BEESTON

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE

Registered Charity No. 1152882

DECEMBER 14 - NEWSLETTER EXTRA Editor – Marie Potts pottsofnotts@gmail.com Website – Contact Steve Austin at stephen.austin@ntlworld.com

Website address www.beestonu3a.org.uk

Beeston U3A’s final

monthly meeting of the

year took place on

December 4th and was

certainly a fitting occasion

for the festive season.

Members were welcomed

by our Meeters and

Greeters who are

organised by Sue Blackley.

Sue is pictured above,

with Kath Childs

Pictured right are Anne

Lowe, Sue Smith and Ruth

Gibbs

Membership

Secretary Margot’s

team of volunteer

helpers were in their

usual spot, sign in

members, and

Elizabeth Le

Marchant Brock

was kept busy

enrolling new

members

And of course, we had Sheila Strang’s Refreshment Team

beavering away keeping us supplied with tea, coffee and, in

keeping with the occasion, mince pies.

Cheers!

After refreshments, the main

entertainment was to be found in

the main hall but first there was a

special presentation. Sheila

Strang has been organising

refreshments at the monthly

meetings since Beeston U3A

began in 2011. Her hard work

and organisational skills have

ensured that we all have hot

drinks and biscuits at the meeting

and Sheila has not missed a single

meeting. When the committee

learned that Sheila would be

celebrating a very special

birthday and felt that the

occasion should be marked.

Acting Chairman, Helen Stewart,

presented Sheila with a bouquet of flowers and paid tribute to Sheila’s

contribution to Beeston U3A. The assembled congregation gave a rousing

rendition of Happy Birthday.

We then we royally entertained by two splendid choirs who provided us with

a wonderful festive programme of songs. The first choir was the College

House Junior School choir led by their Musical Director, Louise Strickland. The

children, who obviously really enjoyed their singing, were exceptionally good.

Many of us were reminded of when our own children performed at such

school events, back in the day.

The second choir was the BeVox choir led by Musical Director Tim Allen. This

choir is an amateur choir made up of people who sing for pleasure some of

whom were U3A members. However, there was nothing amateurish about

their performance.

After a short medley of Christmas songs, there was a surprise in store for us

too. The choir commenced singing a song with a very serious leading verse,

beautifully but seriously sung, which went This is the story of a mothers son, A brave young buck who tried his luck and overcame his fate, This is the story of a winter’s night, a baby's born and so forlorn but why? You'll have to wait This is the story of prejudice. They came to mock and every knock fell hard on this delicate rose This is a story and this harsh account will make you frown and all of it down to the colour of his nose. The Musical Director then turned to the audience to

reveal that he was sporting a flashing red nose and

invited the audience to join in with the song, which

was of course, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

We all joined in lustily and with big smiles. The choir

continued with more Christmas tunes to conclude

a very good morning’s entertainment.

The enraptured audience.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to BeestonU3A

No Monthly Meeting in January

************** The Return of the Ceilidh

Saturday February 21st

7.30-11 pm

Attenborough Village Hall Tickets only £8

Inclusive of Light refreshments

Bring your own drinks

Contact Sue Blackley for tickets. susanblackley@hotmail.com or phone 0115 925 0235

********************************************** 2015-2016 Membership will be due from May

and her team will be in attendance for

Membership renewal from the February Open Meeting

onwards in order to cope with numbers.