University of the Third Age, Chester

Click here for reports and photos of group activities.

STOP PRESS — 'Waterways Event' on 25th May 2012 — it's going to be sunny!

Why not enjoy the sunny weather and join us at the Boat Museum. There are still places left on some of the talks and there will be a huge range of things to do and see for only £10, including Arty things, Crafty things, Historic things, Technical things, Films, Exhibitions and Talks!

New websites for NW U3A Region and for Deeside & Wirral Network

Here are two new web addresses for you to bookmark:
The new web address of the NW U3A Region's website is u3asites.org.uk/north-west, and
the new web address of Deeside & Wirral Network's website is u3asites.org.uk/deeside-wirral.

Issue 18 of NW U3A News now available

Click here for details of the NW Region's programme of events over the next few months, including a symposium for literary and historical Group Co-ordinators at Heswall Hall on Thursday 21st June, and a NW Regional Conference on 'Communications' on Monday 24th September in Manchester.

Report, by Andrew Cross, on U3A NW Science Day

Eight members of the Science Group made the trip to Skelmersdale on Tuesday 6th March for an appetising day of lectures along with a hundred other U3A members from around the Northwest. The day started with some history of the people and discoveries made at Liverpool University's Physics department. It showed that building large experiments went over budget even in Victorian times! Nuclear physics was a speciality and some well known names including Nobel prize winners worked in the department. This was followed by a profile of Joseph Priestley FRS, the non conformist clergyman who spent part of his life in Warrington. His discovery of oxygen ("dephlogisticated air") was but one of many scientific contributions including writing the 700 page 'The History and Present State of Electricity' in 1767. After lunch we heard of the contribution of science to surgery. In the early days it was really needed with the introduction of anaesthetics and antiseptics improving the survival rates dramatically. Modern materials now enable joint and organ replacement surgery, something of benefit to some U3A members. The day ended with an enthralling description of how to design and build hybrid rocket engines. Daniel Jubb took us through how solid & liquid fuelled rockets work and how a combination of the two is being built for an attempt to take the land speed record to 1,000 mph in the Bloodhound SSC project. A major target of this project is to enthuse children with science and technology with the hope that they will become our next generation of scientists and engineers. More information can be found on the Bloodhound SSC's website. All in all an excellent and stimulating day, many thanks to Aughton & Ormskirk U3A for organising it.

Membership of Chester U3A now closed for 2011/12

Membership for 2011/12 has now closed to new members. Those applying for membership will be added to a waiting list. Click here for more information.

The High Sheriff's Cheshire Prize for Literature

The 2012 Cheshire Prize for Literature will be awarded for an original and previously unpublished short story, not exceeding 1,500 words. A good challenge, perhaps, for the members of our Literacy groups? More information here. Entries must be received by 1st September 2012.

Issue 17 of NW U3A News now available

Click here for details of the NW Region's programme of events over the next few months, including the NW U3A Science Day on 6th March, the residential school at Myerscough College (Preston) from 3rd to 5th April, the NW Region AGM on 18th May (including a 'Distinguished Lecture' by Bill Tidy), and Deeside and Wirral U3A Network's 'Waterways Event' on 25th May.

Don't forget the Tradesmen's List!

U3A Summer Schools

This years U3A Summer Schools will be held at Harper Adams University (Newport, Shropshire) from 16th to 19th July, and at the Royal Agricultural College (Cirencester) from 20th to 23rd August. Click here for information about the courses being offered at Harper Adams University, and here for information about the courses being offered at the Royal Agricultural College.

2012 U3A Photography Competition - 'Seasonal Britain'

The theme for this year's competition is 'Seasonal Britain', eg cities & hamlets, land & sea, parks & gardens, flora & fauna etc ... throughout the year. The closing date is 8th May 2012. The rules of the competition may be found here. The 12 winning photographs will feature in the U3A engagement calendar for 2013, and the winning entrants will each receive a gift token and 6 calendars.

Membership for 2011/12 closes at end-February 2012

Membership for 2011/12 will be closed to new members from end-February 2012. Those applying for membership after that date will be added to a waiting list. Information about membership can be found here.

