CANVEY ISLAND - u3asites.org.uk · Surprize your friends and family this Christmas with a gift of Marzipan fruits that you have made yourself!! Carol Revell, one of our Members will

CANVEY ISLAND

Newsletter September – November 2019

https://u3asites.org.uk/canvey

Registered Charity No. 1173536

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE I hope your summer was enjoyable and that you were able to take

part in some of the many U3A activities available to our members.

As the summer draws to a close I encourage you to take a look

through this Newsletter and on our website, at the events planned

for the Autumn/Winter and at the growing list of groups available for members to join. I

hope you are inspired to fill your diaries with lots of enjoyable activities to do over the

coming months.

I want to tell you about an exciting project the committee are working on. We are exploring

the possibility of “live streaming” our members meeting. This would mean that members

who are unwell, in hospital or unable to get to the main monthly meeting can still be

involved and watch the meeting via a computer, iPad, iPhone or even phone in and listen to

the meeting. At our September meeting we will be testing the concept and if successful the

committee will work to secure funding, with a view to introducing this sometime in 2020.

This is the time of year that the committee decides on the membership fee for the coming

year, the costs for running our U3A continue to increase and the committee have taken the

decision to increase membership fees by £2. The membership fee for 2020 will therefore be

£20, which I hope you will agree is still competitive and with all that’s on offer good value

for money. In order to keep this increase as low as possible, the committee reviewed our

spending and identified areas where savings could be made. It was apparent that by

emailing AGM packs to members, a sizeable saving could be made on postage, printing and

committee members’ time in preparing, collating and distributing these packs. Beacon, our

membership system provides an easy way to do this, members without email will still get a

printed pack. In addition to having a monetary saving this system is environmentally

friendly and will have positive impact on paper wastage by our U3A. Members will be given

more detailed information about how this will work nearer to the time.

Finally, I would like to thank all our members who enthusiastically take part in our U3A,

keeping it vibrant and lively.

LEARN LAUGH LIVE

Christine Watts - Chairman

NOTE

FROM THE

EDITOR

It is difficult to believe

that while I write this in

front of a cooling fan you

will be reading it with an

extra layer of clothes on

and preparing yourselves

for the winter to come.

Summer had some very

hot spells and some of us

took shelter in our homes

till it passed, but the

winter ahead can herald

loneliness for many

people, including some of

our members, no doubt.

By encouraging others to

join us on our

experiences within

groups, outings or even a

friendly face to chat to

at the Main meetings, we

can all play our part.

This Newsletter would be

but a list of information

if were not for the

contributions by our

Group Liaisons and others

who share their

experiences with us all.

Keep those tales, photos,

recipes and snippets

coming – it all helps to

make this a worthwhile

publication.

Elaine Mitchell - editor

Speakers Corner Hi everyone, I am sitting here on a beautiful July day but by the time you read this Christmas will be fast approaching

For our October meeting we have “The Essex Scrubber” an amusing talk by Christine Beedle, those anticipating a seedier version of 50 Shades of Grey will be severely disappointed. Everyone else, mind, will surely be captivated by a story which is, in fairly equal parts, autobiographical, business guide and comment on English social attitudes.

For our November meeting we have Maz Morgan giving a talk on “£10 Poms” I’m sure we know of people who went to start a new life down under.

That brings us to our Christmas Party, this year we are being entertained by Canvey’s own singing group “Free Spirit” who will be providing us with a medley of songs to eat, drink and dance to. Don’t forget to wear your Christmas outfit – you might even win the prize for the most festive dressed member!

I have been given some suggestions for future speakers, what do you think?

• The history of Chocolate

• History of Music Hall

• The Day the Music Died - the story of Rock n Roll

• Animals - their role in War

• "A female in Fleet Street" - my life as a former photojournalist

• Days of Dolly Blue and Izal (nostalgia from the 40`s and 50`s)

• "RNLI Lifeboats" - the work they do in saving lives at sea

• Magic of the Mind (Magician) These are just a few ideas, if you would like to hear any of them Please keep your suggestions rolling in. Thank you

Derek Draper – Speakers Organiser

Birdwatching group June - The best laid plans…….! The group met as usual at The

Paddocks with the intention of going to Two Tree Island,

hopefully to see Avocets. Unfortunately, all roads off the

Island were very heavily congested so we went east to Canvey

Heights. There was much birdlife about with swallow, swift

and skylark most interesting. The trip to Two Tree Island

postponed to July – traffic permitting.

