Family History

Kevin Nock has taken over as leader of the family history group with Karen Kamath as deputy group leader.

New group leader required for Knit & Knatter

Margaret is stepping down as group leader of knit and natter. Unless someone wants to take it over it will no longer be a group.

If you are interested in this

Avalon Network

This is a network of all of the u3a groups in our area. Hilary & Tom attended a meeting on 31st March at Somerton. The most interesting thing to come out of this was the possible exchange of contacts for speakers which may help whoever becomes the next speakers secretary.

Election to Committee

Our secretary has sent out a nomination form to all members for members of the committee covering the 2025/2026 session. If you are unable to open or print the form, the notice for these elections will also be issued at the general meeting to be held on the 4th April 2025 where nomination forms will also be available. Nominations must be received by the Secretary on or before the 25th April 2025. Nominations must be a paper copy or in a readable electronic form. Any nominations which cannot be opened or are unreadable will not be accepted.

Make sure that the person being nominated has signed the form

 If there is more than one nomination for an executive post or more than 12 nominations for the committee elections will be held at the AGM on the 2nd May in accordance with the constitution.

Should members wish to appoint a proxy for this voting they must advise the Secretary in writing giving their name and address. They must sign the notice and name the person that they want to be their proxy

The Art group has a new leader - Margaret Anderson

Words for pleasure is changing its name to ' Writing for pleasure' and the new group leader is Mary Ashby.

• The lift is working again and all groups back to normal.
• The lift at the South Street Centre is out of action*
• We will let you know when it is back working again
• notice dated 2/1/25

Yeovil u3a Christmas lunches 2024 , both sittings

What fantastic Christmas lunches at South Street this year. Photos of both sittings on two consecutive Fridays. Great atmosphere and great food. Thanks to all the staff at South Street for putting on a great spread for us.

Also thanks to Maggi for organising a very entertaining quiz which everyone seemed to enjoy.

Thursford Christmas Spectacular

8^th – 10^th December 2024

With the red weather warnings, power failures in the area and awful wind and rain Saturday was spent expecting a phone call from Bakers Dolphin to say the trip was cancelled! But Sunday dawned with blue skies, sunshine and empty roads as we set off. Conditions deteriorated by the M25 but generally during our stay we were lucky and did not suffer the heavy rain we half expected.

The hotel was comfortable, good food, excellent breakfast and conveniently placed for a visit to Norwich on Monday morning. We then went to Thursford for the afternoon performance arriving in good time for an optional visit to the Magical Kingdom, a large indoor collection of animated characters in a variety of settings with music, decorations and beautiful light displays. Then the main event, a 3hr show with a cast of over 120 singers, dancers and musicians, with speciality acts from around the world. It really lives up to its hype – it is truly spectacular. The ‘theatre’ is also beautifully decorated, again with lovely lights.

After the show there was time to walk around the illuminations which are equivalent to Longleat. Incredibly impressive.

Travelling back on Tuesday we stopped in Cambridge arriving home at 6pm.

Table Top Sale at South Street

Science & Nature Group

On Tuesday 5th November there was a record turnout for the group to listen to a fascinating talk about Astronomy by Adrian Dening

The next meeting is Tue 3 Dec at  South Street Centre,   10-12.  Topic is The Science of Biodiversity in your Garden  by Joan & Computer Art   by David

Success in 'Yeovil in Bloom' competition for our member Mary Orriss

  A fantastic result for Mary winning all these awards

Silver Gilt, best all year round front garden.   Gold, best all year back garden. Best overall back garden.  ( shield )  & Most Meritus  entry. ( salver )  

Well done Mary and perhaps this is a challenge for gardening group members in next year's competition

 

Trip to The National Arboretum, Westonbrit - Wednesday 23rd October

Some stunning photographs from Wednesday's trip to Westonbrit

Garden Group now meeting all year

The Garden group is now meeting all year and at the first meeting with the new Group Leader the following items were discussed

 1.  We would try to meet all year and possibly on different days of the week depending on what we were doing.
  2.  We would continue with occasional visits to members gardens.
  3.  We would arrange visits to local gardens, e.g. National Trust, Kingston Maurward, Bennet's Water Garden, Historic Houses and Bishop's Palace etc
  4.  Consider visiting various garden centres
  5.  Share plants and seeds
  6.  Advise and help members with pruning etc
  7.  Visit gardens within the National Garden Scheme
  8.  Investigate the possibility of talks from Brimsmore, Palmers and Haylocks (garden designers)
  9.  Take advantage of village open gardens
  10. Consider some liaison and sharing with Mudford Gardening Club.

At the first garden group meeting we had a demonstration on bulb potting and on the next meeting, we will have a demonstration on Propagation

On Thursday 24th October, group members visited Cannington Walled Gardens.

MacMillan's Coffee Morning - Wednesday 6th October 2024

This was organised by u3a members and held at the Abbey Care Centre in Yeovil. Mainly u3a members and families attended.

Blackpool holiday 2024

Yeovil and Crewkerne u3a Holiday May 2024

Blackpool and the Lakes

45 of us set off on Bank Holiday Monday with bags full of waterproofs and layers of warm
clothing in preparation for the cold winds that assail Blackpool. We enjoyed a coffee stop at
the Farmers Market services near Gloucester then lunch at Trentham Gardens Shopping
Village. It started as a lovely day and got hotter and hotter. We arrived in Blackpool with
blazing sunshine.
The Queens hotel was on the Promenade with the sea just across the road, perfect for a stroll
before breakfast. There was a good choice on the menu and all the staff were very friendly
and willing to help. In the evening there was entertainment starting with Bingo, 4 member of
our party won various games, followed by an MC who warmed up the audience with songs
and jokes creating a lovely friendly atmosphere and a female singer with opportunities for
dancing.
On the Tuesday there was a morning trip to Fleetwood Market then we had been booked into
the Tower Ballroom for tea but unfortunately this had to close so we were offered Circus
tickets instead. Surprisingly this turned out to be quite good. There were a variety of acts
including 2 high wire acts, one of which saw a man suspending himself from the trapeze at
one point by just his heels!, a couple of acrobats, a juggler, a contortionist who had us all
confused as to which bit of her we were watching and the finale was a couple on roller skates
doing incredibly dangerous looking things on a small platform over the flooded ring with
fountains round them. The downside was the ‘clown’ who seemed content to amuse himself.
However we were treated to a drink and snack in the interval. It was such a lovely sunny day
lots of people decided to walk back to the hotel.
Wednesday saw us wake up to a thick mist so we couldn’t actually see the sea over the road.
We drove north to Lancaster through farmland and pretty villages while the mist lifted.
Lancaster was a thriving City then after lunch we drove through the beautiful Trough of
Bowland. There was quite a lot of woods carpeted by bluebells and rolling hills with
amazing views. A truly delightful drive. We stopped in Clitheroe before returning to
Blackpool along the Ribble valley.
Our last day took us to Bowness-on-Windermere to enjoy a cruise on England’s largest lake
and browse the shops. Again it was fantastic weather so the ice-cream sellers had a field day.
Alas it was time to leave. On the return journey we stopped for lunch at the National
Memorial Arboretum near Lichfield. Run by the Royal British Legion it is an amazing place
and we did not have tome to do it justice.
Thanks to all the group for making the holiday so successful, and thanks to the weather for
letting us see and enjoy the beauty of the country.