Newsletter from your Chairman December 2021
Hi everyone,
I hope this newsletter finds you all well. I open this newsletter with an apology for delaying the writing of the December edition. I am guilty of waiting to see how the omicron variant of Covid19 developed. I do not enjoy having to write any letter/newsletter that uses the word ‘CANCEL’ but I have decided that it would not be sensible to hold the December monthly meeting on the 29th - so this is your official notification that the December meeting is CANCELLED.
So where are we now? The infection rates for Edenbridge have, once again, started to increase quite dramatically. There is no certainty that the omicron variant of Covid19 will cause hospital admissions with the risk of severe illness, but we cannot risk a meeting where our plan was to have a post-Christmas party which would have involved a large group of people mixing in an enclosed space.
Looking back to the last monthly meeting our guest speaker, Janie Ramsay, brought the history of our 5 Queen regnants to life and her talk was enjoyed by over 60 members.
The disruption that Covid19 has caused to all organisations has created some problems for our membership secretary. By now, if you have paid your 2021/22 subs, you will be the proud owner of a shiny new blue membership card. Some of you may not have been to the AGM or the November meeting and will therefore have missed the membership checks that were carried out, BUT you still may be attending some of our group meetings. So please help by checking that you have a blue membership card and, if you have forgotten to update your subscription, please contact Estelle ([email protected]). Details on renewing are on the Edenbridge u3a website (www.edenbridgeu3a.co.uk/join-us.html). We are asking our group leaders to check that their current members are on the full membership list.
Some of you may also be members of groups in Westerham. Your membership of Edenbridge entitles you to be a member of a group in Knole, Sevenoaks and Westerham at no additional cost (providing there is a vacancy in that group of course!). Some Edenbridge members who are members of a Westerham group have been sent a membership application form to complete. As a reciprocal member, remember there is no need to pay another u3a membership fee.
I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and let’s hope that 2022 will be a happier year for us all. It will be so good if next year Covid19 stops having such a dramatic effect on our lives and activities.
I really hope that next year will allow us to return to some degree of normality – our next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday 26th January. Our guest speaker booked is Michael Smith who will be talking to us about the 19th Century Polar Explorer, Captain Francis Crozier. Obviously. we will be monitoring the new variant of Covid19, omicron, to see what the future regulations will be. So, at the moment, I cannot confirm that the January meeting will go ahead but will let you know in the next newsletter.
PS At least the garden keeps growing!
Border planted up with tulip bulbs and Winter pansies with some Christmassy sprigs of holly – which also act as a cat deterrent against the border becoming a feline latrine!
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Previous editions of our newsletter can be found in the Newsletter archive