Submitted by Paul Haisman-Baker – Group Liaison

July – Two Tree Island Ten members took part in the visit

to Two Tree Island, Leigh-on-Sea. The weather was kind and

a pleasant walk along the creek enabled curlews,

oystercatchers and black-headed gulls to be seen. Further

exploration took the group to the first hide which had sadly

been badly damaged by vandals. Further on, the second

hide had been burnt to the ground. However, the group was

able to view the lagoon where there were many birds to be

seen. These included the little egret, avocet, nesting

dunlins, grey and ringed plover, redshank and godwit. On

the way back to the cars, skylarks, magpies, swifts, crows,

robins and sparrows were also seen. A successful morning

was followed by coffees and a variety of food at the Driving

Range Café.

Report provided by Glenys Ellis – Group Member

Third age singers The Third Age Singers took part in the St Nicholas variety night on July 13th. The evening was a great success where we sung three songs. We seemed to go down really well with the audience. Some of the girls at singing also belong to the Line Dancing group, so while some of the girls sang, a few of the girls danced. We have great fun on our Tuesday morning meetings where we sing for pleasure, we are not a choir we just get together to sing our hearts out and learn new songs.

Submitted by Kay Humphreys – Group Liaison

We were given a large bag of felt pieces so we made some felt gingerbread men that

can be hung from our Christmas trees. Sadly, we learned that it is better to sew on

some buttons and embroider a face on the front piece before sewing the front and

back pieces together and stuffing the ornament! Then we made some felt mice to

keep the gingerbread men company. Hopefully the mice won’t mind if the

gingerbread men are a bit wonky and vice-versa. Some of us made other things as

well from the felt.

We are about to make some flower shaped pincushions and/or flower patchwork

needle holders. Nearly everyone has a stash of fabric remnants so we should end up

with a variety of colourful finished items.

Although Ph.D. normally means a Doctor of Philosophy academic degree, for some

of us, it means Projects Half Done! Even if progress is sometime slow, we enjoy our

time together. Submitted by Eva Hayes – Group Liaison

Line- Dancing Group

THERE ARE NO STRANGERS HERE - ONLY FRIENDS WE HAVE YET TO MEET

This is us at the annual Fun Day at St. Nicholas Church in June. A great time was had by all and the dancers did me proud. It’s nice to be able to show others what has been achieved over the past few months. We have been invited back to dance at the Michaelmas Fayre in September, so we are all looking forward to that.

Submitted by Lynne White – Group Liaison

Like all Liaisons and Committee Members, contact details for

Lynne are found at the back of every Newsletter

Just a thought……. Before the

main meetings start – why not turn your

chair to face the speaker on the stage –

you can turn it back to chat to your

friends over tea…..?

OUR COFFEE

SOCIAL AFTERNOONS

Many of our members advised us that

they did not have enough social time at

the monthly meetings. In response, the

committee decided to trial monthly

social coffee afternoon’s from May to

June. During that time the number of

members attending have gradually

increased and it has given us the

opportunity to establish a relationship with Smallgains Hall which could be

useful as part of our contingency planning regarding the still unknown future

of the Paddocks.

We have received a lot of positive feedback from members who have

advised that they enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the social coffee

afternoons. I am therefore delighted to inform you that the committee has

agreed to extend the meetings until November 2019.

The forthcoming social coffee afternoons are;-

Friday 27th September, Friday 25th October,

and Friday 22nd November

Doors open from 1.30pm to 3.30pm at Smallgains Hall

If there are any activities, such as board games, that you would like to

participate in, have a word with one of the committee members present.

