Author Archives: M W

NAC Unavailable during week of 2nd April

The planned demolition of parts of Neyland Athletic Club is imminent. Whilst this is ongoing it is difficult for us to use this as a venue for our activities. The Pembrokeshire U3A Monthly Meeting, scheduled for April 5th, is therefore cancelled. Joe Rielly’s talk on Redundant Churches will be rescheduled for later in the year.

Group Leaders who have meetings at NAC during the week commencing 2 April should also postpone, or find temporary venues until the NAC becomes available again.

We are monitoring the situation, and we shall let you know when the venue is available again.

New Year’s Lunch 2018

Pembrokeshire U3A is holding a New Year’s Lunch at 

Hotel Mariners, Mariners Square, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire SA61 2DU.  Telephone: 01437 763 353.

Website: http://www.hotelmariners.co.uk/

Friday, 19th January 2018, 12 noon for 12.30 pm.

The cost is £18.50 per person for two courses (Main and Dessert, with Coffee).

The full menu can be found here: Lunch Menu Friday 19th January 2018

Should you wish to attend please tick your menu choices noting each person’s choice and return the Menu and Booking Form to Penny Thomas, 12 Kensington Gardens, Haverfordwest SA61 2RL together with a cheque made payable to Pembrokeshire U3A by Monday 8th January 2018.

The Booking Form is here:  Booking Form for lunch on 19th January 2018

U3A National Table Tennis Championship

On Wednesday, 6th September the Wales Table Tennis Association director of competitions, Phil Avery, organised the inaugural U3A National Championships at the Welsh Institute of Sport, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.

The Pembrokeshire U3A entered six teams in the event competing against teams from Porthmadog, Cowbridge and Bridgend. In the morning session the teams were allocated to four groups, and played a best-of-three match against the other teams in the group.

Pembrokeshire U3A Table Tennis Team

In the afternoon the teams were allocated to further groups depending on their position in the morning. So, Pembrokeshire players Gaynor Evans and Graham George, and Penny Tighe and Chris Harris, having won their group were in the first-place play-off.
Sylvie Lloyd and Tony Tiffen, Wendy George and Chris Clark, and Wendy Perrott and Jane Dunbar were in the fifth-place play-off. The afternoon session was played in a similar round-robin format.

There was a fine demonstration of table tennis skill throughout the day despite a few creaking joints and aching bones. Pembrokeshire’s Gaynor Evans and Graham George were declared 2017 champions and Pembrokeshire took 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th places to make it a very successful and worthwhile day.

We look forward to meeting again in 2018, and hope that more Welsh U3A groups will enter teams.  Certainly, Pembrokeshire U3A Table Tennis has made friends with the other teams represented and will pursue contacts during the coming months.

Jim Lloyd

Monthly Meeting September 2017 – London Docks

Our speaker for the first monthly meeting after our August break, David Wilson, who would have given us a digitally produced tour of Pembrokeshire, was unable to attend. However, at very short notice our member Frank Harbud gave a most interesting talk about the London Docks.

Frank Showing a Typical East End Docker

Frank certainly knew his subject and with projected photographs he gave us a brief history going back to pre-war days when the docks were a hive of industry and provided jobs for the many who lived in the surrounding areas.  Much of this country’s food was passed through the docks, from nutmegs to bananas together with a large quantity of cigars, cigarettes and alcohol, and not forgetting vast quantities of timber. To Frank the epitome of an East End Docker is that depicted in the photo sporting a flat cap with a carcass on his shoulder.

As shipping changed and the move was made to containers, the Docks disappeared and became luxury apartments – Canary Wharf is one example, and one is now the City Airport. How quickly we forget and it was good to be reminded of how life used to be. A great talk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penny Thomas, 7th September 2017

U3A Art Exhibition 2017

This time last year my husband Colin and I visited the combined Art Group’s Exhibition for the first time and found myself amazed at the artistic talent within our U3A. Needless to say, this has now become a permanent fixture in my diary!  Yesterday off to Carew we went, much easier to locate this year, with banners and signs indicating the location of the U3A Exhibition. Again, I was taken aback by the paintings, almost every subject you could think of was reproduced in watercolour, pastels or pencil.

I enquired of Jan Hope, who sat at the welcoming desk, whether I might take some photographs. She hesitantly explained that in the past this has been done in order to enlarge the result and not to make a purchase. Quickly I explained it was for the Newsletter, although, my offerings do not reflect adequately the amount of work and attention to detail undertaken to produce such paintings.

There is a wealth of talent within these groups which should be seen. If you miss the exhibition this year, do try and make a visit in 2018. In addition to viewing the exhibits, tea/coffee is served in bone china cups with a choice of scrumptious looking cakes. Whilst making our visit we enjoyed a chat with other members. It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning. Well done to all those involved.

Penny Thomas
22 August 2017