E & E News - June 2025

Hello everyone.

At the time of writing I am watching the rain finally arriving to my poor parched garden.  All the plants are standing to attention in anticipation of a good soaking – hooray !!!!

April and May were very busy and a lot of fun. The Group Leaders Afternoon Tea was, I am pleased to say a success.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the location and the food, which the committee thought was excellent, and it was nice to hear the positive comments.  Meeting the Group Leaders  was personally very enjoyable for me and I found that I was thinking what a great group of people, thank you for your good company.  I was told that the chatter coming from the afternoon tea could be heard in the street, so that’s a good sign. They all really deserved this treat for all their hard work.

I went to support Jenny Sparrow’s  group Singing for Pleasure event which was held at St Barnabas Church, Epsom.  They were accompanied by a band, who were u3a members backing the singers, they called themselves Vintage.  They were really terrific.  The Mayor and Lady Mayoress were also in attendance, a really nice couple who were very easy to talk to.  The audience mostly came from The Sunnybank Trust.  They sang along and danced and were having lots of fun.  The singers enjoyed themselves and gave their all in their performance.  On leaving the hall they all seemed to glow so the serotonin levels must have been high. Thank you Jenny for inviting me, it was a lovely afternoon, lots of good vibes and laughter. (Jenny's full report and pictures appear later in this month's newsletter)

At Open House, the Committee were a few members down due to holidays etc.  but it went well and the feedback was positive.  A lot of the Group Leaders told us they had quite a few new participants joining their groups.

I personally love Open House and the showcasing of the singers and dance groups, it just shows you what you can achieve in a couple of hours once a month, well done and thank you all for the entertainment.

Our speaker for 2nd June at our monthly meeting will be Neil Sadler – ( Almost) Death in Paradise: Caribbean, Pirates and Rum. I cannot wait.  I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Take care of each other.

Kind regards – Sybi – Chair Epsom and Ewell u3a

Gertie's Gardeners spent a lovely sunny morning in April weeding, pruning and tidying for an hour before adjourning to Mandalina's for coffee and cakes.

Gertie's in May

We visited again in May to do a bit of tidying.

This time we had to dodge the rain showers but five of us managed to sweep, weed and prune before heading over to Costa Coffee for coffee, cake and chat.

"Singing for pleasure" were invited to perform to the "SunnybankTrust "at St Barnabas Church ,Epsom. The trust supports adults with learning difficulties in Surrey, helping them to live without prejudice and have confidence, opportunities and control over their own lives.  We held our concert on Thursday May 1st, an extremely hot day, the Mayor  and Mayoress of Epsom and Ewell were in attendance  as well as our Chair Sybi Trowsdale. Thirty two singers gave a sterling performance accompanied by our musicians "Vintage". We sang songs from the 60's which really went down well, and many Trust members got up and danced, which was a joy to witness. We have already been asked if we can do a Christmas Concert!!!! all booked for the 4th December. My thanks to Stella Milne for  taking the photos.

Jenny Sparrow - Group Leader

"Thank you Singing for Pleasure - you lifted many spirits and there was certainly plenty of dancing"

Dorothy Watson C.E.O. SunnyBank Trust

Southwark Cathedral candles being topped up.

Exploring London 8 visited the Crossbones Garden of Remembrance on a very cold day in May.

This is an unconsecrated memorial to the thousands of prostitutes who lived, worked and died in this once lawless corner of London.

In May we attended the u3a Climate Change Summer School at Warwick University. On Friday morning there was a visit to the Sherborne recycling centre which is a state of the art facility being visited by numerous councils for ideas, In the afternoon we had a tour of the Warwick university campus led by Dalma Zsalako who explained all about their biodiversity aims. In the evening we had a feedback session on the days activities followed by a show and tell session about things that we were doing as individuals to combat climate change.

On Saturday our speakers were Dr Stephen Norrie, chair of Stratford Climate Action/Net Zero director and Dr Sarah Stear, the head of Climate Change and sustainability at Warwickshire CC. In the afternoon we had an interactive game called Climate Fresk which is pictured below. We were split into groups and given a series of cards and our challenge was to find the links and loops from actions listed on the cards. In the evening we had a climate calm session.

Sunday started with a talk from Dr Janet Palmer about the conversations that come up in the Stratford Net Zero climate hub which is pictured below followed by a workshop with Dr Keith Richards on de-escalation techniques to use when conversations are challenging. In the evening we watched and discussed three short films from Water Bear.

We finished on Monday with a visit to the Heart of England community energy solar farm.