As normal, you will also be able to buy tickets for outings, get the latest

informaton about our new and varied groups and our U3A, all in a friendly

and informal enviroment.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will of course be available free of charge.

We look forward to seeing you there. Best Wishes

Mike Collett, Secretary, for and on behalf of your committee

Our members were very well

entertained by the tunes

delivered excellently by the

Harmony Singers – everything

you can imagine, including

Rock and Roll, Everly Brothers, Neil Sedaka and even songs

from the popular stage productions such as Les Miserable –

you could have heard a pin drop!

Bata – East Tilbury Wednesday 30th October in the afternoon Meeting first at the Paddocks at 1.15pm – Cost yet to be agreed but under £5 3rd December – 12.30pm Christmas meal at the Oysterfleet – including a talk by Chris Fenwick, Cost £22.00 Contact me straight away to be sure of your booking and to make food choices (Deposit of £10 at September meeting) Balance to be paid by 18th November.

If you are interested in joining us on any of these tours (never too late to join the Local History Group!) then look out for me at an upcoming event. My contact details are in the Groups list at the back of this Newsletter.

Submitted by Carol Revell – Group Liaison

MARZIPAN FRUITS

Surprize your friends and family this Christmas with a gift of Marzipan fruits that you have made yourself!! Carol

Revell, one of our Members will show you how in a few hours and you will amaze

everyone with your new talent! If you are interested in having a fun few hours with Carol and hopefully some other members, give her a call and she will arrange for you to get together and

have lots of fun while making beautiful Marzipan Fruits.

The last couple of months have been busy with setting up new

groups for the members. The first one was Walking Cricket, this

has been a great success and at the moment we have 28 members

and still growing. The hardest part is not to run after the ball, only

walking allowed. We are improving with our batting, bowling and

catching as each week goes on but most of all we have fun and are

enjoying it.

Our next new group was Bus Pass Safari, they had a lovely day

out at Leigh but you can read about this as Jean has put in her own

letter about this in the magazine.

Mindfulness was another new one that we haven’t had before,

and this has been well received. At the moment there have been

three courses started up for August, Sept and October. This may

be all we can do for the time being. If it’s possible to start another

one in the New Year then I will be putting a list out at the monthly

U3A meeting nearer the time. This is a great introduction on

helping yourself to relax and relieving stress.

Mahjong We had our first meeting of this at the Friday Social

afternoon on August 23rd at Smallgains Hall. Not many of us

know how to play it so it was good that we had two members who

kindly agreed to show the others. It is in a team of four, we

already have one team but if anybody else would like to join then

please get in touch with me and I can put your names on the list

for the next team.

Submitted by Jan Collett – Groups’ Co-ordinator

CHRISTMAS CARDS

The Committee have noticed how much time, money and effort is used by members of our U3A exchanging Christmas Cards with one another and have decided to offer you an alternative which will not only save money but be much better for the environment. At the October and November main and social meetings there will be a list for you to enter your Greeting (up to 38 characters and spaces) which will then be printed in the December Newsletter and shown on the Website. You then need to add £1 in the collection tin nearby in favour of the Canvey Island First Responders. This will enable us to send our greetings to fellow members whilst saving money, doing our best to save the planet and benefitting our charity of choice! PS Don’t forget to collect up the stamps on the cards that come through the post to put in the collection box for the RNIB

Can you work out what the formulae below mean. As a guide “3 C in a F” means Three coins in a fountain and “AB and the 40 T” means Ali Baba and the forty thieves. The answers are on page 18. Good Luck -

1. 3 BM.

2. 6 W of H the E.

3. 12 I in a F.

4. 10 Y in a D.

5. 12 S of the Z.

6. 13 in a B D.

7. 12 K of the R T.

8. 13 C in a S.

9. 4 S in a P.

10. 16 O in a P.

11. 24 H in a D.

12. 26 L in the A.

13. 36 I in a Y.

14. 60 M in an H.

15. A the W in 80 D.

16. 101 D.

17. M B in S is 147.

18. 366 D in a L Y.

19. 1760 Y in a M

20. 20,000 L U the S.

