News from Knole
Knole U3A can be found at—http://www.knoleu3a.org.uk
Chairman's Notes
Amanda Birch
This is the last Newsletter before our AGM on the
22 June.
Four Trustees will stand down because their terms
of office come to an end:
John Stambollouian (Groups’ Co-ordinator),
Fran Dunk (Secretary),
David Small (Meetings Co-ordinator) and
Trevor Coley (Computer Group).
Members who have put their names forward to
replace those standing down are: Pat Jones, Jenny
Burton, Richard Teare and Simon McIntyre
respectively. In addition Peter Smith has put his
name forward to represent the Extramural
Committee.
I would like to thank those Trustees standing
down. They have been massively supportive of me
during my first year as Chairman and their advice
has been invaluable. I am looking forward to
welcoming the new members to our first
Committee meeting in July.
I would like to thank all the members who sent me
feedback in response to my March column about
lifting our cap. It is clear that you all appreciate
our efforts to keep Knole small and friendly but
you also value the efforts of new members who
bring new initiatives and ideas with them. For
the time being we will retain the membership level
as it is.
I do hope as many of you as possible will attend
our AGM, no donations necessary refreshments are
free.
Towards the end of last month members of your
Committee enjoyed an informal pub lunch with
their counterparts from Sevenoaks U3A. It was
very successful and proved to be an excellent
opportunity to share ideas and strengthen our
relationship. We will undoubtedly meet up again
next year.
May 2015
No 36
Finally, I don’t know if any of you managed to
see the marvellous live concert from Horse
Guards Parade on Saturday night to mark the
70th anniversary of VE day. If not, see it on the
iPlayer!
EXTRAMURAL COMMITTEE
and other visits or events
Visit on Wednesday 15 July to Highclere
Castle, Newbury. This has proved to be a
very popular outing, with all the places being
taken very quickly.
Visit on Wednesday 9 September to Cambridge
including a guided walk of the city ending with a
visit to Kings College Chapel,
followed by free time to visit the Fitzwilliam
Museum (or other attractions). The flyer for
this visit is in this Newsletter.
The visit in April to the magnificent
Waddesdon Manor was thoroughly enjoyed by
everyone. The weather was good so members
were also able to explore the Victorian gardens,
the parterre and working aviary. If any
member would like to make a suggestion for
visits in 2016 please talk to one of the
Extramural Committee members.
Coffee Mornings are held on the 2nd Thursday
of the month at The Bullfinch in Riverhead,
from 10.30am to 12noon. Next dates for your
diary are
June 11th. 9th July.
These are very sociable gatherings, open to all,
and a nice way to get to know members from
other groups.
Jean Paige
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What’s new on the Website
(knoleu3a.org.uk)
News from the Groups
**Exploring old Bermondsey with LS1**
**Members feedback on their reactions to
‘Modern Maths’**
__________________________________
Monthly Meetings 2-4pm
Sevenoaks Community Centre, Bat and Ball
22 June
6th Knole U3A AGM
28 September
Open Afternoon
__________________________________
Membership Renewal
Please act promptly to avoid disappointment!
Launch of Meopham U3A
This launch took place on Tuesday 14 April, and
was a rousing success! There were 140+ in the
hall, which meant it was standing room
only. There was a real buzz about the day, and a
good community feeling in the hall. Although
Meopham is not a large township, it is
surrounded by a good many other villages such
as Hartley, New Ash Green, Culverstone, Vigo, all
of which have a sizeable population. Remarkably,
Meopham already has 80 different clubs and
societies, so the arrival of the U3A is long
overdue.
The Chairmen of adjacent U3As attended and
spoke about various aspects of the organisation:
the nature of the charity and how it is
administered by National Office, how Study
Groups are run, the importance of the steering
committee and the way it is composed and, not
least, the value of the Kent Network in providing
practical help and advice to and the fledgling
U3As. We wish Meopham every success.
The follow-up meeting will be on Tuesday 14
July, 2-4pm at Meopham Village Hall. The
steering committee will be taking subscriptions
and signing members on to the new groups. If
you have friends who live nearby, please alert
them. They will be very welcome.
Magda Sweetland
______________________________________
You will find Knole U3A renewal forms for 20152016 with your newsletter. The system has not
changed but there is less flexibility this year
because we have a long, enthusiastic waiting
list.
Your membership expires on the 20th July
2015.
At the end of July new Handbooks will be ready
and will be sent only to those who have
renewed. Those who have not renewed will get
one reminder late July and I will send handbooks
to those who respond. Then we will invite some
of the waiting list to join for September.
Diary
June 2015
Thursday 11th
Coffee morning
Monday 22nd
6th Knole U3A AGM
Thursday 25th
Computer Group AGM
July 2015
Thursday 9th
Coffee morning
Wednesday 15th
Visit to Highclere Castle
Tuesday 21st
Committee and Group
Contacts lunch
August 2015
It is a busy time ahead for the membership
process. In August Gill Walker spends days
checking renewal details and amending the
membership list. Then Gill and I crosscheck
against my latest renewals list. With the
master list complete, Gill updates the address
label list and Third Age Matters.
September 2015
Wednesday 9th
Visit to Cambridge
Monday 26th
Open Afternoon
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News from the Groups
John Stambollouian
Armchair Travels
The Travellers’ Tales book group has just
completed another six months of literary
journeys: starting in Iran, then across middle
Europe in the 1930s; around the Mediterranean in
search of ancient Christianity, overland in Japan
in the 1890s, on pilgrimage in Tamil Nadu, and
finishing in the marshes of southern Iraq.
