Zoom Meeting

On October 26th 1994 a letter appeared in the Chester Chronicle (which also served Crewe & Nantwich). It read HOW TO LEARN IN YOUR OWN HOMES As traditional education becomes more expensive your readers over the age of fifty may be interested to know more about the University of the Third Age. The U3A as it was generally known, is a self-help style of adult education where members contribute their skills and expertise, learning from one another usually in small groups. Do not be afraid of the term University. The word is used in the original sense of the word, that is a collection of people devoted to learning You do not need formal qualifications to join but simply enthusiasm, a willingness to contribute your expertise, knowledge and skills. The focus is upon involvement rather than passive listening to an "expert'. I am particularly aware that major areas South and Mid Cheshire and Shropshire do not have U3A branches. Anyone interested in the aims of the U3A and wishing to know more and how to start up a branch should write or telephone me Roy Wilson.

In a nutshell this letter neatly summarises the aims and methods of the U.3.A. One person, Millie Carter, phoned Roy Wilson expressing her interest. Roy visited her and a few names were collected. Soon eight or ten people met at Millie's home in Hornby Drive and decided to form a branch of the U3A.

A public meeting was held on January 18th 1995 in the Victoria Centre, Crewe. Twenty-two people were present to hear Roy Wilson describe the U3A. and tell how a branch in the Crewe & Nantwich area might be formed. A working party was set-up, and met on January 26th at Millie’s home and a number of important decisions were made:

1. Date for the Inaugural Meeting.
2. To ask if the Victoria Centre, Crewe, would provide free accommodation for the meeting.
3. To hold another public meeting three or four months later
4. To contact a local college for accommodation for the groups.
5. To ask the Borough Council for a grant to help set-up the USA.
6. To form small groups when 'leaders' have been found
7. To hold a monthly general meeting.
8. To contact the local press and ask for publicity.

 A second public meeting was held on February 16th. There were more than fifty people present. Roy Wilson came again and gave valuable advice. Forms for membership were handed out.

 Prospective members were invited to list their subject interests and to indicate if they would be willing to act as a 'leader' of a group.

The Working party met in February. It examined the membership forms and decided to offer five subjects for which 'leaders' had volunteered. Meanwhile the search for suitable accommodation was going on. The criteria were, space, accessibility, car-parking, refreshment facilities, rent. Six places were inspected' South Cheshire College. Acton Parish Hall. Methodist Schoolrooms in Nantwich, Church Hall Wistaston, Memorial Hall Wistaston, and Ludford Street School Annexe Crewe. It was decided that the last of these appeared to meet their requirements.

1. Prospective members were informed and an Enrolment Day and coffee morning was fixed for March 21st in the Parish Hall. Nantwich. Fifty-two people enrolled and paid a subscription of £2 for the period April to July inclusive. In addition each member would pay 50p at each group meeting attended. Refreshments would be optional at 25p

On April 4th 1995 the first group meetings were held in Ludford Street School Annexe.

The subjects and leaders were:

Walking group  Roger Davidson.

Local History  Peter Griffiths

Painting  Mary Lane

Literature  Margaret Noble

Bridge Alma Griffiths

By June 1995 membership had climbed to 88 with 5 Classes

By July 2000 membership had climbed to 420 with 25 Classes

By Sept 2007 membership had climbed to 1127 with 61 Classes

 In Sept 2019 membership has climbed to 1518 with 106 Classes

During the life of our C&N U3A, some members have switched  over to form more local U3A’s,namely Alsager in 1998, which now has 1000 members and 90 Classes, Sandbach in 2003 which has 1400 members and 90 Classes and Middlewich with 50 members.

This means that Roy Wilson’s letter stating that was a lack of U3A members in South and Mid Cheshire and Shropshire resulted in over 4000 members now enjoying U3A!

Marion and I moved up to Nantwich in 1998 and we joined the U3A at the Annual Enrolment Day in September, Marion having already been a member in the Farnborough U3A  and she joined the Crafts Group and The Slow and Gentle Exercise Group, which was run by Margaret Boschi, Margaret, who has been an active member of Nantwich Players and became Chairman of our U3A in 2000.

I joined the Finance and Walking Groups and we were subjected to an interview by Joan Davidson, before being allowed to join!  Joan maintained all our records on handwritten sheets, Joan and Roger used to live in the ‘White House’ in Whitehouse Lane, which has now been demolished for more housing. Roger used to recce all his walks and was very knowledgeable on the flora and fauna.

