WHAT'S ON

London Region of U3As: London Region are hosting a series of Summer Talks online via Zoom. Their programme has now been extended with a series of talks in October on Family Histories, Friday afternoons in October 14.00-15.00. These are:

•  02 October: Family History at The National Archives
•  09 October: Online Family History Resources at the London Metropolitan Archives
•  16 October: Layers of London
•  30 October: The Future for Family History Research

Select up to four talks. Further information and registration here.

iU3A Collaboration Agreement: we've now signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) between iU3A and London Metropolitan University. This is an umbrella agreement and framework to allow us to work together in various ways. The first tangible activity will be a 'Shared Learning Project' on 'Blended Learning - the Future'. On this project some of London Mets students (supported by their tutors and lecturers) will work with some of our members to look at the challenge of how iU3A can best progress it's activities using a blended form of learning - a mixture of online meetings and physical meetings. The target date for Phase 1 of this SLP is December this year. If you'd like to work on this project and support the students (apart from providing a result for iU3A!) please email Valerie at: groupsnew.iu3a@gmail.com

iU3A Monthly Meetings: for the two iU3A talks each month see the details below.

Monday 09 November, 7.00pm: another in the popular series of online quizzes run by Jayne and Mary. Details of how to sign up for this will be emailed to all registering for this event. To register send an email to Mary at: iu3atreasurer@gmail.com
 
Thursday 26 November, 10.00, iU3A AGM: we hope you've got this date in your diary. We need your support particularly now (to achieve quorum and vote through various aspects). This will be particularly challenging this year due to the implications on process of Covid-19. More details on the AGM page here.
 
Future iU3A Outings
Unfortunately our programme of Outings for 2020 is currently suspended due to Covid19. We hope to be able to resume these later in the year.

Like all iU3A activities the number of Outings we can support will depend on whether people are willing to organise Outings. If you are willing to organise an Outing or just have some ideas for Outings, please send them to our Outings Coordinator here.
  
Courses
In 2019/20 we started a new initiative — short courses. We've now trialed a few of these. With great success. So we expect to run some further courses. Watch the Bulletins for further details on new courses being proposed. Details for current courses are on the Groups listing page here.

Monthly Meetings, Speakers Programme
Our physical Monthly Meetings have been suspended due to Covid-19 but instead we have created a programme of speakers who will present to us online using Zoom. How long the programme will run like this will depend on the unwinding rate of lockdown.

They will start at 10.00am and run to 11.00 — see the details below. It's suggested you log in and join the meeting at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time. There will only be the one topic, the main speaker. The Zoom invitation to these meetings will be sent to all members in the Bulletin.

