March Meeting 2021

46 screens joined the meeting on Zoom, on Wednesday March 10th, for our Main meeting. Approximately 55 members (tricky counting those heads on so many screens!) enjoyed some lively and convivial chat before our Chairman, Chris Barwell started the meeting.

She began by laying out some of the plans for our 30th Anniversary Year to include a celebratory Cream Tea at St. Martin’s Hall, on Friday October 1st, which will be free to all members and include displays of archive material, photographs and some interviews of some of the founder members, led by our own u3a Podcast presenter Nick Bailey. Christine then informed the meeting about some of the forthcoming social events to include a General Knowledge Quiz on the evening of 7th April and, hopefully, our first face-to-face gathering in August for a picnic at St.Martin’s Hall.

She told members to watch out for the new printed Programme of Events and speakers for the whole of 2021 which was in the last stage of production and would be posted out soon to all members as well as appearing on this website.

Christine then went on to promote the different methods of communication within Looe & District u3a and in particular the new and expanding, private to members, Facebook page. If you would like to join this group please search for Looe & District u3a or ask one of your Facebook friends who is already a member of the group to join you or, if you have a QR reader on your phone, just scan this QR code which should take you straight to the page.

The Vice Chair and Speaker Secretary, Nick Bailey, informed the meeting that the next u3a podcast would air on Wednesday 17th March and would focus on memories of WWII.

Before introducing the speaker for this month, Nick told the meeting a little of the talk for April which will deal with Famous Hoaxes of the 18th Century including a lady who gave birth to a number of rabbits!

Baiju McCubbins then gave a most informative and fascinating talk about the development and role of Medical Detection Dogs, from the discovery of their ability to sniff out certain cancers and be used as bio-detection dogs to their life-changing roles as Medical Alert Assistance Dogs; helping sufferers with diseases such as diabetes to manage their condition.