An anniversary of any group, such as the 20th Anniversary of Southwell u3a, gives us a good reason to reflect on past achievements and to see how far the organisation has grown. It also allows members to celebrate the hard work and dedication of all those involved in getting us to this stage, and thank them.
Being very new to the group, it was a real pleasure and a lot of fun to research the history of Southwell u3a as I prepared the light-hearted look back over 20 years for the recent monthly meeting. I was fortunate in
having many people providing me with helpful information, but special thanks go to Bob and Jackie Pitcher for
providing with many years-worth of past Newsline Magazines, and to Chris and Roger Bennett for sending me
many photos and information on a number of groups.
As Rosie Allen, our u3a East Midlands Council Representative, said in her kind words of introduction, Southwell u3a has been one of the great successes in Nottinghamshire and people have also gone on to help other u3a groups become established in the region.
From the very beginning, the demand for a u3a group in Southwell was shown. The first formal meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 7th February 2006, in the Minster Centre Audio Visual room which probably held 50/60 folks. However, it turned out to be so popular that many people were left outside standing on the pavement and they quickly had to arrange another introductory meeting in the ballroom at the Saracen’s Head.
The group moved to Trebeck Hall for a while but soon had to move to the small hall in the Leisure Centre and we now have to hold meetings in the main sports hall. Within a few weeks, there were more than one hundred members and seventeen interest groups. Twenty years later, we have over 970 members and 87 separate groups and activities.
It was difficult at first to find members to lead groups, and it took quite a while to convince people that they didn’t need to be experts as the u3a is all about learning together. Thankfully, that’s now changed as the great number and breadth of groups and activities on offer, testifies.
It was fun to consider some of the “light hearted” achievements of some of our groups. For example, people at the coffee mornings have drunk more than twice the height of the Angel of the North in coffee pods. Members of all the walking groups, through their many years of well attended walks, have covered a distance of Southwell to Singapore and back four times. The coaches to the Royal Concert Hall has meant that 4189 u3a members have attended 126 different concerts. This means, u3a members have listened to 6,300,00 musical notes and, unlike for Eric Morecambe, these have been all the right notes played in the right order!
The talent within the different groups was clear from the two recitals from the Folk Group and the Recorder Group, the former leading us in our own “karaoke” and the latter celebrating their own 10th anniversary this year. You can see the Recorder Group in action later in this edition.
So well done Southwell u3a – you’ve inspired so many people to carry on learning, laughing and living and I look forward to being a part of this over the next 20 years.
Mike Freemantle Chair