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We pay our respects to Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts are with her family and those close to her. Her integrity, strength, public spirit and belief in the unifying force of living and working together will be missed by us all.

Linda Saunders, one of our members describes her feelings on hearing of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

A Flag in Mourning

I awoke this morning with a heavy heart,
Did yesterday happen, did our Queen depart?
Will we never see her smiling face
Capturing the world with her warmth and grace?

As the story unfolded, we soon realised,
Time was short and when she closes her eyes
She sees her children, beside the bed
As she prepares for the journey ahead.

As the notice appeared on the Palace gates,
An extraordinary phenomena was taking place
At Balmoral , Windsor and Buckingham Palace,
Could this be likened to the Holy Chalice,
For there shone rainbows high above
Ready to take her, to her own true love.

Our flag on the Castle was lowered slowly,
No longer blowing, completely carefree,
It knew what was happening, many monarchs it’s seen,
As it bowed it’s head, in respect to the Queen.

Linda Saunders

There are some members pictures of local commemorations in this month’s Newsletter Extra.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King.
We welcome King Charles III as our new monarch.

learn – laugh – live

Monthly Speaker Meeting

14:00 / 2pm Wednesday, 12^th October

Gardeners’ Hall, St Leonard’s Road, Windsor, SL4 3DR

The Origins of Place Names

Anthony Poulton-Smith

Tea/coffee and biscuits will be available

Future Speakers

• Wednesday, 9^th November: The History of our Christmas Festivities by Andy Thomas
• Wednesday, 14^th December: Christmas Party – to be confirmed
• Wednesday, 11^th January: Plants and Their Benefits by Timothy Walker

learn – laugh – live

Sarah Slater

Sarah Slater, our speaker in September gave an exceptionally good presentation. Teachers among you will know the significance of VAK – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic. Sarah Slater’s presentation met all the demands of good teaching. Her audience was spellbound and responded with many questions.  Sarah gave a brief history of the costume of wealthy ladies and dressed her mannequin with the many layers that made up a lady’s attire in the 17^th century.

There are some pictures of the dressing sequence in this month’s Newsletter Extra.

Sarah makes her own costumes for her work at Hampton Court and as a speaker. She continued her talk by explaining the various levels of authenticity which must be met when making historical costumes.

1. Replica materials must be used, produced by original techniques and garments are hand sewn.
2. The same materials must be used, but may be produced by modern techniques. Sewing machines may be used.
3. Modern materials and techniques are used, but the style of garments must be original and original fastenings fitted.
4. Stage costumes are designed for effect and quick changes.   Modern materials and fastenings are used, but the appearance must look historically accurate.
5. Fancy dress is taken to suggest authenticity but is not necessarily accurate.

Sarah’s costumes meet the requirements of level 3.

Sarah certainly met the criteria of u3a for us to Live, Laugh and Learn. We have already booked her for talks in 2023 and 2024.

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Please try to attend Monthly Speaker Meetings. Most of our speakers are recommended by other u3a groups and a significant proportion of members’ subscriptions go towards paying the speakers we invite to our attend. It would be helpful if convenors could avoid arranging meetings, outings and events on the afternoons of the 2^nd Wednesday of each month. Refreshments are again being served after the talks and it is good opportunity to meet old friends and meet new ones.

If you have suggestions for future speakers, please tell a committee member.

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New Members

Logged in members can see a list of the names of 10 new members who joined Windsor u3a in September.

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Outings and Events

Learn to make the most of your Smartphone (Date to be set)

The date for this meeting was deferred until after the Queen’s funeral. Peter Todd will contact you with details if you have already given him your name. If you would like to join in and have not yet given your name, please let Peter know. chairman@windsoru3a.org.uk

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Tea and Jazz Concert

• Tuesday, 22^nd November at 2:30pm

A Tea and Jazz Concert from a professional 6-piece band to play live jazz for us in Datchet Village Hall. See below for details. Open to all. No need to book. £5-00 payable on the door to cover costs.

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Coach tour to Lincoln and its Christmas Markets

• Friday, 2^nd December to Sunday 4^th December 2022

£239.00 per person, sharing a double or twin room.

Single occupancy supplement: £40.00 per person (Limited. It would be helpful if you could share a twin with a friend.)

Optional insurance: £29.00

Booking contact details visible to logged-in members only.

Accommodation: 2 nights in The Olde Barn Hotel, Grantham *** including bed, breakfast and evening meal.

Itinerary

December 2^nd An en-route visit to Anglesey Abbey, house and gardens and working lode stone mill (NT). The house also contains a wonderful collection of pictures of Windsor Castle through the ages.

