Chatterbox FEBRUARY 2019 - U3A Site Builder
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Chatterbox FEBRUARY 2019 Official Newsletter of Chatteris U3A https://u3asites.org.uk/chatteris President: Ray Dordery Chair: Ken Robson Vice Chair: Barry Ransley Vice Chair/Minutes: Jeanette Hipkins General/Membership Secretary: Jan Fieldhouse Treasurer: Lesley Gibbs Groups: Georgina Plumb Speakers: Alison Robson Theatre/Trips: Chris Coveney Publicity: Sandy Wright Events: Ted Croucher Webmaster: Phil Green Newsletter: Steve Wright General Enquiries: 07716 858286 JANUARY OPEN MEETING At our last Open Meeting we heard from Mrs Lucy Lewis. Lucy has had a fascinating career in the army and related some very entertaining stories from the training programme, lessons learnt with harsh experience and insightful views of military life. Her shooting skills became legendary as she was the only person to win a prize when a rubber bullet missed a door, hit the frame and then rebounded back to hit Lucy. Lucy demonstrated tremendous courage to defuse a landmine until she realized it was a 'cowpat'. An interesting piece of information is the map of London marking where unexploded bombs are still laying underground (illustrated above). FEBRUARY OPEN MEETING On Thursday 21 February we welcome James Clark to our Open Meeting. James is the owner and founder of the Ely Gin Company Ltd. Since its inception in 2012, the company has experienced rapid growth and now has a shop in the city’s Buttermarket and supplies dozens of stockists, food festivals and events across the country. James said: “It was not until after we began that we realised what a great place Ely is to start a business. The Ely markets are very well supported by the public and allow new ideas to be tried out at very little cost. Ely has the infrastructure to allow businesses to grow and, not least, there is a great support network in place, friendly people with useful advice.” The company has launched a unique new gin flavour, 'Breakfast Marmalade'. “We wanted to recreate the flavour you get when you bite into the skin in the marmalade,” James said. “Obviously that is quite hard to do in a liquid, but we discovered that adding treacle to the mix is a pretty fair approximation. We had some fun developing this product.” James traded in his job as a computer programmer in 2012 and unveiled the Ely Gin Company’s first market stall that same year. “Where we started with one market stall, we now run events all over the country; our first basic web-site has grown into a major part of the business, and the shop is going from strength-to-strength.”
USEFUL INFORMATION/Bullet Points
Third Age Matters (TAM) magazine. Unfortunately a small increase is being applied. We
have been notified that the U3A magazine will increase by 8p per issue. From April the
annual cost will be £2.90 for 5 issues as opposed to the existing cost of £2.50. (Increase
due to postage costs)
Walking Football (affiliated with Active Fenland) for 50+ takes place every Monday from
10.00am at the Chatteris Town Football Club on West Street. For further information
contact Steve Wright at the open meeting or on 01354 680338.
Chatteris Library presents The Victorian Farmer's Year in Song; an evening of folk music
and storytelling. Doors open 6.45pm for a 7.00pm start on Thursday 14 February. John
Kirkpatrick is a well-known singer/instrumentalist and will take you through a year in the
countryside, giving an authentic voice to an older way of life.
Pat Barber continues collecting newspapers for the local RSPCA. Therefore, can you please
bring any old newspapers to the open meeting. Thank you.
Re-Launch of Lunch Club. Jan Fieldhouse will re-launch the Lunch Club in February starting
at The Oliver Cromwell, March, on Wednesday 27th February; 12.30 for sit down at 1pm. If
you are interested just turn up and we can then discuss the format of the group and venues.
Car share may be available providing those who have a lift offer the driver a small amount
to cover petrol costs. Contact Jan on 01354 697701 or jan56fieldhouse@gmail.com
Community Defibrillators. The first defibrillator was due to be put up in mid December
but there has been a slight delay because the cabinet door handle was found to be broken
on delivery, this has been returned to the manufacturer for repair. Meanwhile, fundraising
continues for our second and subsequent defibrillators. We have several events booked,
including; Sunday March 31st Mothering Sunday Afternoon Tea at the King Edward Centre,
Chatteris, 3pm till 5pm, Tickets £7. This is the first of four afternoon teas the others
being in June; September and November. Help to serve teas; collect on the door or run a
raffle is needed. We are still collecting Ink cartridges, Ink tanks, Toner cartridges which
can be recycled for cash. At the time of writing we have raised over £26.00 in this way.
