Newsletter from your Chairman December 2022

Hi everyone

This week Winter is upon us – the temperature has certainly dropped and we are facing the prospect of ground frosts later this week. As I write this there are just 12 days to our special Christmas event and 18 days to Christmas. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let’s hope that 2023 sees an end to the war in Ukraine, no more crises in the world caused by global warming, and an end to coronavirus!

Last week Ian Packham wowed us with his presentation on his 13 month trip around the whole of Africa. He was a very brave and determined young man and there was nobody in the audience who would have dared to take on such a challenge.

This month we have a very different guest who will be our main entertainment for our Christmas party. We have managed to get a real pantomime dame to entertain you all while you have a glass of mulled wine to wash down some savoury snacks. Yes, panto comes to Edenbridge u3a at Crockham Hill! Dame Nitty Nora (alias Tony Harris who we last saw as Henry VIII) will be there to entertain you through the afternoon.

Tickets – entry to the party is by ticket only and there are still 12 tickets left – email me at [email protected] and I will respond to your request and give you your ticket number(s). There is no charge for your ticket – it is our way of saying thank you for being a member of Edenbridge u3a.

So this is the structure for the party:

Mulled wine or apple/orange joice on arrival – doors open at 1.45pm.
Members to be seated round tables of 8 laden with table snacks
Entertainment with Pantomime Dame at approximately 2.20pm
Approx 3.30pm Post entertainment Christmas Raffle - don’t forget to bring your numbered ticket
45pm Irish Coffee or tea/coffee with Christmas cake and mince pies etc.
Finish time between 4.15pm and 4.30pm.

The timings are our best estimate of how the afternoon will progress but, with the emphasis on a fun afternoon and Christmas, the timings may vary somewhat.

And now on to 2023 - these are our meeting dates for the first three months of 2023:

Wednesday January 25th – speaker Nicholas Owen, ITV Newsreader
Wednesday February 22nd – speaker Ms. Collett – singer/entertainer
Wednesday March 29th – speaker Paul Robbins – the 60’s

You can see the full programme for the year on our website www.edenbridgeu3a.co.uk/events.html and on our notice board at Crockham Hill.

Finally – excellent pollination of the female holly trees earlier this year has produced a wonderful display of holly berries, just right if you like making Christmas holly wreathes. This year, in the absenc e of my usual Winter flowering pansies to adorn the Spring bulbs while they quietly grow, I have taken advantage of the holly berries to provide some colour. Keen eyed gardeners will also spot that I have gone for Sweet Williams instead of wallflowers to accompany the tulips. Already poking through are daffodils – never known them appear so early – they were up in the last few days of November! The lack of Autumn gales has meant there are large piles of Autumn leaves – a great use for those is to mulch them around your tender plants to offer some protection against the frosts that we know will come soon! I have used leaf litter to cover all the geraniums that I cut down to ground level in November. If they survive under their ‘blankets’ they will be good for cuttings in May 2023. Fingers crossed!