Well, I am glad to see the back of 2021; marginally better than 2020, but a long way from ideal. Whatever your experience of the holidays and the past two years, your u3a committee wishes you an entertaining, healthy, and un-isolated 2022.
As for our u3a in 2021, at least we were able to start monthly general meetings again at the Well, with most of our interest groups recommencing to meet from September onwards, often with reduced numbers, but face-to-face at last. Then, of course we moved onto a new Greek letter. COVID variant after COVID variant, from Alpha to Omicron we are learning the Greek alphabet one wave at a time.
I am writing this piece in early December to meet publishing deadlines, so I can only speculate about what Christmas was like. Did we go ahead with our December general meeting? Whatever, we decided, we put our members’ welfare first. If we did hold the meeting, how did you do in the u3a Christmas quiz? I always fancied my chances on general knowledge questions, but am thinking that nowadays, I will be better off asking the questions. The three strikes of Brexit, Trump and COVID have struck me out completely. Is it socially irresponsible to not want to follow current events anymore? I predict I finished dead last!
In the firm hope that we have all experienced a happy holiday season, your Trustees Committee want to invite you to our next general meeting on Thursday afternoon, 27th January at the Well. Our speaker is yours truly, the topic ‘My Mum was a War Bride’. I gave an early version of the talk via Zoom during lockdown but have much developed it and I hope you will want to attend.
On another point, I need to remind members that three of your current trustees are stepping down in 2022 after serving our u3a for many years. One, Geoff Marsh, has served for six years, the first three as Treasurer. He has also led and / or supported numerous interest groups; walking (Striders), cycling, exploring, history… no one ever accused Geoff of a lack of energy! Luckily for us, Geoff has helped and mentored new committee members (not least me), so he will leave behind a far stronger and more comradely u3a trustees committee than he joined. In future issues, I will try to pay tribute to the others.
It’s a sad moment for us but a real opportunity for some of you to replace them. It’s not difficult and the friendship across the Committee is real. Join us and help shape the future of Retford u3a. Would you like to become part of the team of friends that Geoff has helped create? Contact me on 07967 637126 or our membership secretary Sue Paul on memsec@retford-U3A.org.uk or phone 01777 705008.
Bryan Gladstone