Social & Educational Group for Market Rasen & Surrounding Area

West Wolds
University of the 3rd Age

No longer working full time and live in the Mkt Rasen Area?
Want to learn or be creative? Want to stay active & meet new people?
40+ interest groups, visits, low subscription fees.
Monthly meeting with speaker at Mkt Rasen Festival Hall
2nd Thursday of the month doors open 9.30 – Everyone Welcome

POSTS

  • Up the Cut – Monthly Speaker

    up the cut imageThe Festival Hall was very busy with over 140 members in attendance. It was good to see so many people and obviously interested in inland waterways.

    The speaker, Derek Harris, was dressed for the part and set up a display of the various activities he undertakes including author of two books relating to life on the canal. For more information about Derek click here…

    He was obviously a tried and tested speaker who captured his audience from the start. After a brief introduction he burst into song and much of the talk centred around not only the development of our waterways but also the meaning of the language in the songs. Bargies had a language of their own and their folk songs did need an explanation to get the most from them.

    Derek covered the growth, demise and re-emergence of our waterways with humour and song. We all had a chance to join in on one of the songs – it’s always good to have a bit of audience participation just to make sure we hadn’t nodded off. For more on Canals click here…

    Already looking forward to next month’s:

    U3A-Meeting

     

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  • Digi photo group has been discussing how best to use your camera …

    At our last group meeting, we repeated a session we had done at a much earlier meeting, when we just experimented with our cameras, testing just what all the controls actually did!  Chatting with each other and explaining what we knew and asking about what we did not fully understand, proved to be really useful.  So on a sunny but cold Sunday I went (very slowly!!) on a Stephenson’s coach to Bridlington …

    As the day was so bright I added a polarising filter to the ultra violet one permanently fitted to the lens, along with a lens hood for much of the time.  The problem with these is remembering that they cut off your corners when on the nearest lens depth!  Apart from cropping and some automatic adjust, the photos seenAngles 01 Angles 02 (colour change) Angles 03 (black & white) Beach huts in black & white Beach huts in colour Jonathan seagull 01 Jonathan seagull 03 Springtime afternoon on the beach Turbines 01 Turbines 02 Turbines 03 033

    here are as taken  –  the point of the exercise was to take the views in different ways, through the camera setting, and not to revert to changing things in a programme afterwards.  We had talked about depth of field and manual settings, so many shots were taken to try out these techniques.  So what I took is what you see ..  hope the contrasts are of interest.

    PS: I titled the images and hoped the titles would come up when you hovered your mouse, but that doesn’t seem to have worked unfortunately.

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    Brian Ward
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  • Navel fluff is a thing of the past ….

    Do a twirl, girls ..
    All together now …
    No laughing in class, please.
    Follow me, please ..
    Co-ordination is the name of the game ..
    A final fling of the jingling thing ..

    West Wolds Belly Dancers are going from strength to strength, and our mystery photographer was recently granted privileged access to their Monday practice in a secret location, otherwise known as Middle Rasen Church Rooms.  Here we see some of his captured images, published after severe scrutiny by the group’s leader and chief belly gyrater, Gillian Anderton.

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    Brian Ward
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  • RAF Scampton Fire and Heritage Visit

    The U3A trip to RAF Scampton Fire Museum and Heritage Centre like all of Brian’s organised trips ran to time and delivered a variety of activities. It got off to an excellent start when we had the privilege of watching a solitary Red Arrow doing a test run before it was flown off to Greece to do their pre season final training.

    Our tour of the RAF Fire Museum was very varied with vehicles and artefacts dating back hundreds of years. Our guide, Steve Shirley,  was responsible for not only looking after the collection but also owned most of the items including all the 40 plus fire engines. His enthusiasm for everything to do with fire fighting was very infectious.

    015Even those of us who were only there for the lunch taken in the Junior Ranks Mess (it’s been a long time since any of us have been considered Junior) were captured by Steve’s passion.

    So after a good lunch, sorry no tea or coffee because there was a power cut, we were back in the Heritage Centre.

    The Heritage Centre had exhibits showing the history of the RAF from the Flying Corps of World War 1 to the Hawks currently flown by the Red Arrows with some large chunks of Lancaster bombers filling parts of the hanger. There was even an opportunity to sit in a mock-up Red Arrow with most people commenting on what a tight squeeze it was. I confess I was intrigued by the nuclear weapons that had been stored at Scampton during the cold war when Vulcan bombers were ready to scramble once the 4 minute warning came in. Did the residents of Lincoln know there was enough nuclear weaponry on their doorstep to wipe them out several times over?

