NEWSLETTER. The Deepings Third Age Group. (Visit our Web site) Deeping St. James THESE LADIES OBVIOUSLY MEAN BUSINESS! Programme of Speakers

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1 Issue No. 140 Deeping St. James THESE LADIES OBVIOUSLY MEAN BUSINESS! The Deepings Third Age Group NEWSLETTER (Visit our Web site) Deepings Web site CHAIRMAN S REFLECTIIONS! The trouble with February is that it is too short and March comes too quickly and another article is due! There are, however a couple of forward plans that we need to put to you. MARCH 2015 Firstly we have invited all members who joined us since January 2014 to a coffee morning at the Community Centre from 10am on Monday 30 th March, where we are hoping to learn how they have found our groups, monthly meetings etc and perhaps provide further information on various points. This is a first for us and every new member has received a personal invitation. (I apologise if anyone has slipped the net). As there are five Mondays this month we hope it will not clash with many groups and look forward to seeing many of you there. Members of our Nordik Walking Group see report on page 4. Committee Members 2014/2015 Liz Noble Chairman Jennie Sharman Secretary Anne Burton Treasurer Olwen Cole Group Coordinator Janice Cosham Membership Secretary Kath Allen Jim Pringle Welcome Coordinator Lyall Seale ) Speaker Garth Perry ) Finders Ann Holmes Newsletter Editor David Scott Contact through website Webmaster Programme of Speakers 16 March THE RNLI - THE SKEGNESS LIFEBOAT by Peter Sellers (AT THE DEEPINGS SCHOOL) 20 April OPRAH WINFREY TOUCHED MY ELBOW (interviews with TV celebrities) by Graham Keal (AT THE METHODIST CHURCH) 18 May FUNNY GARDEN FEATURES unusual and weird features in gardens from Romans to the Victorians by Andrew Sankey (AT THE METHODIST CHURCH) Unless otherwise stated, doors open at 9.30 am at all monthly meetings. Coffee is served until and meetings begin at am. PLEASE NOTE THAT AFTER OUR MARCH MEETING WE WILL BE RETURNING TO THE METHODIST CHURCH, DEEPING ST. JAMES, FOR FOUR MONTHS. Secondly we are considering our two monthly meetings that do not usually have traditional speakers. August and December, both of which will be in the Deeping School old hall which is a much larger and flexible space. In August we have booked the return of singer and funny man, Andy Smith, and we would like to know whether you would like us to arrange a buffet, as last year, or just simply an alternative to biscuits with the coffee! The space also lends itself to displays, so perhaps some groups would like to show their wares at this meeting. Group leaders please be good enough to discuss this with your group and let us know. The second monthly meeting is the Christmas one which many of us feel needs a revamp. The take on the panel game Would I Lie to You? last year proved quite popular but is it worth repeating and do you like the opportunity to join in with some carols? Please give your views to any committee member or drop us an . This month is the last at the School for four months because of school exams but I look forward to seeing many of you in the Conference Room from 9.30 am as usual on Monday. Best wishes, Liz Chairman WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS Rhoda Oakley and Peter Cook from Market Deeping. GROUPS WHO WOULD WELCOME A FEW NEW MEMBERS: Book Weevils and Bookworms, The Wanderers Walking Group, Discussion Group, Nordic Walking, Guitar for Pleasure, Quiz Group, Good Food Group. Please contact the group leader, details on back page, for more information. THERE HAVE BEEN PROBLEMS WITH MY S DURING THIS PAST WEEK. SHOULD ANY REPORT HAVE BEEN MISSED THIS MONTH THIS WILL BE THE REASON! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOUR REPORT IS MISSING. 1

