Our Speaker on 1st August 2024 will be from National Coast Watch, Exmouth.
NCI Exmouth is one of 60 National Coastwatch lookout stations around the Coast of England and Wales. They are a uniformed volunteer charity who work with HM Coastguard and other Search and Rescue agencies and keep a visual and listening watch over the Exe Estuary and beach, 7 days a week 365 days a year.
They are all volunteers and report to HM Coastguard and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency but are not part of this government run organisation.
CVu3a Anniversary meal
Tickets for the Anniversary meal are still available. They cost £5 and the meal is Wednesday 11th December at Padbrook Park Hotel. Tickets will be on sale at the August meeting, and you can also order from me to make sure you get one; cvu3avicechair@gmail.com. This can then be paid for at the August meeting or by BACS.
Committee Report
The Executive Committee met on 26 June for our second meeting of the year. The Minutes of this meeting and previous ones can be found on our website, www.culmvalleyu3a.org. You will also find information about your Executive Committee Members for the current year.
This takes me seamlessly into flagging up that at the AGM on 5 September 2024 we will be losing both our interim Chair, Sue Greenhough and our Groups Co-ordinator, Barbie Bradbury.
Sue was always only going to be in post until the next AGM and Barbie has fulfilled her duty of three years in the role. Both posts are essential to the smooth running of the CVu3a and without them the CVu3a cannot continue so although we will miss the valuable input both ladies have given to your u3a over the years we look forward to welcoming new blood to the posts.
To help you in your decision as to whether you could spend a few hours for the good of the CVu3a in the coming years I am including a few notes on what is required of the roles, although speaking to Sue and Barbie would be even better. They can be found at the Monthly Meetings, the next being on 1 August.
Thank you and see you all soon.
Lorna Knowles
Business Secretary
ROLE OF CHAIR
Chair Executive Committee meetings (4 per annum)
Attend “external” meetings as and when required.
Chair Monthly Members Meetings and liaise with Speaker Co-ordinator
Chair AGM
Encourage and support the smooth running of Culm Valley u3a
ROLE OF GROUPS CO-ORDINATOR
Group Maintenance:
Keep Groups under review and trouble-shoot if necessary.
Identify potential Group Contacts
Liaise with Group Contacts re content for UPDATE and website.
New Groups:
Identify potential new Interest Groups and Group Contacts
Co-ordinate the setting up of new groups.
Support new groups and their Group Contacts as they become established.
Attend Executive Committee Meetings
Provide reports and updates for Executive Committee meetings.
Why not consider joining an existing team of Executive Committee Members who will support you and help you in your role.
Message from Barbie
As I come to the end of my 3-year stint on our Committee as your Groups Coordinator, I thought I would update you all on just how brilliant our u3a has become in a few short years!
As many of you know we are celebrating our 5 years with a Christmas meal at the Padbrook Hotel in December.
However, as we were shut down, like our society, during the Covid years it seems no time at all since we began! I remember our then Chair, Sue, sending out updates, newsletters, and cheery words all through the lockdowns. It was a grim and worrying time for many of us, I know.
We resurfaced intact with the ethos, of u3a’s nationally, at the core of our u3a- to Learn, Laugh and Live. I for one have had my fair share of laughs along the way, together with learning new skills and let’s be honest…having a wonderful time with newly made friends!
Thank you to each and every one of our members for making my role so rewarding.
Of course, our Interest Groups don’t stop just because I’m stepping down. In fact, we have a whole lot of new and repeated (by demand) groups coming along in September.
Please do look at the weekly chart, in this edition, to plan your time around any Interest Groups that take your fancy!
Also, keep an eye on your emails as there could be another one coming soon too...
In June, our u3a were represented at the College Surgery Fete. I believe many of the doctors now have a stack of our leaflets to give out to their patients, when appropriate. Thanks to Norman for the invitation, Sue, Janet, Sue, and Paula for helping with our ‘stall’ too.
I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your summer…that’s if it ever stops raining!
Thank you for the privilege of being your Groups Coordinator. I know in September at our AGM; you will welcome our new volunteers for this role and that of Chair too. I wish them well in these roles.