21. 2 W on a B.

22. 12 P in a S.

23. 18 H on a G C

UKULELE GROUP

The ukulele group remains at full strength and our weekly meetings continue to be very well attended. Our repertoire is still growing, and we currently have a selection of around 120 songs spanning several decades and a broad spectrum of musical genres.

We have also had the privilege of being asked to play at a wide variety of charitable events throughout the year. This gives us a great opportunity to showcase our talents, promote the Canvey Island U3A in general and provide entertainment to various organisations throughout Castle Point. Our performances to-date have been at Silverpoint Court Care Home on Canvey, with a further two planned for later in the year, Canvey Methodist Church, the Hadleigh Fair at St. James-the-Less Church, The Art Ministry at The United Reformed Church in Hadleigh and the summer fair at St. Nicholas Church Canvey. In April we were honoured to have been asked to perform at the Castle Point Mayor’s Charity Concert at Cornelius Vermuyden School which had an old-time music hall theme. Our performance was extremely well received and helped raise around £600 for local worthy causes chosen by our local Mayor. I’d personally like to take this opportunity to thank all of our ukulele group members for their enthusiasm, great sense of fun, and for their support in giving up their free time to attend the several charitable events at which we regularly perform.

Submitted by Paul Bennett – Group Liaison

Ten Pin Bowling Scores

No game in August due to the school holidays

Name June ‘19 July ‘19 Aug ‘19 Alan 163 199 - Billy - 170 - Bob 193 175 - Christine/Terry - 178 - Ernie 203 202 - Eve 220 252 - Iris/Christine 157 - - Joan 202 203 - Joyce - 157 - Margaret/Iris - 135 - Mike A - 244 - Mick P 229 175 - Ray - 181 - Reg 244 193 - Terry 163 - - Tony P 215 278 - Tony G - 170 - Terry/Christine - 178 -

DATE TRIP BOOKING DESCRIPTION

WEDNESDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER & 25TH SEPTEMBER

MISSISSIPPI PADDLE

BOAT CRUISE ON THE

NORFOLK BROADS

PRICE £24.00

FULLY BOOKED

Stop off at Wroxham where you can have lunch then on to Horning to pick up the cruise. Refreshments available.

FRIDAY 18TH OCTOBER

MYSTERY TOUR

COACH ONLY

PRICE £15.00

FROM 12.45pm

19TH AUGUST-

23RD AUGUST

Relax and enjoy the scenery around Suffolk’s towns & villages. Stopping for refreshments & lunch.

TUESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER

WHITE CHRISTMAS

THE MUSICAL AT THE

DOMINION THEATRE

TICKET FACE VALUE £80.00

U3A PRICE INCLUDING

COACH £61.00

FROM 12.45pm

16th SEPTEMBER-

20TH SEPTEMBER

Based on the 1954 film. If you wish You may pay for the whole trip of £61.00 at the September meeting, or £46.00 theatre seat and £15.00 coach to be paid 18th November

SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER

KENTWELL HALL

DICKENSIAN CHRISTMAS PRICE £31.00

Approx plus coach

T/B/A

FROM 12.45pm 21st

OCTOBER- 25TH

OCTOBER

Travel back in time for Dickens Christmas at Kentwell Hall’s Victorian household. Crafts, carols, music hall and much more.

JANUARY 2020 (DATE TBA)

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

THEATRE

TICKET FACE VALUE £85.00

U3A PRICE £48.00

(EXCLUDING

PRICE OF THE COACH)

(COACH TBA)

FROM 12.45pm 18TH

NOVEMBER

Coach price T/B/A to be

paid Phantom

Coach price of £15.00 to be paid White Christmas

Great long running show at Her Majesty’s Theatre. We need definite numbers for Cooks coaches before the seats are booked, therefore we need a cheque post dated 18th November. At the September meeting

WEDNESDAY 19TH FEBRUARY

WINTER LANDSCAPES

ESSEX VILLAGES &

PERRYWOOD GARDEN CENTRE

COACH ONLY PRICE £14.00

FROM 12.45pm 16TH

DECEMBER- 20th

DECEMBER

Visit some of Essex’s villages, stop for refreshments & lunch on route, then on to Perrywood Garden Centre.