2 GROUP NEWS All s should have a list of members, including name, membership number, telephone number, address and emergency contact details. Please ensure that these details are kept private and that you have the permission of your members to exchange any details within your group. When your list is complete please send me a copy by , or at the monthly meeting if that is more convenient, or by post. If you are short of a few membership numbers I can fill them in for you. CRAFT GROUP 3: Would any of the previous Craft Group 3 members like to join a new group, if so do let me have your name, or put your name on the list at the meeting. PLAY READING: This new group has been suggested, if you are interested do put your name on the list at the meeting or contact me. Do you have a suggestion for a new group, or if your group would like more members, or if any members have difficulty joining a group please let me know. OLWEN COLE Group Coordinator OMISSIONS FROM LAST MONTH S NEWSLETTER (For which I can offer no explanation, only sincere apologies. A) THIS MONTH S REPORTS: U3A WEEKENDERS GROUP On Saturday, February 14th, Ann welcomed 28 members, plus one new member, Sylvia Osborne, to the Oddfellows Hall, Lifts were sorted out for the trip to Royal China on March 5 th. ** Jean Rogers is organising a trip to Foxton Locks and Grand Union Canal on April 20 th contact Jean if you are interested in going. She will collect the 17 fare at the next meeting. Anita Setchfield is organising a trip to Ilkley and Saltaire on May7th the cost for this one is 23. Contact Anita if you are interested in going. Don t forget lunch at the Stage after the March meeting, contact Ann if you ve not booked. The next meeting will be on March 14 th at the Oddfellows Hall. Report: BARBARA McNICOL s: ANN BRADSHAW / PAT RIGBY ** Since receiving the above report I have also been sent these two photographs. As we rarely see photos from this group and they are obviously having a good time, I decided To print both. Thanks to Rita Brown for sending them. ANN U3A GARDENING 4 PETALS AND PRODUCE GROUP The January meeting was held at the home of Pam and David Pendry, and some 14 members attended. We started with a Q & A programme and then completed our diary for A couple of our members are moving house and asked if we could give some ideas on re-designing their new garden. Essentials were Vegetable plot, Greenhouse and easy maintenance borders. Some of the ideas may be adopted? Many thanks to Pam and David for keeping us in biscuits, tea and coffee. COLIN WARD U3A GARDEN GROUP 3 Our January meeting was a fond farewell to our leader for many years Janice Wilson. She will be sadly missed and we hope that she has many happy memories to take with her. She can now enjoy the pleasure of the group without the worry. Janice was presented with a bouquet of flowers and a voucher in appreciation of all her hard work. The meeting was a planning meeting for the next year and we have hopefully, with the help of members from the group, managed to put together a varied and interesting programme. It was decided amongst the group to change our name as it was felt that Garden group 3 had little meaning and didn t reflect what we were about. The new name adopted is Over the Garden Wall. Our host today was Josie Smith who despite her oven breaking managed to do us proud by providing lovely refreshments and a welcoming environment. Our thanks go to Josie. s: MARGARET GRIFFITHS / GLENYS NICE Garden Group 3 was formed during October 2005 and Janice has led it since then. The Committee would like to add their thanks to Janice for her dedication and hard work. U3A HISTORY GROUP Welcome to our new members. ( I forgot to do that at the start of the meeting). February s speaker was Dr Mike Osborne who lives in Market Deeping. He gave an excellent presentation entitled Defence against Invasion in Two World Wars. Leading up to the main part of the talk, Mike spoke about the fact that although we think of 1066 as the last time we were invaded, there had been other small but significant threats to our country. He talked about Actual, Averted and Threatened invasions, illustrated it with slides of various types of fortifications and included a lot of humour about organisation! Master of Mystery, Spies for the Keiser, Riddle of the Sands and Prussians sack Langtoft (the latter being a Daily Mail headline?) all merit investigation on the Internet. There was far too much content to write about in a short paragraph but we thoroughly enjoyed the talk and thank Lesley for booking Mike on our behalf. Thanks also to David for doing a sterling job with the technical aids and to our happy band of volunteers. The Barbaras and Ann have got the August visit in hand. Barbara M informed us of the venue (Hampstead) and that a non returnable deposit of 10 will be taken next month if people wish to partake. Liz thanked Mike and also informed the audience of planning issues locally. Next month our speaker is Jim Pringle and the title of the talk is Scotland s Lost Empire. Report: SANDRA JONES s: SANDRA JONES / ELIZABETH PARKINSON 2