Every little amount adds up to the grand total. If you know of any other ‘collections’ that
can raise money we would be interested to hear. The Defibrillator provided by The
Emmanuel Church has been stolen. The police were been informed and a crime number
issued. This has brought to our attention that more security of these units is needed. We
will be installing Community Custodians- people who, whilst on their everyday business
whether walking the dog or going on the school run, will check the defibrillator and report
back any problems. If you are interested in helping with this, please contact Ted Croucher.
INTEREST GROUPS
If you wish to start a group please contact Georgina Plumb at the
Open Meetings or email georgina4472@sky.com or phone 01354
694234
Art Group Ted Croucher
Paintings from the members of the art group are now being
displayed in the library. Please go along to view and support
our members in this group. They have also had a request to sell
some of their work and this is under consideration. See Ted
Croucher for more details.
Gardening Club Shared Leadership (see website)
Photograph below was taken at the Gardening Club Christmas/New Year lunch. Held at the Old Nene Golf Club, it
was a yummy lunch with an exchange of presents via Secret Santa. Big 'Thank You' to Stuart for arranging this meal.
Creative Writing Polly Howat
During our Christmas lunch at the Cross Keys we mulled over some ideas for
our forthcoming writing programmes. We work on three topics over three
consecutive months starting from February with a break in August. We
were too full of food to make any decisions and in January decided to use
three popular proverbs as a springboard for our stories -
February: All that glitters is not gold.
March: Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
April: Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.
We will report back to Chatterbox every quarter and here is a challenge: if you have some spare time how about
writing your own story using one of the proverbs above?
Archery Group & Darts Group Ted Croucher
The Archery group will soon be able to return to their regular
archery afternoon after the winter break.
A venue has also been found that may be suitable for a Darts
Group.
For further information
on both these groups
contact Ted Croucher.
Theatre & Trips Chris Coveney
Fancy going to the Dogs? Peterborough Greyhound is back by popular
demand on Wednesday 13 March. Price of £28 includes coach travel,
entrance, 3-course meal plus hot beverage. For your convenience a full
drink and tote messenger service is provided to your table. Only five
tickets are remaining.
The musical 'Kinky Boots' is based on the 2005 British film of
the same name which was inspired by true events. A great
opportunity to catch a very popular show. This is a
comfortable and relaxed journey to Milton Keynes with very
good seats in the theatre for Wednesday 30 October. Only 3
tickets left at £40 each which includes the coach travel. The
coach leaves Chatteris at 10.00am to allow plenty of time for
coffee, lunch and early shopping for Christmas 2019!!
The Christmas 2019 outing will be to the Thursford Spectacular. This is an extravaganza of non-stop singing,
dancing, music, humour and variety. It is a fast moving celebration of the festive season featuring an eclectic mix
of both seasonal and year-round favourites. You can sit back and be taken on a magical journey of music, sound
and colour which you never thought possible.
There is one ticket left, therefore, act quickly to reserve your place and then enjoy the anticipation during the
spring, summer and autumn for the largest Christmas Show in England. We would also appreciate full payment
for tickets as soon as convenient. Wednesday 27th November 2019. Time tbc.
DIARY
DATE: ACTIVITY: PRICE: CONTACT:
21 February - OPEN MEETING at KING EDWARD CENTRE. Alison Robson
Thursday 10.00am. Speaker: James Clerk - 'Ely Gin'
13 March -Wednesday PETERBOROUGH GREYHOUNDS £28 Chris Coveney
Leaving Furrowfields at First Race at 7.05pm. Cost includes Coach Travel,
5.30pm. entry and a 3 course meal in the Raceview
Restaurant. FIVE TICKETS LEFT
21 March - Thursday OPEN MEETING at KING EDWARD CENTRE. Alison Robson
10.00am. Speaker: Roy Smart - 'Amy Wonderful Amy'
18 April - Thursday OPEN MEETING at KING EDWARD CENTRE. Alison Robson
10.00am. Speaker: Michael Fieldhouse -
'Toastmaster/Policing'
30 October 2019 - KINKY BOOTS at Milton Keynes Theatre. £40.00 Chris Coveney
Wednesday Performance starts at 2.30pm. There will be an
Leaving Furrowfields at opportunity to purchase lunch before the show.
10.00am. THREE TICKETS LEFT
27 November - THURSFORD SPECTACULAR £52.00 Chris Coveney
Wednesday Show Performance starts at 2.00pm.Details to
Leaving Furrowfields follow in the New Year.
at... TBC. ONE TICKET LEFT!
For further information and more events visit the Chatteris U3A website https://u3asites.org.uk/chatteris
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