Good News the National U3a organisation is celebrating its 40th Anniversary throughout 2022. As part of the celebrations West Wolds U3a will be holding a 40 Year Anniversary, 3 course lunch at the Market Rasen Golf Club on Thursday 14th April 2022 for members, following the General Meeting from 12.15 p.m. to 3.15 p.m.
Tickets are £21.50 per person on sale from Shirley Fuller, at both the February and March General Meetings. (Payment by cheque please, payable to West Wolds U3A)
For further details contact Shirley on 07810845178
Menu TBA.
The January newsletter is here…You can access the newsletter from this post or from the email the majority of our members will receive by the 18th January 2022
If you haven’t told us your email address or if it has changed… to avoid missing out send your updated email details to membership@westwoldsu3a.org.
If you would like to make comment on this newsletter or submit an article for the next issue then please send details to newsletter@westwoldsu3a.org by Friday 4th February 2022.
We would really like to hear from you now that u3a events are beginning to take off again
AGE UK Lindsey Befriending Service is specifically aimed at people over sixty who are at an increased risk of loneliness and social isolation. This could be due to reduced mobility, bereavement or lack of access to social activities. We aim to make later life a more enjoyable experience by addressing these issues, of which we have seen a huge increase in recent times.
Having a Befriender can have a very positive impact on someone’s life and the support of our current team of volunteers is much appreciated by our clients and by us.
Over the past months due to the Pandemic, we have received more referrals for our service than we have volunteers. While we as a Befriending Team try to fill in the gaps it is not always possible due to the numbers and as a result some older people can be on our list for some considerable time waiting for a match with a suitable volunteer.
To become a volunteer, all we ask is for one to two hours per week of your time to contact someone who needs company. During Covid we had to revert to Telephone Befriending, however, slowly over the Autumn period some volunteers returned to face to face visiting. What volunteers decide to do is down to their own personal situation and of course the client’s needs. We are happy with telephone, face to face befriending or a mixture of the two. It’s still very important support and communication for those older peole.
Our volunteers are not expected to do anything other than go along for a chat, have a cup of tea and maybe play some games. When the weather gets better and restrictions allow then going out for a coffee or accompanying your befriendee to an activity is possible. Again, this something to be decided between the volunteer and client at the time.
If this is something you think you would like to do or require further information, please do contact Lin Wood, Befriending Co-Ordinator who would be more than happy to chat through the process of getting started and answer any questions.
Linda.wood@ageuklindsey.co.uk 07818 818748
This morning Judy Anderson from The Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Charity gave a very informative talk on what the Charity does to support the hospital. A lot of detail was imparted so apologies for a lengthy write up.
The hospital was founded by Dr Charles West on 14 February 1852. It was his ambition to be able to offer free treatment for families of sick children who could never afford a doctor, and he opened his hospital on Great Ormond Street known as the Hospital for Sick Children. From its opening, all of its funding came from donations until 1948 when the NHS was founded and took it over.
The GOSH charity was set up to fund all the things that go above and beyond what the NHS can afford to provide as many are outside of their medical responsibilities, and this has enabled the hospital to become world-class. Most of these services have a real impact of the sick child’s well being as was demonstrated during the talk.
There are 4 areas the charity funds:
Rebuilding & Refurbishment of Buildings
They fund buildings, wards & operating theatres. The charity raised £95M to build a new research centre called the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Diseases in Children which is the first in the world. In 2021 a new Sight & Sound Centre was opened to specialise in treatments for children with sight and sound illnesses, and research also takes place here. Many existing buildings and wards are refurbished with charity money. 
State of the Art Equipment
It funds specialised equipment that the NHS may not be able to afford. For example, £13M was raised for an intra-operative MRI scanner which is located next door to the operating theatre so that during brain surgery for example, the anaesthetised child can be wheeled next door and into the scanner to ensure he operation is completed and avoids future surgery.
Patient & Family Support
They provide over 100 rooms and flats for families to stay in during the sometimes lengthy stays in hospital their child needs. This avoids families being split up, having to make long expensive journeys to visit, and having the family close by aids recovery and reduces stress on the parents.
A Play Team was set up, the largest in Europe to help relieve the stress and boredom for patients, with age appropriate entertainment and fun, and distraction techniques from their treatment. Toy hospital equipment is used to help children understand the treatment they will undergo, which means they are less frightened. Music, art and games are used and teenagers are catered for with x-box gaming and other appropriate content. It gives the families respite for a short time also.
Research into new cures and treatment
The Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Diseases for Sick Children as mentioned above has 500 scientists researching into genomics, gene therapy and regenerative medicine. Additionally they can manufacture clinical grade cell and gene therapies to treat the patients, which a commercial pharmaceutical company would not take on. As these labs are one of the most advanced in the UK they played a crucial role in developing live samples of the COVID 19 virus which were used for early testing of vaccines.
The Pandemic
Some of the initiatives introduced following the pandemic: as GOSH took children from other hospitals to allow more COVID beds to be made available the workload increased so the charity arranged meals for staff who had no time to shop, provided funds for 24 hour counselling for those who were struggling with their mental health and set up a barista coffee bar for staff which seemed to be a boost to morale.
The Play Team set up an online resource called The Power of Play (gosh.org/play) suitable for any child to help with their happiness, to build emotional resilience to cope with life’s challenges, tips on dealing with loneliness, making friends, coping with illness and loss and fear of the unknown as well as fun things to do. Additionally they funded a clinical simulation centre with realistic child models which can be programmed with different symptoms to support training for covid-related crises.
