January 2022 - U3A Site Builder
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January 2022 Chairman’s Report “Our Vision is to make lifelong learning, through the experience of u3a, a reality for all third agers.” May I firstly wish all of you a Happy New Year. Let’s hope that 2022 breaks the mould of the decade and we can learn how to live more fully in a world with COVID. I’m not a great one for New Year resolutions but January seems as good a time as any to reflect on the principles which bind u3a members together. The Third Age Trust, which is the umbrella organisation for all u3as in the UK, sets out some guiding principles for the u3a movement. The title of this article sets out the vision of u3a and you can view the full set of principles on the Membership page of our website. As I re-read them a few phrases stood out to me as particularly pertinent. Members promote the values of lifelong learning. The learning aspect of the u3a is its distinguishing characteristic. The learning can take many forms: academic, physical, sporting, skills and more, but the u3a is more than just a sports and social club. There is no distinction between the learners and the teachers. Of course, members will have different skills and abilities in various areas, but all need to make their contribution to the groups they belong to and to the general well-being of the organisation. Members should do all they can to ensure that people wanting to join a u3a can do so. This means that we must be willing to accept new members into our interest groups whenever we can. It can be hard to include a new member into a group which is well established and cosy, but that is what this principle requires us to do. Each u3a is a mutual aid organisation, operationally independent but a member of The Third Age Trust. Every u3a is an independent organisation registered with the Charity Commission. This status demands that organisationally we fulfil the requirements of charity law. It means that legally we are obliged to have an elected committee (trustees) with a named Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary and to produce inspected accounts annually. Belonging to u3a requires us to be willing to use our particular skills and abilities to support each other and the organisation. At our February monthly meeting we will be holding our AGM. This, we still hope, will be a “live” meeting but we will be enabling people to vote by email and post prior to the meeting. Of the 12 committee members elected in 2021, 7 will not be standing again in 2022.
In addition to the formal business of a charity, the committee organises and manages the interest groups, the monthly meetings, the coffee mornings, publicity and promotion of the organisation and the communications within it. We have had two volunteers willing to join the committee, but we clearly need more; so Grantham u3a needs you. There are lots of different skills needed to run a u3a, and you’ll be joining a team which genuinely enjoys working together. Please seriously consider what you have to offer and give me a call (01476 530361) or send an email to chair.granthamu3a@gmail.com Steve Potts, Chairman Christmas Tree Festival Not everybody was able to visit the Christmas Tree in St Wulfram’s Church, so please see the attached photo of our u3a tree, assembled by several committee members. Thank you to all those who provided our special decorations.
Oh yes it was!
The final u3a monthly meeting was held in St Wulfram’s Church and was attended by over 60 members. As
well as enjoying seasonal refreshments, members were entertained by a much-shortened version of the
pantomime, Cinderella. You will see from the accompanying photo (courtesy of Pauline Imber), from left to
right, the reduced cast consisting of one ugly sister, Cinderella, a narrator, the Prince and the Fairy
Godmother. I am pleased to report that everything turned out “all right” in the end, so much so that the
five players were encouraged to perform it all over again, to much acclaim!
Membership News
New Members
We extend a warm welcome to the following new members who have joined since the last newsletter was
published: Heather Butterworth, Tony and Glendyr Saward, Linda Pashley, Lynda Strodder, Jacqueline
Dowse, David Jones, Fay and Peter Sturgess and Lesley and David Lynn.
Subscriptions for 2022
Membership Renewal for 2022
It is now time to renew your u3a membership for 2022. This can be done online on our website or by
renewal form which can be downloaded from our website or obtained from the membership secretary:
Rachel Southwell, Redhill Barn, Scotland Lane, Ingoldsby, Grantham NG33 4ES Tel: 01476 585861
memsec.granthamu3a@gmail.com
The renewal fee will be £10.00 for full members or £6 for associate members, as advised in previous
newsletters. If you have decided not to re-join, please let the membership secretary know so that your
details can be removed from our database and you won’t be chased for payment!
If you have any queries about your membership, please contact Rachel as above.
