May 2026
The month has started with both some lovely warm sunshine and some very cold days. As chair my first duty of the month is to attend our monthly committee meeting. I am constantly amazed by dedication of the volunteers that work so hard to keep our Horsham U3a running. It is a tough 2 hours but we always come away with fresh ideas to push our U3a forward.
Then there is the science and technology group. Always a wonderfully stimulating session.
Then the photography for fun group. A time to switch off and enjoy nature.
Very diverse groups that constantly remind me of how wide our choice of subjects is in our groups.
I have had the honour to address a group at AgeUk. I love to talk about our U3a and, with questions my 15 minute talk ended after 45 minutes. It is so good to talk to people and to of course listen. My dear old dad was a builder and he instilled in his sons measure twice, cut once. You can use the same for listen twice talk once! I find listening difficult so have to try very hard.
Many people I have found can hear but not always listen.
A morning walk with the short walks group along the canal at Loxwood. Another time to enjoy nature and chat with members.
So then to last night with a zoom meeting linking up all the chairs in England. There were 62 chairs online last night. It is sad sometimes to hear the problems that other U3as have and of course write down successes for us to reuse.
Our May general meeting was yesterday. It was a great success and Ian gave a really good talk about sailing across the Atlantic. Rather him than me! I have been in the type of weather he described but on a modern ship rather than a small sailing boat!
Times were so different in the 1960’s. Thanks to everyone who helped with the meeting. Work starts at 1 for the 2.15 meeting and we don’t finish until 4.30. It is worth it so see and hear so many people having a good time.
Its now Sunday 24th and very very hot. My thoughts go out to those who suffer in extreme heat. I prefer the cold so I have not been enjoying this week.
Our Web manager and I have been pursuing use of alternate microphones for our general meetings at the Holbrook. We hope that we have a solution. Thanks to the manager at Holbrook for allowing us both to fiddle and make a lot of noise to test our solution in situ.
The last days of May are over. I am planning the next photograph for fun visit and preparing for our committee monthly meeting. There is always a lot to discuss but we are dedicated to making our U3a the best that it can be.
Simon
April 2026
Well, this is my first blog and like any journey, it has just required me to start (grandchildren and U3a permitting)
The annual general meeting is always a big event for the committee. We have to get everything right. I am so proud of the committee, and all of the hard work that they do. It was a great relief when everything went smoothly this year.
We are looking forward to serving you all for a further year. We would like to do more but to be frank, we are overstretched and need more people.
I am always asking for a vice chair, and sometimes I seem like a record on repeat. That person can stand in for me. This was brought home to me when I had operations in October and November last year. This year I will face 2 further operations and it would be good to know that there was someone around to hold the fort whilst I recover.
The role would not be the same as mine, apart from standing in for me occasionally.
These are couple of the things that I would like the vice chair to do.
Visit as many groups as possible each year just to see what you are doing. Not to interfere.
Get involved with local companies to recruit more members shortly before or after retiring. We are all getting older and need new blood to come in to keep things going.
It has been very interesting to have a look through the results of the survey that was sent out to you all recently. You will be able to see the summary by going to our web site.
The survey will happen once a year from now on. The argument is that we only find out what people are feeling and thinking by asking! Criticism is as useful to us as praise although, I have to admit that we prefer praise!
I led the photography for fun group when we went to Chichester last month.
The group take it in turns to organize these outings and it was my turn to lead. It takes a lot of effort and it reminded me that our group leaders are one of our most valuable resources.
A big thank you to all of them.
If you think that you could lead a group, then please don’t sit on your hands. A lot of our groups are full and this means that members have to wait when they could be enjoying themselves like you do. No one starts without support and I know that being a group leader is very rewarding.
Reach out to Pam if you are interested.
Finally we hosted a really good new members afternoon tea last week. It was well attended and it was so good to meet so many new or potentially new members.
A big thanks to all who helped make it a success. A special thanks to Jane Broomer for organizing and making it a great success.
That’s all for now.
Simon