Everything the GOSH Charity does is supported by donations, volunteers and gifts in Wills. The hospital is facing a surge in referrals and a drop in funds, so donations are needed more than ever.
The above summary is a tiny example of what the charity does and more information can be found at gosh.org and click ‘Our Charity Site’ tab.
Does your home feel cold? Are you worried about paying your energy bills? As part of the Warm Homes programme, you could receive a free home energy check from Age UK Lindsey. If you are over 65, live in a cold home or have a long-term health condition, you may be eligible. Our trained Home Energy Adviser will discuss your home energy needs over the telephone and then arrange to come to your home and install free energy efficient equipment, such as light bulbs and reflective radiator panels to help make your heating more efficient. Call 01507 524242 to find out how we can help you.Other support may be available to help you with your heating costs.
I have spoken to the lady who deals with this (Mrs Hobdell) who is very friendly and can offer a phone chat to assess how she can help. Sharon-Secretary
In December we tried to capture the magic of Christmas and the beauty of Symmetry
As the General Meeting is not going ahead this month, our scheduled speaker Judy Anderson from G.O.S.H will give the presentation via Microsoft Teams on Thursday 13th January.
Please use the link below to join the meeting from 10.10am onwards in good time to begin at 10.30am. In some cases you can join without downloading the app depending on your device. However you may need to download the Microsoft Teams app first which is very easy. If you would like a trial run, please let Sharon Rupp or any committee member know well in advance.
The Charity funds research into children’s health, support for families, life-saving medical equipment and rebuilding and refurbishment. We do hope you can support this talk.
The members of the Committee have had a discussion regarding the feasibility of having the January general meeting whilst the latest Covid variant is escalating, and in light of our speaker cancelling face-to-face talks for the immediate future.
We are in agreement that it is not in our members interest to expose them to an enclosed meeting currently, and so have taken the decision to cancel the meeting.
Instead, Great Ormond Street have offered us a Zoom presentation which we will accept if they can do it. We will confirm the details, but will request it is same day at the same time.
Zoom Details will be TBA
There will be no lunch group In January and the next one will be the 9th of February. Angela Wilson is in the process of arranging the programme.
Also the discussion group needs more members. The next one is on the 20th of January and the topic is “ Has the internet taken over? “ . The group now meet in a local members home.
Contact Angela Wilson on angewilson55@gmail.com for further details on either group
The December newsletter is here…You can access the newsletter from this post or from the email the majority of our members will receive by the 15th December 2021
If you haven’t told us your email address or if it has changed… to avoid missing out send your updated email details to membership@westwoldsu3a.org.
If you would like to make comment on this newsletter or submit an article for the next issue then please send details to newsletter@westwoldsu3a.org by Friday 7th January 2022.
We would really like to hear from you now that u3a events are beginning to take off again
Marie Lloyd
We gave a very warm welcome to the multi-talented Mark Walsh who returned for a second visit. His subject this time was,” Here’s a funny thing,” which covered the rise of Music Hall and its artistes.
Sometime back in the 1830’s, a very discerning landlord in London decided to devote a room at the back of his spit and sawdust pub in order to employ a variety of acts to entertain his customers. The landlord would take on the role of ‘chairman’ and the artistes would dance, sing songs and/or tell jokes. If they proved to be very good, they would attract the drinkers (known as the house) away from the bar and down to the stage; this went on to coin the phrase we know today as ‘bringing the house down.’
The idea of variety acts soon caught on and it wasn’t long before over 400 London pubs also had a ‘Music Hall’ where an Act would ‘play’ for about ten minutes; they might then move on to another pub to perform again and were often able to fit in nine shows in different venues in one evening as they didn’t have to travel far. The Music Hall became synonymous with providing affordable entertainment for the new urban working class. Here the public were treated to a wide range of performances, from gymnastic acrobatics to singing and dancing routines. As the Music Halls rose in popularity, so did some of the artistes and the likes of Marie Lloyd and later Arthur Askey were soon recognised by their ‘signature’ tunes of ‘My Old Man’ and ‘The Bee Song’.
By the turn of the 20th century, the music halls had grown into variety theatres with a compere rather than a chairman, and there were an increasing number of excellent comedians appearing such as Arthur Askey and Max Miller, who later became the highest paid stand-up comic at that time. Max Miller was renowned for working his audience with his rhymes and often leaving the last line for them to complete; he also influenced some of the best-known comedians of the 1950s and 1960s including Frankie Howard, Bob Monkhouse, Roy Hudd and Ken Dodd. Sadly, the increasing popularity of the cinema and then TV resulted in the demise of variety theatres, and many were demolished in the 60s nevertheless, variety continued in a different way with the rise in popularity of ‘the summer season’, followed by ‘the pantomime season’ where the audiences were still able to interact with the performers.
Mark is regarded as one of the finest ukulele players in the world and interspersed his most interesting talk by playing several well-known tunes on either his ukulele or banjolele. Both of these instruments were given to him by the famous Billy ‘Uke’ Scott and remain Mark’s favourite instruments; they are also eventually destined for the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Digital Photography Group decide on challenges each month, in November we had four different challenges to go out and take photos of ‘Fireworks’, ‘Bad Weather’, ‘Moving Water’ and ‘Night Sky’. Here are our four photos of the month from these four themes. If you wish to join or learn more about our group, we normally meet at 2pm on the first and third Mondays in the month at the New Life Church. For more photos from our challenges and information about the group look on our Group page on the West Wolds website at
http://westwoldsu3a.org/?page_id=7658
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