Articles by admin

February 2025

U3A Cycling February

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 17 February we cycled to Lincoln from Halswell on the Little River Rail Trail and came back via Tai Tapu. 
On Friday 28 February we cycled from Swanns Rd to New Brighton on Te Ara Otakaro (Avon River Trail) and then continued around South Shore spit. We rode on some of the new ‘City to the Sea’ pathway and saw lots more areas being developed.
We had good weather on both days and had 7 and 11 riders respectively.
Mary

FAMILY HISTORY GROUP

Last month’s meeting found the group discussing useful sources of information when recording their families’ histories. This month our topic will be ”sorting which photos should be included’.  As always there followed an interesting time catching up with any new discoveries made by members and any mysteries that had been solved. 
If you are interested in joining this group, please contact either Carole or Julia

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

The first meeting of a small photography group was held on Friday 21st February and after introductions, coffee and discussions on topics of interest we looked at photographing flowers. We also discussed what cameras we each had and the downloading of photos onto computers.
We decided our next meeting would be on Friday 10th March at 10am, again at our place a 20A Victors Road, Hoon Hay when our main topic will be on close up photography. A few more members would be most welcome.
Eric

January 2025

TRAVEL GROUP

Is there anyone or group of members who would like to run this group for 2025?

URBAN EXPLORERS

At this stage, two members are prepared to run the Thursday Group, but they are unable to cover the Tuesday group. We are hoping a couple of members of that group will step up.

CYCLING GROUP  

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. Most members have e-bikes. New members are always welcome.

On Friday 31 January we cycled from Halswell to Raspberry Café, Tai Tapu then around the block past Otahuna Lodge and Cossars Winery back to the café for coffee. Eleven of us met up for a pleasant chat over coffee outside.

Family History Group

This group meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 1.30pm. Our first meeting for this year will be on Tuesday 18th February.

We are interested in tracing our families’ ancestors, discovering their stories and something of the times in which they lived. 

If you are interested in finding out more about  this group please contact either Carole or Julia

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

Eric Livingston is keen to start a photography Group. If you are keen to participate, contact Lynne u3a.southwestchch@gmail.com

November 2024

BOOK GROUP

Book Group – current book is ’The ‘Mother’.  A thriller that is a compelling twisty pageturner.  

CYCLING GROUP U3A Cycling November

On Monday 18 November we rode along the Summit Rd east of the Sign of the Kiwi café to Mt Pleasant. There were 8 of us and it was the first time we had organised a ride along the Summit Rd. We had lovely views out over the city and the coastline. We had coffee at the Sign of the Kiwi café.

On Friday 29 November we met at the Roto Kohatu Reserve and rode through to Clearwater and the Groynes on the Otukaikino Trail and onto the Waimakariri River before joining the Northern Cycleway back to Belfast for coffee at Loef’s Bakery & Café.  We headed back to the Groynes along the Waimarie Cycleway and onto our cars. There were 9 members on this ride with an alternative start point being the Dog Park at the Groynes.

For December we are planning a potluck lunch for members of the cycling group.

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.

New members are always welcome.

FAMILY HISTORY GROUP

HISTORY

History Group is in recession until the new year

SCRABBLE GROUP

Thank goodness for the supportive group of Scrabble players we have developed into since we started.

Pre-Christmas we had two members in hospital and one whose elderly parent passed away.  Much aroha, virtual hugs and love are currently keeping us all going.

My thanks go to a wonderful group of people who make this all happen.  Merry Christmas everyone.  See you in 2025.  Judith  

TRAVEL GROUP

This group is no longer running unless there is someone else prepared to take it over. Thank you to Karen and Grant for running this group each year. They had to contend with lock downs over the Covid period when we not permitted to travel. Not an easy task when the group focused on the travels of the members.

URBAN EXPLORERS

Season’s Greetings to all.  The time has come for new leadership of the walking group.  I will not be continuing my role in Urban Explorers but will offer support to those who take over.  It is my suggestion that a committee be formed to spread the planning.  I have enjoyed our explorations of the city and surrounding areas – and learnt a lot!  Thank you for your support. Ngaire

October 2024

Book Group

The current book is ‘Miss Jane’. The story of the life of Jane Chisholm, born in early
twentieth-century rural Mississippi with a birth defect that will stand in the way of the central ‘uses’ for a woman in that time and place.
Ros

Current Affairs Group

No report this month

Cycling Group

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes. New members are always welcome.