SUNDAY 29TH MARCH

THRIPLOW DAFFODILS

COACH ONLY PRICE £14.50 (ENTRY TO

VILLAGE PAY ON DAY

£8.00)

FROM 12.45pm 20TH JANUARY

Step back in time as you walk the beautiful traffic free lanes of the village. Visiting open gardens, craft barns, marquees and stalls.

IMPORTANT – Wherever possible and especially for the higher priced

outings could you please pay by cheque made payable to Canvey Island

U3A. This saves the need for anyone to handle large amounts of cash

and will be much appreciated by the Bookings Team.

Remember when booking you may book two tickets for yourself and two

tickets for someone who is not able to be at that meeting (although not

for someone who is coming later, as that is not fair to your fellow

members.) You may only be able to book two tickets for yourself when

tickets are limited.

Tickets that come on sale on the Monday will still be available until the

end of the Social Afternoon on the Friday. If you are not able to get

someone else to get tickets for you then please call Kay or Lynne during

that period. Thank you.

1. Three Blind Mice. 15. Around the World in Eighty Days

2. Six wives of Henry the eighth 16. One hundred and One Dalmatians.

3. Twelve inches in a foot. 17. Maximum Break in Snooker is 147.

4. Ten years in a decade. 18. Three hundred and sixty-six days in a leap year.

5. Twelve signs of the Zodiac. 19. One thousand, seven hundred and sixty yards in

a mile.

6. Thirteen in a baker’s dozen. 20. Twenty thousand leagues under the sea.

7. Twelve Knights of the Round Table. 21. Two wheels on a bicycle.

8. Thirteen cards in a suit. 22. Twelve pennies in a shilling.

9. Four suits in a pack. 23. Eighteen holes in a Golf course.

10. Sixteen ounces in a pound.

11. Twenty-four hours in a day.

12. Twenty-six letters in the alphabet.

13. Thirty-six inches in a yard. Answers to Quizzical corner on Page 13

14. Sixty minutes in an hour.

Book Club Well for good or bad I am still running the Book Club. On my last message we were just going to read a book about a book club. The majority of our readers enjoyed it. It was called The Readers Of Broken Wheel Recommend. I enjoyed it as it made references to various authors who I had read and quite a few I haven’t.

One of our ladies grew up in a small American town and said that the book drew on things which she remembered. She also brought in several items which related to her town. We had a good discussion over these. We have also read Kate Morton - The Secret Keeper. Must admit our first reaction was oh, it’s 600 pages and hardback. It weighed a ton. Upset one lady as she likes to take hers to the hairdressers but it was too heavy. Anyway I digress, the overall impression was it was too long, but most sort of enjoyed it. A couple of ladies did say that they had to re-read the beginning because they had forgotten how it started, but then the ending made more sense. The next month was a variety of books, Vanity Fair, Bonfires of the Vanities, autobiography of Lady Trumpington, White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I had actually asked for the autobiography and was very disappointed. She had seemed to have had a very privileged life but there was very little detail. She name dropped lots of different people most of whom we had never heard of. July gave us This Is Going To Hurt by Adam Kay. He was a junior doctor and the book was written sort of like a diary. Some of the things he had to do were very “interesting”. It did make you wonder what some people get up to. Overall impression was most of us enjoyed it. Latest book is titled “Everybody died so I bought a dog”. We won’t be put off by the title.

Submitted by Audrey Maggs – Group liaison

Walking

Cricket Group

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am delighted to advise you that we have had 25 members showing an interest in

this new walking cricket group. Our emphasis is on having lots of fun whilst

keeping fit. The majority of our members have said that they are really enjoying it.

We are grateful to the committee for funding the purchase of the basic cricket set, by

asking for a small weekly sub we have already purchased additional balls, boundary

markers and crease markers.