Newsletter Delivery Update
Please note we shall no longer be sending out newsletters in the post in 2022. They will be available for
collection at The Guildhall monthly meetings and at the Box Office there, as well as at the monthly coffee
mornings. If you are not able to arrange to receive your newsletter in this way, please contact the Editor as
follows:
Pam Down, 17 Welby Gardens, Grantham, NG31 8BN Tel 01476 576204
Monthly Meetings
Tuesday 18th January 2022 at 2pm in the Guildhall Theatre. Geoff Harris will be recounting ‘The
Toastmaster’s Tale’.
Tuesday 15th February 2022 at 2pm in the Guildhall Theatre, Annual General Meeting.
Coffee Morning
The next coffee morning will be on Tuesday 25th January from 10.00am to 11.30am in St Wulfram’s
Church and is open to all members.
Special invitations for members
Silver Listeners
I read an article in the Third Age Matters magazine by Esther Rantzen. She was talking about a scheme,
Silver Stories, whereby people are put in touch with a school. The school then arranges to telephone you
to listen to children reading stories to you. It is not up to you to choose, the school may be anywhere in
the country.
I joined in and find it very enjoyable and rewarding. They are in need of more volunteer Listeners now, so
if you can spare a little time they would be very grateful.
Please get in touch by ringing Hannah Turner on 07535 792621 or email her at
hannahturner@alertacall.com
Pauline Speed
Weds 9th March, 2pm start, at Grantham Museum
The Local History Group invites you to a talk on Harlaxton Manor by Dr Edward Bujak, former Senior
Lecturer, British Studies and History at Harlaxton College. The fee will be determined by numbers
attending (hopefully less than £5pp) and will be confirmed prior to the event. Refreshments will be
provided by the Museum separately @ £1 per cup. Please contact Group Leader, Anne Rudderham (07754
702919 / 01476 593721 or email annerudderham23@gmail.com) to book your place.
Group News and Reports
Groups’ Co-ordinator Janet Hine grpco.granthamu3a@gmail.com 01400 250984
New Year, New Game
Grantham u3a owns all the equipment necessary to play New Age Kurling (NAK). Now all we need is
people to play the game!
Kurling is a form of the original Curling game, adapted so that it can be played indoors on any smooth, flat
surface such as a sports hall, rather than on ice.
New Age Kurling is a sport that requires participants to deliver ‘stones’ from one end of the court to a target at the other end of the court. The ‘stones’ can be propelled directly by hand or by use of pusher sticks. The target has red, white and blue concentric circles and scoring is determined by the number of stones closest to the centre of the target. Each game normally consists of 6 or 8 ends and is played on a court based on half the width of a standard size badminton court with each end being played in the opposite direction to the previous end. The winner is the player (or team) with the highest number of scoring ‘stones’ at the finish of the game. Before the pandemic we had a very active NAK group. We would now like to restart the group and use the equipment we already own. Why not give it a try? You’ll get some gentle exercise and companionship, and a little bit of competition and excitement! If you’re interested, whether you’ve played the game before or not, please contact Janet Hine, Groups Coordinator, on 01400 250984 or grpco.granthamu3a@gmail.com. Photography Group from Di Hale It has been a busy end of year for some members of the group. The competition for November was Night /Night-time and proved difficult for some (me included) but there were some very good entries. The winning entry was this atmospheric harbour scene from Harvey Robbins. In December the subject was Eyes. It attracted a range of entries from dogs, cattle, zoo animals, birds and children with the winning entry being the shot of the lemur from Doug Hale.
