Coronavirus
The CE&DU3A committee wants to reassure members that it has given thought to the impact of the contraction of coronavirus by any of our members, especially given our demographic. Please see the statement issued by National U3A on our website.
We will, for the time being, continue to run our monthly meetings at the Union Church and other social events such as the quiz night and coffee mornings.
Individual members, groups and group conveners may wish to decide themselves what course of action to take at this time. Members returning from infected areas are expected the follow the advice given re calling NHS 111 and self-isolation. Should any member become infected please let us know immediately by emailing vicechair@cedu3a.org.uk.
This advice will remain under review and be updated accordingly. Keep well.
AGM
Crouch End & District U3A, a registered charity, will be holding its second Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 2 April 2020, directly after the April monthly meeting. At the AGM you will be asked to elect officer and non-officer Trustees, approve the accounts and hear a brief overview of our progress to date and plans for the future.
The AGM should not last longer than one hour and it is important that as many of you as possible stay, because this year we need a minimum of 85 people present to be quorate. Tea, coffee, soft drinks, wine and nibbles will be available. Looking forward to seeing you there.
Monthly Meetings
Our monthly meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month at Union Church and Community Centre, Weston Park, N8 9PX. They are open to all members (please bring your membership card) and you are welcome to bring a guest: it is possible to join at the meeting.
Talks now start at 10.30 am with U3A notices, followed by the main speaker at 10.45 am. Please could you kindly ensure that you arrive by 10.30 am, to avoid causing any undue disruption. Members arriving after 10.30 am will be asked to access the venue via the entrance to the right of the main door (up the ramp).
Tea and coffee are available from 10.00 am – please bring your own cup or mug.
Thursday 12 March 2020
Dave Clarke: Untangling the web – demystifying spiders at ZSL London Zoo
Spiders are a much-maligned group of animals, but vital to our continued existence (and really nice once you get to know them!). This talk will illustrate the way ZSL London Zoo aims to redress the balance, by educating people about the positive side of spiders, presenting innovative displays to the public, direct conservation initiatives, and even curing arachnophobia on the Friendly Sproder Programme. Dave Clarke is Head of Invertebrates at the Zoological Society of London
Thursday April 2 2020
Dr Kat Jungnickel : Bikes and Bloomers – Victorian Women Inventors and Their Extraordinary Cyclewear
Victorian women were early adopters of the bicycle during the 1890s cycling boom in England. Yet, ordinary middle and-upper-class fashions were vastly inappropriate for cycling; skirts and petticoats caught in wheels and tangled in pedals. Looking too much like a cyclist in more ‘rational dress’ could elicit verbal and sometimes physical assault by parts of society threatened by progressive ‘New Women’. In this talk Dr Kat Jungnickel reveals how some pioneering Victorian women not only imagined, made and wore radical new forms of cycle wear, but also patented their inventive designs. The most remarkable of these were convertible costumes that enabled wearers to secretly switch ordinary dress into cycle wear. Join Kat as she demonstrates some of these costumes and shares fascinating stories of 1890s inventors whose cycling contributions continue to shape urban life for contemporary mobile women.
Dr Kat Jungnickel is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. She teaches and researches on mobilities, inventions, gender and DIY technology cultures.
A CEDU3A Facebook milestone has been reached! We now have 200 people in our Facebook group, far more than most U3As, some of which struggle to get a Facebook group going. This is supposedly because ‘older’ people are reluctant to engage with social media, but our members buck the trend. We are young at heart and in mind and know that Facebook can be an excellent tool for sharing up-to-the minute news and photos of your U3A activities. Keep it up, CEDU3Aers: with around 800 members in total, we have many more milestones to be reached!
Union Church and Community Centre
If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints regarding the environment provided within Union Church and Community Centre please could you pass these on within CEDU3A and kindly not approach Union Church members of staff. You can pass your views on to CEDU3A volunteers on the door at monthly meetings, any member of the Executive Committee or your convener if attending an interest group there and they will take appropriate action.
