The Newsletter of Harrogate
Registered Charity no. 1038457
Issue 34
Web Edition
October 2009
A Day to Remember! – May 28th 2009
At a group leaders’ meeting in July 2008 the idea of an event where other U3As would join in with our groups was put forward. This seemed to receive approval from group leaders and we decided that a church hall would be a suitable venue. It soon became clear that we would need two church halls to fit in all the groups which doubled our costs with only hopes to go on.
A computer model was built which suggested that provided we could get four visitors and four of our own members to take part in each event then it would be viable.
A "Day to Remember" was born and the date of May 28th was chosen. The advertising poster was made and was to be used in an email campaign. The most likely U3As to respond seemed to be from the Yorkshire and Humberside region but obtaining email addresses was a problem. The Yorkshire & Humberside Region secretary helped by distributing the poster at his committee meeting. The task of sending four emails per day seemed a reasonable expectation. Wrong!
I soon started to fall behind with the task. In November some 30 emails had been sent with no responses. Christmas came and went, the email campaign was intensified, David took posters to the regional meeting and distributed them. Some enquiries were made but no bookings, people were beginning to know of the event. At the February committee meeting a report was given but we only had the one firm booking. Our chairman said keep going they will come; the encouragement was desperately needed. Things soon changed first ones and twos, then multiple bookings; we soon had the £200 that was required to pay for the halls. But would we get the £400 needed to pay for the event? The computer model said yes. The plan began to unfold, by the beginning of May the only thing not resolved was how to get people to Harlow Carr gardens, then the answer came, Cottingham U3A volunteered their bus to take people to the gardens, magic.
On May 28th,despite a minor hitch involving a locked door at the church and a door bell that did not work, the Day got underway. As we were using St Paul's Church Hall and the Baptist Church Hall, groups of people had to be ferried about but all this worked better than we expected. A total 250 people joined us for the day with representatives of 11 U3As from the Yorkshire and Humber Region besides our own Harrogate U3A.
Group leaders soon took over doing their thing very professionally as always. Those based at St Paul's were Calligraphy, Card Craft, Local History, Looking at Churches, and Textile Crafts. It was the base for the visit to Harlow Carr Gardens, and for those who wanted to go shopping.
At the Baptist Church were Bridge, History of Art, Painting, Spanish, Singing, the Walkers, and an exhibition by the Photography group.
Following coffee and biscuits everyone dispersed to join their Groups, St Paul's was soon a hive of industry with Calligraphy, Card Craft, & Textile Crafts all taking place in the hall. At the Baptist Church everyone prepared to start their event, then dispersed into the surrounding district. Everyone returned in the early afternoon for tea and cakes. The weather had been extremely kind to us.
All who took part agreed they had enjoyed the day immensely.
Ivan Peel