Uttoxeter Gateway Club at the Lark in the Park 2019
We again had a stall at this years Lark in the Park along with a raffle on the stall and the “Wheelbarrow Walk Around” raffle.
The weather was fantastic and there was a great turn out from our members and staff as well as the public who yet again amazed us all with their generosity shown towards our club.
The members had lots of fun pushing the wheelbarrow around the park visiting all the other exhibitors and did a great job selling tickets to everyone they bumped into!
The idea of the Wheelbarrow Raffle meant that by buying a ticket, you could win all the gifts in it, This year the total value of the wheelbarrow gifts probably added up to nearly £50 and was won by a mother and daughter who stayed late enough to be able to take all the goods home with them at the end of the day. We hope you enjoyed the prizes
The main stall did a very brisk trade selling lucky dip tickets and managed to give all who helped a great afternoon entertainment. Again all the prizes and most of the gifts were organised by Pauline Wilson, our previous club leader, and we must say a huge thank you to her for the vast amount of work she does behind the scenes getting ready for an event like this.
At this years Lark in the Park we launched our biggest fundraising event – the Gateway Bonanza Prize Draw, which has some fantastic prizes. Tickets are £1 each and are on sale from staff and members!
The event was a big financial success for the club but was tinged with a little sadness as Michelle Ritchie, our contact at Barclays Bank, who usually match funded our takings for the day, unexpectedly passed away a few months ago. Michelle was a huge supporter of our club and helped every year with the Lark in the Park event. Our thoughts go out to family and friends.
We are now all looking forward to our next event at the club and would like to thank everyone who supported us this year at Lark in the Park and as usual everyone is welcome to visit us at our club house.
BBQ at Peter and Julia’s House
Thank you to Peter and Julia for hosting a BBQ in their lovely garden.
The food was amazing and we all had a great time.
Visit to Rugeley Cricket Club
On Wednesday 31st July, we went to Rugeley Cricket Club to play in a cricket tournament.
The team did really well to reach the final, playing together for the first time against teams that regularly play together.
We had a really fun day and would like to say a big thank you to Steve Lightfoot and his team from Staffordshire Cricket for inviting us along.
Shropshire • Staffordshire • Cheshire Blood Bikes
Uttoxeter Gateway Club members enjoyed a visit from the Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Blood Bikes on Tuesday. Colin Hodgkins, a blood biker, gave the members a really interesting interactive talk about the work of the blood bikers.
They provide a voluntary service, free of charge to all hospitals and hospices in the region, transporting urgent supplies of blood, blood samples for urgent analysis, breast milk and other samples or equipment.
As you can see in the photos, our members really enjoyed exploring the motorbike.
Ukulele Band Evening Entertainment
Everybody at the Club enjoyed a fun musical evening being entertained by the Ukulele band.
Can we say many thanks to them for coming along and performing.
We all enjoyed the evening and hope that they will come back soon!
The Uttoxeter Lions Lark in the Park
Uttoxeter Gateway once again attended Lark in the Park, on the August bank holiday weekend, an annual event hosted by the Uttoxeter Lions.
Held in Bramshall Road Recreation Ground, a free family fun day with lots of attractions including trampolines, swing boats, donkey rides and duck races to name just a few!
Pauline once again organised a fantastic tombola and raffle in a wheelbarrow. Thanks to her for a most successful fundraiser and also to all those members staff and helpers that took the the time to come along and help on the day.
A special thanks also to Michelle and Barclays Bank who supports us by coming along to help and match funding with what we make on the day.
We had a Barbecue – Tuesday 21st August
Julia and Peter very kindly hosted a barbecue for us in their fantastic garden.
The sun shone and we all had a great time.
Thank you Julia and Peter.
Gateway club enjoyed an evening being entertained by the Uttoxeter U3A Ukulele band.
They sang and played their musical instruments, so many thanks to Vince and all the members of the Ukulele band.
Welcome to Uttoxeter and District U3A. We have been established since 2003 and are an autonomous organization affiliated to a national body providing daytime courses, meetings and activities for retired and semi-retired people.
Founded over 35 years ago, the UK U3A movement aims to encourage groups of people in their third age to come together and continue their enjoyment of learning in subjects of interest to them.
From the start, the guiding principles were to promote lifelong learning through self-help interest groups covering a wide range of topics and activities as chosen by their members.
The ‘third age’ is defined by a time in your life (not necessarily chronological) where you have the opportunity to undertake learning for its own sake. There is no minimum age, but a focus on people who are no longer in full-time employment or raising a family.
Our founders envisaged a collaborative approach with peers learning from each other. The U3A movement was to be self-funded, with members not working towards qualifications but learning purely for pleasure. There would be no distinction between the learners and the teachers – everyone could take a turn at being both if they wished.
