U3A Tygerberg Newsletter February 2008
All graphics
have been removed. For a paper copy of this newsletter, please write to the
editor at the address given at the end.
On your marks …
Our first General Meeting
will be on February 14th, although many courses would have started by
then.
The
committee wishes every member the very best of everything for 2008. We hope that you will enjoy all the U3A
activities this year and that you will find the courses fulfilling.
The course leader for Medical Matters is heavily committed and
needs to be released. An instructor is
needed for social Ballroom and Latin American Dancing. We appeal to capable members to come forward
as it would be a pity for these popular established courses to be discontinued.
October
2007 meeting
Eve Dunell
gave us a new insight into the Crusades and their consequences today –
why it happened, what the motives and misconceptions of the participants were
and what effect it had on the world.
When
the tea ladies arrived on the morning of 11th October, they found
that there was no water available anywhere in the Civic Centre. According to the municipal staff, the water
pipes had been stolen (‘s true!).
The
tea ladies, acting with typical U3A ingenuity, went out and bought fruit juice
to quench members’ thirsts. Joyce, who
helps clean up in the kitchen, defrosted the ice-cubes in the ice machine to
provide water for washing cups.
The
winner of the raffle at our October meeting was Mady Duijzers.
November
2007 meeting
This
was our annual end-of-year party. We had
festive tables, plenty to eat, music by Clive and Heather and a dancing
demonstration by the Dance Group.
The
Mini-Market organized by Barbara Wheeler was a resounding success. Cecilia Kotze kindly donated a large number of audio
tapes to U3A. We sold these at the
market and the tapes made more than any other stall. There are still tapes available and they will
be for sale at General Meetings. Our grateful thanks to
Cecilia for her most generous gift.
Cindy Lehner (our
membership secretary) provided much merriment with her lucky prizes for the
oddest achievements or most unusual qualities of members.
In the raffle, Marianne
du Toit won the Christmas cake baked by Brigitte Robertson Muir. There were three other prizes of Chocolates
and biscuits.
14th
February: do come early
The first
General Meeting of U3A Tygerberg will be held at the Bellville Civic Centre
Conference Hall on the 14th of February.
Members
are asked to come a little earlier (say from
(Does
the date ©
ring a bell? The committee invites all
members to wear something red and something white for Valentine’s
Day.)
At the U3A meeting on
The life of Michaelangelo
Coming
in 2008
Speakers
that have been confirmed include:
·
13th March: Dr. Carl Albrecht presents his award-winning talk
entitled: The story of the human hand: the entire spectrum of being human, from
anatomy to spirituality, using the hand as a symbol.
·
10th April: Dr. Graham Williamson
The *enchanted wilderness – a
fascinating talk about the mysterious Richtersveld. (*this is also the title of the latest of
several books that Dr. Williamson, a botanist, has written).
Please accept this as a formal notification:
The University of the Third Age
(U3A) Tygerberg branch:
The 2008 Annual General
Meeting
will be held at 10:00 for 10:30 on
Thursday 10th April
2008
at the Bellville Civic Centre.
The
$tock Market
Hans Matter intends hosting a course on Investing on
the Stock Market.
Many people think that the Stock Market has nothing
to do with them, but if you have an Insurance Policy, a Retirement Annuity,
Pension or Unit Trust, then most of your money is invested in the Stock Market.
Learn to understand how the Stock Market works and
how easy it is today to manage your local and International Stock Market
Investments from home.
More
details will be available from Hans at the GM.
Course
changes and New courses · Music appreciation is now on the 1st
Tuesday.
Cindy Lehner plans the following:
· A new series of Mah Jongg.
·
A brisk, safe morning walk in a suburb, twice a
week.
·
An afternoon of enjoyment: listening to contemporary/
popular music from yesteryear and
right up to date.
· Bernie
Edgcumbe plans ‘Introduction to Jazz.’
· Mercia Martin will give one
course on Calligraphy and
one on Cards and Gift Boxes only
on 27th March.
· Hans
Matter plans a course on Stock Market Investments
Care group
Heather
Zanetti is the leader of this group which has about seven members. They visit
members from any U3A branch who is hospitalized far from family or friends, but
close to us. The group
pays goodwill visits only. They do not
take over the duties of the family, nor do they provide nursing services.
They have a wheel-chair that may be lent to
deserving cases.
On growing old
senior gracefully
from Japanorama (a booklet on
Japan):
Dr.
Hinohara mentioned that in
Mrs.
Ikeba, aged 103, says her biggest heartbreak was when she had to retire from
her work as seamstress at the age of 99.
Test
your brain’s age with the teasers below:
A number
of newspaper articles and radio talks recently stressed the fact that keeping
the mind active prevents the onset of “senior moments”.
Try these
teasers from Probus Bulletin of May
2006
(1) What is
111 111 111 X 111 111 111 (If your answer does not look organized, it
is wrong!)
(2) If you were to spell out the numbers 1, 2, 3 … etc.
in English, how far would you have to go to use the letter “A”?
: A
Visit to
In February this
year, I will leave for a 7 day visit to the land of the Pharaohs,
Shortly after landing in
Also on the Giza Plateau we have permission to enter
the Sphinx enclosure and view this guardian of the Plateau from close up; we’ll
see the so-called ‘Dream Stela’, a 2m tall slab of granite set between its
paws.
The Cairo museum holds the greatest collection of
Ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world; tour groups are shown only a few
exhibits including those from the tomb of the Pharaoh Tut-ankh-amun; these
include the solid gold inner coffin and gold mask but also the golden
sarcophagi of the Pharaoh, his chariots, beds, thrones, unguent and perfume
containers in translucent Egyptian alabaster and personal items like gloves and
sandals.
Also in
As only religious buildings were constructed of stone
in ancient
In the 1960’s the Aswan dam was going to be replaced
by the present High Dam which meant that this and other monuments would be
under water in 1the new dam. An
ambitious plan was put into place: to cut the temples of Rameses II and his wife Nefertari from the rock and reassemble
them on higher ground. This took just 5
years to complete and other than the new setting they are exactly the same as
when they were first built.
The massive façade of the temple has 4 huge seated
figures of the Pharaoh – 2 on each side of the entrance - each 21m tall.
At the end of the inner hall is the sanctuary with its 4 seated life
size statues of gods; annually in February and October the sun shines directly
through the temple and lights up the 4 figures for about 20minutes. Because of
care when it was relocated this still happens, although 1 day later.
The Sound & Light show here is spectacular; there
are points for you to plug in headphones [provided by the organisers] allowing
you to hear the narration in your own language.
In the desert under the stars, the sonorous voice of the narrator,
scenes of Rameses life reflected on the façade, the lights playing over the
massive statues of this great Pharaoh – unforgettable!
From
At
Footnote:
The editor wishes to correct
information in the previous U3A Tygerberg newsletter that may be misleading:
When Jean travels in
This has nothing to do with
her position in the Egyptian Society.
This newsletter is published by the Tygerberg branch of The
University of the Third Age (U3A.)
Address: P.O.
Chairperson: SYLVIA PHILLIPS, 021 951
2719. Secretary: DOROTHY WILSON, 021 913
5295
Newsletter editor: NIEL STEENKAMP, 021 979-4083 .Membership Secretary: CINDY LEHNER, 021 976 7579
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