December 3^rd All day excursion to Lincoln and Christmas Market.

December 4^th On our return journey, a visit to Stamford, a quaint, well preserved Georgian market town, with a thriving high street. Follow the town trial or enjoy the shops.

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Christmas Party Night at The Christopher Wren

• Wednesday, 14^th December 2022

£49.95 pp.
Contact Chris Dufty for details.

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‘The King and I’ at the Swan Theatre, High Wycombe

• Thursday, 16^th March 2023, Matinee Performance 2.30pm
• £52 per ticket (including coach)

The greatest musical from the golden age of musicals adored by the public and critics alike – with one of the finest scores ever written including; Whistle a Happy Tune, Getting to Know You, and Shall We Dance, and featuring a company of over 50 world-class performers and a full-scale orchestra.

Booking Details

Tickets may only be purchased by and for current Windsor u3a Members.
(Please detail names and Membership Numbers when ordering)

Booking and payments details are only visible if you log in (details at top of page)

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Notices

Linda’s Lockdown Lyrics

Linda Saunders sends her thanks to all those members who bought copies of the book of poems she wrote during the Covid Lockdown periods of isolation. Linda self-published her book and sold it to raise funds for Thames Hospice. The sales of Linda’s book have raised £1,200.  Well done, Linda and thanks to all who helped her carry through her initiative.

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Photography

A gentle reminder to all who enjoy taking photographs. Please make sure that no one in the group objects.  Sharing photographs of  u3a events, outings and activities gives much pleasure, but we must respect personal feelings and decisions.

learn – laugh – live

Interest Group News

COVID-19 is still with us, so please be considerate – stay at home if you are feeling unwell or think you may recently have been in contact with someone with COVID.

New Group: An Art Group

Contact Joy Smith if of you would like to join her new Art group which will meet in her home on the 2^nd Thursday of the month. It is not a teaching group, nor is it prescriptive. We simply get together to paint and draw in the company of other, like-minded people.

Contact details are visible if you log-in (ditto for other groups below).

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New Group: Bridge Improvers 2

Due to increased interest, John Wiggins is starting a second Bridge Improvers group. It will meet from 2pm to 4pm on the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday’s of the month.

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Gardening 1

The group have enjoyed many visits to gardens this summer. Read and see photos from the previous visit to the Handpost in Reading, in this separate feature post.

On Thursday, 20^th October at 2pm, Gardening 1 will meet at Carole’s house for their Autumn Plant Swap. Please bring along any spares or divisions. We will enjoy chatting together over tea and cake! £3.00 per person.

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Local History

On Thursday 15^th September, 10 of us from our Local History group visited an exhibition at Eton College about the 18^th century botanist and explorer Joseph Banks who accompanied Captain Cook on some of his missions. This followed a talk at one of our meetings by George Fussey, curator of Eton’s natural history museum. He not only showed us the exhibition, but as a bonus took us to some of the oldest classrooms in the college and we also visited the chapel. It was a fascinating experience and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. The exhibition, ‘To Botany Bay and Back’ is in the Tower Gallery at Eton College and runs until 16^th October. Diana Chapman

• 31^st October: Tony Howe, a Blue Badge guide, will relate the History of St Peter & St Andrews Church and Graveyard, Old Windsor on this its 800^th Anniversary.
• 28^th November: Grace Evans, Keeper of Costume at Chertsey Museum, will give another fascinating talk to accompany their new exhibition: Styled Bodies – Fashions of the 1930s.

Jane Standley

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Mahjong

This game originated in China in the 19^th century and is a fascinating and enjoyable game to play. It is played with pretty tiles, and basic play is very like the card game of rummy, though the scoring system brings in many tactics.

Our Mahjong group has been meeting for many years and has gradually grown in numbers. Almost all of us were complete beginners when we started and have learned (and are still learning!) together, using a set of rules from the u3a Trust.

We have now reached the maximum that I can cater for at my house, and I have a waiting list, so have decided to move our meetings to a new venue with more space, starting in October. This will allow us to welcome not only the waiting members to join us, but also others who may be interested.
Our group meets in Windsor on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. The new venue will be accessible, and with parking nearby. We are very happy to help complete beginners, so please come and enjoy the world of pungs, kongs and goulashes!

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Music Groups hosted by David Oldcorn

Show Music and Classical Music sessions will be on their usual days in October, but there will be no Ballet session.

Any member is welcome to attend these groups, just contact David.

