Our lead photo, by J. Wiggins, shows convenors participating in a workshop run by Sally Ingledew at our convenors conference.

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Convenors’ Conference 2023

This was our first Convenors’ Conference to be held since Covid restrictions came into force and
prevented such gatherings. One purpose of the conference is to celebrate our convenors. Without them
u3a groups could not function. We thank Sue White for organising proceedings and overseeing the day.
The main theme of the conference was ‘Learning the u3a Way’. Sally Ingledew, an experienced u3a educator, led a workshop during which delegates considered 3 issues and pooled their thoughts.

• Promoting the idea that all members of an Interest Group contribute to a group and how to facilitate this.
• Starting new groups and organising them – With no commitment to run them.
• Different ways and styles of learning – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, verbal, logical, social – and how we might cater for these, bearing in mind the concepts of equality, diversity and inclusivity.

Question time raised issues such as coping with various disabilities, including the onset of dementia and coping with the spectrum of personality extremes – dominant and recessive. It gave opportunity for convenors to share their experiences and learn from each other.

Later in the day, Sally went on to talk about the history and the developing new structure of the u3a movement. She has chaired the South-East Region Networks and is currently a member of the national movement’s strategic development committee. She is passionate about members views and ideas being represented nationwide. It was refreshing to talk with someone for whom u3a committee work at this level is a reality.

The day ended with a delicious lunch served in a delightful ambience by students on the Hotel and Catering, Hospitality and Travel and Tourism courses at Langley College.

Volunteering

Throughout discussions during the Convenors’ Conference, volunteering was a key concept. All convenors, all committee members, organisers at all levels within the u3a movement are volunteers. Some staff at National Office are salaried and several of them are part-time only. King Charles III recognised the importance of volunteers to the whole country by designating the Bank Holiday Monday following his coronation, a day for volunteering. Volunteering offers help to benefit other people, but the benefits can be even greater for the volunteer. It can help the volunteer to find friends, connect with the community and learn new skills. The good feeling that comes from giving to others can help protect the mental and physical health of the volunteer. Volunteers are particularly celebrated in Volunteers’ Week the first week of June every year. To find out more click here.
About Volunteers’ Week – Volunteers’ Week (volunteersweek.org)

The u3a movement relies on volunteers. All members have worked and retired. It is amusing (?) to hear people voice their opinion that now they have retired, they will join a u3a group to sit back and be entertained (by others who have retired). Windsor and District u3a needs more of its members to step up to volunteering, to become convenors, to sit on the committee, to make new friends, to improve and protect their mental and physical health. Think about it. Could you make use of your workplace skills? Could you job share? Could you be a co-convenor for a new group? Could you work with a friend to take on a committee responsibility such as Groups Coordinator or Secretary? Your interest and effort would be welcome.

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Monthly Speaker Meetings

2-00 pm at Gardeners Hall, 213 St Leonard’s Road, Windsor, SL4 3DR
on 2^nd Wednesday of each month.

We pay special thanks to Frank Tarrant, a well-established member of our u3a who volunteered to speak at our monthly meeting in May, when our expected speaker failed to attend. Frank gave a presentation called, “Singing and Dancing, with Humour.” With the aid of video clips, he reminded us of celebrity entertainers through several decades and gave his audience great pleasure.

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We have a varied programme of speakers for 2023 and hope you will enjoy listening to their talks.

• Wednesday, 14^th June: English Chalk Streams: Globally rare and beautiful waterways which are under threat, by Doug Kennedy, a professional photographer who is passionate about nature and our environment.
  Doug is active in many aspects of the environment and conservation, particularly rivers for which he chairs two groups. He monitors the River Thame for chemical pollution and for wildlife. He tweets regularly on environmental issues and writes columns for local news sheets. Doug has initiated a series of projects since the year 2000: https://www.doug-kennedy.com/ and his books have a strong landscape and wildlife conservation theme.
• Wednesday, 12^th July: Walking the Beat to Nirvana by Mervyn Evans, a police dog handler.
• Wednesday, 9^th August: Story Writing with Christina Loggia, a newspaper reporter turned thriller writer.