On Monday 21 October five members rode from Halswell to the University then onto Northlands Mall and the Papanui Parallel cycleway where we stopped for coffee at Meshinos. After coffee we continued on into the CBD, along the Promenade and back to Halswell on the Quarryman’s Trail. It was a beautiful, mild day.

On Friday 25 October we rode from Halswell along the river to the Tannery for coffee at the Brewery Bar then into the CBD on the Heathcote Expressway across Hagley Park and back to Halswell on the South Express, Nor’West Arc and Quarrymans Trail/Southern Motorway cycleway. It was a lovely sunny day and very warm – perfect for being out on our bikes. There were 9 of us on this ride.

Family History Group

History Group

We have come to the end of “History of Ancient Egypt’ which proved a fascinating
insight in the beliefs and customs of the people. For 2025 the group has selected
‘The shaping of the modern mind’ course. I will enrol in this in December and our
first group meeting will be on 20th February 2025.
Ros

Scrabble Group

As the end of 2024 approaches our group has arranged to celebrate with a shared
lunch before our last meeting, early in December. This has been a very successful
year with great attendance at our twice monthly meetings.

As the current coordinator of the group I thank everyone for their support when
asked to volunteer to host our get togethers. It’s lovely to share everyone’s
company, along with special occasions like birthdays and the birth of mokopuna
(grandchildren), as well as the not so special moments like stolen cars and speeding
tickets when in a hurry to get to Scrabble!

I look forward to another year of friendship, support, fun and Scrabble in 2025.
Thanks everyone for contributing to a very successful Scrabble Group.
Judith

September 2024

BOOK GROUP

This month we are reading ’The Blackout Book Club’ by Amy Lynn Green. This is an engaging story that illustrates the power of books to unite and encourage us in trying times.

CURRENT AFFAIRS GROUP

This group meets monthly -3rd Wednesday at 10.00am -at the Halswell Library/Service Centre Te Hapua. We are a group of about 25 -30 regular and enthusiastic attendees, and we discuss/learn about a wide range of current affairs/current issues. In the last two months we have discussed “The Future of Transportation” and “Gene Engineering + Modification”. Most meetings comprise a combination of discussion and viewing/commenting on related video clips.
Our October topic will be “Electing a President in the USA” and in November we will venture into the city -walk around and discuss “What Should be Done to revive Cathedral Square”. An end of year lunch (probably at the Church Pub) will follow that meeting.

CYCLING GROUP

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 16 September we cycled from Halswell to Rolleston via Lincoln on dedicated cycleways. It was a lovely ride with an alternative starting point at Lincoln.
There were 9 of us and it was the first time we had ridden the ‘Lincoln to Rolleston’ part.
We had a very enjoyable coffee stop at the Majestic Café at Rolleston Fields.
On Friday 27 September we met near the QEII roundabout and cycled on the Northern Corridor cycleway to Kaiapoi, meeting the second group at the Old Waimakariri Bridge car park. From Kaiapoi we rode along the Pegasus Bay Trail to Beach Rd then out to Kairaki Beach where there were lots of people whitebaiting. Then back to and along Beach Rd into Beach Grove subdivision through to Kaiapoi Domain and along the stop banks to our coffee stop at Paris for the Weekend café. We then opted to ride along the stop banks back to the Old Waimak Bridge car park. There were 12 of us cycling on a glorious sunny but cool morning. The total ride was 45km with the shorter option 26km.

FAMILY HISTORY

Our first names are SIT our last names are STAY!
During our September meeting we learned how our earliest ancestor arrived in New Zealand. During our October meeting we will hear the origins of an ancestral surname in our family tree.
We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 1.30pm.If you are interested in tracing your family history you are welcome to join us
http://www.u3aswchch.org.nz/genealogy/

HISTORY

We are on the final unit 7 of our History of Ancient Egypt course. The group will decide what we will take next and the dates for 2025.

MOVIE GROUP

We meet every fourth Tuesday morning to enjoy a variety of films, generally at The Academy Gold theatre in the Colombo Mall.
Notification for the following Tuesday is sent the Friday beforehand and plenty of time to decide whether to attend or not by Monday morning. Late bookings can be catered for – usually! Everyone pays for their seat on arrival at the Academy.
There are often a few doubts about a movie, but no one has been disappointed yet and something different may be a challenge perhaps.
Come and join us and we enjoy a coffee and chat afterwards, sometimes about the movie and sometimes not.

