Monthly newsletter - October

In this newsletter:

  • AGM message from our Chair: Julie Taylor
  • Finance summary
  • Dates for your diary 2026
  • Provisional dates for your diary 2027
  • Group news
  • October short story
  • Fraud prevention talk by John Perry
  • Gill Heather
  • Puzzles
  • A light-hearted look at 12 things I miss

AGM message from our Chair: Julie Taylor

We are maintaining our membership levels at around 600 people a year, but we are also getting more visitors at our monthly meetings. We can thank our publicity officers for their informative Hayling Herald articles and their posters.

Last year we organised our first Hayling u3 a wide Christmas Party. This was very well attended and the feedback was excellent. We must thank Anne Hollis for her hard work in planning and organising. We will be running a similar Christmas party this year, at the same price of £5 per person.

Our Open Day in May was very well attended with over 150 people visiting our stalls and listening to music throughout the day. Visitors included the Mayor, Havant Town Crier and Alan Mak. A number of new groups are being organised to help with the new interests.

Two new activities that we are working on, are smaller size visits using the Business Man’s mini bus, and ‘pop up’ talks which may be of interest to a smaller group of people. So, watch this space.

I would like to thank the dedicated members of committee, the group leaders, the tea monitors, web master and other volunteers who help the Hayling u3a continue to flourish.

Finance summary

Finances reported to the latest HIU3A committee meeting covering period 15/8/26 to15/9/26...

Account balances:

  • Current Account = £8,560
  • BIA Reserve = £8,043
  • Projects = £10
  • Petty Cash = £494

Main Account:

  • Income
    • Membership = £202
    • Gift Aid HMRC = £1,133
  • Expenditure
    • Admin = £57
    • Square Charges = £3
    • IONOS web Site = £10

Petty Cash:

  • Income: membership = £320
  • Expenditure
    • Bletchley Park Driver gratuity = £70
    • Battery for Speaker Unit = £17

Business Interest Account interest this month is £10

Dates for your diary 2026

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. More.

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 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.

December 10th - Christmas party

We are taking bookings for the Christmas party at £5 per member which includes:

  • Finger food
  • Non-alcoholic drink
  • A fun and enlightened sing-along with Danielle Barnett
  • Raffle and quiz with prizes

More details and booking form here.

Provisional dates for your diary 2027

January 21st – Nutrition & our bodies

Gill Wood

The talk will discuss how nutrition needs to change with age and practical ways to eat and support energy.

Plenty of opportunity to discuss and ask questions.

February 18th – The Family’s incredible story

Sohail Husain

He talks about his amazing journey to discover the story of his German Jewish Mother and Indian Muslim Father, how they lived through the Partitioning of India and the Holocaust in Germany.

March 18th – Winchester Part 2

Andrew Negus

Looking at Winchester as the Capital of England, involving national events that caused the cities wealth and prestige.

April 22nd - TBA

Keep and eye on this space!!!!

May 20th – Spy Stories from WW 1 and 2

Rob Smith

Discussing why the British security service was set up, the organisation and the role in the war. How it all works today.

June 17th – Weddings and other problems

Judy Theobald

This talk is not about frocks and flowers but traditions, rules and regulations over time. Plus, ways people try to get out of it.

July 15th - Voyage of HMS Beagle

Dr. James Taylor

Captain Robert Fitzroy commanded HMS Beagle on her second voyage, Charles Darwin was his Naturalist and Gentleman Companion.

August 19th – An Atlantic Odyssey

Ian Worley

Sailing to the Caribbean with wife sister and baby encountering storms and collosions with whales and sharks.

September 16th - AGM

October 21st – The Beauty of the South Downs National Park

Martin Small

The special qualities of the Downs will be described and how the trust has protected, enhanced and promoted the enjoyment of the Downs.

November 18th – My tutu went AWOL

Lesty Edwards

Lesty describes his time being the Combined Services Entertainment “Experimental act”.