3 U3A OVER THE GARDEN WALL GARDENING GROUP Our February meeting was a visit to the garden of Carol and Forbes Smith in Wandsford. It is a woodland garden so is at its best early in the year when there is plenty of light shining through the trees. Each of the 200 to 300 varieties of snowdrops were labelled and had its own space. The garden is beautifully laid out with lots of stepping stones and paths so that visitors can appreciate everything there is to see. Amongst the snowdrops were other spring bulbs and hellebores. Despite the cold the sun shone for us. Another delight was the coffee and delicious cake Carol had made for our visit. Report: LYNN SMITH My grateful thanks go to Lynn for not only organising this visit at short notice but for supporting me whilst I have out of action. Our next meeting is a joint meeting with GG4 on Wednesday March 18 th at 10am. It is to the Bulb Museum at Pinchbech (Birchgrove Garden Centre) PE113XY. Please note change of day/date to our normal meeting. Please contact Glenys Nice to confirm you are going and to arrange lifts if needed. Group leaders: MARGARET GRIFFITHS / GLENYS NICE U3A STROLLER S WALKING GROUP February s walk started from the car park of the Fortescue Arms at Billingborough, as 11 Stroller s took advantage of another bright morning for our stroll. We walked along the footpath at the side of the B1177 to Sempringham, before taking the track leading to St. Andrew s church, which stands on the site of the former Sempringham Abbey. This church is quite prominent, perching on high ground in an isolated location some distance from any road. The track exposed us to a biting north-west wind and most were relieved to reach the church. Prior to this our walk leader, Searle Clark, had arranged for Rev Anna Sorensen to give the group access to the church and she gave the group a short talk about some of the history of the abbey and the church, especially it s association with the Princess Gwynllian, who was the daughter of the welsh leader, Llewellyn and was imprisoned there for 54 years in the fourteenth century, after her mother suffered at the hands of King Edward I, also known as Longshanks, who was the scourge of Wales. Gwenllian was abducted and hidden at Sempringham, to prevent her extending her lineage. After the very interesting history lesson and a walk around the church, we continued along tracks and road, returning to Billingborough where most enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Fortescue Arms. The church is certainly well worth a visit. Our next walk will take place on Monday 23 March, meeting at the Sailing Club, Ferry Meadows about 10:15 for a walk around the various lakes and enjoy the emerging flora and the abundant bird population, including over-wintering geese. Members of the group wishing to take part should contact the walk leader, Colin Ward a few days before. BOB DELLER Thanks to Bob and John Marsh who sent me a near identical photo. ANN U3A ART APPRECIATION GROUP Back in our usual venue Peter gave a talk on Statuary produced by clay modelling and kiln firing. His talk was based on his experience of sitting as a subject for life size statues of head and shoulders by students at Stamford Art Centre Sculpture classes. Each one represents about 12 hours work, spread over six weeks, to the finished clay model stage. They were then left to dry out before being fired in a kiln by the tutor Jonty Meyer. Peter supported his talk with a number of photographs of different heads at the modelling and hollowing out stage. Also a photograph of him with six of the finished heads (see photograph above). Pat Abel showed statues produced by making a plaster cast of a clay model, and a statue carved from a single piece of elm. Our February meeting was a Show and Tell, also known as Bring and Brag. Members brought along items of interest that had a particular meaning for them, linking the items to events in their life. A wide range of objects were shown including watercolours, ceramics, batik, photographs, statuary. Each had an interesting story associated with it. For our next meeting on March 17 th we are visiting the Peterborough Museum. We would be pleased to welcome new members. PETER WITHERINGTON U3A THURSDAY GARDENING GROUP The Thursday gardening group had a very enjoyable morning at Chris Ferguson's