Due to COVID-19, it was almost three years since Gainsborough and District u3a’s last AGM. On Thursday 10th February they held this year’s event at Gainsborough Methodist Church. The meeting was attended by nearly 60 people, including one or two newcomers.
The organisation has been through tricky times, as must be the case with so many groups. It was most encouraging to find that there were sufficient volunteers to fill the vacancies on the committee. For all those in attendance there was the hope of returning to normal activities in the spring.
Many of the u3a’s groups have been thriving since the summer. Two of the reading groups soldiered on throughout lockdown by using their IT skills to pass on information and the third group has just opened up again. All three groups would welcome newcomers. The curling players and the artists started up in September and are now in full swing. The bridge group and the Sunday lunch party left it a little later, but again are now going strong. The cyclers, gardeners, strollers, scrabblers, photographers, and art and music appreciators waited until 2022 to open up and are all happy to welcome new members, and new ideas.
A couple of weeks ago a new group started. This was a ten-pin bowling outing to Scunthorpe. 14 members made the trip and had two hours of gentle exercise to the strains of ‘Sounds of the Sixties’. There was much singing and even a little dancing as they tried to remember the words and the dance steps of their youth. They did also manage three games of bowling and some refreshments. Not surprisingly there was much laughter, which is how they like all their groups to operate.
March will see the group’s first visit in such a long time. Their resident ‘Thomas Cook’ representative has planned a trip to Halifax to visit the Piece Hall with the possibility that some intrepid / fitter members will also stop off at Shibden Hall – the setting for the BBC programme Gentleman Jack and also used in Last Tango in Halifax.
If you wish to join the u3a please look at the Gainsborough u3a website and use the ‘contact us’ link to do just that. Their next Thursday meeting is on 10th March at Gainsborough Methodist Church. Doors open at 10.00am, when refreshments are served. At 10.30am there is a talk from Professor Trevor Kerry on the topic ‘What do theologians do all day?’. He sounds to be a very interesting person as he began his career studying theology at Durham and Nottingham universities. The talk requires no technical knowledge on the part of the audience – the emphasis is on enjoyment and it tries to make practical sense of TV programmes we often see of discoveries of biblical or other ancient manuscripts and how scholars try to make sense of them.
Newcomers are always welcome. To qualify you must be over 55 and no longer in full time employment.