Advance notice: In November, the usual three sessions will not take place; instead, on Monday, 14^th November, at 2-15pm, David will host a joint session for all three groups, when DVDs of some ballet, some show music, and some classical music will be shown.

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Tea and Jazz

Tuesday 25^th October at 2-00pm in Datchet Village Hall.
We will be showing a video “Jazz Played in 2022” on the cinema screen and excellent sound system in the hall. We think this is our best film to date, with great swinging jazz played round the world, mainly by young people. There are tracks included, often with vocals, from the Newport Jazz Festival 2022, Umbria Jazz in Italy, the Lincoln Centre in New York, and some superb bands on the streets of Paris. There is no need to book, all U3A members are welcome and there is the usual charge of £5 to cover the costs of hiring the hall and providing refreshments.

We have booked a professional 6-piece band to play live jazz for us on 22^nd November.

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Walking Groups

Shorter Walks

This month’s walk is being organised by Jo Wattis and will start from St Peter & St Andrew’s Church, Church Road, Old Windsor, SL4 2JW at 2-00pm on Wednesday, 28^th October. We will be walking along the riverbank to the Bells of Ouzeley and back. Jo has arranged for us to visit the church which is celebrating its 800-year anniversary. There is parking near the church; if you are coming by bus please get off at The Toby bus stop and walk down Church Road. Members of the group please contact Jo or Pat Oldcorn to confirm.

Contact details are visible if you log-in.

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u3a Amblers

Last month this group enjoyed their first walk together which ended at Dorney Court Garden Centre for refreshments. They meet on the first Monday of the month, in the morning and walk approximately 2 miles, at a comfortable pace.

Contact details are visible if you log-in.

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Windsor Area Walking Group

This month’s walk on 28^th October walk will be led by Maureen Russell starting from the car park in Wraysbury. The walk is about 4.5 miles and will take in all Wraysbury’s hidden gems. There is nowhere for coffee during the walk, but we can pop into the Perseverance at the end.

Contact details, time and exact venue details are visible if you log-in.

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Our Day Trip to Sandringham on Tuesday, 6^th September

I would like to thank everyone who came on the coach outing to Sandringham last month for being such a cheerful and happy crowd. Traffic conditions blighted our journey. Our coach arrived late due to traffic approaching Windsor; there was an accident on the M11 which was our planned route. Our driver and his satnav found a cross country route which took us to a surprise location for a comfort and coffee break, parking in a lorry park! The general reaction was one of incredulity and hilarity!

We proceeded on our way, a little delayed but cheerful. Sandringham Visitors Centre were reassuring about timing and we continued our journey, peacefully enjoying the scenery and each other’s company.
We were almost there and passing through a quaint little village which we thought was Sandringham, with a small church and village school, ‘Sandringham and West Newton C of E Primary School’, when the satnav led us down a country lane, next to the school. Soon we came face to face with a double barred gate, the entrance to a farmer’s field! Sandringham Estate was straight across the other side of the field, but this was no road for a coach! Our poor driver had to back out into a very restricted space …. and all the school children came out for lunch time play and stood at the fence waving. Sandringham Visitors’ Centre told us we were in West Newton, not Sandringham and helpfully stayed on the phone and talked us through the last few hundred yards of our journey to Sandringham Estate. Our driver was more than ready for a rest!

As several members have remarked, our trip to Sandringham on 6^th September, prompted by Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, has become very poignant with the passing of our Queen on 8^th September. Sandringham house was purchased by The British royal family as a country home in 1862, for Edward VII, then Prince of Wales who was about to marry Alexandra of Denmark. Inside, it feels like a family home and is more personal in its décor than other stately homes I have visited. It is not too big to imagine living there oneself.

There are more pictures of the Sandringham trip in this month’s Newsletter Extra.

The church, which dates from Tudor times is a particular joy with its glittering silver altar and pulpit. These were given by Rodman Wannamaker, a wealthy American businessman to Queen Alexandra in 1910, as a memorial to Edward VII. Although reminiscent of icons in orthodox churches, they were designed by Danish silversmiths and made in London by English silversmiths. See our website for pictures of this silver work and the beautiful decorative golden gilding on the walls and ceiling.

We were truly blessed on this outing. Everyone was in good humour and the sun shone, even though wet weather had been forecast. The sun shone all day until it was time for us to leave. As we drew out of the drive, rain fell heavily all the way home. More photos of our day out at Sandringham can be seen in in this month’s Newsletter Extra
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your patience and sense of fun.

Jackie Wiggins

learn – laugh – live

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Committee Contact Details

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