Walking Cricket is a fast-growing activity across the country and U3A’s. It follows

many of the laws of cricket. Our initial thoughts were that it is probably many years

since our members held a cricket bat, thrown or caught a ball. Our first sessions have

therefore been having a knock around to get the feel of it and introduce the rules as

we go.

We have discovered that we have a few batting, bowling and catching stars in our

midst. I certainly did not expect so many runs to be scored and balls being belted for

4. Our plan is that we will play outside in the remaining summer months and in

September we move indoors to the sports hall.

Finally, the cricket bats and balls are plastic, the pace is gentle, so we don’t expect

any injuries, only a good laugh. With the growth of the sport we are hoping that next

year we will be able to challenge other U3A’s to a match.

It’s not too late to join us, come and give it a try. If you have any questions please

don’t hesitate to contact Mike Collett

Submitted by Mike Collett – Group Liaison

BUS PASS SAFARI

GROUP

We had our first ‘outing’ on Sunday 4 August, just a short trip to get to know

each other and to discuss where else we would like to go.

It was a huge success, only six ladies turned up, but we all got on so

well. We went to Leigh Library Gardens, which were very pleasant and

whilst there we put forward ideas for future trips, some suggestions were

Maldon, Braintree, Chelmsford. After this we walked along the High Street

browsing, then found a small café for coffee and lunch, then walked back to

our bus stop. We all enjoyed each other’s company and the lovely day we

had.

We are thinking of going to Chelmsford (via Basildon) for our next trip, then

walking (if you wish and weather permits!)or bussing through to Writtle,

where we can catch the bus back to Chelmsford. Hopefully this group will

go on to have many more, and perhaps more ambitious outings.

Submitted by Jean Duffield - Group Liaison Well done Jean and the initial members of this Group – a fun outing and with free transport, thanks to the Bus Pass!

N.B. If you know of any member who is

unwell, or has recently suffered the

bereavement of their partner, or just needs

a friendly call to see how they are feeling,

please contact our Members Liaison,

Georgia Draper. Her contact details can be

found on the back page of this newsletter

and she will follow up on your suggestion

with a card or telephone call.

The Annual

Quiz

A great time was had by all at the Annual Quiz held at Smallgains

Hall this year, plenty of space and of course the bar was open.

The evening started well, with a good variety of questions on

various subjects and most of the quizmaster’s answers were

accurate. If any of you are regular quiz group members (and if

you are not, you should join), you will be familiar with rule 2,

which goes along the lines that the quizmaster`s answer is always

correct. I have in the past made a challenge and it cost me a £1

for the charity box, so not being brave, I didn’t challenge the

answer to the Gila Monster

question.

I think we all should raise a campaign to make this a Bi-Annual

evening quiz, so that we can thank Alan & Elaine for a great

evening twice a year and thanks also to Carol and Deb for

organising the raffle and selling the tickets. Not forgetting the

person who called the numbers, whose name I have forgotten.

Thanks for a great evening………..Derek

Submitted by Derek Draper – Member

SCRABBLE

Fancy joining the Scrabble

Group? They meet at the

Conservative Club on the first

Friday of the month at 2.30pm

– Call Audrey the Liaison

…details at the back of the Newsletter.

A 6 year old went to the office with her father on ‘Take your Kids to Work Day’. As they were walking around the office, the young girl became very upset and began to cry. Her father asked what was wrong and the office staff gathered round. She sobbed loudly, “Daddy, where are all the clowns you said you work with?”

MONTHLY MEETING DATES

Third Monday of the Month -unless it is a Bank Holiday

Meetings are at 1.30pm with doors opening at 12.45pm

and at The Paddocks unless otherwise published

16th September

Linda Scoles - The Yanks are Coming - An American's View of a Suffolk

Village. Stories about how Linda and her family settled in Britain.

Christine Beedle – The Essex Scrubber - Christine Beedle is a self-

confessed Essex scrubber and what’s more she enjoys it!

Maz Morgan will present a talk entitled "The £10 Pom." Maz's talk recalls her experiences as a young teacher who emigrated to Sydney.