'Waterways Event' to be held at National Waterways Museum, 25th May 2012

Deeside and Wirral U3A Network has chosen the theme 'Waterways' to celebrate the Olympics in 2012. This is the first 'Study Day' to be organised by the Network, and will take place on May 25th at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port (formerly known as The Boat Museum). There will be a host of talks, tours, demonstrations and other activities. Click here for more information about the event, and here for an application form. The event is being advertised throughout the NW Region, so prompt application is advised.

Selected 'Signpost' links during 2011

The Signpost newsletter is produced monthly by the WorldU3A Service and contains 'snippets' about and web links to educational resources that might be of interest to U3A members. Click here for some of the more interesting links from Signposts during 2011.

Successful New Year Quiz on 12th January

On Thursday 12th January nearly seventy members of Chester U3A shook off their post Christmas lethargy and put their brains to work on the famous New Year Quiz. Tim Carley had once again set some mind challenging and topical questions. The 11 teams gathered round the tables with a sense of anticipation! With the first round having an Olympic theme we had to delve back into memories of competitions and competitors from decades ago. The TV comedy round brought images from the days of black and white to mind with references to Dud & Pete. The food and drink round went down well with a surprising number knowing about obscure fruits and the constituents of various cocktails. The geography sheet had cryptic clues to the names of 40 football clubs which led to many groans when the correct answers were read out. The final scores were close with the 'Cheshire Cheesecake' team taking the honours and getting their picture taken. Many thanks to Tim for preparing and running the event.

Successful Group Fair, 10th November 2011

A highly successful Group Fair was held in St Columba's Church Hall on Thursday 10th November. Representatives of all Chester U3A's groups were there to tell prospective members about their groups' activities. Many thanks to Sheila Young for organising the Fair and to group co-ordinators for creating such eye-catching displays.

Jenny Carley stands down as Chairman after successful two year stint

As required by our constitution, Jenny Carley's two year term as Chairman of Chester U3A expired at our AGM on 1st November. Thanks, Jenny, for breathing new life into Chester U3A and for introducing so many worthwhile innovations. Click here to read Jenny's report on her last year in office. Our new chairman is Andrew Cross, who relinquishes his role as IT Liaison Officer. Apart from Jenny, the only other committee member to leave the committee was Brian Holyoak, our Speaker Secretary. Thanks, Brian, for organising such a varied array of speakers over the past six years. Two new committee members were elected, namely Sue Kettle, who takes over from Brian, and John Hammond, our webmaster, who takes on the role of IT Liaison Officer. Click here to see the new committee.

Reminder! Your used stamps can help the Hospice of the Good Shepherd!

Many thanks to those of you who have generously contributed to the Hospice of the Good Shepherd over the last few months. Please continue to support this worthy charity by putting postage stamps, foreign currency, jewellery, watches and mobile phones into the collection box at our Tuesday and Thursday monthly meetings. Stamps can be UK or foreign, new or old. There's no need to attempt to steam used stamps off their envelopes - just cut round the stamps, leaving a margin of about 1cm.

Scams, scams and more scams!

The important issue of computer scams was raised at a recent meeting of the Computer Users Group, the objective of many scams being to gain access to your bank account and extract your hard earned cash. Many of you will have received unsolicited phone calls telling you that your computer has been compromised in some way and offering to fix the problem if you let them have your bank details, or download specialist software, or give them access to your computer. Click here to read about a few of these scams. The best advice we can offer is:

• Never respond to unsolicited emails that offer money, no matter how enticing. Delete the email.
• Put the phone down if an unsolicited caller, probably Indian, wants to fix a computer problem for you.
• Never give personal information or bank account details over the phone or by email.
• Don't be seduced by the offer of an unexpected windfall. If an offer sounds too good to be true,it probably is!

Virtual U3A, an online-only U3A

The Virtual U3A (vU3a), which went live in January 2009, is an online-only U3A, affiliated to the Third Age Trust. One of its principal aims is to provide the U3A experience for those who are rendered isolated in some way by circumstances or geography and unable to play a full part in a terrestrial U3A. More information is available on vU3A's website www.vu3a.org where one can also apply for membership. Why not pay it a visit? And if you know of anyone who might benefit, please pass the information on.

Reminder. Don't forget these useful local websites!

