Newsletter from your Chairman February 2022
Hi everyone,
It is good to see that the omicron variant infection rates are showing signs of decreasing. l do understand that for many of you our decision to cancel the January meeting was disappointing. As you are now aware the omicron variant has mainly caused minor side effects to those who have been infected, especially if you have had the two jabs plus the booster. So we are pleased to announce that we will be back to our monthly meetings this month on Wednesday 23 February at Crockham Hill Hall at 2pm. It would still be good if you could all do a lateral flow test before coming. Our guest speaker is Dr Henry Oakeley FRCP who will talk to us about ‘Orchid Hunting in Peru’.
Already the days are getting longer, the catkins are out, daffodils and crocuses are beginning to flower and the birds are singing as if it is Spring. More evidence of Global warming? It will be orange season in Spain soon. Do you remember that, when the Coronavirus pandemic started in China, a potential cure was thought to be to eat oranges! This was quickly proved not to be effective, but an orange a day will not cause you any harm anyway!
In January I promised to bring you up to date with plans for our u3a for the rest of the year. I am pleased to report that many of the group activities are getting started again with some up and running already. Our future monthly meeting programme now looks like this:
Wednesday 30 March – ‘Gardening in a modern environment’ with Jon Allbut
Wednesday 27 April – ‘Landscapes of South East England’ with Geoffrey Mead
Wednesday 25 May – ‘The Lewes Bonfire’ with Andy Thomas
Wednesday 29 June – ‘Glad to be grey!’ with Lady Constance Crabtree
We have a wide-ranging series of topics with two speakers returning to us for a repeat performance but with different titles of course! So put these dates in your diaries.
Sadly, we have lost the Comedy, Ballet and Opera Groups from our list but already four members are interested in a brand-new group – Arabic Studies – and this is currently being constituted. Interested? Contact our group organiser, Brian Swift.
Do you ever feel that you are swimming against the tide? Sometimes I do and I think I have failed my first test of ‘recruitment manager’ for our u3a as I had no responses last month to my requests for two members to take on roles in our organisation. So, I’m trying again –
Do you enjoy our guest speaker talks? Would you like to be the person who chooses those speakers?
Are you artistic? Would you like to take on our notice board that we set up for our monthly meetings with all the u3a news.
Following Paddy Jennings move to Sussex, Molly Ward stepped in to manage our speakers until June. She has already done this role for longer than she wanted so we really do need a ‘new’ member to take on this role! Thanks Molly. Please approach me at the February meeting, or email me, if you are interested.
Looking forward to seeing you all again on the 23rd. Once again, take care, stay safe and keep healthy!
Best wishes
Mike Collins
Chairman
Email [email protected]
PS - Is this the image that will be imprinted in our memory of the last two years?
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Previous editions of our newsletter can be found in the Newsletter archive