Barbie
News from the Interest Groups
Art in Action
This month we had a go at painting using just two colours, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt sienna and we produced some good results.
Also, we gave ourselves the challenge of painting like John Singer Sargent, who did paint
landscapes and other subjects in watercolour as well as his famous oil portraits.
The results are some interesting paintings, see below.
BTS Secret Garden Visit
We were lucky to have one of the sunniest, summery days in June for our visit to The Secret
Garden near Kentisbeare, created from an area of field in 2021 and now full of flowers and herbs.
The owner, Elise, who supplies flowers for sale, began by explaining the efforts of the British flower growers to work sustainably in competition with the mass-produced imports from the Netherlands,
Kenya and other parts of the world. Elise supplies bouquets and ‘occasion flowers’ to order, and so demonstrated her skills by making up a bouquet to be won by one of the group. The secret seems to be in adding stems at an angle and ensuring variation in the heights! Jane Todd was the happy
recipient of the finished bouquet. We were served a superb cream tea with bundles of scones and – as one member put it ‘no thimblefuls of jam and cream here’. A plentiful feast enjoyed by all.
Change to the future running of the Behind-the-Scenes Group
Since Culm Valley u3a was launched in 2019 we have run a programme of visits and trips out to
interesting places in the southwest which have been well supported by members who signed up to the BTS interest group. Due to the group’s popularity and the constraints on group sizes for each visit, we decided in late 2022 to close the list to new members as numbers signed up were over 70. Since then, we’ve operated a second ‘reserve’ list to fill spare places. However, we recognise that this disadvantages new members which seems unfair.
Therefore, from now on all future Behind the Scenes trips will be offered to all u3a members on a first come first served basis. We trust our original group members will understand and recognise the motive behind this decision, and we look forward to organising many more enjoyable trips out for everyone.
Gill, Moira and Paula
Walkers - June 20th
Such a lovely sunny day, sun hats and sunscreen.
We parked at the RSPB car park at Exminster and walked the short lane to the canal towpath. The Heron dutifully stood stock still as we passed, 7 or 8 cygnets with proud parents guarding them paddled on the canal with Egrets in the wetlands beside us. All very picturesque and flat. The views across the estuary to Topsham Lympstone and Commando Training Centre were quite clear.
We passed the lock at Turf and onto the estuary path, such good views all around. Billowing smoke in the distance, a gorse fire on Woodbury Common it would appear. We then continued over the new bridge (2015) across the railway.
The seventeen of us then did the short walk along the road between the estate and the mainline
railway between London, the north and Penzance. In addition, passing the entrance to Starcross
Yacht Club, believed to be one of the oldest yacht clubs in the country, dating from 1772. After
leaving the road we crossed a large field before joining the back drive to the castle and farm shop with fallow deer aplenty close to our side.
At the farm shop we ate our picnic outside before we caught the bus back to the car park. A very
easy panoramic walk on a cracking day.
Trudy
Walkers Group - July 18th
A beautiful ramble around the 5-mile perimeter of Clatworthy Reservoir in the Brendon
Hills on the edge of Exmoor with a picnic lunch en route. Contact Gill for details and to join our
group mailing list.
Theatre, Cinema & Music
Those of us who attended the Riverdance Show at Wellington and Tiverton had a real treat with the amazing Irish Folk dancing, excellent musicians playing Irish Folk music. They are linked together by a narrative which shows the progression of the Irish people from settlers to Nationhood, to cultural cross fertilisation with other civilisations, to the tragedy of poverty causing mass emigration, then to a final triumphant return. There are elements of Flamenco, Russian dance, New York tap and Indian dance forms among the Irish dancers. The haunting songs, the costumes and the speed of the dancing is unbelievable. I last saw the show live in Dublin and the live cinema was really good and I walked to the Tivoli and back so had a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment. Please look at www.cinemalive.com and see what is coming to a cinema near you.
Daphne
Photographic Group
The U3A Photographic Groups meeting this month morphed into a fancy dress/lunch group/laughter therapy and ukulele group. I challenged the group to bring a few items to be photographed with, items which would tell us more about them, their hobbies and themselves in general. We then posed each other for some truly unique photographs. One member was wrapped in an Isle of Man flag, holding a squash racket and a table tennis bat and wearing swimming goggles and a whistle! It was such a fun session that I am tempted to repeat it next year. We all brought a little contribution for a light lunch - all I can say is none of us have got to grips with under catering. We had a veritable feast. We finished the afternoon with a ukulele practice and went home shattered.
