September Monthly Meeting, Monday 6 September, is CANCELLED.

We had hoped that this would mark the resumption of our face-to-face monthly meetings.  South Lanarkshire Council had begun to offer lets but have called a halt again.  They are prepared to honour any offers made – so well done Alasdair Offen and the German Group!  To the best of my knowledge none of our other requests has been met and this includes Greenhills for our monthly meeting (Ballerup is dedicated to NHS service until next year.)

We have no idea when other lets will be agreed but live in hope that we will be able to meet at Greenhills on Monday 4 October.  Our plan for the first meeting is probably to dispense with a formal speaker but to concentrate on distributing membership cards and enjoying a cuppa and a blether.  This will also be your opportunity to sign up for the Christmas lunch in the Holiday Inn on Monday 6 December.  The menu and price will be the same as 2019 (including discounted drinks!) and we hope to see lots of you there.  I’m not sure how we will manage a COVID compliant raffle but we will do our best.

August monthly meeting was on Zoom when we were entertained by a delightful singer called Kirsty Duncan.  Kirsty has kindly invited you to enjoy her performance at your leisure via a link to the Concert on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/vd50l_NAqDQ

Membership matters

Not renewed?  Your membership will lapse on 31 August.  

This means that we will no longer include you on our mailing lists (including TAM) and you will not be entitled to attend any meetings or group activities.  If you are struggling to pay by bank transfer or cheque please let me know so that we can make alternative arrangements for you.

Membership cards

Alex Fleming is preparing membership cards which will be distributed at the first face-to-face monthly meeting.  To save time then, group leaders are invited to request cards for their group members from Alex for distribution at their next group meeting.

Emergency contacts:  

Your membership card will have space on the reverse for you to write in details for two emergency contacts.  You are kindly requested to complete this and carry it with you when attending any activity or meeting of u3a in East Kilbride.

Activity Group meetings

At the moment we are completely in the dark about SLLC ‘s intentions over hall lets and we can only keep our fingers crossed for good news soon. Please wait for your group leader to contact you to advise when and where your group will resume face-to-face.  We would also ask that group leaders check the website on a regular basis to make sure that the information on it is accurate and up-to-date.  If your entry is inaccurate please email our webmaster, Tom Berney, at u3aek.webmaster@gmail.com so that he can make any necessary changes.  

Unfortunately some groups will not be resuming until next year and some not at all – but we have better news for less able walkers from Alan Chapell:

“I am thinking of starting a walking group for people who are unable to manage the three to four miles short walk but could manage one mile.  I would plan walks such as:  James Hamilton Heritage Loch, Glen Esk, Langlands Moss area and would stick to paved paths and few slopes. Foul weather could see us use the Town Centre Mall.   This walk would take place on the second Monday of each month starting with 13th September, meeting at selected walk at 10.00.  If anyone is interested then please

Email: u3aek.secretary@gmail.com  I need your name email address and a mobile number.”

Calling all country dancers!  Rosalind Holmes from East Renfrewshire u3a writes:   “We run a group with a paid tutor and I'm wondering if any of your members would be interested in joining. It meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month from 2 to 4pm in the Newton Mearns Parish Church at The Avenue in Newton Mearns and the cost is £4 per meeting. The group is starting to meet again on Wednesday 8 September.  It is run by a highly qualified and experienced Scottish Country Dancing tutor - Anne Robertson - who is very good with our members and does teaching as well as organising the dances during the meetings.  As this is a paid group, we would not be expecting anyone attending from another u3a to become an associate member of our u3a and so the only cost would be the cost of the meetings.”  Any interested members can contact Rosalind at groups@eru3a.org and she can answer any questions you might have.

I hope to see lots of you at a monthly meeting very soon.  Meantime, keep on keeping safe.

Norma

u3aek.chair@gmail.com

07306 278206

Chairman’s Newsletter - August  2021 - Scroll down