Due to illness and lack of numbers Mah Jong is cancelled on Friday 9th December 2022 and will resume 7pm, Friday, 13th January 2023.
Message from our Chair
Welcome.
Our next monthly meeting is on Wednesday, 14th December, 2022, and I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
Please ensure that you enter the building from the car park rear entrance and book in at the desk. As always please try to remember to wear your name badges so that folks (especially new members) know who you are, if a group leader or committee member, again pleased wear your ID so that others know who they are talking to. Our committee members should all be wearing a lanyard with their name and function shown.
Please remember to either silence or turn off your mobile phones. We are reserving some front row seats for those who have a hearing problem, please use them if you need to.
Christmas is almost upon us and we have bought most of our Christmas presents, buying a few at a time to spread out the cost. Whist Christmas is a joyous time for most of us, meeting and spending time with family and friends, there are sadly still a lot of folk who for one reason or another Christmas is not a time of celebrating – loneliness, sadness, depression, there are many reasons. If you know anyone who is lonely then please try and reach out to them in some little way.
If you are on your own then please try and speak to someone for support or company, many folks are only too happy to share with you if only they are aware. I would encourage you if you are able to try and donate some items to a local foodbank, there are a lot of struggling families out there. We will have a donation bucket at our December social and film activities for any cash you feel able to give, or tins and packets if you prefer.
Please note that we will not be having a formal monthly meeting in December, however, we are planning to have a ‘Film Afternoon’ for those who want to come and watch, there will be a small charge of £2 to help cover costs and refreshments, these have been popular in the past.
Melvyn Francis, Chair
Fun with Languages
The Fun with Languages Group were practising Italian at the Christmas meal at Moda this month. A most enjoyable evening was enjoyed by all. Best wishes to those members who were unable to join us and thanks to Liz for arranging everything.
Litter Picking Group
It’s been rather a slack month litter picking with just five bags collected during November. However, that’s five bags of rubbish that would still be a blot on the landscape if it hadn’t been collected by members of our group.
We had been asked by Veolia if with some other organisations and schools we would help make a fun Christmas video by singing some amended words to the song We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Some of us were up for it but, unfortunately, Veolia had to cancel at the last minute. Perhaps they’d got wind of our singing ability – or lack thereof! Apologies to the litter pickers with tuneful voices!
All that remains is to wish all members of Hucknall & District u3a a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2023 and add that if anyone wishes to make a new year resolution to come and join our litter picking group, please feel free to do so. You will be made very welcome. Just contact me via telephone or email litter@hucknallu3a.org.uk
Val Gant
Science
We had a very interesting session in November starting with a presentation from Terry Hill who told us about the Artemis I rocket which is off to the Moon. However, it will not land on the Moon and is currently in orbit nearby before returning to Earth after 26 days.
He then explained how this could be part of the plan to put humans on Mars. This led to speculation about how physical characteristics of humans living in reduced gravity might evolve in the future.
Bob McEwen followed with a very interesting look at how the eyes (and some other senses) of different animals and birds have evolved and adapted to suit their environment and lifestyles.
And finally, Christine Vincent showed a short video with soundtrack and fantastic images from space telescopes.
December Christmas Meeting – Friday, December 16th 2022, John Godber Centre, 10am to 11.45am
Christmas Science-based Quiz with quiz maestros David and Christine Vincent. A fun quiz with a team prize and festive light refreshments in the break.
We will spend the first 15 minutes for Bob to demonstrate a colour blind test to detect Red-green colour blindness which makes it difficult for someone to differentiate between red, green, and yellow.
David Rose