SCRABBLE GROUP

A group of strangers got together to play Scrabble when Nicky started the U3A Scrabble Interest Group several years ago. Some, like me, had not played Scrabble since the days of playing with their children. That group (now 10) are no longer strangers, but a group of supportive friends, willing to share and help each other out.
Our Scrabble group meets twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday afternoons. Group membership has been restricted to 10 because we meet in each other’s homes. We laugh, we challenge each other on the meaning of weird words, we solve the problems of the world over a cuppa, we criticise the inability of the modern youth to use correct grammar but try to stay away from controversial subjects like the presidential election in the USA.
You too, could have all of this. As a group of friends, we would be happy to help another group of strangers find what we have found in the way of fun and companionship.
On the U3A website, u3aswchch.org.nz, go to the “About Us” tab, Then select “Contact Us” – fill in the form indicating you are interested in playing Scrabble with a new group. Our click HERE to open the Scrabble form
A committee member will pass the message on to Judith Densie, as the current Convenor of Scrabble. Alternatively approach Judith at a U3A meeting

The Bell In The Lake

August 2024

Book Group
This month’s book is “The Bell in the Lake” by Lars Mytting The group has read another book by Lars “The Sixteen Trees of the Somme” which we enjoyed so anticipate this will also be a good read. Based in Norway in 1880 it involves a 700-year-old stave church, a new pastor and two bells in the tower which are said to hold supernatural powers. Described and Love, Suspense, nature and superstition are woven together in this powerful novel. Having visited a stave church while on holiday in Norway this will prove to be a fascinating read.
Ros

Cycling in August
We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 19 August we rode from Halswell to Northwood on the Northern Line of which the last section has just been opened. Some members joined us from Mona Vale. We, 8 of us, enjoyed coffee at Gloria Jeans at Northwood Supa Centa before heading back.
On Friday 30 August we rode from Stanmore Rd/Swanns Rd in Wainoni to New Brighton and around Southshore spit. There were 14 of us which is our largest group to date. Some of the group started at New Brighton. It was a mild day and an enjoyable ride. We enjoyed coffee at Dune Café in Bridge St.
Mary

History
We will be looking at Unit 6 of ‘History of Ancient Egypt’ – Myths, Magic and Medicine.
Ros

July 2024

Cycling

We cycle twice a month on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday of the month. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways and most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
This month we had to cancel our first ride due to rain.
On Friday 26 July we rode from the corner of Worcester St and Fitzgerald Ave to Scarborough with a couple of members meeting the group at Ferrymead Shopping Centre. It was a lovely day and a good ride. We had an enjoyable coffee stop at Scarborough Fare Cafe; in fact, it was hard to get the ten of us started again!
Mary

Family History

Scrabble

We have heard that there are some people in U3A who believe they are on a “waiting list” to join the existing Scrabble group.  As the Convenor of the group since September 2023, Judith was completely unaware of anyone who believed they were on a “waiting list”.
As mentioned previously in this newsletter, membership of our group is currently limited to 10 people, due to the fact we meet in private homes.  If there are people who think they are on a waiting list, it would be so easy to coordinate a second Scrabble Group – all that is needed is a boxed set of Scrabble, a couple of dictionaries, and around three or four people willing to play and host the group in their home.  Several of our members would be more than happy to come to a few meetings to share how we run our group and help get a new group going.  
On the U3A website, u3aswchch.org.nz, go to the “About Us” tab, then select “Contact Us” – fill in the form indicating you are interested in playing Scrabble with a new group.  A committee member will pass the message on to Judith Densie, as the Convenor of Scrabble. Alternatively approach Judith at a U3A meeting.  

June 2024

Cycling Group

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
This month we only had one ride due to Matariki at the end of the month. On Friday 17 June we rode from Halswell to the Heathcote Valley via the Quarryman’s Trail, Nor’West Arc to PMH then around the river to the Tannery and onto the Heathcote expressway. Eleven of us cycled and our coffee stop was at Silos Café.
Mary

Family History

Who are these twin boys? Maybe your ancestors! Old photos make our research even more interesting as do the discoveries we make as we find further facts about our earlier times. Last meeting we had a genealogist speak to us about the discoveries she had made – very interesting1 Our next meeting is 16th July. If you are interested contact either Carole or Julia.