    At the end of an excellent day we were back on the coach and left behind a wind-swept RAF Scampton. Thanks again Brian for all your efforts.

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  • Leprosy Mission Talk

    leprosy missionThe speaker, Lynda King, started with a joke which is always a good sign. She then went on to tell the very human story of young people who contract Leprosy. The disease is endemic in India and although a great number of people carry the Mycobacterium not everyone will show symptoms which are extremely debilitating – numb hands and feet leading to skin cracking and if not treated the loss of digits. We learned that if caught it can be completely cured however if it is missed it can still be cured but the sufferer will always have lack of feeling in the affected part of the body and the skin will need to be oiled regularly throughout the day. A key factor in the spread of the disease is poor nutrition, lack of hygiene and education. For more details about Leprosy take a look at this Wikipedia link…

    At the end of the formal session there were several very good questions however on reflection the questions indicated that the speaker didn’t cover some essential points about Leprosy.

    In summary Lynda made a very serious subject interesting and entertaining in a clear, confident and knowledgeable way. Everyone left the hall better informed.

    If you have any thoughts about the talk please make a comment…

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  • IT Workshops

    social-mediaThe Social Media and Web Design Group is changing. From now on it will be called “IT Workshops”. As you would expect a technology group wouldn’t stay the same for long. In future there will be a series of workshops covering topics such as Web Design, Social Media, Getting the most from a tablet, Apps for Smart phones, free software such as Libre Office to replace Microsoft and general discussions on technology. Each workshop will be limited to 5 people.

    The choice of these workshops will depend on you and what you want so if you’re interested in any of the above subjects or would like to cover something else then please let me know using the contact form on the IT Workshops Interest Group page.

    You can call me on 07540 302603 or Text or WhatsApp me on the same number. If you don’t know what WhatsApp is then maybe you might like to sign up for one of the workshops.

    From 8th March all workshops will be on Tuesday mornings 10:00 – 12:00 (2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month).

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    westwolds
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  • Winter Jazz on Sea

    WINTER JAZZ IN DEVON

    A small but perfectly formed group of our members set off from Market Rasen station one morning at the end of January, to travel to Paignton for a weekend of jazz and socialising.  Checking in to our hotel on a wet Friday evening, we were re-vitalised by the first of the weekend’s excellent dinners, followed by the first of the weekend’s excellent sessions of lively music.

    The whole event was well worth the travel involved, which went smoothly throughout, helped by the ‘assistance’ organised to move us and our bags between trains wherever we had to change.  The weather the following days was fine enough to allow us to explore the town – two of our ladies even used their bus passes to reach Torquay – and we were all able to walk off the generous meals.  All in all, an enjoyable time, with good company, good food, good music and a change from your average weekend at home!

     

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    Brian Ward
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  • Owlin’ Mad

    owlin-mad(feb16)The event on Thursday 11th February saw a fascinating talk by Annette Mackenzie about owls and we were lucky enough to be introduced to Eric, the little owl and Boogie, the barn owl.

    The audience was spellbound by the owls and Annette described their behaviours and when and where we should expect to see these beautiful creatures.

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  • U3A Summer Schools

    Other_Summer_SchoolsNational U3A Summer Schools for 2016 will be held at
    The Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester

    8th – 11th August 2016
    15th – 18th August 2016

    The Summer Schools are now full with the exception of Folk Art Applique in week 1. Please ring 0208 466 6139 if you would like to book that course.

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  • Visiting Speakers 2016

    person-red-dressThe provisional monthly talks are as follows:
    January 14th David Kew (member) – Ballooning
    February 11th Annette Mackenzie – Owlin’mad
    March 10th Lynda King – Leprosy Mission
    April 14th Derek Harris – Up the Cut – the history of canals in word and song
    May 12th Steve Short – Magician (TBC)
    June 9th Heather Rosser – Families in the First World War (Copies of her book “In The Line Of Duty” for sale)
    July 14th Julie Stevenson – Around the World in 365 days
    August 11th Jane Barnes – Tales from a Farmer’s Wife (TBC)
    September 8th Voice and Verse
    October 13th Jannette Merilion – Calendar of Colour
    November 10th A G M

    The details may change so please keep an eye on events…

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  • Legal Helpline Update

    u3a-logo-fullNational U3A are delighted to be able to tell you that they have managed to source a new Legal Helpline provider which will commence on 1st October.

    The details are as follows:-
    Arc Legal Assistance in partnership with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors
    Telephone number 0344 770 1040 Quote –  U3A Legal Helpline

    Lin Jonas, Company Secretary, The Third Age Trust

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