Monday 25 November – Visit to Spencer House, London and Tate Britain – applications now closed
Tuesday 26 November at 1 pm – Film Group screening will be Leave Her to Heaven
Tuesday 26 November at 4.30 pm – Norah Boyce Science Lecture – New views of our universe with the James Webb Space Telescope by Dr Robin Catchpole.
Wednesday 27 November at 2.15 pm – Wednesday Lecture – The versatile nerve cell by Dr Brian McCabe.
Booking is now open to attend in person in the Pink room – please email the Office
The New Year Social event will take place at The David Rayner Building at Scotsdales Garden Centre on Friday 10 January 2025 from 12 – 2. Cost: £8.50. Application forms are now available on the Social events page of the website or in person from the Office. This is a member only event and places must be booked in advance.
There is an exhibition of prints and paintings by Simon Draper and Colin Whitworth in the Gallery Area for the rest of this term. The work references ancient cultures, world music and poetry.
If you are unable to attend one of your allocated courses, please let us know so that the place can be offered to someone on the waiting list. Thank you.
If you are interested in applying for additional courses, there is a Vacancy list on the website showing all courses with current spaces; this is regularly updated.
**New** you can now purchase tickets in person from the U3AC Office.
CCSO will be giving its next concert in West Road on Saturday 30 November at 7.30 pm. You can support U3AC by buying your ticket through us as 50% of the ticket revenue will come to us. Cost £20, £10 (students), £6 (under 14).
The orchestra will be playing 3 pieces: Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Korngold’s Violin Concerto and Prokofiev’s Symphony no.7.
George Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ is a cheerful and humorous overture portraying the impressions of an American visitor strolling about the city. The hustle and bustle of continental street life (complete with real taxi horns!) blends with nostalgic elements of jazz and blues in this entertaining cameo.
Erich Korngold emigrated from Austria to the USA during the 1930s, establishing himself as a film composer who brought symphonic techniques to the studio. By 1947, the year of his violin concerto, he was doing the reverse: his violin concerto is built on themes from his film music and is full of soaring melodies and rich harmony.
Prokofiev who, like Korngold, was also an accomplished composer for stage and film, composed seven symphonies over the course of his far from easy career. The seventh symphony was completed in 1952, the year before he died, in an attempt to improve his finances by winning the Stalin prize. Prokofiev originally ended the symphony on a sad note but was persuaded to add a more cheerful coda to impress the judges. How the symphony (and the concert) will end at CCSO’s performance in November will be up to the audience to decide; you can be part of that decision.
To buy tickets for the concert, go to the CCSO website https://ccso-online.org There is a link on the home page to BUY TICKETS. When you get to the check out, there is an option to enter a discount code, where you should enter the code CHARITY. Please do remember to enter this code, as doing so means U3AC will benefit financially from your attending the concert. Alternatively, you can now purchase tickets in person from the U3AC Office.
This year’s Christmas Lunch will be held in the Park Seasons restaurant at Cambridge Regional College on Tuesday 17 December. Cost £22.50. Application forms are now available on the Social events page of the website or in person from the Office.
A visit to Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at Norwich Theatre Royal has been arranged for Thursday 20 March 2025. Cost £68. Application forms are now available on the Trips and Visits page of the website or in person from the Office.
This is the time of year when we invite members to consider becoming part of the overall management of the U3AC organisation, in other words to become a trustee and join the U3AC Council. Although you will know that the day-to-day operational work is undertaken and very well managed by our four members of staff, they are accountable to the Council which, in accordance with the Charity Commission regulations, has overall management responsibility. These two groups of people therefore work closely together.
The U3AC trustees come from varied backgrounds, experience and skills and we all contribute in one way or another to the running and support of the organisation. A number of current trustees will be stepping down at the AGM in March 2025, so we need some new trustees to replace them and to ensure the Council continues to work effectively for the benefit of our members. Speaking personally, over a period of years now, I have found it to be a very interesting and rewarding experience and – yes – it can also be challenging, but that is all part of good management. So – why not come and join us and help to keep this impressive show on the road. If you want to learn more about becoming a trustee and what it entails, then please contact me (Sally Livesey) using the address: secretary@u3ac.org.uk and we can take it from there.
U3AC supports other local organisations by listing their activities on the Other organisations page of our website https://www.u3ac.org.uk/news/other-organisations/