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Diary Dates

• Wednesday, 6^th June 2023 – A Guided Coach Tour through Midsomer Murder Country (2)
• Tuesday, 26^th June 2023 – A live jazz concert with jazz singer, Fleur in Datchet Village Hall at 2-00pm. No need to book. £7.00 pp (in cash please). Open to all members.
• Thursday, 13^th to Monday, 17^th July 2023 – u3a holiday to Yorkshire
• Tuesday, 25^th July 2023 – Live Jazz in Datchet. The Dixieland Swing Kings, a six-man traditional jazz band
• Tuesday, 24^th October 2023 – The Woodhouse Jazz Band with their singer Catherine
• Tuesday, 28^th November 2023 – Gambit Jazzmen

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Local Coffee Mornings

All members are welcome at each venue. Coffee Mornings are very informal, and their organisation varies. Seating and service depend on the venue. They are proving useful for members to get to know others in different Interest Groups and to make suggestions and discuss ideas for activities. If you have a query about using your mobile phone, it is possible that there may be a member present who could help you. In true u3a fashion, members can learn from and teach each other.

Old Windsor

The Bells of Ouzeley, Straight Road, Old Windsor, SL4 2SH
These are held on the 1^st Wednesday of each month. Next on 7^th June 2023

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West Windsor

The Running Man Café, All Saints’ Dedworth, SL4 4JW
These are held on the 3^rd Wednesday of each month. Next on 21^st June 2023

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Ascot

The Restaurant, Hilliers Garden Centre, off A30 between Sunningdale and Bagshot, GU20 6LQ
These are held on the 4^th Tuesday of each month. Next on Wednesday, 27^th June 2023

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Datchet

The Bridge Café, The Village Green, Datchet, SL3 9JH
These are held on the 4^th Wednesday of each month. Next on Wednesday, 28^th June 2023

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New Members who have joined Windsor u3a during May

Please make them welcome when they come to your groups.

Names visible to logged in members.

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Interest Group News

Colds, Flu and COVID-19 are still with us, please be considerate – stay at home if you are feeling unwell.

A New Group: Big Bowls Bash

More than twelve of our members have signed up for the Big Bowls Bash, a newly designed game of Lawn Bowls devised by the sport’s governing body. The whole group is new to Lawn Bowls and members have just begun learning the game. Thanks to Mary Sibley, one of our members who is also a member of Windsor Great Park Lawn Bowling Club, the club is making its club house and green available to our u3a group every Friday, from 10am-12 noon during the season (April to September).

The Big Bowls Bash game has jettisoned many of the traditional rules to allow new players to quickly become proficient. Andy, the club captain and coach or other club officials will be present each Friday to help members develop their technique. As players progress, support will reduce to light-touch coaching as needed.

The season is divided into two terms of 9 weeks each. The first ends on Friday, July 14^th and the second runs from July 21^st to September 15^th. The cost of each term is £25.00 a head, plus a nominal charge of £1.00 per term for tea/coffee/biscuits. Mary Sibley and Kate Rayner have kindly agreed to be joint convenors of the group.

If you are interested in joining Big Bowls Bash please contact Sue White, Groups Coordinator, via u3agroups@windsoru3a.org.uk

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Chess: A New Venture for our Chess Group

Over the Bank Holiday in May, our Chess group took part in a new community venture, playing chess at the Bridge café in Datchet, with some of the young migrants who are currently housed in the village at the Manor Hotel. Several u3a members volunteer at the Bridge Café and this opportunity for our Chess group to become involved benefits them and the young migrants. David Oldcorn writes, “I was invited to attend and did so, as did two others of our very small chess group; we all played some good chess and met some interesting people. For those migrants who play chess, these meetings both enable them to do something they enjoy and help them with their English.”

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Explore London 2

This group has been very busy over the past few months. Please see a separate post here for details of their recent walks from February through to May.
We send our good wishes to co-convenor, Sheelagh Irish, who has been nursing a broken arm.

Maggie Reeves writes, “In May, we enjoyed a wander around the Westminster area on a day when the sun shone and the crowds weren’t too busy, despite starting from Parliament Square where every tourist wants to photograph the Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben). We made our way into The Supreme Court on the far side of Parliament Square. Despite the security on the way in, this is a great place for refreshments, as the café is open to the public, but this is not well known. We passed Westminster Abbey, the Jewel Tower, and walked through the riverside gardens noting several public sculptures and a fountain on our way to Tate Britain, in time for lunch. This area is full of historic interest, but quite often overlooked by tourists.

After lunch, the group deviated to pass the so called “upside down Church”, St John’s Smith’s Square. This square is surrounded by beautiful Georgian architecture and we also s potted street signs left from WW2 still pointing the way to air raid shelters. We finished our walk passing Westminster School via Dean’s Yard and returning to the Abbey. Our last stop was St Margaret’s Church, another often overlooked gem. built in the late 1400’s. It is the official church for the House of Commons and has been used for many society weddings. Sir Winston Churchill was married there.

