Pub Quiz 2019
We held our annual pub quiz in February 2019 and for a change held it in the Canonbury Tavern. As always it was well supported, with 58 members buying a ticket for the event. A number of members met beforehand to eat at the Tavern and then we took up our team places upstairs. Again our professional quizmaster for the evening was Jez Worsnip, who designs the questions especially for iU3A: of course the judge's word is final! As always it's a great opportunity to test the grey matter and get to know other members.

Ten teams battled it out with mixed  fortunes. It was fairly close at half time but the musical questions were hard, causing some pain to most teams, so there was a clear leader. In the second half the favourites (Team: 'F' Word) lost some ground but were still clear winners.



So another successful event enjoyed by all. Thanks to Anne, Ann, Mary, Kathryn and Christine for organising it. We are already all looking forward to next year's.

Last Monthly Meeting
January — Frank Dobson, who was Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras from 1979 until 2015, gave a fascinating and amusing talk about his time as Secretary of State for Health in the Blair government from 1997 to 1999. He took us through some of the headline issues of his time such as: ensuring new effective meningitis vaccine was available for children; establishing NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which focussed on the cost-effectiveness of clinical treatments and became a model for other countries; managing blood supply scandals such as CJD infected blood; establishing the NHS helpline NHS Direct; and reorganising children’s intensive care services. In all these cases, as Secretary of State he was always having to weigh up conflicting advice from representatives of different professionals and interest groups, and find funding when there was no money in his budget, as well as bear in mind how the public respond to the issue.

For information about our previous monthly talks see here.

AGM
On 22 November iU3A held its AGM. The annual accounts were presented and five members elected on to the Executive Committee to replace resigning members. You can see all the subjects addressed here.

Open Day 2018
In October our Open Day was also our fifth birthday celebration. Again this proved very popular and enabled non-members to meet us and find out about all the things iU3A does. As in previous years there was an excellent turnout with over 200 attending (151 members and 50 non-members). Out of the 50, 23 joined iU3A on the day and many others took away forms, so we hope to hear from them again soon. The existing members who turned up used the chance to see what other groups were on offer and sign up to them. Everybody also enjoyed our delicious birthday cake and had a good natter. This year the 'star' who cut our birthday cake was our acting Vice Chair, Ruth Gee.

With over 60 interest groups on display there were many great displays. Eight potential new groups were also being advertised to gauge interest and support. Visible and audible displays charmed the audience as they strolled around. All the existing Group Coordinators and their helpers did an excellent job of explaining what their group did and hence encouraged many to sign up. Hopefully this exercise also encouraged more members to be brave enough to volunteer to be Coordinators.

A special thanks must go to the sub-committee which organised another successful day, particularly to Sue Welsford, Diane Austin, Margaret Wearing and Isabel Dickson for coordinating the whole event. The Open Day is our major showcase for members and to the public who might be interested in joining.

Summer Party 2018
In June we held our annual Summer Party for all members. The venue was the Olden Gardens and it was looking its best. This tranquil haven is a glorious backdrop for our jolly party. All tickets were sold out with 100 coming on this beautiful sunny evening. The booze lasted to the end this year so all were happy, in fact the challenge was getting people to vacate the gardens at the end when our time was up. Much socialising and milling around had been possible — to chat to friends and make new friendships. Thanks to Lesley Delacourt for again bringing the bubbly back from France at a very low cost allowing us all to benefit by the low ticket price. Thanks also to Diane Austin and Sue Welsford for organising this event. But also to all our Volunteers who helped out on the day as well. 



Group Coordinators
We recently held a 'thankyou' lunch for all our Group Coordinators. 45 attended, a good majority of the total we have. They were all thanked for the efforts they provided in running their groups. Our activity groups make up the majority of what we offer in iU3A, so we are highly dependent on these volunteers. Unlike the annual Group Coordinators' Meeting this was not about training but merely a thankyou. However it still provided an opportunity for the Group Coordinators to exchange ideas amongst themselves and learn about other group activities. While the service was a bit slow the conversation flowed.



It was also an opportunity to put a face to a name on an email. All seemed to enjoy the event.

A big thankyou to Sue and Judith for organising the event.
 
Results from the recent (June 2018) Group Coordinators survey can be read here.




iU3A Outings
December — Christmas Market, Brussels: a group of iU3A pioneers enjoyed a wonderful day out in Brussels enjoying sights and sounds of this charming city, the Christmas market, and a very nice restaurant.