Due to holidays, there were only four of us this month, but our absent members have no boundaries and emailed their photographs from whichever part of the world they found themselves in.
Our topic was Tree/Trees and the competition was won for the second time running by Greta Edwards for her beautiful portrait of a single tree. This tree was within walking distance of her home, which just goes to show there are photographic opportunities everywhere.
Greta has set the next challenge topic as A Panoramic Picture of the Countryside.
Linda showing us how Wimbledon players should be dressed below.
Quilting
We are close to everyone finishing their quilts, hopefully, all in time for the display at the September monthly meeting exhibition. It’s been really good fun at our meetings, learning new techniques and discussing all things to do with quilting - fabrics, cottons, equipment and the best shops/websites to use, to get those supplies! It’s a relaxed group where everyone
contributes and shares their ideas too.
The group are now looking towards the next set project for the new season, beginning in
September. One of the group members will teach us one or two new quilting techniques.
There’s no pressure to follow the set project, you can turn up with your own project to work on -
there’s always lots of enthusiastic interest from the other members.
Gardening
I expect that Culm Valley u3a gardeners have their beautiful hanging baskets on display now.
Brian Carlson gave us a talk and demonstration on creating hanging baskets. He provided plenty of handy tips on their construction and members were keen to ask him questions. After watching the photography, members took home items from the plant sale. Brian judges local flower shows and is a registered steward for the British Fuchsia Society. Later in the year, members can look forward to a return visit from Brian, to talk about fuchsias and pelargoniums.
Linda Grantham
A few of us went on a trip to Ashley Court in Tiverton on Wednesday 3 July. It was a very
interesting and informative talk and tour of the house and gardens conducted by Tara and her
partner Nigel. Their passion for the house and the history behind it shone through and had us all
captivated. It would be very interesting to go back in about 5 years’ time to see what else they have managed to do! I should think it would be a never-ending project and we all agreed we thought they were very brave to take it on.
Michelle Crocker.
Ukulele group
Have you noticed that we have the opportunity to learn the ukulele? Have you ever fancied learning a musical instrument? Well, when the opportunity came up with the U3A to learn to play the ukulele, I and a few others turned up to the first lesson with more hope than expectation.
I am so pleased to report that from our first lesson in January, we have not only learnt the basics, but are putting on a performance at the end of July.
Things you need to know about our lessons - the instrument is relatively easy. It only has four strings and with only three chords you can join in with a lot of the songs. You don't have to be able to read music, the notes are just letters. Also, you sing while you play (I know, it came as a surprise to me as well). This means if you can't find a note, you simply pretend to strum and sing louder. Likewise, if you can't sing, you can get away with miming and play louder!
We have an eclectic group of people, some with a lot of experience and people like me who are just learning. It is a lively group with lots of laughs and help offered. If you would like to join us, then email Terry McCarthaigh at t.mccarthaigh@btinternet.com and you could be joining us in September. You don't have to have your own instrument initially as Terry has a few he can lend out. Also, there are lots of beginner’s lessons on Youtube to get you going.
The groups big news is that we have our first performance on 28th July at 2.00pm at Coldharbour Mills Summer Fayre. Please come and support us if you can. We have a wide range of songs for you to enjoy, from the Beatles to Walt Disney. It will also give you the opportunity to see who is miming and who is pretending to play!
We hope to see you soon.
Sue Childs
Quiz Group
This month’s quiz, prepared by Liz and the group organiser, included questions on First & Last; did you know that in 1893 New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote, another topic was Initials, an example from this set of questions was D.O.B. I had not realised that this has two meanings: Date of Birth and Date of Burial. Quite often at the meeting there is a picture round or other handout sheet for the team to consider, this month was a Connection round, four sets of four words connected by a common theme. But by far the easiest round for the teams was Food & Drink with scores of 8 and above (out of 10) from all of the teams. The winning team was ‘You can’t be serious closely followed by ‘Centre Court’ if you hadn’t already guessed this month’s team titles were based on the theme of Wimbledon, other ingenious team names, were the Wombles, Game, Set & Match and the Murray Mints. The clever invention of team titles is another enjoyable part of the monthly quiz, each month a different theme from which we choose a linked team name.
