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

In July, The Garden Group North met at Hilton Court Gardens, Roch where, before setting off to the gardens, we enjoyed lunch in the Gardeners Rest eatery.

As with all gardens the extensive grounds had changed considerably since my last visit.  The lake, which is the focal point, looked beautiful with the many water lilies in bloom; obviously there are fish because we spotted a heron sitting patiently on the bank waiting for his lunch.

A stroll round the lake

Essentially the garden is one of tree and shrubs but there has been an introduction of some herbaceous plants adding some colour to an otherwise very green look.  As we strolled around the lake we came upon Badger’s Hall a great addition for the children or even for some adults although some were not up to the challenge but they gave it their best shot! 

Colin tries his best!

Before returning to the café for afternoon tea (the Garden Group really doesn’t spend all its time eating and drinking) we came across another feature which one or two of us could not resist as you will see from the photographs.  The weather was kind to us with sunshine and a gentle breeze – indeed, a lovely meeting.

Penny on the swing

Please remember that our horticultural show which takes place the Neyland Athletic Centre, entries are on the day and an entry from and Schedule may be found on the website or alternatively contract me on 01437 766775 or pen.thomas46@googlemail.com.  There are spaces available on the trip to Dyffryn Gardens, near Cowbridge why not join us it is a National Trust property with beautiful gardens and an arboretum and well worth a visit.

Penny Thomas

The annual quiz on the afternoon of Friday 12th May, now in its fourth year, attracted our highest ever attendance for the event which also produced the closest ever finish.
 

19 teams (including 3 from Narberth U3A & 2 from Preseli U3A) battled through 9 rounds of general knowledge questions across a range of subjects, with at the end only 2 points separating the top 5. The winners were the “Spring Chickens” from Pembrokeshire U3A, Viv Scale, Janine Crooks, and Jackie & Rob Davidson, who achieved 96.5 points out of a possible 128, beating the “Penny Pinchers”, David & Chris Pinch, Penny Reed, & Anne Hyslop by just 1/2 point, with a team from Preseli 3rd & one from Narberth sharing 4th.

Peter Brown

Photographs Colin Hankinson & Geoff Winterman

PCSO Leanne Nicholls talks about crime in the community

I am sure many of you will have read, on page two of the current Newsletter, of the incident that took place on the road near the Oil refinery in January.  It was for this reason we invited PCSO Leanne Nicholls to speak to us on Thursday.

Leanne is a Police Community Support Officer stationed at Milford Haven, and as her job title infers she works within the community.  Following the incident, in question, the police carried out a thorough investigation of the situation but were unable to obtain any information as to the perpetrators.  However, further incidents have occurred and the message to us was “be vigilant and drive with locked doors”.

One aspect of Leanne’s talk brought home to us just how the cutbacks have affected services that we once took for granted, being able to walk into a Police Station at most times of the day and the visibility of the local “bobby”.   It would seem we, as citizens, need to attend to the policing of our own localities watching out for any unusual occurrences in our neighbourhood and reporting such events to the Police.   Some areas, of course, have a “Neighbourhood Watch” schemes and there is also, as one of our members pointed out, a “Village Watch”.  The message is be aware of what is going on around you.

Penny Thomas  2^nd March 2017

The speaker for the monthly meeting on 2^nd February was Mr Howard Jones of the West Wales Humanist Society (soon to be renamed Association) who was introduced by John Baylis.

Mr Howard Jones of the West Wales Humanist Society

Perhaps a controversial topic but should we not also be aware of other points of view and if nothing else we now know there is an alternative funeral to that of a Christian service,

despite one family requesting Harry Secombe singing “The Old Rugged Cross”.  Hedging one’s bets perhaps!