We took advantage of the very reasonable train fares offered by Eurostar (if one books a few months in advance) travelling to and from Brussels in just over two hours. The early afternoon was spent sightseeing, taking in parks and key buildings whilst meandering in the general direction of the Christmas market. One very important refuelling stop allowed us to sample the famous Belgian chocolate both as a drink and as a waffle topping.

We passed by the Manneken Pis, the Grand Place, the Hotel de Ville, the Eglise St-Nicolas, and the Museum of the City of Brussels finally arriving at the Christmas market. Rather bizarrely the market had a Finnish theme to it and several stalls were selling Finnish goods including whole smoked salmon. There was no shortage of things to purchase, eat or imbibe as one walked around this large market. The far end of the market had a Ferris wheel which offered excellent views of the city.


In the late afternoon we reconvened at the La Brouette restaurant in the Grand Place, enjoying a magnificent light show just before we went in to eat. The restaurant was full of character and the meal was excellent, as was the wine and beer. A five minute walk took us back to the local train station which was one hop away from the Eurostar station. A stress-free embarkation with all our parcels and we were whizzing back to London. We all had a really wonderful day out enjoying each other’s company and all that Brussels has to offer. We hope to offer more Outings to cities accessible by Eurostar, based on this very positive experience.

Thanks to David McP for all the organisation of this very enjoyable Outing.

September — a large group of iU3A members headed off to Bletchley Park this month.See the full report with photos here.

Thanks again to David, Elizabeth and Judith for organising this outing.







June — Twickenham: this month our Outing was to two houses in the Twickenham area. A full report can be viewed here.

May — Kempton Park Racecourse: the sun shone on the 18 members who embarked upon their researches into the mysteries of the "Sport of Kings". The travel arrangements from Waterloo were, so I'm told, seamless. This set the tone for the day. The Panorama Restaurant, which overlooked the winning post and provided a menu, appealed to all. The opportunity to stand by the Winning Post was taken by many and the excitement enjoyed by the winners was truly infectious. Those few who claimed to be ingenues had luck riding with them; those who claimed some knowledge were deserted by "her Ladyship." As the card ended around 4:30 the journey home was in reasonable comfort. Those who attended all asked for the event to become a regular fixture in the iU3A calendar.

In April iU3A held its first 'Outing': Eltham Palace has for centuries been a royal palace, and is now an unoccupied royal residence owned by the Crown Estate. Since 1995 it has been managed by English Heritage, who restored it in 1999 and opened it to the public. Internally, the Art Deco house is "a masterpiece of modern design". There is also a magnificent Great Hall, a survival from the mediaeval royal palace. There are 19 acres of beautiful gardens, with a rock garden, a moat crossed by London's oldest working bridge and a sunken rose garden. Full report and photos here. Thanks to Angela Treves and David McPhail for organising this one.

Boating Outing: in November 2017 eleven iU3A members enjoyed a narrowboat trip out of the Islington boat club. We were well looked after by our skipper, Amber, who steered us off in a Westerly direction. We very quickly negotiated our first lock and then headed directly to the Islington tunnel (more info here). 

Various members of the group took turns at steering the boat in a good straight line through the 960 yards of the tunnel. This was very much a highlight of the trip.

On reaching the Kings Cross side we performed a “u-turn” (a non-trivial exercise) and then went back through the tunnel to Islington. We then headed East for a while before returning to dry land at the boat club. Most of the group then enjoyed a drink at the Plaquemine Lock pub (more info here) where there was a live jazz band.

There was a lot of enthusiasm for an all-day trip, to include a picnic lunch, in the Spring. Watch the "What's On Page" for further info......


Theatre Visits
Computer/Tablet/Smartphone Sessions
These are a regular feature in iU3A now. These drop-in help sessions allow iU3A members with any query they have regarding their computers, tablets or smartphones to drop in and receive guidance from other iU3A members. They are generally held every 2 to 3 months with members requesting help with a variety of query areas. Some of these are simple (to some) and were easy to give guidance on, others were harder to solve with much cross-learning and use of Google search. Again all the "customers" went away very contented and with increased confidence to try things for themselves.
Thanks again to all the volunteers who came along to share their knowledge with other iU3A members. A general tutorial on some points raised previously is available here.

See the 'What's On' page for details of the next of these sessions (if there is one scheduled). Or for any help with your computer, tablet or smartphone you could try our help line. Send your query with details to computerhelp.iu3a@gmail.com.



Previously: To see more of our previous events and outings look here.