Craft
With our mixed media work finished the two meetings in July have been a case of finishing things off or doing more of something we liked. These will be the last pictures for a month as we will start our Craft sessions again in September. You will be able to see some of the work the group had produced up close at the Art Exhibition at our AGM on 5 September in Willand Village Hall. We look forward to seeing you all then if not before.
Lorna
Information, Technology & Computer Group
MODERN TECHNOLOGY – BEWILDERING, CONFUSING OR JUST FRUSTRATING
Are you confident in your use of the latest technology?
Do you know when to use your left or right mouse buttons?
Can you create folders, organise your photos and drag and drop files?
Does it fill you with dread and confusion?
Do you know how to store files in the ‘cloud’?
Can you make phone calls or video calls on your phone – for free?
Or would you just like to know how to do things better?
Do you know how to use ‘shortcuts?
Does your desktop have lots of unnecessary icons?
If you answered “YES” or “MAYBE” to any of the above questions, you are not alone.
In fact, you are probably in the majority.
Many people feel the same about the constantly changing world of today’s technology. Regrettably, it is becoming more and more part of daily life. How many times do we hear ‘apply online’ or ‘check-out the details on our webpage’ or even ‘only available online’.
--- FEAR NOT! ---
From Wednesday 18 September to Wednesday 4 December, the ITCG will run a ‘Back to Basics’ course to help you overcome some of these challenges. The aim will be to help you feel more at home with computers and smart phones, know how to get the best out of them and feel safe when using them.
If you have any questions or want to know more – ask Andy ‘Google’ Arnold at the ITCG ‘Help Desk’.
Petanque
Our active members continue to gather weekly, in the relaxing environs of The Walronds, where much fun and social interaction is enjoyed, whilst continuing to hone our accuracy and boule control skills. We have been pleased to welcome some new players, visitors from the Tiverton u3a, in recent weeks.
Jazz
Here are brief details about forthcoming live jazz music events that members may wish to consider attending over the remaining in months 2024: Hope to see a good representation from our CVu3a group at all or some of these gigs.
Exploring Art Styles
Our latest session focussed on Contemporary Art, in our journey to explore different art styles. Contemporary art is art that is created by artists currently living. We explored the types of art considered to be part of the Contemporary scene including Tracey Emmin's Bed, which just about everyone has heard of and/or seen!
Following the presentation, we set about creating a sculpture from recycling, charity shop donations and some extra bits and pieces. Each pair had a different theme, which they didn't share with others and at the end of the session we had to try and guess, from what had been produced, what the theme was.
The Genealogy Group
Meeting on the 10th of July continued with their ‘Brick Walls’ workshops (tracing those difficult to find ancestors). Stephen Dyer the U3A subject matter expert has provided a series of papers and presentations with advice and links to some excellent research sources for example: -
Manorial Records, Bishops Transcripts and even The Domesday Book! Interesting Fact: Did you know we have Thomas Cromwell to thank for instructing the Church in 1597 to keep formal baptism and burial records and send them to the Diocese.
We will be having further workshops on Parish Records and research guidance; History of the Census; Tracing your family in 18th century England and discover what their lives were like then;
Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a Genealogy Research Tool.
If you are interested or just curious about researching your ancestry why not join us at the Hayridge Centre Cullompton Library on the 2nd Wednesday of each month 10:30 until 12:30.
Finally, Stephen Dyers u3a Genealogy Newsletter for July/August publicises a new archive project undertaken by Oxford University, who have digitised more than 25,000 previously hidden artefacts from the Second World War with photos of the objects and stories available to view on the project website. Commemorating the D-Day anniversary last month, the archive contains a remarkable range of stories that capture both the extraordinary and everyday lives of those who experienced the war. Visit the main u3a website to download a copy of the Newsletter at https://www.u3a.org.uk/
Strollers 1 Walk
A couple of photos taken on a recent walk around swans Neck.
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