The Saffron Walden u3a Harmony Choir are proud to present their summer concert for this year entitled ‘As Long As I have Music’. It will take place on the Bandstand in Jubilee Gardens, Saffron Walden on Saturday 20th July 2024 from 12:00 pm Midday.

There will be a wonderful selection of songs – see the poster – with the Ukulele Group performing in the interval. Please come along and support our Choir and enjoy a lovely afternoon of music. Entry is free with all donations going to EACH – the East Anglian Children’s Hospices. We look forward to seeing you there.

From 1.00pm – Membership. If you have not already renewed your membership online or by sending your cheque or are new and would like to join our u3a,  here is a chance to do so in person. See our membership page for details. If you want to join an activity or class then you need to contact the co-ordinator for that group directly. See the Groups section of the website for contact details.

You are invited to stay and attend the AGM. Should you wish to apply to become a member of the Committee, nomination forms can be downloaded on our Committee page of this website where current members of the Committee are listed.  Submissions must be made to the Secretary by 12th August 2024 at the very latest.

2.30pm – AGM. Notice is herby given that the Annual General Meeting of Saffron Walden U3A will be held at Saffron Walden Baptist Church on Monday 9th September 2024 at 2.30 pm, or at any adjournment thereof.

AGENDA:  (A copy of the agenda can also be seen in the July Newsletter)

1. Chairman’s welcome

2. Apologies for absence

3. Minutes of the previous AGM (Draft minutes of our meeting on 5th September 2023 can be seen here)

4. Chairman’s report for the year ended 31 July 2024

5. Treasurer’s report for the year ended 31 July 2024 and Adoption of Accounts (Will be posted here towards the end of August)

6. Appointment of the Independent Examiner of Accounts

7. Election of the Committee for 2024-2025

• Under the terms of the Constitution, all the members of the Executive Committee, including those serving as Officers, will retire at the Annual General Meeting.
• All Officers and Non-officer members of the Executive Committee have a one-year term of office and may serve not more than six terms in the same role.
• No individual may serve more than a maximum of nine years in any combination of Officer roles or Non-Officer member, after which there must be a break of at least one calendar year.

8. Any other business at the discretion of the Chairman of the meeting.

COMMITTEE
Written nominations by a proposer and seconder will need to be sent to the Secretary at least 28 days before the AGM (i.e. by 12th August 2024). Nomination forms are available to download on our Committee page of this website where current members of the Committee are listed.

Only current members are entitled to attend, vote and speak at the Meeting.

Susan Brown

Secretary

We will be holding our 40th Birthday Party at the Saffron Walden Town Hall on Monday 23rd September 2024 from 2:30 pm until 4:30 pm.

There will be a big birthday cake and bubbly with live entertainment from some of our groups. So far we have the Ukulele group – we will keep you informed as to which other groups will be performing. We look forward to seeing you there on, what will be, a very special occasion for us all.

Please note that there is no Open Meeting in August. There is also no Open Meeting in September – instead we will be celebrating our 40th Birthday at the Town Hall on 23rd September.

So, the next Open Meeting is on Monday 21st October at the Abbey Lane Bowling Club, doors open at 1:45 pm for a 2:30 pm start. The talk by Chris Truran is entitled ‘Dabs and DNA Detects Criminals’.

Chris covers the first criminals convicted by fingerprints, the Brighton Bombing, Lockerbie, the Tsunami, James Hanratty – and a daughter’s DNA that solved a 30 year old murder by her father.
Chris joined the Metropolitan Police in 1975 and trained as a Scenes of Crimes Officer (SOCO). He worked in London and examined over 25,000 crime scenes ranging from shop-lifting to murder, starting 38 years ago when DNA was in its embryonic stage.
We look forward to seeing you for this arresting talk when there will be the usual free raffle, refreshments and social banter.

Click here to download a pdf of our latest T&T Programme for 2024. See also below.

At the moment we have two vacancies for Pilates 1, which is run on Thursdays 1.00 at The Friends’ Meeting House.
If interested please contact Hilary Price – 01799 521 696 – hilaryprice127@gmail.com 

See our Pilates Page for more information.

This year’s Antiques Roadshow is on Monday 28th October at the Bowling Club in Abbey Lane from 1:30 pm until 4:00 pm.

Following last year’s successful event, members are once again invited to bring along 1 or 2 items for discussion and valuation with our antiques expert Alan Woolston. Last year’s experience has taught us that some changes are needed to be made to the procedures so that it will be a fairer and better run event. There will be free refreshments so please come along for what we hope will be an enlightening and entertaining afternoon. Entrance is £1 which will go towards our expert’s expenses.

Due to unprecedented demand, the Christmas Buffet on 20th December is already sold out. We apologise to members who may have missed out but the Golf Club can only accommodate 65 people and those places were filled within 12 hours – Reserve list only – click here for details.

A new group is starting called Crochet for Beginners

No hooks or wool required (I have enough wool to open a wool shop!)

Tea/coffee and biscuits provided

2 hours per week, Tuesdays 10 – 12am

Starts Tuesday 14th May

If you are interested, or would like more information Please contact Sue by email on sue662@yahoo.com mobile: 07426 802232

The Saffron Walden u3a sequence dance class is looking for a suitably experienced individual to lead the class for one hour from 9:45 am until 10:45 am every Tuesday at the URC Hall in Abbey Lane, Saffron Walden.

We are a very friendly and welcoming group and willing to learn.

See our webpage here.

Interested applicants please contact current co-ordinator Pauline Palmer on pauline.palmer3@ntlworld.com or 07743 007671.