Andover U3A

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Article	Notes
A Message From Our Committee	An update on activities.
Keep Connected, Keep Active, Keep Smiling	Ideas for things to do at home
Coronavirus	Important Information for all members, including links to NHS guidance.
Proposed New Group	Would you like to join a Group focusing on Climate Change?
Royal Holloway University Citizens 800 Project

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A Message From Our Committee

Dear Members,

Just a short note to keep you all up to date on matters U3A. We have been successful in finding a new Treasurer and we now have a team of two.  Jeanette and Michael Potts will be running our accounts together. The handover is being conducted now and when completed the details for future financial transactions will be published on the website.

To achieve the handover according to our constitution both Jeanette and Michael have to be members of the committee, which itself is restricted to 10 members. Eleanor Wright has very kindly agreed to step down from her position on the committee a year early to allow us to have our new accounting team. Apart from her committee work Eleanor, along with Caroline, has been the leading light behind our Christmas functions for the last 2 years. Both events have been thoroughly enjoyed by all those who have attended them and this is in no small part down to Eleanor’s work. Thank you.

Of course this also means that David Rae will be relinquishing his post after 7 years. He has guided us through a number of changes which we have had to follow being members of the Third Age Trust and the Charity Commission. Along with this he has steered us on to a solid financial path which will see us through the next few years. A very big thank you to David from both the committee and all members.

Moving on to our future activities and there is now light at the end of the tunnel. A number of groups are now meeting under current Covid 19 guidelines. Indeed one section is so popular that we have formed a second Croquet group. (Details can be found on the Our Groups pages of our website). The Covid 19 guidelines are quite clear (as at 19 July 2020). For outdoor gatherings, groups of 6 and maintaining the 2 metre rule, seem to be the easiest to follow. Groups can meet inside but numbers and from how many households are as current regulations.

The monthly meetings are more problematic. As you are aware the Government has not yet given the OK for theatres to open and it appears that there will not be a relaxation of this rule in the near future. More specifically the Fairground Hall would have to be made Covid secure which would be an onerous and expensive task for the Parish Council. We have spoken to them and following the current guidance over social distancing it is reckoned that the hall can accommodate 26 people. The follow on from this is that we are possibly not looking until next year before we can meet up at Weyhill again.

Finally can you please just bear in mind any member who might appreciate an offer of help in any form: shopping, collection of a prescription or even just a chat for those who may be on their own and feeling particularly isolated. Just a little goes a long way.

The Committee

Andover U3A

19 July 2020

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Keep Connected, Keep Active, Keep Smiling

The Andover U3A will be emailing all members, for whom we have an email address, on a regular basis in order to swap ideas of activities to keep our members occupied during this period of social distancing.

Full details of suggested activities can be found on our Keep Connected, Keep Active, Keep Smiling page.

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Coronavirus

Image by purpleshorts from Pixabay

The latest NHS advice and guidance on the outbreak of Coronavirus can be found on the NHS's Coronavirus (COVID-19) web page. Links to Government Guidance can be found on our Grapevine page.

Members who become ill and self-isolate should inform the Group Leaders of any group of which they are a member, so that those Group Leaders can then inform other members of their group. Group Leaders should also inform the Secretary, Richard Selley, by email to r_selley@sky.com

Members are advised to regularly check our Andover U3A News and Grapevine pages, plus their email In-Boxes, for updates.

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New Group

The Climate Change Matters Group

Member Marie Dyke was reading through the Spring 2020 issue of the Third Age Matters magazine when an article caught her eye. The subject matter was one close to her heart: Climate Change. Marie says that she has done her best to reduce her carbon footprint by cutting out the amount of plastic that she uses, using the car less, upcycling and recycling as much as possible, but now she would like to do more.

Unable to find a local Climate Change group, she has offered to join with other interested members in setting up a Climate Change Group within our U3A.

Marie has suggested that the group could meet on a monthly basis, to share ideas on Climate Change, to think of initiatives to spread the word on Climate Change, and to work together as a group to promote this most important issue.

If you are interested in joining this Group, to be called "Climate Change Matters", please get in touch with Marie by emailing her at Mapdyke@outlook.com.

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Royal Holloway University

~ Partnered with the University of the Third Age ~

Citizens 800 Shared Learning Project

Background

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Citizens Project aims to provide a better understanding of the development of the relationship between the citizen and the state in Britain over the last 800 years.

Further information about the Citizens Project can be found on the Citizens 800 website.

U3A Involvement

Royal Holloway University is partnered with the University of the Third Age (U3A), and encourages U3A members to join Royal Holloway's programme of Shared Learning Projects.

Shared Learning Projects involve a team of U3A members carrying out research for an institution such as a museum, archive or gallery where there is a specific project to which volunteers can contribute. The emphasis is on partnership:   the host organisation working with members of the U3A team who are contributing to the project.

A number of articles produced by U3A volunteers as part of the Shared Learning Projects can be found here.

Upcoming projects include investigations relating to the Peterloo Massacre, Chartism, and the pre-World War 1 period of "The Great Unrest".

How to Volunteer

Further information and details of how to volunteer can be found on the U3A area of the Citizens 800 website.