December 9th – The Joe Meek Story – 60’s music.

Brian & Jacqueline Sutton

A look at 1950/60 fashion and the influence of pioneer record producer Joe “Telstar” Meek. A foot tapping talk is promised.

Group news

Pop Up Talks

Pop up talks are being organised for small audiences and the purpose is to inform rather than entertain.

They will be held in St Patrick's Roman Catholic church hall on the first Friday of the month starting in October.

The hall will be open for 10:00 am 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.

October 2nd - Robert Heard - Drive Safely for Longer

This engaging and informative one-hour presentation combines fascinating personal experiences with practical road safety advice.

Rob Heard MBE enjoyed a 30-year career in the police service, spending 27 years in Roads Policing. During that time, he rode with the Special Escort Group, escorting members of the Royal Family, Heads of State, visiting dignitaries, and major sporting events, including the Olympic Torch Relay and the London 2012 Olympics.

Drawing on these unique experiences, Rob explains how his policing career led to a lifelong passion for improving road safety. He will share how he went on to establish the Older Drivers Forum, now recognised nationally for its work in supporting mature and older drivers to remain safe, confident, and independent for as long as possible.
The talk explores the changing demographics of the UK's driving population, the challenges facing older drivers, and the importance of helping people stay mobile safely rather than simply encouraging them to stop driving. Rob also discusses the vital role that good eyesight plays in safe driving, explains the current legal vision standards, and shares why regular eye examinations are one of the simplest yet most effective ways of reducing road risk.

Packed with real-life stories, practical advice, humour, and thought-provoking insights, Driving Safely for Longer is suitable for drivers of all ages, their families, and anyone with an interest in road safety and healthy ageing.

November 6th - Tax, care and Toy Boys

The Co-op's estate planning team try to help people access legal information and guidance, breaking down barriers presented by traditional law firms.

The law can be a scary subject but the team endeavour to provide insight into some important legal issues many have to face as we get older.

This is done in a light-hearted and jargon-free manner. An Estate Planning expert will deliver a 45-minute talk and will then conclude with Q&A...

  • Protecting Your Home and Savings: One of the primary concerns as individuals age is ensuring their hard-earned assets benefit their loved ones.
  • Inheritance Tax: As the saying goes, “Only two things in life are certain… death and taxes.”
  • ‘Sideways Disinheritance’ and Blended Families: The complexities of remarriage and blended families can unintentionally lead to situations where certain family members inherit nothing.
  • Lasting Powers of Attorney: Contemplating a time when you may be unable to make decisions for yourself due to illness, accidents, or old age is never easy.

February 5th - Paul Day - My Digital Legacy

My Digital Legacy is a thought-provoking exploration of how our online presence outlives us.

In an age where digital footprints are permanent, this talk delves into the emotional, ethical, and practical aspects of managing our virtual selves after death.

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.

Whether you’re planning for your own legacy or handling a loved one’s digital remains, this talk is a guide to navigating the evolving landscape of our online afterlife.

Paul Day is a retired IT Specialist who is passionate about helping people take control of their digital lives—now and for the future. He is a member of Chandlers Ford u3a, and currently their Treasurer. He runs three groups:

  • Apple Users Groups (1 & 2)
  • Foods of the World Group.

His interests are photography, learning to play a musical instrument, travelling and enjoy being with his family.

Walks

The walking group lost a lot of walks last winter to rain.

This winter, we will continue to offer one 3 to 6 mile walk and one 6 mile or more walk each month and advertise them 1-2 weeks ahead. But we will also offer a series of 'pop up' walks.

A pop-up walk may be announced at short notice for a day which is forecast to stay dry, Pop-up walks will mostly be on Hayling or close by, and will be scheduled to finish in time for lunch at a local cafe or pub.

Like our popular bus walks, you don't have to book onto the walk - you can just turn up at the start - but keep an eye on your email in case the weather forecast deteriorates in the 24 hours beforehand.

Visits

Unfortunately, the costs of coach hire have continued to escalate this year, meaning that a day trip using a coach has become an expensive luxury for many of our members.

Most of our neighbouring u3as do not offer visits any more.

One way that some visits can continue to be viable is by pooling resources and we have been pleased to advertise Havant u3a's coach trips to our members, and it is good to see that some of our members are taking up the offer.

Havant u3a reciprocated by offering seats on our visit to Bletchley Park to their members, and we were pleased to welcome four of them onto that visit.

Hayling u3a will continue to offer visits to members, and we plan to keep costs down by using the businessmen's minibus or car shares for the majority of our visits

Visit to the Hovercraft Museum on Monday 30th November

Our next visit will be to the Hovercraft Museum at Lee-on-Solent, using car shares. This will be a short-day trip, leaving Hayling at 10 a.m. and returning by 4 p.m.

Entrance to the museum will be only £7.50, payable on the day.

In addition, car passengers should consider donating towards the driver's cost of fuel (recommended donation £3).

More details here. Please email visits@haylingu3a.org if you would like to come along, stating if you would like a lift or could offer to drive.

Chess club

The group meets at the Royal British Legion club on the first Thursday of each month, i.e. 1st October, 5th November and 3rd December - for this year, at 11am.

The British Legion asks for a £2.00 contribution from each attendee which contributes towards the Club's running costs.

The intention of the Chess Group is to have friendly competitive games to suit any level of player. So - whether a novice or experienced player - any HIU3A member is welcome to join with the chess sessions.

D’Ukes at Sams Sunflowers

One of the D’ukes regular performances is at Sams Sunflowers, this year we performed on the last full weekend, a very crowded tent, with lots of joining in and dancing.

This was the end of a very busy month with performances at Whitely shopping centre (collecting for Guide dogs) and Victoria park in Portsmouth, representing our culture at the bi-centenary of festival for Portsmouth becoming a city.

As well as performing at the Barley Mow, our usual rehearsal spot.

As the saying goes: Many a tune on an old fiddle. Or in our case Ukulele

Science and technology group (open group)

We meet at St Patricks Church Hall, 2pm for tea and biscuits, presentation starts at 2.30pm. These presentations are open to everyone in the u3a, 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.

Last month’s presentation was all about “How aircraft crashes make it safer to fly” by Dr Rod Wing from Fishbourne Science Group.

It was another stunning presentation which highlighted failures in aircraft engines that caused crashes. It all boiled down to materials technology and the methods used to detect defects. The complexity of jet engines and the advanced materials that they use sometimes leave the quality control and methods to detect faults behind, so material scientists not only look at new materials to develop cleaner burn jet engines but methods and new diagnostic equipment to detect minute failure mechanisms in the materials.

The presentation finished off by showing a video of an RB211 jet engine used on the A380 Airbus tested to destruction. Material scientists added a small explosive charge to one of the engine fan blades and then ran the engine to full power before detonating the explosive. The result was a total catastrophic failure of the engine compressor blades but none of them flew outside the engine casing, a positive result.

As you could imagine if this event happened in flight, then they need to make sure the debris is contained in the engine cowling and not penetrate the fuselage.
The next presentation in 28th October is all about “Ultrasound and its uses” by me. So, I look forward to seeing you all there.

I am now looking for speakers for January, February and March so any thoughts or suggestions for presentations then please get in touch and let me know.

Thanks. Bob Hornby S&T group leader

Painting and drawing

Painting and drawing 1 has vacancies for two or three more members.

We are a friendly group and of mixed ability with no pressure to comply with monthly themes.

More information and contact

October short story

Sleep - May 2021

Sleep was put out. In fact, Sleep was furious. Sleep had just heard somebody say that they didn’t need him. They could manage perfectly well without any sleep, or very little anyway. How dare they! Nobody manages without sleep. This is a well-known fact of life and Sleep was not going to stand being belittled in this way.