Village Studies 2
The VS2 group would still welcome a small
number of new members. Meeting at 10.30 on
the 3rd Thursday of the month, we will be
It has been another extraordinary journey where
we have lost ourselves for want of decent maps,
struggled with alien cultures and practices, and
had our spirits restored time and again by tales of
the unfailing kindness and hospitality of
strangers.
visiting Chiddingstone, Lullingstone Castle and
Garden, Halstead and Penshurst during the
summer months. Working in pairs on
organisation, we have explored numerous
villages in Kent so far. We have also ventured
into wildest Surrey with a visit in March to the
delightful border village of Limpsfield.
We shall be setting off once more in the autumn
and there are still a few spare seats to be filled
before we depart. If you would be interested in
coming along then please contact Alan Burfoot
and he will keep your name on the waiting list
until he knows how many people are aboard.
As the visit to Lullingstone Castle and The
World Garden of Plants on 18th June is
dependent on having 20 participants, we are
opening that visit to U3A members outside
VS2. If it is of interest, please contact Carol
Griffiths
Contact: Alan Burfoot
Contact: Carol Griffiths
London Studies 5
Science for all
Every 4th Thursday of the month from January to
October we meet in London and visit exciting, fun
and educational venues. In April we did a back
stage tour of the Royal Opera House. Our guide
was an actor and writer, he was both
knowledgeable and entertaining. We finished our
day with a pub lunch. At present we are a group
of 19 and have spaces for up to 3 new members.
We're a very friendly group, please contact me if
you'd like to join us.
The Science Group talks and visits are open to
every member of Knole U3A. The group aims
to raise awareness and discussion of a broad
range of science and technology issues with
talks from a mix of invited speakers and our
own members.
Contact: Pat Obrennan
The talks are held from 2.30 – 4.30 p.m. in
Sevenoaks Weald Memorial Hall, Weald, TN14
6PT on the first Thursday of the month from
October- May. Entrance £3, which includes
refreshments.
The next meeting of the Knole Computer Group
will be at 2pm on Thursday May 28th at
Holmesdale Bowls Club. The keynote topic will be
setting up and using Skype for video calls.
The new programme commencing in October
will include talks on a diverse range of topics
including environmental geology, astronomy,
nuclear energy, robotics, biomedical science,
fire prevention and molecular microbiology. For
the technical visits in the summer of 2016 the
Science Group is considering arranging visits to
the Mary Rose, a waste incineration and energy
facility and a scientific institution in London.
On June 25th, the final meeting will constitute our
AGM at which we will discuss the proposed
subjects for the 2015/16 sessions. There will also
be a formal handover to the new leadership team.
The next full programme of talks from October
2015 to May 2016 will be set out in the next
Knole U3A Handbook and on the Knole U3A
website.
Contact: Simon McIntyre
For information about the Science Group talks
and visits:
Computers
Contact Dr Alan Heyes
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Grand Designs
A new short life group to run over six to eight
months/sessions, for those with an interest in
modern architecture, planning and design. The
idea would be to take six notable modern
buildings, structures or housing schemes –
perhaps The Shard, or the Lloyds Building, the
London Aquatics Centre or a prize winning
housing development - read about them, visit
them and discuss their visual impact and how
well they seem to work. We might alternatively
focus on the work of notable architects such as
Richard Rogers or Zaha Hadid or a mix of the
two approaches. No architectural training or
knowledge required, just an open mind and a
willingness to find out.
If this seems likely to interest you, let me
know and I will call a meeting to discuss how
we should take it forward.
We have been contacted recently by Patrick
Pascal, who organises the Sevenoaks Cycling
Group, suggesting that we could exchange
details of our respective rides in case these
might be of interest to members of the other
group. Whereas we have so far limited the
length of our rides to a maximum of around 15
- 20 miles, and still like to concentrate on
easier rides so as not to discourage our less
confident members, Sevenoaks prefer more
challenging rides of around 25 miles.
We hope to arrange a ride on the 4th Friday
each month, weather permitting, so our next
ride will be on Friday, 29 May. If you have
been thinking about joining our group, but
have not yet done so, please contact me to
discuss the sort of rides we arrange. We still
try and cater for all abilities, and even more so
now that we have a link with Sevenoaks which
may appeal to the more energetic and fit
members of our group. With the summer
approaching, now is your chance to have some
reasonably gentle exercise out in the fresh air.
Attached is a photo from our first outing this
year, when we had a pre-season warm-up in
Knole Park. To anyone wondering where the
bikes were, I can assure you that they were
parked just out of shot!
Contact: Andrew Dunk
Contact: John Stambollouian
Bird Watching
As we celebrate our first year as an active
group, we look forward to expanding our
monthly outings to include areas beyond just
bird-watching. We plan on visiting Nature
Reserves as well as Bird Sanctuaries not only
in Kent but adjacent Counties
Rusty Riders
Our group is going from strength to strength,
at least in terms of the number of our
members! Currently we have 20 members,
although normally we only get around 9 - 12
riders on each of our rides.
Knole Newsletter there is no meeting in
July
Copy has to be with the printer by 23rd
July. Copy should be sent (with email
addresses please) by no later than
Monday 13th July to:
Michael Willsher
and
Pamela Gilchriest
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