This website's External Links page include many links to useful local websites, including entertainment websites and to some of the more useful pages on Cheshire West and Chester's website. One CWAC site that's well worth visiting is Cheshire's remarkable Interactive Mapping site, where you can find the locations of almost any feature, service or function in Cheshire, and can report the precise location of all types of highway faults, including potholes, blocked drains, light failures etc. The enormous database behind the site seems to be updated on a daily basis, and the interactive part of the site is very easy to use - definitely a 5-star site! And don't forget the Chester Performs and Chester Festivals websites which contain a wealth of information about performances and events in Chester, including these free street events!

Successful Art Exhibition at Ness Botanical Gardens

The first 'Deeside and Wirral U3A Network' Art Exhibition was held at Ness Botanical Gardens from 29th April to 2nd May. Over 200 exhibits had been submitted by the U3As in the Network. Ness Gardens proved to be a good venue as over 1400 people visited the exhibition during the four days. The standard of the work was really impressive and there were many favourable comments. Many thanks to all those who played a part in making the exhibition such a success and to all our members who contributed their work. Thanks also to Geoff for taking these photos.

Fascinating talk about the history of the Rhydymwn Valley

At our monthly meeting on 3rd May members were treated to a memorable talk by Colin Barber about the history of the Rhydymwym Valley, a few miles to the west of Mold. Very few of those present were aware that this area played a key part in the development of atomic power, specifically the separation of Uranium isotopes, and in the manufacturing, storage and disposal of chemical and biological weapons. The Rhydymwyn Valley History Society's website provides a huge amount of fascinating information on these developments and is well worth a visit. If you want to know more you could attend one of the Society's Open Days or you could, of course, join the Society itself!

Val Quince wins the Roy Wilson prize for Creative Writing

The Roy Wilson Prize for creative writing was presented to Val Quince at Chester U3A's Thursday Meeting on 10th March. Before reading her story, entitled 'Sandalium infantis', Val explained that it had been her response to a theme, 'baby's bootees', about which members of the Scribblers Writing Group (now merged with the Friday Writers) had been asked to write a story. She warned that her story had been described as 'a bit grim', but stressed that she had written it as a story about love, about loyalty, about suffering and compassion. Click here to read Val's remarkable story. You'll understand, when you've read it, why the judges were unanimous when selecting it as the winning entry. Congratulations, Val, on writing such a memorable story.

Cheshire Resilience's Emergency Pocket Leaflet now available

Would you know how to protect yourself and your family in the event of a major emergency? Cheshire Resilience has produced an informative Emergency Pocket Leaflet on how to prepare for emergencies, including severe weather, flooding and major industrial and transport accidents. There's a lot of useful information in the leaflet, including the suggestion that residents should make up an 'Emergency Grab Bag' that contains food, water, first aid kit, torch, radio, batteries etc. The leaflet, which is the size of a credit card, can be obtained from libraries, leisure centres and health premises across Cheshire.

Useful talk on how to manage digital photos

Click here to download the talk!

Have you thought of using a different browser?

You may have read recently of the German and French governments' advice to their citizens not to use Internet Explorer for browsing the web because of security flaws. Since then Google has announced that it will stop supporting Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), notwithstanding Microsoft's stated intention to continue to support IE6 until 2014. The 50 visitors who use IE6 each month to visit this site should consider using another browser. Microsoft tells us that the security flaws in IE7 and IE8 have been fixed, so these browsers could be used, but they don't support all the coding elements on this website. If you want to see this site in all its glory you might like to try Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Chrome as your browser. Click here for more information about different browsers.

Online learning with the Open University

All of you will be familiar with the Open University, but how many are aware of Open2.net and OpenLearn? Open2.net is the online learning portal from The Open University and the BBC. Apart from containing useful information about TV and radio programmes, the site also provides interactive learning modules that contain the sort of subject material you could be studying at the Open University. The OpenLearn website gives free access to course materials from The Open University, and offers a huge number of free courses on almost any topic you might think of! Well worth looking at both web sites.

U3A's National Website

How many of you routinely log on to the Members' Area of U3A's National Website? Are you aware of the U3A Resource Centre, from which U3A groups can borrow slides, videos, cassettes, DVDs and CDs for free? Did you know that there are about forty Subject Networks through which ideas and materials can be shared, or that U3A provides an on-line notice board facility that individuals and groups can use. Interested? All you need to do is to create a login to the members' area. It's all explained on U3A's National Website. What are you waiting for!