To read the latest National Office Newsletter click here…

The British Red Cross is committed to delivering help to those who need it most. Over the last few months, the number of people at risk of feeling lonely or isolated has increased – in some groups at a disproportionate rate – as connections with friends and family may have shifted or changed in light of lockdown.

As part of their response to the Coronavirus crisis, they have partnered with the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on ‘Tackling Loneliness Digitally’, an initiative to provide or improve digital connections for those more likely to experience loneliness.

A core element of this programme focuses on creating online resources to help empower people who may be feeling lonely, and provide them with tools to build confidence, coping skills, and connections. The resources are free and can be found by clicking here…

PAST QUILL TO PRESENT FEATHER…
The Spirit of Sutterby September Challenge 2020
A picture tells a thousand words? You are invited to commit your words to paper!

St John the Baptist, Sutterby and its surrounding deserted mediaeval village links us with lost people and pastimes but also provides very palpable links to the present day – from stones to paper, from past quill to present feather.

For further details click here…
Fact or fiction; past or present. We want to hear your short story, poem, or short essay, of no more than a thousand words, based on one of these photos. Amateur writers preferred!
How to submit:
Type and double-space your entry on A4 paper and send by email or post to:
spiritofsutterby@gmail.com
Include your name, and contact details other than your email.
If typing or emailing is difficult for you, please phone us for further guidance.
The closing date is 30th September, 2020.
The challenge is free to enter.

If you missed the online webinar by the Lincolnshire branch of the Institute of Advanced Motorists about driving after lockdown then it isn’t too late to watch it.

If you click here… it will take you to the YouTube video of the event. It makes it a lot easier because you can skip through to the parts that are most interesting. The presentation takes about 40 minutes and there are questions and answers at the end.

To contact IAM Lincoln:

Ashley Behan
Secretary
IAM Lincolnshire
0300 365 0152
07983 122020
www.iamlincolnshire.com

We have had the email below from Laura Abbas from a charity called Schoolreaders asking if any of our members would be interested in volunteering to help at local schools.

Dear West Wolds U3A

I would like to introduce you to Schoolreaders, which is a charity that recruits volunteers to listen to children read in primary schools. We provide this service for free to schools and the demand is high. We are in need of more volunteers in Lincolnshire, so I am writing to you to ask whether you would be willing to place a short article in your U3A newsletter or send our recruitment poster to your members? We have previously advertised through the U3A in other areas and found this to be a very successful route to finding new volunteers.

Our reading volunteers are going to be desperately needed following the Coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of children won’t have had enough reading practice during lockdown. In a normal year, one in four children leave primary school unable to read well. Most children will have missed a term of school, so the reading gap is now even wider. Children who struggle with reading are more likely to live in poverty and be unemployed as adults.

Schoolreaders needs more volunteers across Lincolnshire to support children’s reading and prevent them falling further behind. The scheme has proved very successful, not least because all parties benefit including our volunteers who derive great pleasure from seeing what a difference a few hours of their time can make to a child’s reading ability and enjoyment.

I do hope you will be able to help us spread the word.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Laura Abbas

l.abbas@schoolreaders.org

Operations Coordinator

Schoolreaders is a charity that operates entirely through donations, contributions and gifts. Thank you to everyone who is supporting this valuable work.

Registered Charity: 1159157

Schoolreaders
Bedford Heights

Brickhill Drive, Bedford

Mk41 7PH

Tel: 01234 924 222
Web: www.schoolreaders.org

During the strange period of lockdown and now restricted living your committee hasn’t been idle. I think the first few months we were not sure what to do but as time has gone on we have started to get our heads together, using Microsoft Teams of course, and considered some important issues.

We debated what to do about membership fees because despite not holding meetings we still have overheads. We pay the National Office for the Third Age Matters magazines and this is about one third of our total costs. After much discussion we agreed to use some of our contingency funds and set the renewal fee to zero. This will be revisited in February when we know more about the pandemic situation.

A number of our groups are still meeting online using Zoom and if you are a group convenor it might be worth thinking about how you could do it. There are Zoom tutorials on the U3A National website. Of course if your group involves swapping playing cards then that’s a bit tricky.

As you will have seen we are now using the Beacon computer system to email out the monthly newsletters. We still have 40+ members who do not have or have not supplied an email address so we are posting the newsletters out. This is costing us £24 per month so if you do have an email address, are happy to share it and haven’t done so already then please do.

As you will have experienced we are also using the Beacon system to manage the renewals process. It has been a steep learning curve to get it right and I’m sure there are still a few wrinkles in our understanding of the system that need be ironed out. We’re getting there. Again, anyone without an email address will be receiving their renewal notice in the post.

Over the last 6 months a couple of committee members have decided to resign. First the Groups Coordinator and more recently the Chairman. I have stepped in to these roles to fill the gaps for the time being. If there’s anyone out there amongst our membership with reasonable computer skills who would like a challenge then please come forward.

It should not be forgotten that your committee members are dedicated volunteers who work on your behalf. We don’t always get it right but we’re doing our best.

As always if you have any suggestions, comments or ideas then please let me know.

Steve McCarthy, Acting Chairman > chairman@westwoldsu3a.org

The new styled August newsletter is here…

You can access the newsletter from this post or from the email the majority of our members will receive on 19th August 2020.

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 Tuesday 1st September.

We would really like to hear from you during this lockdown period.

To read the latest National Office Newsletter click here…

Phishing email

National Office are aware of a phishing email which appears to have been distributed among U3A contacts. The email will appear to have been sent by someone in your email address list, so someone you probably know.

The email contains a blue box with the word ‘Preview’ in it and wants you to click on it.

DO NOT OPEN OR CLICK ON IT

If you have tried to open it or clicked on it then please let us know so we can help you sort this out. Please email national.office@u3a.org.uk or call one of our team on 0208 466 6139 Our staff team will note your details and help you accordingly.

The email should be deleted from your inbox and from your deleted folder and you should change your password.
Thank you – Third Age Trust

Many of you may be wondering when West Wolds U3A will get back to “normal”. This is a question the committee ask when we meet online every month. We don’t think it is safe to do so based on current information from Government and National Office.

Market Rasen Town Council have made a decision to keep the Festival Hall closed until September, to allow sufficient time to plan the halls reopening in a safe and conscious manner. The Council will be discussing the situation at their Full Council meeting on Wednesday 2^nd September 2020.

The committee will reconsider our situation at the meeting on 7th September. If you have any comment or questions then please leave them on this post or use the contact us form.

For those academics among our members Bishops Grosseteste are offering courses on the following subjects:

BA (Hons) History
BA (Hons) Military History
MA in Social & Cultural History

For more information email: Claire Hubbard-Hall claire.hubbard-hall@bishopg.ac.uk

To read the latest National Office Newsletter click here…