Learn Laugh Live
Last Updated: 1 Jan ’25
Views: 12
MONDAY 12 May, 10:00 REFRESHMENTS, 10:30 PRESENTATION
doors open 09:45
Gary has a degree from London University in Historical Geography. After initially pursuing a career as a surveyor, at the age of forty he decided upon a change. Since then he has split his time since between history and the entertainment industry, sometimes combining the two by working as a costumed historical interpreter at many of the country’s foremost sites. These include The Tower of London, Hampton Court and Dover Castle. In addition to giving talks to groups like the u3a, he runs a company, Living History Hatfield which takes historical characters into schools.
After considering the where, when, who and why of the Bayeux Tapestry, the talk then briefly looks at the events of the 10th & 11th centuries to set the scene for a detailed trip along the entire length of the tapestry.
No fee to be paid
Contact: Groups via this link (select addressee: Groups)
The meeting will be hybrid, if you wish to participate on Zoom, use the link that will be supplied in the Group News closer to the date.
If you experience difficulty with the sound, turning on Captions, at the bottom of the Zoom screen on a PC or by clicking on More … on an iPad, should assist greatly. Please bear in mind that the task of getting both sound and picture to members on Zoom is fraught with difficulties. We continue to struggle on, it may not always be totally successful.
Boxmoor Playhouse
72 St John’s Rd
Hemel Hempstead
HP1 1NP 
Parking round the Moor OR 55 – 57 Park Road, HP1 1JS
Directions
Local buses running in St John’s Road past Boxmoor Playhouse
From Berkhamsted
X5 bus from Berkhamsted Town Hall to St John’s Church, walk 10 minutes
Buses are every 30 minutes: 21 and 51 past the hour, return 10 to and 20 past the hour, but check
NB: The bus services from Berkhamsted and return will be changing as of 18 May. At present the expectation is that there will be one bus per hour but that may still change if there is increased demand.
The new bus will be the hourly 500 / 501, with the timetable here https://www.intalink.org.uk/directions.
Last updated: 8 Apr 2025
Views: 76
Explore London – Paddington and Primrose Hill
Wednesday 23 and Friday 25 April
If you wish to apply for this walk, please email the coordinator via the group page after 09.00 on Tuesday 1 April with a maximum of 4 persons per application.
Remember if you apply for others, you are responsible for passing on messages. Please give your full names and U3A numbers and preferred date and indicate if you are flexible on the dates.
If you have any queries please contact Bernard via Coordinator
Last updated – 20 Mar ’25
Views: 119
MONDAY 7 April, 10:00 REFRESHMENTS, 10:30 PRESENTATION
Doors open 09:45
Kate Harwood lectures, writes, researches and campaigns on historic gardens. Formerly a lecturer at Birkbeck College (in Garden History) she is now Conservation Officer for Hertfordshire Gardens Trust and runs garden history courses for various local organisations.
Prince Pickle – or Furst Hermann von Puckler-Muskau to give him his full title – was a Prussian nobleman whose great passion was gardening. He transformed his estate in Muskau and then another one at Branitz. He also laid out landscapes for the Prussian royal family and others. He travelled round Europe looking at parks and gardens and was very influenced by Humphry Repton, visiting many of his sites here.
His influence spread across the Atlantic and Charles Eliot called him the greatest landscape designer of the 19th century. Having spent all his money on improving Muskau he thought the only way to restore his fortune was to marry an heiress – plenty in England, so that’s where he went – having first divorced his wife.
However, the heiresses were either not rich enough or their families put a stop to proceedings, and he came home without the fortune. One suspects that the prospect of having a menage-a-trois at Musaku with his ex-wife was also not appealing. He turned to book writing and travelled in north Africa and eventually had to sell Muskau and retire to modest Brantiz – where he began gardening all over again. This talk looks at his gardens, his adventures in Europe and Africa and his surprising legacy.
Martin traces the evolution of The Beatles from the early days of rock ‘n’ roll with Bill Haley, Elvis and Buddy Holly, etc, through to Cliff Richard & The Shadows. He then discusses The Beatles and why they were so special and show the influence they had on some of the groups who followed them: including The Byrds, Billy J. Kramer, The Monkees and The Rolling Stones! He plays snippets of lots of great records!
No fee to be paid
Contact: Groups via this link (select addressee: Groups)
The meeting will be hybrid, if you wish to participate on Zoom, use the link that will be supplied in the Group News closer to the date.
If you experience difficulty with the sound, turning on Captions, at the bottom of the Zoom screen on a PC or by clicking on More … on an iPad, should assist greatly.