Thanks go to Christine Lee for keeping a tally of each month’s results and putting together the results for 'Photographer of the Year'. Each month the winning entry gets 5 points, second gets 4 and third gets 3 points. Every entry gets 1 point so it's always worth trying. Photographer of the Year this year was Doug Hale who had a placing seven times throughout the year, second was Rona Hallam and joint third Christine Lee and Pauline Imber. Thanks also to Doug Hale for co-ordinating the online monthly competition. We are still hoping to be able to get together for an in-person meeting later this month, but as with all things at present it is 'watch this space'. Local History Anne Rudderham Despite the current Covid situation, we are hoping to continue with our planned programme for 2022 and that our new venue, Grantham Museum, will prove to be popular. January's meeting welcomes back Dr John Manterfield talking about Grantham in the Twenties and in February we see another welcome return from Robert Holland with his talk on the RNLI (with a connection to Grantham I believe!). March's speaker is Dr Edward Bujak who'll be telling us all about Harlaxton Manor (see separate article and invitation to attend) and in April, we'll be going on a guided tour of Grantham's hidden graveyard and a visit to Wyndham (World War 1) Memorial Park. Scottish Country Dancing John Aitken Scottish Country Dancers - still having fun The Group's final class of 2021 saw dancers in kilts as well as tartan, tinsel, festive badges and earrings as well as Christmas jumpers, enjoying dancing to Christmas music with mince pies during the interval. After a week off, the class has begun again, learning new dances as well as practising ones which are on programmes for local Saturday Night Dances in the area. Open windows for ventilation and dancing to stay warm! Scottish Country Dancing helps to keep you physically fit and gives your brain cells a workout at the same time. If you are interested in trying, please get in touch. Several of the current members came and tried and are now dancing several times each week with different local groups. We wish the other groups a Happy New Year and hope our various activities and interests have a successful year, free from Covid-related interruptions. Singing Group John Down The singing group restarted after Covid interruptions in September 2021 with 28 members – a reduction of a dozen or so compared with March 2020. In September we concentrated on reminding ourselves how to sing together again, and in reconditioning our voices. In October we moved on to learning Christmas music so that on 17 th December we were able to perform eight pieces to a small audience of family and friends. The singing went very well, and afterwards we enjoyed mince pies and other seasonal treats. Altogether we had a very enjoyable afternoon.
We will start again on Friday 14th January 2022 when we will begin to learn some new pieces and revise others we learned earlier. New members are always welcome. No previous experience is necessary, neither is an ability to read music. If you are interested, please contact me: John Down 01476 576204 downjs01@gmail.com Guitar Group Graham Welham I would like to wish everyone a Very Happy New Year, and hope the coming year is much better than the past two years. I would also like on behalf of all present and past group members to thank Bryan Leete for organising and leading the guitar group for the past six years. I joined the group last summer; Bryan and the group members have all been very welcoming. Bryan has supported me with taking over the running of the group, I am sure that he will continue to offer sound advice in the future, so once again many thanks. We continue to have our Thursday afternoon music sessions at the Christian Fellowship Church, Belton Avenue. We have availability for up to twenty musicians to attend the group. At the end of January, I should have a clear picture of our confirmed membership. It is possible that we may have up to four spaces available for new members. If anyone is interested in joining the group, please contact me via the u3a portal. Unfortunately we do not teach guitar within the sessions, but there is a lot of experience and help available for anyone who wants to improve their guitar skills and technique. Along with our annual membership, which is currently due, we pay a small fee to use the Church Hall. I am waiting to hear if this cost will increase and will advise all guitar group members as soon as I am notified. Entertainment wise, if anyone knows of any other group within or outside the u3a, who would like us to come and play some music, then please get in touch. Our next planned gig is at the Annual General meeting on 15th February 2022. Gardening Group Pauline Imber Our last meeting in February ’20 is a rather distant and happy memory; chairs packed closely together for a talk/demo on the business of the cut flower industry; chatting, laughing, welcoming new members over tea and cake. All this was so enjoyable, and without the caution of Covid, coughs and coverings of face. An era ago! With such a large membership built up over 14 years, peaking at 90+, and reduced to 70+ by non-renewals last year, indoor monthly meetings are not feasible when considering a restart. However, there will be a way forward. Members have been asked to generate new ideas and encouraged to take responsibility for organising a meeting. Rather than adhere to the well-established format and programme of the past we need not be restricted to the 4th Friday afternoon at 2.00pm. Already suggested, which may appeal to the needs of smaller numbers of people, are Sunday afternoon NGS Garden visits, visit to The Gardening Museum and Chelsea Physic Garden in London by train, Talk/demo by a local flower painter artist, Tour of gardens in Wales – residential, Visits to allotments and smaller gardens locally, Volunteer Gardening at Grantham House (Father Stuart, St Wulframs) We are looking for a new leader, and/or a group of people to form a committee to ensure the continuity of the Gardening Group. I plan to resign the leadership as soon as possible but will always be available for advice. I am extending my appeal for people in the whole of the Grantham u3a to come forward and offer
their skills to lead and manage the interests of a great group of people. New members have always been
welcomed as we have no restriction on numbers. Do, please, give me a call if you can contribute.