Full of righteous indignation and more than a little self-importance, Sleep set about thinking up ways of getting revenge on the individual concerned. First though, there was a baby somewhere who needed him badly. He could hear a lullaby being crooned to try to stem the wails and soon there would come threats of violence if he didn’t do something quickly. Sleep sped along a corridor towards the crying and there was the baby, red in the face from the effort, little body, rigid with anger. Sleep spread out over the little body which dramatically stopped crying, closed its eyes and succumbed. Sleep smiled as he passed the lullaby singer, touching them lightly so they fell into a light doze.

Now to find that individual who claimed to manage without him. Sleep drifted lazily along, thinking that perhaps a touch while Mr Cleverclogs was in an important meeting would be fun. Sleep smiled to himself as he visualised the reactions of a committee, when that happened. That would be quite entertaining, or even, while driving on the motorway. Just a touch when he was going through that 50miles per hour section, especially if he’d been out late, somewhere with friends. Maybe that was going a bit too far. He might cause a serious accident doing that and Sleep didn’t want the responsibility of causing someone else’s injury. No, he would stick to something a bit less dangerous, just embarrassing. A thought struck him and he was laughing now. Meeting the girlfriend’s parents! That could work. Having dinner with them then, after the dessert and coffee, nodding off as future Father-in-law starts to talk about plans. They would really be impressed, wouldn’t they? Mr Cleverclogs would have to confess that he had been awake all night, catching up on work stuff, and as for not needing Sleep, that was rubbish.

Sleep set about looking for this individual, creeping up on others along the way, making sure that they had a good night. He was very keen on quality of sleep as well as quantity, so he didn’t skimp on certain types like children and babies. People who were unwell needed him to help to get better, but old people he managed slightly differently. Their timetables could be massaged a bit to fit in with their lifestyle. It was a constant reminder though, that Time, Sleep’s friend usually, could play tricks, and Sleep would suddenly find that Time had run out on him and some poor old dear either was wandering about, thinking it was lunchtime, or else fast asleep all day. Missing out on meals and all sorts of things, some of which might be important, like medicines.

Musing on all these thoughts, as Sleep drifted around helping a young man who was in pain, to leave it for a while, and evading another who was trying to catch up, much to his frustration. Sleep had to duck when a pillow came flying at him, beating a hasty retreat till he could creep back and make it right.

Maybe he was being a bit oversensitive about being needed. After all, he did have a very full diary and deprivation was called torture, wasn’t it? Sleep decided to leave his revenge on the back burner for now, in other words, put it to sleep.

Fraud prevention talk by John Perry

It’s now common to receive unsolicited calls and emails, the recent talk by John Perry showed how to reduce the risk of being scammed.

Beware of all unsolicited communication

Whenever you contact your: bank, councils, energy companies, financial organizations, or anyone else, they will always take you through security.
Email addresses, phone numbers, websites, messages and social media pages can very easily be faked.

So, whenever you are contacted by anyone: in person, via post, via email, via social media, via WhatsApp or via text message, you must take that person through your security. You must never disclose personal information, and you must never click on links or phone the number in such messages.

If you think the communicator may have been valid, search for the company on the internet, or preferably, look up your own personal records to identify a valid telephone number for the company.

Be very wary, and assume all unsolicited: calls, messages, letters and communication particularly regarding financial matters are fraudulent. Remember, anything that seems too good to be true, almost always is.