Membership
If you haven’t renewed you are no longer eligible to attend groups, meetings and events. You can renew your membership in future by contacting the membership secretary: membership@cedu3a.org.uk.
Social Events
Special ‘Welcome Coffee Morning’ for New Members
We are hosting a coffee morning specifically for new members who have joined in the last year and not yet attended such an event. This will be at 10am on Tuesday 31 March 2020 at the Hornsey Moravian Church Hall. Places are limited so please contact Llorett Kemplen via nmsc@cedu3a.org.uk if you would like to attend and she will forward specific details to you.
Coffee Mornings
These monthly get-togethers, held in people’s homes from 11.00 am to 12.30 pm, are a great way to meet other members. New dates have just been arranged: 7 April, 21 May and 18 June. To book please contact Jacki on https://cedu3a.org.uk/coffee-mornings. We need hosts from July onwards. If you would like to host a morning (the day of the week is your choice), or need any further information, please contact Jacki, as above.
First Monday Pub Lunches
Our pub lunches are held on the first Monday of every month at the Mossy Well in Muswell Hill. They provide an opportunity for members to meet and chat in an informal and social atmosphere. Members, of course, have to pay for their own food and drinks. If you would to come along, please email pub@cedu3a.org.uk.
New Groups
German Conversation 2
This second German Conversation Group is for advanced speakers of German. It will also be suitable for those who once spoke German fluently or very well, and now feel their language skills are a bit rusty. Please join us at our monthly Kaffeeklatsch, when our aim is to provide an opportunity for German speakers to revive, practise and develop their German in a sociable and supportive atmosphere.
Creative Writing for New Media
This group will take an experimental approach to making fiction and non-fiction, mixing narrative, memoir and poetry with multimedia elements: photos, artwork, video, music, sound, making work collaborative and interactive, publishing online and on paper, producing blogs, podcasts, e-books, artworks & performing live. The Group is open to those with some experience of writing creatively, providing a supportive space to try out different styles and approaches, to support each other in our writing projects, and in finding the right readership and audience for our work. Interest in other art forms and digital platforms is useful too.
End of Life Matters is a new group for members who would like to learn, find out more, discuss, review options available in respect of topics relevant to the end of life. The emphasis will be on practical issues -providing information to assist individual decision making according to each person’s values and needs. All views are welcome. The Convener is not an expert or teacher but rather will coordinate in seeking and sharing relevant information. The Group will meet for the first time in April 2020 between 2.15p.m.-4.15p.m. and thereafter quarterly at a home near Alexandra Park Station, N22.
Newsletter
We are planning to launch our own CE&DU3A Newsletter in April/May this year. This will focus on all the wonderful people, their stories, activities and achievements that make up our U3A.
There will be two or three editions every year to include profiles of members, in-depth looks at our different Groups and National or regional U3A events of interest. We will include your poems, short stories, memories, gardening tips, a quiz, suggestions for beers or wines, local interest and history stories and much more.
So we need your help in contributing to the newsletter. Have you written a book, swum the channel or climbed Everest lately? Is your Group planning a special event or activity? Are you a keen photographer? We would welcome high-resolution photographs that tell our story. The newsletter will be in both digital and print format, to also distribute in local libraries and doctors surgeries to tell others about our organisation. Please send your ideas and stories to news@cedu3a.org.uk
Your chance to volunteer
At CEDU3A we couldn’t exist without our volunteers who help make it all happen. Following the success of recent calls for volunteers (thank you all!), we now have a dedicated web page to make it even easier to find an opportunity that suits you. Check it out at www.cedu3a.org.uk/volunteer.
We still need members to help with:-
Monthly meetings: Join our team of volunteers to help at Monthly Meetings (signing in, greeting or serving refreshments). Please contact Jenny or Beatrice at volunteers@cedu3a.org.uk.