Boxmoor Playhouse
72 St John’s Rd
Hemel Hempstead
HP1 1NP
Parking round the Moor OR 55 – 57 Park Road, HP1 1JS
X5 bus from Berkhamsted Town Hall to St John’s Church, walk 10 minutes
Buses are every 30 minutes: 21 and 51 past the hour, return 10 to and 20 past the hour, but check
Buses running in St John’s road past the Playhouse:
H10 https://www.intalink.org.uk/services/9e20e052-b756-4ff5-afeb-f0a0ce466e1c?date=2024-12-02&direction=outbound
H11 https://www.intalink.org.uk/services/9077ed51-eb28-40df-8838-8c69504b3299?date=2024-12-02&direction=outbound&all=on
Last updated: 4 Mar ’25
Views: 65
Exploring London, Monday 24th and Wednesday 26th March 2025
March Walk: Belgravia
Remember if you apply for others, you are responsible for passing on messages.
Please indicate if you are NOT willing for your email address to be shared with other successful applicants.
If you have any queries regarding this walk, please contact Hilary via Coordinator. Late applications will be accepted.
Last updated: 21 Feb ’25
Views: 126
Mike was born and bred in the West Country and started his career by doing research in laboratory astrophysics at UCL, and then Canadian and US postdocs, the latter with NASA in Pittsburgh. Back in the UK he spent the next 30 years in IT sales and marketing, winding up on the UK board of Compaq. On ‘retiring’ he spent 10 years consulting in the Government area.
Mike has been a member of Chiltern u3a for 12 years, 8 years on the committee, and 4 years as Vice Chair and Chair. He has been married to Jill for 55 years, son Paul (Cardiff), daughter Rachel (Melbourne), plus four grandchildren. They commute to Oz most years to visit the family.
Mike will present an introduction to Artificial Intelligence including but not limited to:
No fee to be paid
Contact: Groups via this link (select addressee: Groups)
The meeting will be hybrid, if you wish to participate on Zoom, use the link that will be supplied in the Group News closer to the date.
If you experience difficulty with the sound, turning on Captions, at the bottom of the Zoom screen on a PC or by clicking on More … on an iPad, should assist greatly.
Boxmoor Playhouse
72 St John’s Rd
Hemel Hempstead
HP1 1NP
Parking round the Moor OR 55 – 57 Park Road, HP1 1JS
X5 bus from Berkhamsted Town Hall to St John’s Church, walk 10 minutes
Buses are every 30 minutes: 21 and 51 past the hour, return 10 to and 20 past the hour, but check
Buses running in St John’s road past the Playhouse:
H10 https://www.intalink.org.uk/services/9e20e052-b756-4ff5-afeb-f0a0ce466e1c?date=2024-12-02&direction=outbound
H11 https://www.intalink.org.uk/services/9077ed51-eb28-40df-8838-8c69504b3299?date=2024-12-02&direction=outbound&all=on
Last Updated: 7 Dec 2024
Views: 216
We are sorry to say that the following groups have been cancelled, for various reasons.
If you would like to re-start the group, please contact the Groups Secretary
You do not need to run the group by yourself, often someone is will to help.
A Cappella (147)
Belleplates (062)
Board Games (070 and 212)
Bowls (006)
Creative Writing A (077)
Computer Support (069)
French and Fun (015)
French Conversation (014)
Garden Appreciation (016)
Geology 1 and 2 (021 and 184)
Line Dancing (022)
Music Appreciation (034)
Painting Unlimited (09)
Painting for You (196)
Playing early Music (043)
Recorder Ensemble (148)
Sign Language (227 and 189)
Short Day Trips (186)
Shorter Walks A & B (050)
Sunday Scrabble (055)
Swimming Berkhamsted (226) But see Swimming (221) ex HH
Ukulele 2 (192)
Whist (091)
Last Updated 6 Jul ’24
Views: 316
For January, February and March there is a Meeting Fee Holiday.
In other words, members will not be charged for attendance at any meeting during the first quarter of 2024.
Views: 22
The August AGM will be held on 7th August, during the Monthly Meeting, at Box Moor Playhouse in Hemel Hempstead. Click here for more details.
Last updated: 24 May, AdminM
Views: 17
The new Constitution was formally adopted at the SGM on 6th December 2021.
414 votes were cast by proxy of which 382 were in favour, and 9 postal votes were cast of which 8 were in favour. In total 390 of 423 votes (92%) were in favour.
Views: 62
