Home page Co-operative learning and leisure for those who are over 50yrs and are retired/semi retired.

Thank you for your interest in the Totton University of the Third Age group. We meet on the second Wednesday afternoon of the month from 1.45-4pm at the Eling Masonic Hall, Lexby Road, Totton, SO40 9HD. Generally at each monthly meeting we have a speaker and members are brought up to date with group activities and can opt in to activities/new groups. We currently have groups for Walking, Theatre, Bird Watching, Lunch Club, Genealogy, French, Italian, Book Appreciation, Tai Chi, History, Craft, Singing, Art, Philosophy, Discussion and Computing. Annual Membership/joining fee is £12. Extra costs would be for refreshments and any costs incurred from the activity eg theatre tickets. Members are encouraged to think about hosting an interest group in their home and sharing any skill or hobby they have with other members.It is a very friendly group and membership is growing all the time. Visitors can come along for two monthly meetings paying £2 per entrance fee before deciding if they wish to join.If you would like any more information, contact the Secretary, Ann 02380 867417or Sue via suelivelybird@talktalk.net We look forward to meeting you.

2011 Monthly Meeting Programme

January Meeting

John Smith

Up to 96 members came along to hear the speaker tell of the Secret Agents at Beaulieu. Some 3,000 agents, including Andrée Borrell, Nancy Wake, Odette Sansom, Peter Churchill, Francis Cammaerts and Joachim Rønneberg, who later led the Gunnerside Mission to destroy the heavy water plant in Norway that was part of the German atomic bomb programme, were trained at a number of large country houses scattered across the Beaulieu Estate, before returning to occupied Europe to work with Resistance groups. Many paid the final sacrifice – and did not return

February Meeting

Bill Hall

Marwell Zoo

A full gathering of members for Bill Hall's talk about the animals kept in Marwell wild life centre. He showed the many cats of the world. Another topic was the lemurs from the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean a unique ecosystem. Separated from the mainland of Africa millions of years ago, its wildlife developed in isolation and lemurs and the predatory fossa are found nowhere else in the world.

March Meeting Tim Selwood

Furzey Gardens

Tim, sporting his badge of office a vicar's collar, spoke quietly and interestingly about his purchase of the house and grounds for what is now a laughable amount of money. Minstead Lodge is also one of his charitable projects teaching youngsters with learning disabilities to be self reliant and hopefully an independent future in the community

April Meeting Fiona Walton

"Catch" Charity

John opened the AGM by thanking all the leaders for all their work during the year. It was then proposed that the four year limitation of the chairman's office be removed and this was passed. The speaker Fiona for the charity Catch told us of the decision to terminate the funding of what seems a worthwhile project to look after the section of society who need help mainly young mothers and the children who suffer from neglect.

May Meeting Jonathan Fryer

Actor

A well attended meeting to hear Jonathan Fryer once again. Using all new material he regaled us with stories of larger than life celebrities he's met during his long career on the stage. He promised that if he couldn't make us laugh he would not take the money but despite our attempt to keep glum faces it was impossible not to laugh. His mannerisms and effected posture were amusing enough.
Prior to the talk John asked the members if they were happy with the accounts and this was passed

June Meeting

Tony Wright

"Are you willing" Making a will

Despite the seriousness of the subject Tony Wright made the talk light hearted with jokes that brought a laugh. Most of us learned something from the talk and there are many traps lying to rob our beneficiaries from their full inheritance.

July Meeting

Maurice Bennett

A Look through my Window

Brian stepped in today as acting chairman as John is still on holiday. Brian's relaxed manner went down with the members who enjoyed his humour. Even the speaker' s wife congratulated him on doing such a good job.
Surprisingly despite holidays the hall was filled to hear Maurice Bennett the speaker tell with passion and professional knowledge of the art of making coloured glass and the difficulty when a peice may take two weeks to finish and the heartache of seeing the glass break after a long preparation. In Western Europe they constitute the major form of pictorial art to have survived. In this context, the purpose of a stained glass window is not to allow those within a building to see the world outside or even primarily to admit light but rather to control it. For this reason stained glass windows have been described as 'illuminated wall decorations'.

August Meeting Cream Tea

Successful meeting all enjoyed Sally's singers and their selection of songs and the audience involvement. A good display of Arts and Craft on show. Dave supplied a quiz.
Joan and Pat did a grand job supplying cream tea for all the members.

September Meeting David Sullivan

Life as a shepherd part 2

A good speaker David got us all laughing He was a shepherd and manger until he was 38 and had a further 6 years managing the farm of a philanthropic gentleman. In these six years, working in unison, they moved toward a share farming system. The agreement was he could build up 25% of the flock in his ownership. The owner would have allowed him more but this level was what David deemed fair. Integrity is everything for David Sullivan.
The next step was to expand. He asked his local landlord if he could rent some land. The landlord said no. Importantly David asked him “why not?”. The issue was security of tenure. David went away to find a solution to his limiting factor. If the landlord owned half the stock then security of tenure was not an issue. Over the next few years, David developed the share farming concept on his own, without realizing there were similar agreements elsewhere in the world. He created a local sub culture, with his original landlord’s neighbours joining in. He had land and stock coming out his ears. He had approaches from the City, as he was achieving 25% return on capital for his investors.

October Meeting Christine Ames

Glimpse of No 10

Members were given an insight into life at “Number 10” by Christine Ames, after attending boarding school Christine moved on to a very select secretarial college in London where she studied under a Mrs Hoster. Here she received a diploma which led to her appointment as a secretary at Number 10, Downing Street. She was the youngest member of staff and had to serve a six weeks trial during which time she was positively vetted. She enjoyed walking along Downing Street and passing the policeman on guard before
knocking and the door being opened to allow her to enter.

November Meeting

Mike Mockler

Africa 100 not out

Over 30 Years of Wildlife Travel .....
Full attendance for Mike's talk. He has for over 30 years travelled the world in a quest for unforgettable encounters with wildlife and stunning photographs of the natural world. And, for more than a quarter of a century, he has shared his passion for wildlife with others through his photography, writing, lecturing and, most notably, his tour-leading and safari-guiding. Many hundreds of people have enjoyed wildlife tours with Mike and Conde Nast Traveller magazine identified him as one of the world’s top wildlife travel specialists.

December Meeting

Yuletide Tales

Vera Hughes BA FRSA an international speaker on many topics, actor, director, trainer and writer with David Weller an international speaker, presenter and actor entertained us with a collection of stories, poems and anecdotes around a festive theme.
The hall was nearly full capacity and entertainment combined with the mince pies made it a good meeting.