Newsletter from your Chairman June 2019

mike collins

So here we are nearly halfway through the calendar year and just under two weeks till the longest day. Thank goodness for the recent rain which has refreshed our gardens and given the garden plants a reprieve from death by drought! How every year is different, apart from becoming a major point of conversation in England, it makes every year in the garden a challenge in so many ways.

Once again, I have witnessed the annual spectacle of our globular cactus stunning us with its flower. For a plant that is so slow growing the emergence of the flower bud through to flowering in just 3 days is remarkable. And then to cap it all the flower only lasts a day!
Pollination and fertilisation over for another year. Look carefully at the photo on the right and you can see two more flowers on the way. I just love watching real nature at work!

cactus flower
cactus flower

Remarkable, but in another way, is the speed and expertise of one of our newer members, Susan Farrell, who has constructed our new website in record time. It went live on the 5th June and if you haven’t looked at it yet here is the website address:
www.edenbridgeu3a.co.uk
Thanks Sue from all of us. Thanks also to Stephen, our previous website manager, who ‘stepped back in’ to keep the old website going during the period that our new one was under construction.

I am sorry that I was away and missed Peter Griffiths, our May speaker, who I gather kept you all enthralled with his highly informative and humorous illustrated talk, on his flying experiences and some of the dramas that occurred. I still marvel when I look up into the sky over Edenbridge and see hundreds of tons of aircraft defying gravity as they start their final approach to Gatwick. Yes, I know it’s all about balanced forces but it’s still amazing!

So what’s happening with U3a this month?

  • Tuesday 25th – our monthly meeting with guest speaker (and one of our members) Briar Blake, who entitles her talk “Scilliness’ and will be talking about her experiences on her many trips to the Isles of Scilly. A talk not to be missed!
  • The search for water continues as our Dowsing group has its next meeting.
  • The Canasta group is getting going this month – want to learn how to play this great card game then sign up now.
  • The Family History Group would also welcome a few new members.

Further details of the above are available in the Groups section.

June also sees the end of our membership year for 2018/19. Memberships are therefore up for renewal on the 1st July.
The good news is that membership remains the same for 2019/2020.
£20 for single membership
£35 for joint membership.
Where else can you get such good value for 38p per week?  AND now you can also pay by bank transfer – just see the website for details of how to do this. (You can of course still pay by cash or cheque at the June Meeting.) The renewal form with bank transfer details can be found in the Join us section.

July 30th is our Annual General Meeting. Once again I’m requesting volunteers to join the committee of our vibrant group. Interested? Then talk to any of our current committee or email me at [email protected]

AND finally this is our cactus the day after flowering “The show is over!”–

Mike Collins

cactus after flowering