National Cyber Security Centre top six tips

  1. Separate very secure email password
  2. Use different strong passwords for all websites
  3. Save passwords in browser or password manager
  4. Turn on Two-Factor-Authentication (2FA)
  5. Update devices (firmware and software)
  6. Turn on backup

Avoid being defrauded

Subject Recommendation
Car key relay fraud Use Faraday cage and test it
Call from BT/Microsoft/PC virus Put phone down
Request to download program Never allow unless trusted
Call from bank Call bank on known number
Call from police Phone 101 to check
Calls about car accident Put phone down
Confidential papers with address Shred or burn
Sellers at door/services Always refuse
Unexpected calls or text Call known good number
Good looking girl/boy contact Block - romance fraud
Avoiding telephone scammers Consider trueCall, Phonely or similar

Good practice

  1. Update operating system/firmware
  2. Apply software security updates
  3. Use different passwords for each website
  4. Use anti-virus software
  5. Use a firewall
  6. Use passwords on all hardware
  7. Don't use trivial passwords
  8. Update router defaults
  9. Create proper backups
  10. Destroy hard drives after use
  11. Be cautious about using Wi-Fi outside home
  12. Email - PCs vs smartphones
  13. Hover links to check validity
  14. Generally, don't click on email links
  15. Go to known websites, not links in emails
  16. http:// (not safe) and https:// (safe) websites
  17. Be sceptical, don't trust everything
  18. Is it too good to be true?
  19. Be very wary of the unexpected
  20. Phone a friend if in doubt
  21. Target you: empty rubbish/recycling bins
  22. Sign up to Hampshire Alert

Useful Information

Following this guidance will not necessarily prevent you from being defrauded, but it should reduce the risk

Gill Heather

Gill Heather was a popular and active participant in many u3a groups, including the creative writing group to which she contributed many interesting stories.

She was a member for many years (Joining in 2017) and her sad death was not really expected following a short illness.

The funeral will take place at the Oaks Crematorium on October 2nd at 11.30am.
She will be sadly missed by all her many friends in the u3a and the Station Theatre, where she will be remembered for her long-standing support.

Puzzles

Countdown conundrum

Find the anagram of:

I O T A D I N R T
Reveal the answer

Countdown words game

Find the longest word you can using these letters. There's at least one 9-letter word and four 8-letter words...

S S O O P R R F E
Reveal the answers

Countdown numbers game

Make 672 using these numbers:

25 7 6 2 1 1
Reveal an answer

Who are these famous people?

Discover the names

A light-hearted look at 12 things I miss

  1. Good old 3 channel TV, always something entertaining to watch, family shows and drama with good British humour. Now I have 350 Channels with very few programs that interest me.
  2. Cars with proper switches, flick a swich to switch on lights, another for window wipers. Now a touch screen and a car that decides what I want on and even maps out where I want to go.
  3. Brown Paper bags for my green grocery and shopping, now everything wrapped in plastic or in plastic cartons impossible to open.
  4. Shops, once upon a time you could “shop around” look at alternatives go from shop to shop for the best deal, now we sit at a keyboard and click to order and it arrived without been seen.
  5. Banks, the bank manager in the 3 pieces suit the helpful staff, getting out money, getting a loan making an investment even paying bills. Now we talk to someone in a faraway country and give a password, address and try to remember details of purchases before they take your name, finally to forget what you wanted and putting the phone down.
  6. Berni Inns, for many of us our first taste of restaurant food, how can forget the prawn cocktail and a nice steak and chips with a salad washed down with a glass of Blue Nun (Maybe we have progressed passed Blue Nun).
    While I’m on food
  7. Transport Caffs, the greasy spoon we all complained about but sat down to a plate of egg and chips at a price we could afford, unlike the current Motorway Service Areas where we need a bank loan for a cup of coffee.
  8. Fish and Chip out of newspaper, somehow, they just don’t taste the same any more.
  9. Record shops, it more than music, the record covers, flipping through each record looking at the content and listening before buying.
  10. Blancmange, usually shaped like a rabbit, a birthday party treat.
  11. Little blue bag of Salt to sprinkle on my Crisps, that are in a greaseproof bag and not plastic.
  12. Getting 3d back on the bottle when all the pop has been drunk.

Moaning is the first sign of becoming a grumpy old man