £2 to cover hire of the hall, and the tea and coffee.

An independent review of the first pop up session

The first HIU3A pop up talk was deemed a success by those who attended on Friday 2^nd October. Rob Heard MBE spoke to us on the subject “Driving Safely for Longer”. He is the founder and Chairperson of the Older Drivers Forum.

Rob began by giving us an insight into his varied and often exciting career in the police force, mostly in the Roads Policing Department. His highlights included riding as special escort for members of the royal family and VIPs in London and around the British Isles. He told one amusing anecdote about the late Queen in a shop near Balmoral, when she was mistaken for a lookalike queen by some Americans. They even asked if they could take a photo! Rob chuckled when he recounted how amused Her Majesty was about the encounter.

He has been interviewed on television and radio regularly to advise on how to stay safe when driving. His message is especially for mature and older drivers. There was a serious side to Rob’s talk; the statistics on injuries and deaths are shocking. Some of these he reported in his talk. One that was surprising to us, was the fact that collisions involving older drivers happen more frequently when they are turning right, especially when turning into a major road, where the traffic is fast moving.

Rob’s message was clear: stay safe to drive for longer.

Ask yourself – Can you read a license plate at 20 meters? Do you have an adequate field of vision? Do you have a reportable illness or diagnosis? If you are unsure of the answers, Rob recommends that you have an eye test, ask a medical professional, and/or consider having your driving assessed at a Mobility Centre. Our nearest one is the South Coast Drive Ability Centre at Whiteley.

Rob’s whole presentation was informative and enjoyable. Hopefully he will be back to speak to us again in the future.

Future talks

November 6^th - Abbie Mitchel - Tax, care and toy boys

Protecting Your Home and Savings
Inheritance Tax
‘Sideways disinheritance’ and blended families
Lasting Powers of Attorney

February 5^th - Paul Day - My Digital Legacy

From social media accounts, emails, photos to digital assets, My Digital Legacy offers insights on preserving, protecting, and shaping the memories we leave behind in the digital world.

March 5^th - Hayling u3a IT crowd – technology clinic

Bring your phones, tablets and devises if you have problems and our expert team will try to sort out our problems.

Short story

The last bus - May 2025

It was the last bus of the day and Mollie smiled to herself, as she adjusted her ticket machine which hung heavily across her shoulders, and although it meant that she didn’t get home before midnight, Mollie enjoyed this shift. She knew nearly all of the passengers and it was more like a meeting of friends than work, some were more friendly than others, but she coped well with the unwanted attention if necessary.
Her driver wandered over towards the bus. “Ready for the off Moll?” Bill was the regular driver and he and Mollie had a close working relationship. “Yes, thanks Bill” Mollie replied. “There’s some sandwiches and a thermos of tea under the stairs, so we won’t die from lack of nourishment” This last comment was a running joke between them.

They made an incongruous pair as they climbed aboard. Bill, middle aged and heavy, especially around the middle, heaved himself into the driving seat, and Mollie, twenty-six years old, and slim with a twinkle in her eye, jumped onto the running board. She rang the bell for the signal to go and the last bus of the day, trundled out of the station towards its first stop.

This was the King’s Arms. Here was Betty, barmaid extraordinary. Make up slightly off beat but colourful, and ready to go anywhere you fancy dear. Unfortunately for Betty, everyone knew her so there were few takers. However, she didn’t give up hope, and to this end, Betty burst into a rendition of “One day my prince will come.” ending in a hacking cough from too many cigarettes. “Give it a rest,” shouted Bill. “I’m trying to concentrate here and there’s a nasty bend coming up. Betty subsided dutifully. “Sorry Bill, you all right Mollie?” she asked. “Yes thanks, but we’ve a bit of a journey yet” Mollie replied. “So, save your singing for later Eh?”

The next stop was St Judes hospital. Dear God thought Mollie. Who in their right mind would name a hospital after the Patron saint of lost causes? She mentally said a little prayer for all the lost souls inside. The personification of the saint was Ted. Ted had been the principal hospital porter for as many years as Mollie could remember. Not a big man, he was strong in another way, and a warm confidence emanated from his friendly smile as he climbed aboard. “Evening Mollie, evening Bill, and hello Betty. All well I hope?” “Evening Ted” they all replied. Ted sat down and took a flask of tea from his bag. “You can’t beat a good cuppa after a long day” he said. “I can” said Betty as she took a small flask of whisky out of her handbag. “Come on Ted, have a drop of this in your tea, then we can have a little sing song” Bill groaned when he heard this, but kept his eyes on the road, watching for wandering foxes and badgers.
And so, the last bus trundled its way along, through the suburban edges of town and on to the leafy side roads with no pavement and hedges on either side. Other passengers got on and off the bus as it came to a halt at the appointed stops, and Betty and Ted sang some old songs to each other till they reached their destination, where they alighted and with cheery waves all round, went home to bed.

When the bus reached its own destination of the bus station for a turnaround, Mollie and Bill sat side by side on the passenger seat with their sandwiches and flask of tea. “What we got tonight then?” asked Bill. “Cheese and pickle, with a bit of tomato thrown in” Mollie replied. “Oh, and I brought a packet of crisps as well.” She added. “Have they got the salt on or do we have to sprinkle?” was Bill’s next question. “We have to sprinkle, no not like that you silly fool”

Mollie laughed as Bill mimed sprinkling of another sort.

They munched in companiable way until all the food was eaten. “Come on then, let’s be getting back.” Bill raised himself and went to his cab, heaving himself into the seat and starting up the engine. “Tally Ho!” shouted Mollie from the back, as she tidied up their picnic bags, and the last bus of the day turned for home.

Just for fun

Countdown conundrum

Find the anagram of:

Reveal the answer

Countdown words game

Find the longest word you can using these letters. There's at least three 8-letter words...

Reveal the answers

Countdown numbers game

Make 295 using these numbers:

100

Reveal an answer

A quiz on pubs and what they sell?

The Duke of Burgundy featured in what 1949 film?
Name the pub in the book Treasure Island?
Which alcoholic spirit is the main ingredient in a Tom Collins cocktail?
Which common pub name commemorates a 1651 event in the battle of Worcester?
In rugby, which player is nicknamed "Fox" after his parent’s pub, the Fox and Hounds?