What a strange and difficult time it has been for all organisations. With the absence of real information individual interest groups within Retford U3A have been carrying on, some more actively then others.
The Walking Group leader Tom Bell has been keeping his group entertained by sending out a weekly newsletter, full of good cheer. The Wine Appreciation Group, encouraged by Pauline Crawshaw and others, have been using Zoom to keep in touch on a weekly basis, and with the lovely weather we’ve been having, can you think of a better way of passing an afternoon then comparing fine, and maybe not so fine, wines?
Ann Marsh has been doing a splendid job keeping in touch with her Craft Group, and other group leaders have been doing a sterling job keeping in touch with their friends. The Family History Group is one of the smallest groups, but members have been keeping in contact every Monday afternoon via Zoom with Sheena, Kate and Wendy, sharing free family history websites and other areas where they can trace historical information. The Military History Group are sending out a written presentation every other Monday morning, followed up a week later by the same presenter doing a live presentation via Zoom. These have become extremely popular with the group.
When the 75th anniversary of VE Day took place the Military History Group prepared a presentation, which was sent out to all Retford U3A members, who had access to a computer. For those without a computer, this may well be a topic they shall present at one of their monthly general meetings once they resume. The presentation was also sent to the Nottinghamshire U3A Network, and they have had some wonderful comments back from Dukeries U3A at Ollerton, Southwell U3A, who now want to send some of their members to Retford’s Military History Group meetings, and the Nottinghamshire Network, who invited them to put an inclusion in the county’s U3A newsletter.
The committee have yet to arrange the AGM, but they are working towards a possible date in late July or August. If the lockdown is still in place for their collective age group and we are not allowed to meet in large groups, an electronic AGM using Zoom technology may have to take place. Other U3As in Nottinghamshire have already done this. As far as the committee is aware, Retford U3A have all managed to stay safe. Let’s try to keep it that way.