Happy Easter everyone. I was fortunate enough not to have to dress up like a chicken to get an Easter egg….were you?
The next meeting is our AGM. It will be as brief as possible so that it does not overrun the meeting but we have certain formalities to attend to. As you are aware I am standing down as Chairman having done nearly 4 years. I wish to thank you for your kind comments and I am very glad to have “led” such a brilliant group of people for so long. Please trust me once more: this U3A will go on and you will not notice much difference. I shall still be writing the newsletters, still doing the trips and still attending all the meetings that I currently attend: I am not going anywhere and 
intend to make my presence felt! Brenda Spear who has been our membership secretary since we started is also standing down and is taking a deserved break to deal with her growing family! Brenda deserves our praise for setting up the membership databases from scratch and managing to keep control of them as more and more people joined us. Thanks Brenda, we really appreciate your hard work. The current committee is excellent and they are very capable of taking this U3A forward for the next few years. We have three people applying to come onto the committee and two vacancies so we will have to have an election. More about that below.
AGM: For practical reasons we do not want you all to attend the AGM; obviously should you want to you would be very welcome but we haven’t enough seats for 350 of you! However we are aware that some of you may wish to vote on the committee members. So we have come up with a cunning plan: You will get a voting sheet this weekend with the names of all the candidates willing to stand. The sheet will also tell you what they currently do for the U3A to help you put a face to a name. There are 11 nominations for 10 vacancies so we would like you to vote for the 10 people you would like to see on the committee. You can return your voting form to me on agysimons@onetel.com or to the secretary, Glynn White on gandbwhite@btinternet.com or post them to Glynn White at 5 Brookside, Weston Turville or get someone to bring to the meeting. We need the forms returned before Wednesday 23rd April so we can count them at the AGM. Any forms returned after this date will not be counted.
MEMBERSHIP: Membership renewals are due. Please send cheque for £15 payable to Weston Turville U3A to Mary Duly at 1 Bridle Manor, Halton, Aylesbury. HP22 5PQ or you can pay at the monthly meeting. There is an Urban Myth floating around that this U3A is full and not taking new members. This is a myth and totally untrue. We do not need to advertise for members but we will accept anyone who wishes to join us. There is no upper limit on our membership numbers and if you hear anyone saying saying we have a waiting list, it would be appreciated if you could correct the impression please!
SPEAKER: Our speaker this month is Andy Smith talking on Life in the Music
EXTREME VISITS:
14th April: The Extreme Visits group piloted Hovercraft and crawled over trains and planes in Leicestershire and Warwickshire on a perfect day out. No casualties reported. (other pictures in the Gallery, above)
Clay Pigeon Shooting: 13th May £39.00 at College Farm, Long Crendon (and optional lunch at Three Horseshoes, Towersey 12:00). Space still available – contact Adrian.
Over the O2: 9th June There is still availability for the walk over the O2. Tourists/Shoppers/Spectators also welcome. Contact Adrian if interested.
Behind the Scenes at Brighton Racecourse: 15th September £51 (including Coach from Weston Turville, Behind the scenes tour of the Racecourse, Premier enclosure ticket, £2 Tote betting voucher, Raceday programme, One drink voucher)
HOLIDAYS: I have now been told that the holidays advertised for the last couple of months have been cancelled because of a low take up. Please contact Doreen Lister or Ceinwyne Jones for further information.
CRAFTS/NEEDLEWORK/QUILTING:
Recently these groups joined together for a joint visit to the sewing and craft show at the
NEC at Birmingham. A self-drive mini bus was hired and with me at the wheel, off we set to the show. We arrived safely and immediately stopped for a coffee. At this point the group split up to explore the 3 halls of exhibits dependant on their interests. I went with Janet Hawkins to explore the crafts. Suffice to say she led me astray and we ended up having our photo taken with this bloke called Bob! For some reason the other ladies present declined the offer of the photo …
Mandi Simons
ANTIQUES AND COLLECTABLES: I look forward to seeing you all on Monday 19th May in The Chapel Hall at 2.30pm, when the subject will be Post Cards and Cigarette Cards, so bring along anything you feel is relevant for us all to enjoy.
Carol Theobald
LOCAL HISTORY: The next meeting on 22nd April is entitled Sex in Buckingham and strangely it is booked up! The plan is to meet in the 5 Bells PH car park at 9:00am. We can then arrange car sharing so as to limit the number of cars. If all that sex has not worn you out the next trip is a guided walk in Berkhamsted and its Castle on 27th May. Contact Glynn White for details.
GARDEN VISITS: The next Garden visit is on 15-May when we go to ‘Montana’, Shire Lane, Cholesbury. Time arrival for 2pm for visit 4 acre Woodland garden, Fernery, unusual shrubs, Spring flowers and Homemade teas. (an NGS garden) Speak to Gaynor Edwards for more details.
MONEY MATTERS: The next meeting is on the 1st May at the WT Chapel and is entitled ‘Keep Yourself Safe’. The guest speaker will be none other than our own Mandi Simons who will discuss personal safety, keeping your possessions safe and what you can do to protect yourself.
Carol Johnson
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY: This group has been meeting at the Hub during the colder months but is changing its meeting point to the Chandos PH in Weston Turville. If you are interested in becoming a better photographer then see the tips on the website or contact the group leader to find out what we are doing! All levels are welcome and most of us have compact cameras and enthusiasm rather than expensive DSLR’s and knowledge. So please feel free to join us.
Mike Bean
Something to amuse you:
