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.
The Uttoxeter Gateway Club was entertained this evening by The Mel Baines Trio
Uttoxeter Gateway Club Christmas Meal 2017 at The Parks
Club members, friends and family all came together on Tuesday, 19th December 2017 for our annual Christmas Meal.
As usual, the highlight of the meal was Santa Claus who came to deliver presents (kindly donated by Waitrose, Uttoxeter) to all the members.
As you can see from the photos below, everyone had a jolly good time.
Pauline’s Last Official Evening as Leader
As this was to be Pauline’s last official evening as the Uttoxeter Gateway Club Leader, our Chairman Paul Nixon presented Pauline with a voucher for Byrkley Garden Centre and Sue presented her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the members and their families.
Pauline thanked everyone for their contributions and said that she would be sure to buy something nice after Christmas.
Saturday High Street Stall
Following our success the previous night at the Victorian Evening, organised by the Uttoxeter Knights, we were invited to have a small stall in Uttoxeter High Street as it was the first Saturday in December before Christmas.
We were fortunate that many of the previous evenings stall holders donated their unsold gifts to us which meant we had a very full stall. Although it rained of most of the time, the generosity of the people out shopping meant we raised almost as much as the previous evening!
Our helpers had made reindeer food Christmas jam and marmalade and the WI had made fabulous Christmas tree decorations, all of which were sold out!
Our next fund raising event is Uttoxeter Cracker night … looking forward to seeing all of our supporters at that event too …
Our Stall at the Uttoxeter Knights Victorian Evening
Uttoxeter Gateway Club staff and helpers were out fundraising and supporting the Uttoxeter Knights Victorian Evening.
Our stall selling raffle tickets was a huge success as we had many wonderful gifts donated. The stall was located right outside the Town Hall, in full view of Santa’s Reindeer and the snow machine. We attracted lots of attention, especially as just after the town Christmas lights were turned when our super size cuddly toy of Eeyore the donkey from Winnie the Pooh was won by a very grateful local who rushed off to see if Santa could wrap it in time for Christmas!
The weather was kind this year and, from the amount of raffle tickets we sold, well supported by the local community.