Our next planned walk for June is to Marble Hill House, Richmond – we’re hoping the weather will be just as kind then!

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Gardening 1

Thursday 15^th June, 2pm – We will meet at: ‘Wildwood’, 34 The Hatches, Frimley Green, Camberley, Surrey, GU16 6HE. Wildwood is a beautiful cottage garden with tumbling roses and lots of surprises! A NGS treasure! Please let Carole know if you would like to come (for catering purposes) as soon as possible.

Contact details are visible if you log-in.

In May the group visited Bridge End Cottage Gardens in Ockham again. It was very different from last year as the wildflower meadow was very lush with flowers about to bloom, whereas last year the flowers had gone over as the ground was very dry!

Bridge End also has a beautiful, cultivated garden. We envied the vegetable patch, so the owner took us to her greenhouse and there offered us some seedlings. Thanks to Joanna Wattis for the photos.

You can see more photographs of this beautiful garden in a separate post here

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Local History

This group meets in Windsor Methodist Church Hall in Alma Road, Windsor, SL4 3HH. Talks begin at 2-30pm. Admission is £3.00 on the door. No need to book. New members are warmly welcome.

• Monday, 26th June: The speaker booked for June has postponed her visit and an alternative is to be found.

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Italian

There will be no meetings in June and July. Meetings will resume in August.

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Music groups

David Oldcorn’s three music groups (Show, Classical & Ballet) will all meet on their usual dates during June. David has three interesting programmes planned and will welcome new members.

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Tea and Jazz

“Live Jazz in Datchet” on Tuesday 27^th June at 2-00pm in Datchet Village Hall will feature a lovely jazz singer called Fleur together with a professional guitarist and acoustic bassist. You will see below a YouTube link below to click featuring this group.

On 25^th July, we will welcome the Dixieland Swing Kings, a six-man traditional jazz band. Live jazz is also booked already for 24^th October – The Woodhouse Jazz Band with singer Catherine – and for Wednesday, 28^th November – Gambit Jazzmen return, who were much enjoyed by our audience in April. All u3a members – from any u3a branch – are welcome. There is no need to book – just turn up on the day. There is a fee of just £7.00 cash to pay towards the cost of the band, hall hire and refreshments.

All performances start at 2-00pm, with a break halfway for tea and cakes and finish at about 3-45pm.
There is a car park outside the hall and when this is full, there’s a public car park a short distance back towards Datchet village centre. is also available.

Please note there will be no Tea and Jazz in August and in December.

On 27^th June, we will listen to a lovely jazz singer called Fleur, together with a great professional guitarist and possibly another professional musician, too. In July, we hope to welcome back the Woodhouse Jazz Band, including singer, Catherine. We feel sure you will enjoy the above groups.

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Walking Groups

u3a Amblers

The amble on 6^th July is tentatively planned to be a loop round part of Windsor Great Park, from Stag Meadow.

Convenor contact details are visible if you log-in.

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Shorter Walks

The walk will be led by Lynda Eadle and will take place between Dorney and Taplow, from Marsh Lane Car Park, Dorney, SL6 0DH on Wednesday 28^th June. Please let Lynda know if you intend joining the walk and if you are running late on the day, please let her know. The walk will take us approximately 20 minutes each way and we will have a coffee stop with views over Taplow Lake. The gravel path is flat, wide.

Marsh Lane car park is reached from Windsor via Eton Wick, following the road to Dorney, passing Dorney Garden Centre and the entrance to the rowing lake, then over the M4 bridge. The car park is on the left near a 30-mph sign and white gates.

Start time and contact details are visible if you log-in.

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Windsor Area Walking Group

The May walk on 23^rd June will be led by Roy Battison. Park at Dorney Court Garden Centre, SL4 6QP, where we can have a coffee or lunch after the walk, which will be along the Jubilee River towards Maidenhead, cutting across farmland to Bray Lock and then back via the Thames Path. About 5 miles.

Logged in members can see contact details and start time.

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National u3a

This link will take you to the national u3a monthly ‘Newsletter Express’
https://mailchi.mp/u3a/newsletter-express-03-05-23-cook-for-the-king-2233848?e=874e2a0b22
You can sign up for your own copy to be delivered by email.

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Committee Contact Details

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