DATE	MONTHLY MEETING PROGRAMME:
12 Nov	Nick Scudamore on Rediscovering James Mason. In the 1940s James Mason was Britain’s most popular and well-paid star of the screen and in 1948 he moved to the USA where he played many memorable character parts. But many of these did only moderate business at the box office. Film historian Nick Scudamore makes the case that many of Mason’s films are true masterpieces of cinema, and that he deserves greater acclaim. He will be illustrating his argument with vivid film clips from Mason’s long career. After spending the 1980s as manager and programmer in various London ‘art house’ cinemas, including the Screen on the Green and the Paris Pullman in Chelsea, Nick moved to Birkbeck, University of London teaching Introduction to Film courses for more than 10 years. He was also the Director of Studies for the film courses at the Summer School run annually by Edinburgh University to coincide with the Edinburgh Film Festival. More recently he has become more nomadic in his teaching, and particularly enjoyable highlights include teaching at universities in New York and Cape Town and an ongoing role as Shakespeare on Film expert with the BFI.
26 Nov	(After the AGM) Dr Eleni Vassilika: A Perfectly Equipped Ancient Egyptian Tomb: The Tomb of the Architect Kha of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Dr Vassilika was Keeper of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum from 1990 to 2000, Director of the Roemer-und Pelizaeus-Museum in Germany 2000-2005, Director of the Museo Egizio of Turin 2005-2014 and until 2016 Curatorial Director at the National Trust.
17 Dec	Bob Gilbert: Tales from the Trees. Islington has one of the richest variety of street trees in London. This talk will take the form of a virtual walk looking at some of them, especially the commoner species, unravelling where they come from, how they got here and even how they reflect the social history of our times. As well as learning some winter recognitions skills, we will be hearing their hidden stories; the connection between the lime and love, the magical powers of the ash, the secret history of the Tree of Heaven, and how conkers won the First World War. Bob, who lives in Poplar, with his family, a greyhound and several chickens, has had a varied career: stand-up comedian, community worker and Head of a residential field studies centre. He also served as a Director for Islington Council, responsible for parks and open spaces (including the borough’s trees), leisure and sustainability. He has travelled widely, including walking glaciers in Kashmir, and a solo journey by mule down the Dinder River in the Sudan. He has been a longstanding campaigner for inner city conservation, for the protection and improvement of urban open spaces and also served as chair of ‘The Garden Classroom’, a charity that promotes environmental education in London. Bob’s books include The Kings Cross Cut, The Green London Way (1991 and 2012) and Ghost Trees (2018). He has written extensively for newspapers and magazines and his column on urban wildlife ran for over 20 years in the Ham and High. His work on TV and radio has included The Sussuration of Trees, The Passion in Plants, editions of The Natural World and The Food Programme (all for Radio 4), and work as a presenter on Carlton Country. His new book, provisionally entitled The Missing Musk will be published by Sceptre in 2022.
28 Jan	Barry Mellor: Captain Cook's First Voyage. Barry read Chemistry at Oxford and had a career in the chemical industry and in information science. He lived in Australia for some years and became interested in Captain Cook's exploration of the east coast of Australia and in the history of the First Fleet, especially the impact of their arrival on the indigenous peoples. Barry is a small boat sailor, a qualified yachtsman and a Blue Badge Guide. He is interested in Astronomy and is an active member of Islington U3A's Opera and Global History groups. The presentation will cover basic ship design, navigation, threats from scurvy, transit of Venus, etc., and the exploration of the South Pacific, New Zealand, and the east coast of Australia. Barry will present an overview of the impact of Europeans on the indigenous peoples, most especially the Australian Aboriginal population and their culture.

Dates of Future Monthly Meetings/Speakers for first quarter of 2021 are:
14 Jan 2021, 28 Jan 2020, 11 Feb 2021, 25 Feb 2021, 11 March 2021, 25 March 2021

You can see either summary information about previous monthly meetings or the full presentation material (if we have received permission) on the following webpage: Past Meetings

End of Life Planning
In 2019/20 we started a tie-up with Gentle Dusk regarding End of Life Planning. They have held a number of 'Death Cafés' for our members and a webinar on how to create a care plan. If you don't feel you need to attend a Café or aren't ready for this stage yet, then you may find the guide we've created to help explain some of the terms. Read it here: End of Life Planning. Or if you want some supporting information on creating a care plan then look at myCMC.

Gentle Dusk are holding another online Death Cafe event which you may wish to attend. This is being held on Thursday 05 November 3.00pm to 4.15pm via Zoom. Registration is via Eventbrite (free) and limited to 35 participants. The registration form is here.

Coffee Mornings

Our iU3A coffee mornings are a popular way of getting to know other members. They take place around the borough, are always at 11.00 on varying days of the week and are free to iU3A members. In order to provide opportunities for all our members to attend, we limit attendance to a maximum of three coffee mornings per member per year (1st January to 31st December). See the latest Bulletin for date of next coffee morning.

Our coffee mornings are now organised by Sally Fox. To book up for any of the above coffee mornings please email Sally here. She will then advise you that you are booked, or if there are no spaces that you have been put on a reserve list. If you can't attend a coffee morning you've booked for, please let us know by emailing Sally (same link as above) to say you can't now make it.
 

iU3A's pub lunches provide an opportunity for members to meet each other in a social atmosphere. They take place monthly, around Islington. If you are buying a lunch the cost is around £10 to £12 with drinks being extra. If you'd like to come along to one of these please email Howard Stone here for more information or to reserve your place.

All those held so far have attracted about 15 iU3A members, who've enjoyed some good chat. While originally conceived to attract more male members there has been good support from the women members. Do come along and join us.

Pub lunches are now a 'group' and details of their schedule can now be found in Beacon.