Slough U3A Newsletter, June 2016

Our next meeting is on 15 June, Beryl Beare on “Wartime Experiences”

Slough writer, broadcaster and former TV and stage actress Beryl Beare had a memorable war. Machine gunned, bombed and hiding from doodle-bugs, Beryl, of Upton Park, lived to tell the tale. She is the wife of the late John Davies, a former secretary of Slough SAAFA (Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen’s Family Association). Beryl’s talk – humorous, scary and sometimes extraordinary – covers her wartime experiences in Kent, London and Coventry, including her friendship with suspected German spies and a close encounter with a German fighter plane. Assisted by Richard Emerson’s picture research, Beryl’s resonant memories of rationing, air raid shelters and blackouts will fascinate and inform. The picture shows Beryl in 1944 and today and (behind) St Paul’s Cathedral in the Blitz.

You can hear Beryl’s story at the next meeting of Slough U3A on Wednesday June 15 from 2-4pm at St Andrew’s Methodist Church Hall, Merton Road, Slough SL1 1QW. The meeting is free to first-time visitors and includes refreshments. Future General Meetings and speakers as follows;

• 20 July – Leslie Grout on “Burial Grounds of London”
• 17 August – Chantelle Kingsbury on Forensic Science
• 21 September – “Odes – a lighthearted look at life” with Pamela Harman

The monthly meeting is at St. Andrew’s Church Hall, Merton Road, Slough, guests are welcome and refreshments are provided. Doors open at 1:30 pm with announcements and speaker starting at 2pm.

U3A Activity Groups

Here are brief reports from some of our members’ activity and interest groups

• The Art Appreciation group will be visiting Monet’s famous garden in Givenchy (France) during August.
• The Book Group’s current book is “Courtesans” by Kate Hickman which a few of us have struggled to get into so our chat should be interesting at this month’s meeting. Next, we are looking forward to The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
• Cards (Bridge & Crib) had a start-up meeting and are arranging their first get togethers
• The Cookery Group group were “Cooking Italian” in May
• Creative Writing – At our last meeting the members formed two small groups to discuss a situation and an ending and some interesting ideas emerged. The home task to be read out at our next meeting is writing dialogue between two or more characters at some point in one of the situations discussed, and to see if these ideas can be developed further.
• Create & Craft meets every Tuesday as St Andrew’s Church.
• The Current Affairs Discussion group is still going extremely well. The numbers are keeping up and the discussions very lively. It goes from the interesting arranged subject onto other equally stimulating matters. The next meeting is for us to have last minute discussion before the EU election. I have no doubt that will be most interesting.
• A Drawing group is just starting up.
• Following the example of the forthcoming UEFA Tournament, the Theatre and Cinema Group kick off their summer programme with a home fixture at the Slough Empire this Wednesday 15th (‘London has fallen’ – an archetypal disaster movie).  We move onto a theatrical encounter in July (Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Jamaica Inn’ at Windsor Theatre on the 1st).  Our plan after this is to go on tour with fixtures as far afield as the Globe Theatre, Southbank in August and the Aylesbury Waterside in September.
• The French Group meet on the first Wednesday of each month. We are French enthusiasts, wanting to improve our communication skills for future French holidays; we are hoping to learn from each other and generate discussion topics which are of interest to us.
• The Philosophy Group is about to tackle the existential issue “What do we talk about at our first meeting?”
• The Play Readers will now commence on the 11 July 2016 reading “Absurd Person Singular” Alan Ayckbourn.
• Walking – has teamed up with Windsor Ramblers to offer a more varied program of walks. In June, these will be in Runnymede and Dorney
• Wildflower Identification are looking forward to examining the flora of Runnymede.
• Wine Appreciation in June explored Rosé wines and plan to move on to Madeira next.

If you wish to join any of these groups, please come to our General Meeting and talk to the group’s coordinator.

What’s on around Slough?

Slough Older Peoples’ Forum. Activities at Kingsway United Reformed Church, Church Street Slough SL1 1SZ:

• Celebrating the Queen at 90. Thursday 16th June, 1.30pm. Music, Quizzes, Fun, Share your memories! Admission by pre-booked ticket.
• Your Finances Who can help? Open Forum on Thursday 21st July at 1.30pm

Slough Senior Citizens Group – 9th June – Monthly Coffee Morning at 10.30 followed by singing Group at 1.30. Brook House, Chalvey SL1 2TX Pnone 01753 537996 email: sloughseniors@gmail.com

TAPLOW COURT – FREE OPEN DAYS. Taplow Court is a 19th century mansion set high above the Thames near Maidenhead; now a centre of Buddhist meditation. Cream teas are available in the canteen or you may picnic in 85 acres of grounds; Admission and parking free. Cliveden Road, Taplow SL6 OER. 01628–773163. http://www.sgi-uk.org/whatson/taplow-court

Windsor Theatre Guild presents The Wind in the Willows – A timeless classic for the whole family. Open-air summer matinée performances on weekends in July at Holyport. Box Office: 0333-666-3366 http://www.wtg.org.uk/

Film Night at Theatre 7 Pinewood Studios –Thursday, 16 June 2016. The award-winning BROOKLYN tells the story of a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. Please contact Rod Whyte for tickets – 01494–673134 rodwhyte@gmail.com. All proceeds to Rotary Charities

Garden volunteer group meeting at Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens, Church Lane, SL2 4NZ on Thursday, 9 June. All welcome. Lots of weeding to do in the rose garden! Tel: 01753 527844

Share your memories of Slough. Drop in to Slough Library for a chat about your memories of Slough with local author Ken Wight on Sat 11 June from 11am onwards. His autobiography “A life most ordinary” is about growing up in Slough and he would love to hear about your own experiences of how Slough used to be.

The Summer edition of Slough Council’s newsletter “Slough Citizen” may be collected from any library or online http://citizen.slough.gov.uk/