A coach excursion arranged for West Wolds u3a Garden Group to see the beautiful snowdrops at Anglesey Abbey on Tuesday, 22^nd February 2022. 

Seeing a swathe of snowdrops is one way to brighten the winter months. Despite the cold, these hardy little flowers can be found thriving in pastures, woods, ditches and orchards everywhere. After a long winter their brilliant white petals and green leaves are a welcome sight, signalling the growth of new life.  Also known as Candlemas Bells. Candlemas, the Christian feast of purification, falls on 2 Feb each year. Snowdrops are common in the grounds of old religious communities, and it’s possible that Anglesey Abbey’s snowdrops go back to the time when it was a priory.

Anglesey Abbey is a National Trust property near Cambridge.

The Winter Garden:  The first snowdrops to appear are usually found beneath the splendour of the Winter Garden.  Generally visible from mid-December, this is a favourite pathway to spot the delicate white flowers whilst also enjoying the sensory planting surrounding them.  This route is currently one-way to allow for social distancing. Please follow the directional signage.

The Woodland Path:  Along with daffodils and hellebores, the Woodland Path and Hoe Fen access path provide a natural setting for small clumps of some of their more common snowdrops. If you’re heading through either of these paths, keep an eye out for them on the paths as they can often spread with each passing year.

Coach pick up:  Behind Tesco’s store in Market Rasen and the Fire Station at 8.30 a.m.  We aim to return by 5 p.m.

Price: £35.00 per person for the coach and driver’s tip.  If you are a member of the National Trust you will have free access to Anglesey Abbey.  If not then we have a ‘group’ rate of £9.50 per person which you should add to the £35.00 price.

To make a Booking:  Contact Jane Guy to request a booking form jane.m.guy@btinternet.com or telephone 0797 1277 482

Booking Form

Age UK are looking for volunteers to go to care homes local to them around the county, and act as “Visitor Hosts”. This involves greeting any visitors that come to the care home, ensuring lateral flow tests have been carried out and handing out the correct PPE to the visitor. This provides really necessary support to the already stretched care home staff, and enables them to focus on the residents rather than the door-bell!

Having visitors in the care homes to see the residents can really improve their quality of life, and its especially important now after the course of the pandemic stopped them from seeing their loved ones for months. Volunteers receive all the necessary support and training from Age UK, and it’s a really worthwhile role that helps the local community.

If you are interested, please get in touch with Sharon on secretary@westwoldsu3a.org or direct with the project officer Maddy Hamblett Tel: 01529 404664 Email: maddy@voluntarycentreservices.org.uk

Yesterday after the AGM and during the splendid Turkish Delight Belly Dancers performance there was a piece of pure theatre.

Also a misunderstanding! I was expecting the contents [theatrical sausages on a string] to be thrown towards the audience i.e. me. I did not expect the bucket to come hurtling through the air  as well.

As an old Matelot I should have clearly agreed the modus operandi with a civvy.

All is well with Brian and I, but it did come sharp.

Talk about a pregnant pause during the morning !!!

David

Coming Events

1st December: Christmas lunch at Pennells

19th January: Ben Preston from Perennial the
Gardener’s charity “York Gate
through a Head Gardener’s Eye”

To join the group, or for any other garden enquiry please contact me by phone
Jane Guy: telephone 0797 1277 482, email gardening@westwoldsu3a.org

Jane is now producing a monthly newsletter just for the Gardening Group with all the details of meetings and visits and interesting information about gardening. To receive a copy of this contact her as above and she will email it to you.

The next theatre trip will be to the performance of
Christmas with Steptoe and Son at the Louth
Riverhead Theatre on Friday 3rd December.

We will meet in the foyer at 7.10pm and the tickets
cost £10 each.

If you would like to attend please contact
Jane Lloyd on 01673 843078 or janez.lloyd@hotmail.co.uk by the 11th November.

Last months speakers from the Lincolnshire Police Department who gave us the talk on Cybercrime wished for us to give a donation to a local charity EDAN Lincs, rather than paying them for the talk. EDAN stands for Ending Domestic Abuse Now. This is their response to the donation

EDAN Letter for Speaker Donation

The Digital Photography Group has decided we should show the best of the photos we take in each monthly challenge we take on, this month we had the themes of ‘Autumn Colours’ and ‘Intentional Camera Movement’ where the camera is intentionally moved whilst taking a photo to give weird effects. After critiquing all the photos presented at our monthly meetings we chose these two below. For a chance to see the rest of our photos put forward this month, please go to ‘Our Photo Challenge’ page under the Digital Photography Group

Autumn Colours

Intentional Camera Movement

 THE REFRESHMENTS AND GREETERS TEAM NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR DECEMBER AND BEYOND.

 CAN YOU SPARE AN HOUR OR SO TO HELP AT ONE OF OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS PLEASE?

 NO ONGOING COMMITMENT REQUIRED,

MAYBE ONCE A YEAR.

PLEASE SEE RACHEL OR CAROLINE FOR INFORMATION AND TO SIGN UP.

ALL HELP GRATEFULLY RECEIVED. THANK YOU.

Rachel Telfer 01673 844244 / Caroline  Dale 01673 844142

Caroline and Rachel would like to express their thanks to the members  who have volunteered as Greeters and Catering Helpers at earlier meetings.

Today’s speakers were from Lincolnshire Police’s Cybercrime Unit who gave a brief overview of the potential areas where we can be scammed and how to avoid it. They also provided a helpful guide for members to take away to read at leisure. I have a few spare so if you missed the meeting, come and find me at November’s meeting to collect one.

Committee will look at taking up the offer from the Police to run a hands-on event whereby members can bring their devices and be shown how to set up their Privacy settings and gain helpful tips.

Here’s a link to a YouTube video the Police recommend: Six Actions to Improve Your Cyber Security

The list of catering helpers for the next two meetings are :-

Please contact Rachel Telfer if you can offer to help.

Dawn Stopper would like to let all of her Keep Fitters (also known as Dawn’s Supple Seniors) know that she will not be running the Thursday Keep Fit Group on the 21st and 28th October.