PRD u3a 10th anniversary
See the celebration photos at the bottom of the page,.
Memories of the 'start up' of Prestatyn Rhyl and District u3a. September 20th 2024. Peter & Jean, Virginia, Pam and Kendall, original committee members, gave us their memories how how Prestatyn, Rhyl and District u3a first came into being. They have also written down some of their memories, you can read them below.
Memories from some of the original committee members :
Jean and Peter Lager - coming soon
Virginia Adams,
Pam Collins,
Kendall Down,
From Virginia
Celebrating 10 years of our u3a
We launched our new u3a group at The Pavilion in Rhyl. We set up tables with signs indicating the type of interest group people might be drawn to.
I was fronting Dancing. I had sheets for people to add their name if they were interested in barn dancing, ballroom dancing or ballet.
We were very aware that to cover the cost of a venue for such activities we had to have a group large enough so that the cost for an individual was not too high.
There were only two or three wanting some sort of ballet and so we apologised for not setting up a group for them.
There weren’t sufficient numbers for either barn dancing or ballroom dancing so I decided we would run the group in two parts. I had managed to persuade a friend of a friend’s husband to be the caller for the barn dancing. I didn’t know then that he had been a keen ballroom dancer in his youth. He was an awkward guy who refused to join the u3a or be accountable to the Committee eventually allowing non-members to come & dance. They pretended they were members but we couldn’t trace them in our system. He ultimately took over and ran it as if it were his private concern!! This of course breaches our insurance for all members and ignores our rules of membership.
Finding venues for groups to meet was challenging from the beginning. We had to search for community halls or rooms, find out which day/s they were available, the cost and any conditions of use. We were each working independently & sometimes one of our Interest Group Leaders had snapped it up for their group.
The number in an Interest Group arose again with French. Together they could meet at Kings Hall, a pleasant space with extra paid for use of the kitchen. I had encouraged both Cathie and Marilyn, friends who I knew had taught French at Further Education College and High School respectively, to consider running a French group for our u3a.
Wondering where each would pitch their teaching I decided to ask the members to evaluate their competence between being able to use a few simple sentences to describe themselves and ask questions about another person. Or, did they think their French was good enough to conduct a conversation with others expressing themselves and understanding others largely.
This resulted in two groups being formed; one thought of as intermediate and the other as false beginners (ie not total beginners but forgotten a lot of what they once knew years ago!)
For a while the two groups tried to work in the same room but being language learning it wasn’t ideal.
Cathie decided to welcome her group to her house and Marilyn found a small cheaper place for her group to meet up.
Whilst there was much interest in Lunch groups- two forming pretty quickly - a few of us wanted to eat out in the evening. We heard others saying how they disliked spicy food, curry and Chinese food. We few were keen to try out all of those and more. We formed the Exotic Eaters and went to restaurants in Chester including a Thai place where the chef through doughnuts to us!! We visited local curry houses & Chinese restaurants especially on Chinese New Year and once the group went to a South African restaurant near The Boat Museum! This has now altered somewhat, renamed The Supper Club, but always seeking places where there’s a chef in the kitchen and an exciting menu which includes Gluten Free, fish choices and veggie/vegan dishes. The Glynne arms has been popular, the Jamaican now above Archie’s, and Next Door in Llandudno.
It’s very pleasing that despite one or two problems over the years, in particular Covid, the group has survived and membership is growing again.
Best wishes
Virginia
From Pam:
Hi Chris, Unfortunately I have been clearing paperwork so everything is from memory. Here Goes ;
The Original team comprised George and Gerry B, Maureen G and Pam Collins. We had a few chats and then contacted u3a Head office. Some info was sent and we worked things out, then a Lady from HQ came to meet us and explained things in more detail. We decided to test the local ' Market'. I made posters and we put them in various supermarkets and libraries with details of the meeting, which was held upstairs in the Pavilion . I think there were about 60/70 people present , the u3a Leader was there as well. At the end of the meeting we asked people to put their names etc down and also to say what sort of groups they would like. A committee was formed from those present, our 1st meeting was held at the community centre on Wellington road. George Brown was chairman, I think Wendy Roberts may have been Treasurer/secretary, Virginia, Peter Lager, Jean Lager had various roles, not sure what. Ken was to set up groups with my assistance. He devised a member programme (very hard to use!) and then went to Australia for 6 weeks.
I decided we couldn't afford to wait so I contacted interested people for the various groups and held meetings in the 10 pin bowling centre. As I had been there a few times with another group we got it free conditional on everyone buying a drink of some sort. The first groups were the Local Lunch and Exotic diners , I think Wendy took that one. Photography was another. I cannot remember them all, the problem was getting someone to be a leader.
The Local Lunch group 1st lunch was on Monday, 9th June 2014 at Chilli Pink in Rhyl.
I hope that helps. Pam
From Kendall,
Possibly Peter Lager has been too diplomatic to mention it, but George was all on fire to set up the U3A and no sooner was it set up than he unilaterally and without warning resigned as chair, leaving us in somewhat of a bind. Peter stepped in as a sort of emergency chair and was responsible for steering the U3A through a somewhat difficult time due to George's abrupt resignation. All credit to him.
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