Scrabble

Up to 10 members of our Scrabble group meet twice a month. Our July meetings are scheduled for the 9th and 23rd of July. We are a friendly, supportive, no pressure, Scrabble playing group who have lots of laughs and chatter. To attempt to speed up our games, we recently clarified our “guidelines for play” and are now managing at least three and sometimes four games at each meeting.
A brief outline of our guidelines for play
• Players can use a dictionary and/or the” two, three and four letter word sheets/booklets” as much as they like PRIOR to their turn. However, when it is a player’s turn, they should play a word without too much delay.
• It’s OK to do a quick dictionary check if a player is unsure of the spelling or any query/discussion arises about a played word. Quick and occasional use of the dictionary should be the aim when it is a player’s turn to play.
Membership of our group is currently limited to 10. However, if anyone would like to start another Scrabble Interest Group, please contact Judith Densie who is more than happy to assist in getting you started.

Note: if you are a member of a Special interest Group and your email address has changed, please let your group leader know, otherwise you will not receive information about your group activities

May 2024

Current Affairs

Wednesday 19 June 10.00am at the Halswell Library/Service Centre Te Hapua
Topic: Why is there so much more aggression/anger, distrust /mistrust, claims of
entitlement and claims of grievance? What can be done about it? Graeme

Cycling Group

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.
We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 20 May, 6 of us rode from Halswell through to Hornby and joined the South Express cycleway that was recently completed between Hansens Lane and Hornby. We continued on to Hagley Park then returned on the Southern Motorway cycleway.
On Friday 31 May, 7 of us rode from Motukarara to Little River on the Little River Rail Trail. After many heavy frosts on previous days, it was surprisingly mild with not too much wind. It was a great ride, and we enjoyed a good chat over coffee. Mary

Family History

Remember those days? Some of us did when we shared our earliest memories of our first school. Times our children and grandchildren will know nothing of unless we leave them memories. This was the topic of our May meeting. This month we have a guest speaker coming to share the highs and lows of the past. Er meet on the third Tuesday of the month starting at 1.30pm.. If you are interested in family history contact either Carole or Julia.

Scrabble Group

The Scrabble Interest Group meets on the 2nd and the 4th Tuesday of every month, at 1.30pm. As we meet in each other’s homes we have closed the membership to the 10 members who currently attend regularly. Generally we play three games of Scrabble 4 each time with a break for a cup of tea to enable us to solve the problems of the world, have a good laugh, and enjoy each other’s company. Although the current group is closed to new members, if there was sufficient interest, I would be more than willing to assist another group to get established by sharing how we currently work. We find up to 10 members per group is ideal when meeting in private homes. Judith

Note: if you are a member of a Special interest Group and your email address has changed, please let your group leader know, otherwise you will not receive information about your group activities. Interest group Information

Family History

March 2024

U3A Current Affairs Group

This group meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month (at 10.00 am) -usually at the Halswell library/service centre – Te Hāpua.
It has a group of keen members (usually about 25 attendees) who learn about and discuss a wide range of current affairs /current issues topics.
If you may be interested in participating – contact Graeme McNally (via our email u3a.southwestchch@gmail.com) for further information.

Family History Group

Do you ever wonder who your ancestors were? Where they lived? How they came to live in New Zealand? Who knows what is discovered in their past.
If you answer ‘yes’ you may be interested in coming along to the Family History Group.
We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of each month – next meeting is 16th April – at 1.30pm each of us looking to our families who came before us.
If you would like to join us, please contact Carole or Julia via Do you ever wonder who your ancestors were? Where they lived? How they came to live in New Zealand? Who knows what is discovered in their past.
If you answer ‘yes’ you may be interested in coming along to the Family History Group.
We meet on the 3rd Tuesday of each month – next meeting is 16th April – at 1.30pm each of us looking to our families who came before us.
If you would like to join us, please contact Carole or Julia via our email u3a.southwestchch@gmail.com

U3A Cycling Group

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.
We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways.
New members welcome.
This month there was only one ride due to Good Friday being at the end of March.
On Monday 18 March, 9 of us met at Princess Margaret Hospital and cycled around the river to Ferrymead. It was a lovely ride along quiet streets and cycleways. We had coffee at Metro Café before heading back