‘Free Spirit’

16th

September 21st

October

18th

November 16th

December

20th

January 2020 17th

February

16th

March - AGM

Kate Cole will give us a talk entitled "Essex Witches". Kate's talk puts the

witchcraft trials of Essex into their legal and historical context and explores local

Essex cases to explain why there were so many witchcraft court-cases within Essex.

Polite Notice

We would respectfully ask that you turn off your mobile phones during the

meetings. If you are likely to need to leave during the speaker’s presentation

kindly sit at the back of the hall and leave quietly.

- Thank you

SPECIAL OFFER FOR U3A MEMBERS

The Royal Hotel in Southend are offering U3A members a 10% discount on all

food & drink. This offer runs up until the 30 th September 2019. Just show

your U3A membership card when ordering.

***** ending soon*****

Local Theatre Group

During July some members went to a Matinee of the touring show Grease. To

their surprise they were treated to an unscheduled appearance by Peter Andre in the second half of the show. Some members actually managed to get an autograph or a photo taken with him! ‘Worth every pound!’ one member said.

Personal Alarms for

the Elderly

A fall in your home could result in you

lying there indefinitely, if you cannot

get up to telephone or call for help. One

popular method of avoiding this, for a

small monthly cost, is a personal alarm system. The system works

through personal alarms for the elderly or disabled, usually a

lifeline pendant worn around the neck or wrist. Pressing the help

button will send an alert to a 24 hour Care Team who will be able

to call for help, either by phoning the user's emergency contacts

(i.e. family or a neighbour) or the emergency services. This means

that the alarm user can feel safe in the knowledge that the Care

Team are there to answer their distress call 24 hours a day, 365

days a year.

Further details and prices can be obtained via :-

Age UK personal alarms Tel: 0800 011 3846 or visit

their website- www.ageuk.org.uk

Careline SOS – 0800 833162 – www.carelinesos.co.uk

Membership renewals

Membership Renewal packs will be issued to all members commencing at the September Main Meeting. They will be handed out at both the September and October Main and Social Meetings and any not collected by then will be posted. As the packs contain no private information, we will be pleased if members who can, take packs for friends. As we know that there are members without the facilities or knowledge of how to print their own forms at home and we want to ensure that all of our members are encouraged to re-join we decided that posting the residual packages was worth the expense. The Renewal form, however is available for printing from the website https://u3asites.org.uk/canvey on the Membership page, should you mislay your original form. Completed forms and payments can be handed in at any Main or Social meeting between October and the end of the year. Forms with cheques stapled to them, or in an envelope can be placed in the box provided but if you wish to pay by cash you will need to line up and get a receipt for your payment. If you pay by Bank Transfer you still need to complete the form and place it in the box. If you prefer to post your renewal you may do so by using a cheque or bank transfer and returning the form to me at:- 41 Crescent Road, Canvey Island. SS8 7JZ All cheques should be made payable to Canvey Island U3A 2020 Membership cards will be available to collect from the month following that at which you made your payment.

After managing to hold the Membership Fee at £18 since 2015, your committee have decided that it is necessary to increase the Membership fee for 2020 to £20. This is in line with our increased expenses..

Please note that the Membership Fee for 2020 is £20.00

Swimming

At the date of writing (August) the Swimming group is having a summer break due

to school holidays and the Waterside Farm pool being very busy. We aimed to

resume on the 4th September, so we should be up and running again by the time

that you read this.

Sessions for Senior’s are £1.00 on Wednesday mornings and hopefully the Council

will continue with this policy.

The group now has 10 members, with a lot of these being members enrolled during

the summer break. If you wish to come and join us you will be very welcome, let

me know and I will add your name to the group list.

I can be contacted via the Swimming Group page on the website.

https://u3asites.org.uk/canvey

Submitted by Roger Summers – Group Liaison

RAFFLES The raffles held at the main

meetings help to fund both the special prizes at the Christmas meeting and the refreshments

provided at various times throughout the year. Please buy a strip of tickets whether you are planning on staying

to the end of the meeting or not so we can continue to provide the quality of prizes and provide added

refreshments.