Conveners for Architecture, Natural History, and Art Appreciation groups. You don’t need to be an expert, just have an interest in the topic. Please contact Graham at newgroups@cedu3a.org.uk.
Hosting a Coffee Morning: see above. Please contact Jacki at www.cedu3a.org.uk/coffee-mornings
Helping with the projector: Help Brenda with the occasional setting up of a projector at our Monthly Meetings. Please contact brendard31@hotmail.com.
Attending monthly meetings as a First Aider: We like to have two trained first aiders present at our monthly meetings. Please let us know if you would like to be added to the list of available volunteers. Contact brendard31@hotmail.com.
Conveners of new groups: There is always space for a new group. If you have an idea for a group, which you would be happy to convene, contact Graham at newgroups@cedu3a.org.uk.
More details at www.cedu3a.org.uk/volunteer/ or contact Jenny or Beatrice at volunteers@cedu3a.org.uk to discuss.
National U3A Newsletter
If you haven’t already signed up to receive the regular free National Newsletter from The Third Age Trust, sent by email, then you can do so by contacting the following site: https://u3a.org.uk/newsletter.
Community Listings
Organising a concert, gig or art show (or something completely different)? Here’s a chance to publicise it via our website’s Community Listings section (https://cedu3a.org.uk/community-listings/). Entries (50 words or less) should include your U3A group(s), membership number (which won’t appear) and link. The listings are open to CE&DU3A members only, for non-U3A events: nothing religious, political or profit-making.
For further details, or to submit a listing email Chris Howe: listings@cedu3a.org.uk.
London Region U3A Events
Chelsea Physic Garden Study
The University of Westminster is working in collaboration with the Chelsea Physic Garden to explore people’s experience of sensory descriptive tours and is looking for participants. Your involvement would mean going to the Garden for a sensory tour which would last for around an hour and completing a questionnaire. All participants will receive a £10 shopping voucher. There are two tours (A and B), each with a back-up date in case of bad weather. Tour start time to be confirmed.
Tour A: Friday 27 March (back-up date Monday 30 March)
Tour B: Wednesday April 1 (back-up date Friday April 3)
Location: Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, SW3 4HS. Nearest tube Sloane Square. https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/
If interested please contact Rachel Hutchinson on w1580109@my.westminster.ac.uk.
A Spring Bouquet
Bookings are now open for A Spring Bouquet, the spring concert hosted by the London Region of U3As in collaboration with the Brandenburg Choral Festival of London, 2-4 pm on 20 May at the magnificent church of St Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield, London’s oldest parish church. The programme includes choral favourites, organ solos and seasonal poetry and prose selected and read by U3A members. Cost: £19.50 including refreshments and programme. Members are encouraged to bring family and friends. By inviting members of the public, we hope to raise the U3A profile in the London Region, and provide an opportunity to advertise U3A Day which is to follow two weeks later. Tickets from https://u3alondonregion.wufoo.com/forms/r1ngy8v417somul/
U3A Science Network
The U3A Science Network is returning to Conference Aston from 10 to 13 August 2020 for its 17th annual residential meeting – a mixture of talks, visits and socialising. You don’t need any specialist knowledge to enjoy the event: activities are designed to appeal to anyone with an interest in the world around them and provide opportunities for sharing their interest and knowledge.
For details see https://u3asites.org.uk/u3asciencenetwork/welcome
Free Foxtrails Offer
This pre-booked self-paced walking trail in central London provides challenging clues to solve along the route, while discovering hidden parts of our beautiful capital city. The trail starts and ends at the City of London Information Centre, St Paul’s Churchyard, City of London, EC4M 8BX. It takes a minimum of 2-3 hours and covers a walking distance of 2-3 miles. Individuals can enjoy a free trail for groups of 2-6 people by pre-booking for the day/time of their choice. Offer open until 31 March 2020.