A Finance Group was set up to discuss financial matters and various financial advisors were invited to give presentations and as an offshoot The Swan Investment Club was formed in 1998, where members paid a monthly subscription to purchase shares, this proved to be very popular during the ‘Dot Com’ boom and quite a few of us made money.

Table Tennis was started in the Church Hall at Wistaston and I was asked to join in order to swell to numbers, we were soon able to have four tables of doubles on a Friday Morning. There are now four Table Tennis Classes at different venues.

Badminton was started in The Church Hall Wistaston on Monday Mornings after the Slow and Gentle Class, but now uses the facilities at Shavington Leisure centre.

In 1999 our Secretary Robert Pritchard asked me to put our membership onto a database, to replace the handwritten papers prepared by Joan Davidson and as a result, I became Membership Secretary, which I did for 10 years.

Rob Pritchard and myself setup a Group called Todays World, which looked at topical subjects and included visits to local industrial businesses like the United Utility Sewage Works at Worleston, the Water Treatment works at Hurleston and Cheshire News, an exceptional visit was to the Calder Hall Nuclear Station, where we were able to visit the old Power Station and the Spent Nuclear storage facilities. This group still continues today under the leadership of Dr Brian Roe, who has spoken at Rotary on a couple of occasions.

In 2003 Gerard Baldwin, son of Crewe Rotarian Frank, who was manager of Shavington Leisure Centre and I set up ‘The Fitness Group’, where after undergoing training on the use of the equipment, you spent an hour exercising under the supervision of Dr Dave Tomlinson from the MMU. Edward Timpson came and witnessed one session, there were now 4 separate groups from the U3A in operation at Shavington.

In 2004,Pat Harborth, Rotarian Brian’s wife, became Chairman and helped to develop our U3A Database and setup Bridge Classes based in Wybunbury.

Peter Marshall introduced Scottish Dancing into the U3A, and the group have performed in many outside events and his wife runs a successful YogaFit class.

Michal Klafkowski took over the running of the Walking Group after Roger and various members were invited to lead a walk after carrying out a recce, Michal suggested to me that we should collect members email addresses to help with the organisation. At the first attempt we managed to have 5 addresses! How times have changed as now over 90% of members have emails!

The Walking Group usually covered 10miles stopping for a packed lunch, I felt the need for a less arduous Walking Group covering about six miles and finishing with a pub lunch. The two groups were named ‘Striders’ and ‘Strollers’, the Strollers would drive out to the chosen pub and place their lunch order and return to the Pub after the walk. This proved to be so successful that the following year a second Strollers Group was set up. Subsequently a short walks group was started around Crewe, Wistaston and Nantwich on a Sunday Morning with Cheshire East providing the leaders. Then a Midrange Walking Group was started with a packed lunch, this was called the Pacers! There are now eight Walking Groups.

Wine Appreciation was a very popular group and it proved difficult to get a place, when run by Stewart Thorpe and a second group was started which met at the Memorial Hall, the final meeting for several years was a BBQ, which Stewart, who owned a Vintage Hillman would drive into Whitewell House loaded with his BBQ, sadly after a few years of inclement weather, it was decided to choose an Indoor venue. However for the past two years our current leader Edwin Wood has kindly invited us to his home, which was Shakeshaft’s old House off Hospital Street, it has been extensively modernised by the late Martin Greenwood.

Local History has always been a popular class led initially by Peter Griffiths, and then by John White, who sadly died a couple of weeks ago, his son Jonathan is the local photographer for Nantwich Social Media.

Alan Whatley set up a Nantwich History group based at Nantwich Museum in 1999, which still runs today.

On May 3^rd 2013, just four days after his hundredth birthday, Allan celebrated the event with around 40 members and ex-members of Nantwich Local History U3A Group. Also invited to the event was Edward Chatwin, whose well-known family firm was also celebrating their centenary that year. To mark these two events, the bakers provided a cake suitably inscribed to Allan and featuring the Nantwich coat of arms. Allan was presented with a newspaper which was printed on the day he was born in 1913, and an honorary life member certificate presented by Peter Marshall, chairman of Crewe and Nantwich U3A. Allan then spoke, giving the audience a list of 6 topics from which to choose and most of the audience opted for “ Tips on how to get to a hundred.” On this theme he referred to two particular slogans, “you are what you eat ” and “ five a day “. He also advocated the reduction of salt and sugar in the diet. Alan died in 2017 aged 104.

Finally much of the success and development of the U3A in recent years has been down to two members, Dave Jinkinson, who was initially Membership Secretary prior to becoming Chairman and Neil Crossley, who took over the duties of Membership Secretary and introduced a new website and now most membership matters can be carried out online.