this month. It was lovely to be able to present Chris with some flowers for a special birthday and even lovelier to eat the cakes she had made. We were also pleased to welcome back a couple of special guests, former group members Pat and Michael Moss, for the morning. Thanks to the technical efforts of David Scott we enjoyed sharing and looking at photos of one another's gardens, seeing how they look now and how they have been developed with hard landscaping and planting changing over months and years. We all felt taking a photograph of our gardens on the same day each month was a good idea and it was fascinating to see the case of the fluctuating aubretia in Liz Noble's garden. In a change of venue for next month, we will be meeting at Barbara Workman's at 10.0 am on Thursday 2nd April where we will have a seed and plant swap, discuss our gardening problems (such as what Liz can do with the hard area at the end of her garden) and plan our summer buffet to be held in June. LINDA HILL U3A NATURAL HISTORY GROUP Despite the weather forecast, six brave members met at Deeping Lakes on Thursday 26 th to work up an appetite for our annual lunch get together. Rain stopped play but we did see a good number of bird species, thirty six in all. The rest of the group met at The River Restaurant for a very nice meal. The service, as always, was excellent. The next meeting, 26 th March at 10:00, will be at Frampton Marsh, where we will have a volunteer from the RSPB to act as our guide. If you wish to attend please contact me. NORAH LITTLER 3

4 U3A ANTIQUES AND COLLECTABLES GROUP For our February meeting Andy Pond came to talk to us about 'COINS'. Andy brought along a large collection of his coins including Roman and Saxon ones and a 'GROAT' which is a British silver 4pence piece used from the 14th-17th century. Andy informed us that Roman coins are of no great value as there were and still are a lot of them around. I'm sure we all enjoyed the afternoon and found it most interesting. Our 'thanks' go to John Bloomfield who kindly fetched the Power Point equipment and assisted Andy in enabling us all to have a much better viewing of the coins. Report: IRENE BEEKEN IRENE BEEKEN / PAM PENDRY s U3A JAZZ, SWING AND BIG BAND GROUP Our February meeting was organised at short notice by Peter Baylis and we thank him for stepping in and giving us a morning of musical memories. Our morning began with Anita O'Day singing 'Star Eyes,' then Count Basie's version of 'April in Paris' followed by 'Almost Like Being In Love' by Joe Stilgoe, (Son of Richard,) and very enjoyable too. Benny Goodman gave us 'Let's Dance', and the Hi-Lo's sang 'Then I'll Be Tired of You. Back to Benny and Friends and their version of 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me'. Peggy Lee's rendition of 'The Folks Who Live On The Hill' is always a winner and Radio 2's Don Black played this twice on consecutive Sunday nights recently. Incidentally, Frank Sinatra conducted it. From the Big Band Miscellany 78's we heard 'Just One Of Those Things' and Stan Getz and Compact Jazz played 'Moonlight In Vermont'. Then Count Basie again and 'Li'l Darlin', Erroll Garner from his popular 'Concert by the Sea' album gave us 'How Could You Do A Thing Like That with Chris Connor's 'What Is There To Say' following on. Ray Anthony, Scott Hamilton, Humphrey Littleton and Stan Kenton also entertained us and then we heard something a bit different with 'Drum Duet' from Genesis for Joyce! Tommy Steele in a slightly different mood sang 'They Say It's Wonderful' from his 'So This Is Broadway' album and it was. Many thanks to Peter once again for arranging a great program at short notice and to Barbara for the coffee and cake. Next meeting is still to be arranged. Report: ANNE JONES s: ANNE JONES / PETER BAYLIS U3A NORDIK WALKING GROUP Although February is usually considered the coldest month of winter this year it has been quite favourable for our Nordic walking group on Friday afternoons. We have always managed to miss any rain and although sometimes overcast and blustery, have found some lovely walks. One such walk was at Helpston where the starting point was opposite the Bluebell Inn. From the onset it was muddy as it had rained a couple of days ago but this was nothing compared to the ploughed field that we encountered later on. By the time we had crossed it our boots were caked with mud but our poles came