Newsletter - August 2024
- U3A Godley Christchurch
- Sep 1, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 1
Greetings from the President,
It’s good to have the worst of winter behind us as the temperatures start to rise and the days get longer – just a little. Hopefully not too many stiff frosts ahead although there could still be a few. We have another very exciting series about to start i.e. Entrepreneurship. Prue Taylor and Trish Holden put this one together and as you can see in its detail below, there’s something for everyone! Thank you in advance to Prue and Trish.
Also, congratulations on the increased website use… we get monthly statistics re the use of the website and for this last month U3A Godley website ‘views’ increased by 153%. Well done, that’s terrific! Our hope of making it less complex and therefore more accessible seems to be working so we’re very happy about that.
Series Five Entrepreneurship:
September 9 | Peter Howard: Student Innovation Lead Centre for Entrepreneurship University of Canterbury
| The Role of Entrepreneurship in Creating a Better Future |
September 16 | Mark Rocket: CEO of Kea Aerospace Seed investor and co-director of Rocket Lab 2007-11 President of Aerospace NZ https://www.christchurchnz.com/meet/tuwhana/mark-rocket
| To the Stratosphere and Beyond |
September 23 | Melissa Baer: Farmer, technologist, serial entrepreneur, social scientist and high-performance athlete | Entrepreneurship: A Choice or Destiny? |
September 30 | Hannah Duder: Entrepreneur and leader in social entrepreneurship https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/about-uc/why-uc/our-alumni/young-alumni/hannah-duder
| From Dreams to Reality: My Journey as an Entrepreneur |
October 7 | Dr Chris Kirk: Adjunct Senior Fellow Senior Entrepreneurship University of Canterbury Director, Starting a Business Over 50 Programme https://officeforseniors.govt.nz/assets/Univentures.pdf
| Starting a Business Over 50: Debunking Myths around Age and Startups
|
AGM/Christmas Luncheon
Please make a note of Monday 2 December as being the date of our AGM/Christmas Lunch. This year it will be held at the Russley Golf Club and the cost per person will be $62.75 which incorporates a $10 pp subsidy. Drinks will be an extra cost. It’s still three months away so we’ll let you know when it’s time to pay. This is prior notice only so you can save the date.
Invitation to Attend a Free lecture: Finding a Genetic Cause for Stomach Cancer
Speakers Professor Parry Guilford and Associate Professor Karyn Paringatai won the Prime Minister’s Science Prize. It was awarded for an innovative partnership between members of the McLeod whānau and their community, cancer geneticists from the University of Otago, and clinicians from Tauranga Hospital. Together they identified a genetic mutation (CDH1 gene) which was causing members of the McLeod whānau to die from stomach cancer at a young age. A genetic test was developed which gives the ability for whanau to understand the risk of cancer and take life-saving action. Since then, it has enabled other families to discover that they also have a mutation in the CDH1 gene and it has saved many hundreds of lives in Aotearoa New Zealand and thousands around the world.
It will be held at:
University of Otago, Christchurch Campus (Rolleston Lecture Theatre - Ground Floor)2 Riccarton Avenue, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch. 6:00 - 7:00 pm on Thursday 19 September 2024
Please book your free seat at:
Congratulations to the Recorder Group
who recently gave their first public performance in a while at Alpine View. It was a really enjoyable occasion and thank you to Philippa Graham for organizing it and the luncheon together afterwards.
Homebush Tour
We are planning a tour of the Homebush Estate on Friday 18th October leaving St Marks at 10am. The bus journey to Homebush will be about an hour and at Homebush there will be a guided tour of the gardens and museum. Lunch is included.
The total cost for the day i.e. transport, tour and lunch is $93.00.
To ensure the tour goes ahead we need to have at least 20 people sign up. If you would like to go please register before Friday 4th October by emailing organizer Dick Clayton at emander@xtra.co.nz
If we get a full bus the trip will go ahead, Dick will notify everyone who has registered and they will then be asked to pay online before 11 October (bank account 03-0830-0467355-000) – don’t forget to include your name!
Some of our wonderful kitchen team…  |
Something that might be of interest…….
Papers Past is one of my favourite websites. If you’re interested in ‘the past,’ Papers Past has digitalized newspapers, magazines and journals, parliamentary papers, letters and diaries and books….from the past. It’s well worth a look, you could well find items of interest re your family – I did.
Places of Interest Trip Report - Visit to Holmes Solutions 22 August 2024.
Members have been treated to yet another excellent Places of Interest trip organised by Richard Pickering, this time to Holmes Solutions. (https://www.holmessolutions.com/)
Guide Jason gave everyone an introduction to the company which has 60 staff in Christchurch. Holmes Solutions solves industrial problems connected with dynamic aspects, construction, adventure tourism and transport – the ‘Whoosh’ is an exciting new mode of city travel that allows several passengers to enter a gondola capsule and be transported to their destination on a city circuit. We look forward to seeing such a system established in Christchurch (well, maybe).
Our thanks to Bex for organising the visit and also to the groups’ hosts on the day, Jason, Ross, Nathan and Tim. Thanks too to Pam Hurst for the suggestion and Steph Coster for the photos below.
