Once December comes, I don’t mind finally acknowledging that Christmas is imminent – despite budgets, coughs and colds, sleet and rain, it gives us something cheerful to look forward to!
And I hope you are looking forward to our December Drop-in on Thursday 4 December, from 10.00am till 11.30am, at Burnby Hall as usual. We’ll be keeping up the usual Christmas tradition of offering mince pies and a glass of wine, as well as the usual coffee, tea and biscuits, so do come and share some festive cheer with us.
The other important date coming up on the P&D calendar is Midwinter Music, in the afternoon of Thursday December 11th. From 2.0pm until 4.0pm, at All Saints church, we’ll be celebrating the season with musical performances, prose and poems, and a lot of cheerful singalongs for all to share. And more wine and mince pies too! We hope that you will join us if you can, and you can bring a friend who isn’t yet a u3a member if you would like to.
Christmas will pass, of course, and 2025 will fade away, so it's important to have something to look forward to. And we do! The second u3a Disco will be held at Burnby Community Hall on Friday 9 January, 6.00pm - 9.00pm. If you want to dance your way into 2026, contact Pauline Slater -paulieslater@hotmail.co.uk - to book your place.
At our AGM back in May, it was agreed that from next year our annual subscription fee would have to rise from £12 to £15 p.a. This goes to cover our insurance, the ever-rising rental costs of the different venues, events such as the discos and games afternoons, Drop-ins, equipment and many other running costs. The subs were kept at £12 for as long as possible, but it has reached a point where a rise could no longer be postponed. We hope you will agree that this is still a good bargain! Your subs for next year are not yet due, of course, but we want to make sure all members are aware of the new amount. You’ll be getting the usual reminders and letter early in the new year.
Most groups put activities on hold this month, as family and other commitments tend to take over. I know several groups have Christmas lunches planned before they ‘break up’. Because of this, there is not very much news to report on the group front. So here instead are a few Christmas cracker jokes to make your family cringe:
What do you call an old snowman? A puddle
What’s big, white and minty? A Polo bear
Why is it getting harder to buy Advent calendars? Their days are numbered.
How does Darth Vader like his turkey? On the dark side.
Why should you buy someone a fridge for Christmas? Their face will light up when they
open it.
(It’s all right, I’ll stop now.)
It seems that just about every civilisation has held some kind of festival in the depths of winter, to note the shortest days and maybe to encourage the return of the sun. Long before Christianity, Yule was celebrated: the Romans had Saturnalia, Norsemen lit fires and drank sweet ale, the Jewish people have Hanukkah, the Hindus celebrate Diwali – and even though Christmas now seems to start in mid-September, according to retailers, the few days when the holiday really comes are still special to most of us.
However you are spending the holiday season, take care of yourself, and a very happy Christmas from your u3a.
Rosemary Waugh - (Vice Chair)