in handy here as we used them to scrape it off. The walking became easier when we reached a track and we could pick the pace up a little. Towards the end of the walk, as we were skirting Rice Wood the path became quite slippery but we could dig in with our poles to help our balance. The walk ended where it had begun, at the Bluebell Inn and as we were walking back to the cars we saw a Red Kite soaring just above us, a lovely ending to an eventful and muddy afternoon. ANNETTE WATKINS U3A CYCLING GROUP The morning of Friday 27th February was bitterly cold, but this did not deter four of us from venturing out on our monthly cycle ride. Leaving from the Coach House in Market Deeping, this time our route took us down to Northborough, then across to the Peakirk Road. From there it was back up to Deeping St James proceeding along the river bank all the way to the level crossing. Although we were expecting it, it was still a bit of a surprise not to see the signal box. On to Stowgate (see picture), then along Towngate East and down Hall Meadow Road, finally ending up at The Bull and a welcome hot pub lunch. On the face of it, the journey should have been fairly easy going. However, a strong northerly head wind made turning the pedals quite difficult in exposed areas. Report: TERRY NOBLE : FRED SKIPPER U3A MONDAY READERS GROUP Sinclair Mckay's book 'The Secret Listeners' evoked a very wide range of responses this month. The follow up to 'The Secret Life of Bletchley Park' this text told the story of those young men and women stationed around the world who listened to enemy messages and decoded them around the clock, providing invaluable information that helped to win the Second World War. We all agreed that we learnt a great deal about the times and we were filled with admiration for those whose story was told. A couple in the group loved the book. Rather more of us found the disjointed writing style, small print and occasionally patronising tone somewhat off putting and many of us didn't finish it. It did, however, lead to a very varied discussion with topics covering eras BC to the present day. Our next meeting to discuss 'Gods and Beasts' by Denise Mina is, furniture permitting, at am on Monday 13th April at Linda Hill's. Report: LINDA HILL : LIZ WATERLAND U3A DISCUSSION GROUP At our second February meeting which looked at Security or Civil Liberties? there was most agreement about the lack of knowledge of just how much the authorities knew about us as individuals. Opinion divided regarding the balance between national security and personal Privacy. There was an interesting debate about CCTV. The first March meeting had difficulty with focusing on answering the question What world event has most influenced your thinking? Most attention was given to world unrest, ranging from the ISIS crisis to the second World War and even the Crusades drew comment. Whilst, somewhat diffuse the discussion was informative, enjoyable and not without some humour. Future topics include What do we expect of our MPs? and The Funding of the BBC. JIM WINSTONE 4

5 U3A BOOKWORMS READING GROUP "The Lion Wakes" by Robert Low. The story of this book is set between the battles of Stirling Bridge and Falkirk, at the very end of the 13th century, and involves various groups of people including Robert the Bruce, Edward I and William Wallace. It is the first of the new "Kingdom" series of historical fiction concerning a very turbulent period in Scottish history. The plot is described as full of contradictions as the history it draws, and does need concentrated reading, but many members found it worthwhile persevering. The next meeting will be at Rita's on Monday 16th March. Report: DIANA RAE : ANN THORNTHWAITE U3A MONDAY WALKING GROUP I was unfortunately unable to make our March walk and neither, for a variety of reasons, were others in the group. However Brian Thornthwaite, who led the walk, has reported that fifteen members did attend and enjoyed a very pleasant ramble in lovely sunshine, although the wind did make the morning feel rather bitter. The walk commenced at the cattle market car park in Stamford and followed a route through Wothorpe and Burghley Park before returning to Stamford via Pilsgate. A distance just short of seven miles was covered. Fortunately a number of potentially muddy areas had quickly dried out in the strong wind. An excellent lunch was then enjoyed by all