Real Ale Group

by WebmasterReal Ale GroupPosted on Comments are Disabled

On April 7th, 2022, a group of us met in The Pilgrim’s Oak, a Wetherspoons pub in Hucknall, to sample a few different beers during their mini beer festival.

On May 19th we are meeting at the tram station and journeying into Nottingham to alight at the Weekday Cross stop and sample the beers around Hockley. Unfortunately, our proposed visits to a display and talk at Nottingham University have had to be cancelled so we are looking at new proposals – always welcome!

In July we will be going to the far off village of Linby to a couple of the group’s house and praying for good weather. We will be having a ‘BEER-B-QUE’ sampling some home brewed beer. If any member would like to join us then we are open to both male and female members.

May Scams

by WebmasterAnnouncementsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Unfortunately, we will always be plagued with swindlers, fraudsters and scammers who are only too keen to relieve us of our well-earned cash. They also have absolutely no conscience and are more than happy to target the elderly.

Council Rebate
The latest scam that I am aware of, is a telephone call, claiming to be from your local authority council asking for your bank details so that they can pay you the fuel rebate. If you pay your council tax by standing order, direct debit or bank transfer, then the council already have your bank details and will automatically pay your rebate into your account, by mid-May. If you do on-line banking, check that this payment is made.

Parcel Delivery
You will receive an email stating that there is a parcel due for delivery which has an insufficient amount of postage and cannot be delivered until the additional postage is paid. This is usually a very small amount, there is a link for you to click on which leads to a very realistic web site asking for your bank details. This will never happen from any delivery company.

TV Licence
Again, an offer of a refund as you have paid too much on your licence, not surprisingly they are asking for your bank details, again the BBC will never do this.

Cold Telephone Calls
If anybody cold calls you and asks for your bank details never under any circumstances give any information out. Tell them what you think of them, hang up and, if you can, block the number. Often a call on a mobile will show as being scam, just don’t answer and block the call.

Never give your bank details to anyone you don’t know or do not trust and never give your bank card PIN number to anyone you don’t trust implicitly. Likewise your PIN number should never be written down. When drawing cash out of an ATM then always cover your hand as you enter your PIN number.

Gardening Group

by WebmasterGarden GroupPosted on Comments are Disabled

Our next meeting, in May, will be in the Byron room of the John Godber Centre, not the Portland (big hall), as they are having work done. The time will be 1.30 -3.30pm.

Hope you can join us,

Not So Grumpy Old Men

by WebmasterNot So Grumpy Old MenPosted on Comments are Disabled

April’s outing was to the Whitepeak Distillery in Ambergate. After a presentation about the formation of the distillery and the history of the old wireworks factory in which it is based, the group were led on an interesting tour of the distillery, learning about the process of making whisky, gin and rum before returning to sample some of each. They were given an exclusive opportunity to “invest” in a limited, special edition bottle of whisky that went on sale that day and has now sold out!

Message from our Chair

by WebmasterAnnouncementsPosted on Comments are Disabled

This month on Wednesday 13th April at 2.00 pm it is our AGM. This will be the first half of the meeting and after the break we welcome our guest speaker, Bryan Gladstone, with an interesting and somewhat intriguing talk called ‘My mum was a GI Bride’.

The AGM or annual meeting is a requirement of our constitution and is a means for the committee to share information with the membership, review the annual accounts and when required to vote on any proposals or for membership of the committee.

This year six of the twelve members of the committee, who from 2016 have each served the maximum time of six years allowed in our constitution, are stepping down.

On your behalf I would like to extend our thanks to:
Christine Berrill: Treasurer Siobhan Lee: Groups Coordinator
Dianne White: Speaker Seeker Philip Attenborough: Equipment Manager
Barrie Saunders (who was also Chair from 2018 to 2020) David Rose: Chair

This is quite a high turnover but it is balanced by the continuity of the remaining six committee members. Change can sometimes be threatening but I believe it is something that should be embraced rather than feared. Only with change will u3as be able to lay the foundations for future long-term success.

We are fortunate to have members who have come forward and volunteered to join the 2022 to 2024 committee. They are all willing and prepared to take on various roles and responsibilities. Please come along and cast your vote.

This year also marks the retirement of Geoff Cree as the scrutiniser of the annual accounts and we thank him for the many years he has done this. We are also fortunate that John Twells has volunteered to take over this role from Geoff.

One volunteer, who has served well beyond six years, as his position is outside the committee, is our Newsletter Coordinator, Steve Lawrence. We wish to thank Steve for his support and professionalism in transforming the individual contributions into our quality newsletter, all within a tight timescale, each month.

Thanks are also extended to Graham Daft from the Methodist Church for his long service printing the newsletter paper copies which are primarily for non email members.

Best Wishes to you all and we hope to see many of you at the AGM this month.

David Rose, Chair