Tony & Sue Skelton

Climate Fresk challenge.

Stratford Net Zero Climate Hub.

In May we had a walk and talk guided tour of behind the scenes at the National Theatre in London. We were split into two groups of 14 and set off, group one at 11.00 and group two at 11.15. Our tour guides were both excellent and explained all about the National Theatre and their workshops where they make their own scenery and costumes. Several members commented that they will look at shows to book.

The sculpture of leaves pictured on the left is in the main foyer area and is covered in names that are reflected on the floor.

Following the first meeting of our Climate Conversations group at Birchgrove, Lower Mill, Ewell Village it has been agreed that a second group will be set up to cater for more members who would like to join the group.

The second group will meet on the 4th Monday of the month at Birchgrove.

Members will be able to attend either group depending on availability, please contact Will Ward the group leader via the website to register your interest and discuss dates and times.

Groups currently looking for more members: Bridge Tuesday, Chess, Climate Conversations, Creative Writing, Cribbage, Current Affairs, Drama Appreciation, Exploring London 6, Flower Arranging 2, French Conversation (Adv), Italian Conversation Intermediate, Mindfulness, Music Appreciation, Needlecraft, Poetry Appreciation

New Groups starting soon: History - Local & Social, MOTO, Crime Fiction, Current Affairs, Mindfulness, Rummikub, Cycling- Wussies Wheelers

For details of all other groups please click the link: Groups page

Canterbury Cathedral Wednesday June 25th £46.00 per person

We have a few seats still available for this coach trip. Please check the website for details.

Quadrophenia Thursday June 26th £40.00 per person

We have 4 tickets available for this ticket only theatre event which is on show at the Sadlers Wells Theatre in London

Royal Albert Hall Wednesday July 9th £15.00 per person

We have 6 places still available for this behind the scenes walk and talk visit. Please check the website for details.

The Great Gatsby Thursday August 28th £60.00 per person

We have just 1 ticket left for this ticket only theatre event which is on show at the London Coliseum Theatre

Starlight Express Thursday September 11th £40.00 per person

We have 4 tickets left for this ticket only theatre event which is currently showing at the Troubadour Theatre Wembley Park

Our Coffee Club is run by Rosie & Sue

They meet at Roots Café, Epsom Methodist Church from 10.00am - 11.30am

The Next meeting dates are: Monday June 16th and Tuesday July 8th

Some of the members of our Ukulele Groups had great fun joining in two VE Day 80^th anniversary celebrations and leading singalongs of all the old favourites from around 80 years ago. 

Of course, we had to fit in one of George Formby’s songs, as he is one of the best loved ukulele players of the era.   It’s said he entertained around 3 million troops with his ukulele during the war years. 

We didn’t have quite that number at our events, but we performed outdoors at a very popular Street Party in Coulsdon, and some of the children joined in one of the songs playing kazoos. 

We were also honoured to be invited to lead the singing at the Epsom and Ewell British Legion VE Day afternoon tea party, with our local mayor and MP in attendance.  They all waved their flags and sang along with great enthusiasm!

We continue to spread the joy of the ukulele!

(some photos courtesy of 360 Provision Media)

Exploring Architecture

Next month we hope to be exploring the buildings around Victoria.

This month a select number of our group took a very interesting trip to an area of London that flies a little under the radar, Bermondsey. 

From the industrial leather processing quarter to the newer development on the old Bermondsey Abbey site we discovered there is so much architecture to see that we have a return visit planned. We also found more buildings that one of our number had been involved in during his career!

Garden Wanderers

This month the garden wanderers went back to our home garden of RHS Wisley to see the peonies and the wisteria arch in full flower.  Due to the very warm spring much of the garden was already in flower & looking lovely in the sun. 

Next month we will be travelling to both the Savile Gardens and Hever Castle to explore the roses, hopefully a bit of rain soon will show them at their best. 

If any of your members fancy a fun evening out then how about a game of croquet on a Monday evening in the summer? If you want to arrange a social outing for your group we can take bookings for small groups (or interested individuals). No experience is necessary. Tea, coffee and biscuits are included. The cost would be £5 per person.

Any member who is interested please contact Dena Howlett at Cheam Croquet Club. 0208 393 9264

We have been notified by one of our members of a local area for Bird Watching that may be of interest to others.

Canons Farm and Banstead Woods Birds

The links below will take you to their website BlogSpot and there's also a link to join their bird watching community.

Canons BlogSpot for events Join Canons Birdwatching