at the Stamford Post! Our next walk will be on 13 th April. It will be led by Dave and Lynn Alcorn and will be in the Nassington area based on a hostelry yet to be determined. Further details will follow! CHAS FERGUSON U3A QUIZ GROUP Good News! Our team came second at the Rotary Quiz on 21st February. Previously coming mid-table, next time winners?we meet at members homes but could manage a couple more members. Give me a ring if you are interested. DAVID MACVITIE Congratulations on your success. A U3A SUNDAY LUNCH GROUP The next Sunday Lunch will be on Sunday 29 MARCH, at the Baskervilles, Baston, at pm. If you wish to join this event please contact Tony Semple or Michael Griffith or add your name to the list at the meeting on Monday, 16 March. U3A CRAFT GROUP 1 The February meeting went ahead, albeit with numbers down due to some people gallivanting off on their winter holidays, myself being one of them. The next meeting will be at Julie s on 25 th March. If anyone has anything specific they would like to learn, share, or arrange for the next meeting, please let me know well in advance, otherwise we will continue with our own work. I look forward to seeing you all in March. JULIE MANCEY Group leader U3A CHURCH MICE GROUP On a sunny Tuesday afternoon some 24 members of the group visited St. John s. Werrington. St. John s is situated in the original part of Werrington which has only been a separate parish since 1877 although it is mentioned in early documents as being part of the manor belonging to Peterborough Abbey in Prior to 1853 it was part of the parish of Paston. The church roof is unusual in that it completely covers the nave and side aisles in one sweep. The bell-cote is placed above the chancel arch and is not at the west end as is often the case. The fabric is mainly Norman in date and the chancel arch and south doorway carry decoration from this era. The arcades of three bays are early 13 th century. The Stamford architect J.C. Traylen restored the nave and aisles in The font is a plain 13 th century octagonal bowl on a series of restored shafts. There are some stained glass windows in the south and north aisles by the noted Victorian designer C.E. Kempe. Our thanks go to Sandra Jones who for organising the visit. Report and photo: DAVID WRIGHT s: LYALL SEALE / ANN HOLMES (Admin only.) U3A WRITING FOR PLEASURE GROUP There were ten of us at the March meeting, and a very jolly morning it was, as we enjoyed listening to each other s efforts on a dialogue between two characters from a fairy story. The characters from different stories got mixed up, so we had plenty of absurd and amusing situations. Kay wrote a play, where Jack-in-the-beanstalk s mother met Aladdin s mother out shopping and they had a good old chat about their unusual sons. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty featured in several stories and of course there were the fairy godmothers, magic wands and handsome princes scattered around as well! Next month our challenge is to write something entitled Buying a new pair of shoes. Should be interesting. JUDY ROBINSON U3A LEARNING PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP The next meeting for the photography group is on Wednesday 18th March at.2.00 pm at the R C Church Hall. I will be doing Total Revision. I want to get members up to speed for Spring and the Summer. Members to bring in Cameras and Instruction books. DAVE PENDRY s: DAVE PENDRT/DAVE SCOTT The Group congratulates Dave P on his success at the recent Deepings Camera Club exhibition. A.. 5

6 U3A GARDENING 4 PETALS AND PRODUCE GROUP Gardening 4 Petals and Produce group met in February for an informal chat about gardening (well mainly!!) and enjoyed Roger and Julia s generous hospitality. On Wednesday March 18th we will be visiting the Bulb Museum in the Birchgrove Garden Centre, meeting at 10am. COLIN WARD U3A CRAFT GROUP 2 Heather Bumfrey started us all on a fine bead necklace, amidst some frustration with the beads falling on the floor and then not quite twisting as predicted! However all was well in the end and thank you to Heather for preparing it all. U3A FILM GROUP The next film will be shown on Wednesday 25 March starting at 2 pm at the Community Centre. The title is "War of the Roses" but do not be misled - this is a 'cunning comedy' about a couple who eventually decide to divorce, and the whole procedure develops into absolute farce