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Updated 06-08-2024-RL
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Welcome to our new Chair, Jean Hogg
From 6th August 2024, Jean Hogg has stepped up to be our new Chair. We all look forward to enjoying Southwell u3a's activities, and all extend our huge thanks to Brian, stepping down after the maximum three years of Chair allowed by our constitution. He has been a fantastic Chair, and seen our membership, number of groups and every other metric grow back to "better than BC" (Before Covid)!
From the Chair, July 2024
Hello again for my penultimate piece “From the Chair” – my three years of sitting in the aforementioned chair is nearly over. I am writing this month’s column whilst Steph and I are precisely 38,000 feet over the Atlantic on our way to visit my brother Mike who lives on Vancouver Island in Canada.
Mike is over ten years older than me and when he emigrated to Canada in the 1960’s, I now realise that it must have seemed like a bereavement for my parents. We did not even have a phone in the house in those days and trying to get the money into a public payphone quickly enough for a call to Canada would have been almost impossible.
How things have changed in a generation! Now, we (and I am sure many of you) have far flung children and grandchildren of our own. Who would have thought back in the sixties that we would now be making video calls on Zoom to the other side of the planet – and for free! The world seems a much smaller place than it did back then.
Two things that have proverbially never changed though are death and taxes. That is what a solicitor from Tallent’s told us all about in a talk in our Short Courses and Workshops programme, the day before we set off for Canada. Morbid deliberations aside, it was a useful session about Wills and Powers of Attorney. Amongst the many useful messages, she stressed the importance of having a Will and making sure that your executors and loved ones know where to find it and the value of drawing up Powers of Attorney before you need them.
There are still places available for several more of our courses and workshops in the coming months and so do look at the programme in previous editions of Newsline and/or on the side wall at our monthly meetings.
I mentioned that this will be my penultimate piece and I am glad to report that we do now have someone to pick up my pen in two editions time. The committee’s efforts to find a new Chair appeared to have drawn a blank until Jean Hogg very kindly stepped forward. Many of you will know that Jean was one of Southwell u3a’s first Chairs and has gone on to serve in several regional and national u3a roles and is now also our Groups Co-ordinator. As such, she has certainly done her bit already!
Jean has made it clear though that she is only willing to serve as Chair for one year, during which time we must find another Chair who will serve from our Annual General Meeting in 2025. It is vital that we do not just ‘kick the can down the road’ for another year and so do please speak to me, Jean or any other members of the committee, as soon as possible if you think that you (or any of your u3a friends) might be able to join us on the committee from this year’s August Annual General Meeting onwards.
Finally, then, my Canadian-themed jokes of the month: What did the beaver say to the Maple tree? It has been nice knawing you. No room I am afraid though for my jokes about the Canadian Rockies. Pity - they were absolutely hill areas!
All the best for another month.
Brian
From 6th August 2024, Jean Hogg has stepped up to be our new Chair. We all look forward to enjoying Southwell u3a's activities, and all extend our huge thanks to Brian, stepping down after the maximum three years of Chair allowed by our constitution. He has been a fantastic Chair, and seen our membership, number of groups and every other metric grow back to "better than BC" (Before Covid)!
From the Chair, July 2024
Hello again for my penultimate piece “From the Chair” – my three years of sitting in the aforementioned chair is nearly over. I am writing this month’s column whilst Steph and I are precisely 38,000 feet over the Atlantic on our way to visit my brother Mike who lives on Vancouver Island in Canada.
Mike is over ten years older than me and when he emigrated to Canada in the 1960’s, I now realise that it must have seemed like a bereavement for my parents. We did not even have a phone in the house in those days and trying to get the money into a public payphone quickly enough for a call to Canada would have been almost impossible.
How things have changed in a generation! Now, we (and I am sure many of you) have far flung children and grandchildren of our own. Who would have thought back in the sixties that we would now be making video calls on Zoom to the other side of the planet – and for free! The world seems a much smaller place than it did back then.
Two things that have proverbially never changed though are death and taxes. That is what a solicitor from Tallent’s told us all about in a talk in our Short Courses and Workshops programme, the day before we set off for Canada. Morbid deliberations aside, it was a useful session about Wills and Powers of Attorney. Amongst the many useful messages, she stressed the importance of having a Will and making sure that your executors and loved ones know where to find it and the value of drawing up Powers of Attorney before you need them.
There are still places available for several more of our courses and workshops in the coming months and so do look at the programme in previous editions of Newsline and/or on the side wall at our monthly meetings.
I mentioned that this will be my penultimate piece and I am glad to report that we do now have someone to pick up my pen in two editions time. The committee’s efforts to find a new Chair appeared to have drawn a blank until Jean Hogg very kindly stepped forward. Many of you will know that Jean was one of Southwell u3a’s first Chairs and has gone on to serve in several regional and national u3a roles and is now also our Groups Co-ordinator. As such, she has certainly done her bit already!
Jean has made it clear though that she is only willing to serve as Chair for one year, during which time we must find another Chair who will serve from our Annual General Meeting in 2025. It is vital that we do not just ‘kick the can down the road’ for another year and so do please speak to me, Jean or any other members of the committee, as soon as possible if you think that you (or any of your u3a friends) might be able to join us on the committee from this year’s August Annual General Meeting onwards.
Finally, then, my Canadian-themed jokes of the month: What did the beaver say to the Maple tree? It has been nice knawing you. No room I am afraid though for my jokes about the Canadian Rockies. Pity - they were absolutely hill areas!
All the best for another month.
Brian
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© Southwell U3A Reg'd Charity No. 1132337
Southwell Minster photo courtesy of www.buildingpanoramics.com |