The monthly U3A Coffee Morning in St Wulframs has recently provided an ideal venue for our members to
keep in contact – with a huge air space, plenty of seating, low cost hot drinks, no washing up, no rent to
pay, no formal agenda. All courtesy of the resilient and wonderful u3a Chairman and Committee who have
held things together during the past two challenging years to ensure that Grantham u3a survives and can
continue to provide such an asset to the local community.
Here’s to great gardening and growing in 2022.
Members’ Contributions
The Foundling Museum - A Little London Rainbow
For those of you interested in social history, there is a fascinating and endearing museum in London: The
Foundling Museum. It stands on the site of the original Foundling Hospital, established in 1739 by the
philanthropist Thomas Coram to care for babies at risk of abandonment. Women very often had few
choices when faced with the illegitimacy of their baby, and it is estimated that around a thousand babies a
year were abandoned in London’s streets at that time. The Hospital opened in 1741 and closed in 1954,
having cared for 25,000 children.
I have been transcribing some of the heart-rending petition letters that these women wrote to the
trustees, begging them to accept their babies. Not all were accepted, some babies were deemed too sick
to admit, and even of those admitted the mortality rate was very high. A page of admissions for June 1757
that I transcribed showed nineteen admissions, amongst them little Thomas Rainbow. Of those nineteen,
six were removed to foster care, one was lucky enough to be reclaimed later by his birth mother, and
twelve died in the period 1757-1758, of measles, smallpox, typhus or TB.
When the child was admitted they were immediately given a different name and then fostered out, to
return to the Hospital around the age of five, to be trained either to serve in the Army for the boys or for
service in the case of the girls. Mothers could reclaim their children if their circumstances changed upon
payment of a fee. To identify their child, the mother left a “token” attached to the admittance form.
Usually these were scraps of cloth, but all kinds of darling little objects are in the collection: coins, small
hearts, two matching halves of a coin, tiny bracelets, gems, even a small pot of rouge!
Here is part of the collection:
A poignant scrap with the child’s initials in sequins Frances Flint, a foster mother in East Peckham with her charges, c 1900
Late 19C painting of Foundling girls in the Chapel, by Sophia Anderson Our Tommy Rainbow was one of the lucky ones, and I like to think he found happiness: there is a record of marriage on 26th December 1793 between a Thomas Rainbow and Ann Parnell - I hope it was him! www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk If you are interested in transcribing, here is the hub: www.coramstory.org.uk Curiosity killed the cat Today I went for a walk with my dog. I do it every day. We usually go over the fields at Gonerby. This morning there wasn’t a cloud in the sky – well, not unless you looked into the far distance and then there were some. Were they stratus? They certainly weren’t cumulus or – heaven forbid! nimbus. Gladys (my dog) wrestled with a stick. It was a sapling, actually, and newly planted, it seemed. I’d not noticed it before. The young tree wrestled back and Gladys gave up. What was it? A young elm? An ash? It certainly wasn’t an oak. We wandered off into the woods. The dog, ever persistent, found a stick beneath a large, leafless tree. Was it an oak branch? Who knows? It was leafless, as I said. Emerging into the fields, the hedgerows were alive. Buds were beginning to appear. Must be global warming. I peered at them. Were they May blossom already? Or rose hips? They certainly weren’t holly berries. Then a bird began to sing loudly. I couldn’t see him anywhere. Was it a robin? Maybe, but it definitely wasn’t a crow or a wood pigeon. We walked on and then another bird or maybe the same one, sprang onto a slender branch. A jaunty little chap or chap-ess, possibly? Was it a wren? It was very small. It certainly wasn’t a magpie or a thrush. So, we walked on, Gladys and I. In the fields green shoots were appearing. Wheat? Maybe, but they definitely weren’t potatoes or cabbages. Gladys raced off into the stream. Which tributary was this?
Well, it certainly wasn’t the Witham. We arrived home and the only thing I was certain of was my dog, who is a Welsh Border Collie – of that, there is no doubt. As I pondered on all we had seen the thought occurred: a new u3a group has been announced. ‘Wildlife’… maybe I should join? Chrissie Thomas Thank you to all contributors this month. Please send your contributions for the next newsletter to ed.granthamu3a@gmail.com
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