Welcome from the Chair
Hi Everyone
Welcome to the September Bulletin.
Later this month you will also be receiving a second communication, as we will be issuing our second newsletter of the year, News@ …. The newsletter is a larger publication, with contributions from members, member profiles, photographs and other images. It will be sent to members as a PDF for downloading. I do hope you enjoy reading them both. Feedback, comments and suggestions from our members are always welcome.
August saw two very different but equally interesting talks, on Alexandra Park and European Erotic Art. The September talks – which promise to be equally good yet different – are listed below, along with how to access the recordings of all our previous talks if you missed them or fancy seeing them again. I hope this is a useful facility.
We ran our first online Quiz Night at the end of July, which was a great success. Congratulations to members of the winning teams. We are planning to hold another one either in late September or early October. Information will be put up online in due course.
The opening up of restaurants, bars and other meeting places has been causing some of our members to question why we have not been able to restart face-to-face meetings. Restrictions have now eased, allowing larger meetings in certain venues and risk-assessed organised activities in Covid 19 Secure Premises. At the same time, government guidance prevents us from socialising indoors in groups of more than two households, including when dining out, and socialising outdoors in a group of more than six from different households.
We are doing everything we can to encourage groups to find ways of operating within both government and National U3A guidance, not least to ensure that our public liability insurance remains valid, but most importantly to ensure that all our members remain safe, including those most vulnerable who have been advised to exercise particular caution. Moving forward with so much uncertainty and still under restrictions was never going to be easy. It is important that group members are mutually supportive, both of each other and their convener, over what is essentially a period of transition to a ‘new normal’. Further information from Diana Pavey on restarting groups appears below.
Happy reading and take care.
Please contact me on chair@cedu3a.org.uk if you have any queries.
Sally, Chair
Online talks in September
The talks will be delivered online via Zoom. Click on Register for more information.
Tuesday 1 September, 11.00 am – 12.15 pm
Sheila Hayman: Senseless: is Artificial Intelligent?
Tuesday 15 September, 11.00 am – 12.15 pm
Tess Lugos: From Evil Wind to Modern Qi: A Brief History of Chinese Medicine
Recorded talks
If you missed the July and August online talks, you can now receive files to download the recordings of these talks via the file-sharing service WeTransfer by e-mailing us at cedu3a@gmx.com.
Available talks are:
Our homes for our future: Janet Sutherland
Vincent Van Gogh – a personal journal through the places he painted: Peter Webb
The history of Alexandra Park: Gordon Hutchinson
European erotic art – Peter Webb
Please include your membership number in your e-mail request.
Restarting groups
National U3A has recently published detailed guidelines covering both indoor and outdoor activities, which are available on our website.
These are in addition to the earlier guidelines covering outdoor groups only. As groups restart, all conveners should carry out simple risk assessments to consider how the activity complies with government and U3A guidelines. These should include, for example, consideration of how social distancing is maintained, maintaining a list of attendees (a requirement for track and trace), avoiding sharing transport and food and drink. The risk assessment should be shared with all potential participants, who should consider their own situation (their own health and that of any member in their household) before deciding to participate. This assessment is strictly personal and does not need to be shared with any other person, including the convener.
More than 50 groups are ‘indoor groups’ which, prior to lockdown, had been meeting in our homes, and under current restrictions are still not able to do so. A questionnaire has been circulated to all conveners, for the particular attention of those convening these indoor groups, asking them and their members to consider a number of options for the future as restrictions ease, for example meeting in external venues, having smaller groups, or continuing with Zoom. Conveners have been asked to respond by 12 September. Feedback is essential for planning purposes, in particular for booking meeting rooms in external venues such as the Union Church, which is due to open again soon.
Groups’ update
Subject to the guidance above, some groups have restarted regular meetings outdoors, including Singing for Pleasure, Crocheting and Felt Making. The felt making sessions will be advertised on the website and on our Facebook page.
In September both Badminton Groups will resume at the Muswell Hill Centre, which is re-opening having met the required guidelines as a Covid 19 secure location.
The Longer Walks Groups has planned walks in the Royston area.
The venue in Islington previously used by the Table Tennis Group is no longer felt to meet our needs. The newly appointed convener is looking for new premises, probably with outdoor tables. If anyone knows of anywhere suitable, please let us know.
Finally, the Pétanque group, which plays at Alexandra Park, is looking for a new convener. This has been a very popular group so if any member is minded to take on the role, please get in touch.
New group : Exploring Poetry Writing
A group for members who are interested in not only reading poetry but also writing their own poems and getting supportive and enthusiastic feedback. The convener is Susan Critchlow and the plan is to meet every three weeks, initially using Zoom. The first meeting is planned for 17 September from 10.00 am to noon.
Find out more …
We currently have nearly 260 people in our Facebook group – about a quarter of our current membership. Yet only 28 have posted items with any regularity. It has been great seeing their photos and stories, but we would love to have a wider range. There must be a whole host of activities that could be shared so we hope there might be more variety soon.
Facebook is also excellent for ‘hot off the press’ news between Bulletins. For example, advice about groups meeting again appeared on the website and Facebook simultaneously. News on restarting one-off workshops for felt making appeared on Facebook first. To get constant updates like these, please join our Facebook group.
Exhibition
Hornsey Historical Society (HHS)/CEDU3A Shared Learning Project
The HHS/CEDU3A Shared Learning Project exhibition Once upon a Time in Crouch End … 1860–1980, which had to be cancelled due to the Covid 19 lockdown, has now been installed in the ArtHouse cinema ready for viewing when it reopens.
Virtual coffee morning
We are now holding virtual coffee mornings, via Zoom. The next meeting is 11.00 am – 11.45 am, Friday 11 September.
Find out more …