and tragedy. Not to be missed! MAUREEN WHITTLE / RITA BROWN s U3A PACERS WALKING GROUP Next month we have promised to be truly creative with the stock of goodies that belongs to our group..we have yet to see what emerges, but it should be fun. We meet on 16 March as usual at 102 Church Street, Deeping St. James at 2pm. LIZ NOBLE U3A LISTENING TO MUSIC GROUP On a lovely Spring morning the group met at Anne Jones' home to listen to a program put together by Terry Noble and entitled 'SPRING HAS SPRUNG'. We began with a popular classic 'Spring' from Vivaldi's 'The Seasons' and this was followed by Beethoven's 'Spring Sonata Op 24 in 4 movements, with Augustin Dumay on violin. Christian Sinding played 'Rustle of Spring' with Knut Erik Jensen on piano. A trip down memory lane for some members! 'On hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring' by Delius was next and this was played by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Sadly this is probably the only cuckoo many of us will hear this Spring. Something different came next with Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) 1st movement, 'L'adoration de la Terre' (Adoration of the Earth) with Hanspeter Gmur conducting the Philharmonia Slavonika. This created quite a stir when it was first performed! 'In the Spring a young man s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love...' so we are told and so we listened to Nat King Cole with Oscar Moore on guitar and Johnny Miller on bass, playing 'What Is This Thing Called Love' and then singing 'I'm In The Mood For Love' Our morning ended with Schumann's 'Spring Symphony, Op 38, 3rd and 4th movements, played by the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Christoph von Dohnany. Our thanks to Terry for a delightful mix of music all celebrating this lovely month. Next meeting is at John Bloomfield s home. Report: ANNE JONES s: TERRY NOBLE / JIM PRINGLE On Wednesday March 4th, 14 members of the Pacers walking group set off from Ufford for a walk across the fields to Barnack and back. We were lucky with the weather and the the muddy sections had dried out, making the walking easier. The walk took us into Barnack past Hills and Holes and then through the village. There are many fascinating cottages in the centre and we stopped to admire the old Rectory where Charles Kingsley lived as a child. From Barnack we made our way back to Ufford across country through The Synhams, a small wood. From there it was across the field to the road into Ufford where we enjoyed lunch at the White Hart. Report: JO ASTLE s: LYNN & STEVE WHITE U3A WEDNESDAY GARDENING GROUP The meeting this month was a trip to Van Hage garden centre. Tracey met us and walked with us round the outside plant area and explained a little about the plants. Then it was time for coffee and to talk about next month s meeting, which is a talk and museum visit at Ayscoughfee gardens. Any purchases were then made from the garden centre before we made our way home. Thanks to Val for organising the visit. If you want a lift to the next meeting please contact either Jean or Angie about this. Report: AVRIL WILLIS s: JEAN FOSTER / ANGELA DORWARD U3A THURSDAY WALKING GROUP For our walk this month, Anne and John Burton led 25 members of the group on a warm and sunny day around the Nassington, Yarwell and Old Sulehay areas. Despite their initial problems of finding a relatively mud free route in the Nassington area, as it happened this walk turned out to be very dry on the day. The walk commenced from The Black Horse at Nassington, around parts of the village before heading off into the countryside and around a previously used quarry and its now water filled pits, through the pleasant surroundings of Yarwell Lock before heading back to The Black Horse for a very good lunch. The walk was made more interesting by John s little snippets concerning the area and its changes through time from his childhood memories. Many thanks to Anne and John for leading the walk, organising the lunch and providing the glimpses into the past history of the area. The next walk on 9 April will be led by David Scott and will be in the Dyke, Cawthorpe and Fox Wood areas commencing from The Wishing Well, 21 Main Road, Dyke, Bourne PE10 0AF. If you would like to attend this walk, could you please phone David by the Tuesday preceding the walk, if possible. 6 GODFREY PARKES Photos: DAVE PENDRY