Monthly Meeting

The Main Meeting is held monthly, at 10.00 a.m. on the first Wednesday of each month.

Upcoming Zoom Meetings 2021

3rd February – Philip Caine (writer)
From Barrow to Baghdad

3rd March – Beatrice Von Preussen
Arctic and Antarctica as an artist on board a Science Ship

7th April – Christine Green (Graphic Designer for the BBC)
Working for Auntie

5th May – Steve Herra
Cunard History and Glamorous Stars

 

Members are required to request an invitation to the Monthly Zoom Meeting in response to an information email which will be sent out shortly before each meeting.

If you want telephone access so that you can listen in to the meeting, contact any committee member or tel 07565 928 992

December Monthly Meeting Report

Approx 70 people attended the December Monthly Meeting on Zoom. As Jack Perks was filming for The One Show we had a last minute substitute in Barry Harper who spoke about Crossing the Great Slave Lake.

Barry was a member of the first team to cross the Great Slave Lake in Arctic Canada on skis in temperatures of -55 degrees Centigrade.  He gave an excellent talk about the planning, equipment required and the ordeals and adventures on the trek.  Our members really enjoyed this talk and there were lots of positive comments:

“That was undoubtedly the best talk we have heard at the u3a absolutely riveting from beginning to end.”
“we did enjoy the talk on his expedition across the ice.”
“I was disappointed Jack Perks couldn’t make it but I SO enjoyed the replacement speaker. He was fantastic. Itwould be good to have him again sometime.”

Press Report – November 2020

Eastwood and District u3a have opened their monthly meetings again!

The first meeting since March was held online via Zoom on 4th November 2020 and approximately 60 members successful joined the meeting. This was a, ‘A Morning with Fool’s Gold’, who are a musical duo based in Durham. Members firstly watched a video of inspirational groups around the country who were enjoying different experiences of meetings mostly online.

Fool’s Gold Zoom Show was a selection of songs which had background stories or histories, which they gave details of as an introduction, with well-presented photographs and illustrations. These were quite varied, starting with a song about a French artist who painted Sedan chairs in the mid 1700s; next was about an American country and western singer who became known as The Sunshine Governor; then they explained the next was about the Menon Memorial Wall; next a well-known song but the story behind it came from a love story in the 1470s, with a love potion made from parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme; they finished with a melody of music hall songs. There show was very well presented and interesting as well as entertaining.

After Fool’s Gold, the interest Groups coordinator outlined the 9 groups that are currently meeting – Art Appreciation, Bird Watching, Book Group, Coffee & co, Coffee Mates, Creative Writing, Family History, French, History of England and Vegetable gardening (not winter months).The Chairman stressed that Eastwood & District u3a is still open for business and still accepting new members at this time when it is important to make contact with people.

Members were then divided into Breakout rooms with 6-7 in each and they had about 25 mins to talk together.  Much of the talk for some was about getting groups up and running, possibly on Zoom. The members returned to the main room for the final few minutes and the meeting closed by 11.45 am.

Next meeting is Wednesday 2nd December at 10.00 am on Zoom with a presentation by the well-known wildlife photographer Jack Perks.

Caroline Winfield