CROQUET for All

 Croquet for u3a Members at Hamptworth Croquet Club

Would you enjoy some gentle outdoor exercise coupled with some friendly competition? Then croquet might be the sport for you.

Hamptworth Croquet Club has agreed to host a series of eight Monday morning sessions for u3a members starting on the 5^th July.

No experience is necessary, all equipment will be provided (mallets, balls and hoops). Members need to dress in comfortable clothing (not too long or loose as this may get in the way of swinging a mallet). Ladies note the normal stance is to stand with one's legs slightly apart and swing the mallet between the legs, so slacks or shorts are preferable to skirts. Flat bottom shoes such as trainers are needed so as not to damage lawns. A rain jacket is also useful to continue to play in light showers.

For those entirely new to croquet some instruction and practice will be given on mallet grip striking balls, how to run a hoop and elementary rules of Golf Croquet. The idea is to get everyone playing as quickly as possible.

Hamptworth Croquet Club is set in the Hamptworth Golf Club at Hamptworth Road, Salisbury SP5 2DU. This is easily reached in a car by driving about 5 miles down the A36 south of Salisbury towards Southampton, taking a turning to the right where a brown sign indicates “Country Club”. Then into Landford Village and take another turning to the right indicated by a further brown “Country Club” sign. Continue for about a mile on the Hamptworth Road, past the “Cuckoo Inn” and the Club is on the right-hand side of the road. There is parking available and a clubhouse and changing room. Tea coffee, snacks and drinks can be purchased in the Club House, where there are also changing facilities. The Club House will be operated according to whatever co-vid rules are in place at the time.

There are five well-kept croquet lawns and a small pavilion 50 yards down a small hill next to the car park. The area is surrounded by woodland and has a feeling of spaciousness.

The activity will be limited to a maximum of 12 participants, who will be expected to practice outdoor social distancing and clean and sanitize equipment after use with soap and sanitisers provided.

Sessions will be from 10.00 to 12.00 hours on Mondays for eight meetings starting 5^th July. After the u3a session, participants would be welcome to hang around until 14.00 hours and watch Club members play their Monday afternoon regular mix-ins, observe finer points of the game played by experienced players and the general ambience of the Club..

Cost will be £3 per session, which includes a green fee and the hire of a mallet. If a member has their own mallet there will be a reduction of £1 for each session. Members are expected to pay before each session. The Croquet Club is keen to welcome new members. If after their u3a croquet experience, participants are interested in joining the Club to play croquet all day, all the year-round, the Club would discount any annual membership fee by the amount paid for participation in u3a sessions.

If you want to get swinging (with a mallet). Contact Eric Crowter at mobile: 07538783041 or

Email: ericcrowter63@gmail.com. More information about Hamptworth Croquet Club can be found at https://croquet-websites.org.uk/hamptworth

U3A Science Group News

 May 2021 News

The meeting on 20th April went very well. There were 3 talks. One on the latest COVID situation. This proved both fascinating and interesting. So much so that Mike Trevithick will repeat but with an updated version in August. The talk on Chocolate was mouth-watering but sadly no tastings were possible!

During 2020 many science and technology groups have held their monthly meetings virtually which is great news. So the organising team thought it would hold three short virtual meetings in 2021 on Tuesday 20 April, Wednesday 11 August, and Thursday 14 October instead of trying to replicate our usual annual physical meeting as people may not yet be ready for this.

There will be 3 presentations of 45 minutes followed by questions at each meeting, with a break for refreshments and for lunch.

If you’d like to attend one or all of these meetings, please register your interest by clicking the following link www.tinyurl.com/2021-premeet or copying and pasting it into their browser. We can then get in touch with you.

Virtual meetings can’t be the same as physical meetings but they do provide an opportunity for members to get together and to chat during the breaks.

The High Street Project

The Steering group has now processed over 20,000 lines of survey data provided by members who walked their high streets across the UK in September and is assembling them for initial analysis. The results will be presented to the Trust board at their December meeting with proposals for local projects by U3As in 2021 and plans to create an interactive searchable database with map and photo front ends. The final report will be published to coincide with our 40^th anniversary in 2022 but you’ll be able to read more about the project findings and proposals in the February issue of Sources.

Phyll Babb - Her Story

You may not know Phyll but she has been an inspiration for many in the u3a in Salisbury.

She persuaded me to be the Subject Adviser for Photography and to write an online Tutorial on digital imaging.

Click on this link to read the wonderful story about Phyll and her connections with the U3A.

Governmentium Vaccination Rollout

Science News

Oxford University researchers have discovered the densest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium, which has the symbol Gv, has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton like particles called pillocks.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years.

It does not decay but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, symbol Ad, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.

Terry's Homework now uploaded

I have put Terry Waldren's images on our web site as a slide show. This was assembled by Bob Hay of the Canberra U3A Camera Club of Australia. Click HERE to see it.

Canberra U3A Camera Club meeting. 10.45 pm 16 th Nov 2020

 Canberra U3A Camera Club meeting.

This meeting is, as I explained, a Workshop at which we generally discuss more technical things, on this occasion, "Colour Management - How Colour is Managed in Digital Photography." Sometimes other members of the class present the topic but this time I am again in the hot seat. There was a time I could talk for two hours non-stop but I am finding I need a break nowadays. Anyway, it gives members time to do other things for 5-10 minutes - this will be around the 11.00am mark (midnight your time). 

Needless to say, your members can see some of our latest pictures on our new web site at http://u3acanberracameraclub.smugmug.com if they care to check in. It is public. 

If you wish to join in I can send you the link.

I was impressed with the creativity of the projects you set your members. I tend to be rather more formal with Set Subjects, so I will have to give some thought to a different format sometimes. I will also definitely include Luminar in the workshops for next year. This is one of the benefits of cross-fertilization, one I was hoping would happen with interaction with other groups.

Again, thank you for having me at your place, 

Bob

Spire Newsheet No 3

 Click HERE to read the latest news from Spire.