The New Year Party, attended by more than 100 members, was held at St Francis Church Hall on Wednesday 21 January 2004.         Before the start of the social side of the morning members were reminded that the yearly membership subscription was now due and should be sent, as soon as possible, to the Treasurer, Mr Bryan Griffiths.         The festivities began with entertainment in which great emphasis was placed on audience participation. It started with a contribution from the “Easy Listening Music” group passing on to the audience their lively approach to their chosen piece. An excellent warm-up item which had everyone laughing, foot tapping, and clapping. This was followed by a U3A version of “University Challenge” organised by Jean Lunnon who also acted as a questionmaster to rival both Jeremy Paxman and Anne Robinson combined. The two highly competitive teams were Lydia Dungate, Robina Hattersley and Allan Wood on one side and Olive Cork , Mary Compton and Bryan Griffiths (the winners by 1 point) on the other. They answered questions on Local Knowledge, Quotations, Art, History, Music, Geography, Science, Greek Gods and Sport. The audience were asked to participate in the allocation of the marks and the score was ably kept by Jeremy Martin. The final part of the entertainment took the shape of various study groups doing a Mime to describe their group's activities. The Mimes, some easily guessed by the audience and some not so easy to guess, were contributed by the following groups: Crosswords, Music Appreciation, Poetry Reading, Brush up your French, Shakespeare, Creative Writing, Jewellery, Art Appreciation and Easy Listening Music. A mouth-watering selection of refreshments was then served winding up a most successful get-together to start the New Year.          Thanks is due to the many people who contributed to the great success of the party including: -        Ticket arrangements - Olive Cork -        Entertainment - Phyl Mullins -        Food – Mary Cole, Gwen Oakes, Francis Lovell, Aileen Manchee, Kay Creed and Clarrie Harding -        Bar – Peter Tee, Joan Tee and Mavis Gladwell -        Audio Equipment – John Winders

Return to Home Page