Category: Announcements

Lloyds Bank

I received an email allegedly from Lloyds Bank stating that they had tried to contact me by phone and assumed my mobile contact number was out of date.

Instructions given – Please click on attached link to upload latest personnel details.

Initially suspect as I don’t have a Lloyds account, on clicking on the sender’s email address it was obvious that this was not from Lloyds – DELETE email.

Ozempic phishing scam

Scammers are setting up fake phishing websites peddling the new weight loss drug Ozempic, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has warned.

The websites ask for your personal details including your name, address and banking information.

 PayPal invoice scam

Scammers impersonating PayPal are sending recipients a ‘receipt’ for a high-value order in an attempt to get them to call a dodgy phone number.

The number is provided if you ‘didn’t authorise this charge’ and leads to a phone scam where a fraudster will try to obtain your personal details.

Don’t click on the links in these emails and don’t respond to them.

 ITV impersonation email

This scam email impersonating ITV offers a subscription to the ITV X streaming service for just £2 a year.

The link in the email leads to a phishing website which asks for your address, phone number, email and bank details.

Please beware scammers and thieves are after your money; never respond to any email or text you are not 100% happy with.

 

First of all, just a short vote of thanks to Mark Thornley for organising the trip to Kendal in March. Fifty two of us went and had an excellent time, coach, driver, hotel, food, staff, entertainment, walks, outings, were all very good, well done Mark.

I trust you all put your clocks forward on the 30th, it meant we had one hours less rain!

Well with the AGM next meeting, it means that my term as Chairman has come to an end and we will be voting in new committee members and re-electing some existing committee members, I would like to give you just a few details.

Diane Heenan has served her full 6 years and has been an excellent Speakers Secretary, sourcing some very good speakers, thanks Diane.

Angela Cornish has also served 6 years and has been an outstanding Webmaster, keeping our website fully up to date and setting up our new Facebook page, thanks Angela.

Mark Jackson has also completed his 6 years as both Business Secretary and Beacon Administrator. Mark has been a mainstay of the committee and has helped and mentored others whenever needed, many thanks Mark.

The are 4 new candidates for the committee – Helen Rose, who was co-opted during the year as Minutes Secretary (to replace Sandra Green), Robert (Bob) McEwen to stand as Vice Chair, Kevin Varey to stand as Business Secretary and John Pretty to stand as Beacon Administrator.

There are 8 current committee members who are willing to be re-elected, these being – Tina Holmes as our new Chair, Gary Holmes to continue as Treasurer, Greg Umney to continue as Membership Secretary, Sue Tedstone to continue as Group Co-ordinator, Elizabeth Attenborough to continue as Equipment Manager, Lynda Smeathers as our new Webmaster, Christine Eagle as our new Speakers Secretary, thanks to them all for being willing to continue, and finally myself, Melvyn Francis as committee member.

I must not forget the fabulous work that Stephen Lawrence, our Newsletter Editor does all year, collating, editing and producing our monthly newsletter, helped as required by Kevin Varey as required.

And, of course, where would be without the thankless task of providing our refreshments that John and Christine Berrill carry out, not only at every monthly meeting, but at many specials and one-off events, thanks to both, (don’t forget to volunteer to help).

Finally, I would like to thank you all for making my two-year Chairman’s post so enjoyable. It has been hard work at times, but the privilege of serving our u3a and meeting so many wonderful folks more than compensates. Many, many thanks to you all.

God Bless  

Melvyn Francis

Well here we are in March, the weather folk tell us that February has been the hottest on record, I know it must have been one of the wettest, taking the dogs for their walks has meant that we have often had to abandon the woods and walk them on the pavement. They are not as happy as there are no squirrels to chase and yes they have been known to catch them, not sure who was the most surprised the squirrels or the dog.

On the subject of animals, we have spent the past two days watching a male blackbird trying to drive away an interloper on his territory, don’t know how long it will take him to realise it is his own reflection in a mirror.

Some of us are off to Kendal shortly on a short holiday the Long Walk leader has organised for the Walking and the National Trust groups, plus a few others of us.  It sounds good with a good programme of walks and NT visits, we will let you know how we fair afterwards. Here’s hoping for good weather and good food!

Sunday 10^th March is of course Mothering Sunday and I hope all of you mothers get a card and a few flowers as thanks for all your hard work throughout the year. Not sure how many of us still have our own mothers with us, if you are fortunate to be one of the few, I’m sure you will spoil your mother on this day.

On the 17^th March it is of course St Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s patron saint and a good excuse for all of us that enjoy an occasional pint of Guinness. St Patrick was a 5^th century Roman-British Christian Missionary. It is traditional to wear something green if celebrating his saint’s day.

Another date to remember is Saturday 30^th March and remember to put your clocks forward before you go to bed. I’m not sure if anyone actually sits up until 2am on Sunday morning the official time to do so. Always amusing at church on a Sunday morning to see those who have forgotten, arriving an hour late.

Finally but by no means least we have Good Friday on 29^th and Easter Sunday on the 30^th March. Obviously a traditional time for children to receive Easter eggs, however, for the Christians among us this is the most important date of the year, celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection. A very busy month indeed.

I am pleased to announce that we have managed to fill all of the committee roles to replace those that are retiring and hopefully they will all be voted into office at our AGM in April.

Look forward to seeing you at our next monthly meeting on 13^th March and would encourage you to look to see if there are any other interest groups that you would like to join.

God Bless

Melvyn Francis

Greetings to you all.  What mixed weather we have had in January, three named storms, the coldest weather, the hottest weather and the wettest weather on record, still, it gives us something to discuss and moan about, something we are all very good at, complaining about the weather.

Last month, I reminded you all about Notts CC consultation on removing the free tram concessions. I have had a couple of responses from our erstwhile councillors, one from an opposition councillor stating that he and his colleagues were arguing strongly against it and one from a member of the governing party saying, don’t worry, if they do get rid of it, then it will transfer to the new regional Mayor’s office when and if it happens. I think we will have to wait and see and hope for a good outcome. Thanks to all of you for taking part in the consultation.

Sorry that those of you at the rear of the building struggled to read the writing on the screen of our speaker at our last meeting, I thought the same as quite a few folks that, whilst the talk was good, it was a bit highbrow, concentrating on word origins, rather than the actual history of Nottinghamshire. John Godber Centre are looking into obtaining a large pull down screen, which would solve a lot of our problems.

Our Social Sub Committee have worked hard to sort out this year’s activities, please see their details on this website and reserve the dates, some great activities planned.

Our next meeting coincides with St Valentine’s Day, he was a 3^rd century Roman saint, a priest in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians.  He was martyred by being beheaded and his body buried on February 14^th. He was made a saint for curing a child with epilepsy and is the patron saint of epilepsy, beekeepers and of course ‘courtly love’ which has been celebrated since the 8^th century (thank you Wikipedia).

I may well be asking who has received a valentines card, to see if the ‘courtly love’ is still strong amongst us older ones. So make sure you make an effort to buy your valentine a card.

Did anyone make a New Year’s resolution, and has anyone managed to keep it. I have, mine was not to make a resolution! I also decided that out of concern for publicans I would not take part in Dry January, I found that quite satisfying.

God Bless

Melvyn Francis