Newsletter Feb 2025
- U3A Godley Christchurch
- Feb 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 1
Greetings from the President:
Welcome back everyone and Happy New Year! I hope you have had an enjoyable holiday break and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be ready and waiting to get going again. After a lengthy period of variable weather, it looks like summer may finally be starting….let’s hope so.
Reading on down you will notice quite a few lists of people’s names in this newsletter. I have listed everyone’s involvement so you can see that U3A Godley is a result of a big effort from many people. Thank you to all those who give their time and skills freely – I believe the wide participation is the main reason U3A Godley has such an excellent and positive vibe.
The committee has already met and the programme is looking great. The meeting dates for the year are listed below with specific detail about the first series so please mark your calendars now so we see as much of you as we can. Also, if you have any queries or suggestions, please communicate via u3agodley@gmail.com and we’ll do our best to make it the best Monday morning outing for everyone.
Programme and Dates for 2025:
Series 1 | Experiments, Discoveries and More | February 10, 17, 24, Mar 3, 10.
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Series 2 | The Great Outdoors
| March 31, April 7, 14, 28, May 5. |
Series 3 | Creativity Explored
| May 26, June 9, 16, 23, 30. |
Series 4 | Hot Spots
| July 21, 28, 4, August 11, 18. |
Series 5 | The Ever-Changing Medical Scene | September 8, 15, 22, 29, October 6.
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End of Year | Pot Pourri | November 3, 10, 17.
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Series 1 - Experiments, Discoveries and More:
February 10 | Prof Jenni Adams, Astronomy | Neutrinos Ice Cube, The Telescope on Ice
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February 17 | Dr Kate Pedley, Earth Scientist | Tectonic Plates on the Move and More
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February 24 | Dr Sam Hampton, Earth Scientist | Development of a Geopark on Banks Peninsula and its Geology
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March 3 | Lauren Moriarty, Forensic Scientist | Forensics in New Zealand
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March 10 | Zachary Lane, Astronomy | Black Holes: a Story of Dying Stars and Time Bending |
We welcome you to our first session of the year with a catered morning tea starting at 9.45am. However, for the rest of year the catered morning teas will be on the last session of each series but a coffee/tea and nibble is offered every meeting. |
Subscriptions
Subscriptions will remain at $60 pp for another year but, we would very much appreciate it if you could pay your subscription within the first month. This is to streamline financial administration which can get ‘messy’ if the months pass by before payment. Online payments are preferable (bank account 03 0830 0467355 000 with your name in the reference field please), but to those for whom this is not possible, please put the cash in an envelope with your name clearly on the outside and hand it personally to either the Treasurer or the President. Please do not post cash.
New members are welcome to attend a couple of meetings at first but we then ask that prospective members pay their subscriptions before attending further meetings.
Changes in contact details:
If you have any changes to your address, phone number(s), email address, emergency contact person etc. please let us know (u3agodley@gmail.com)
U3A Godley Committee 2025:
The following members were elected to the committee at the 2024 AGM. A big welcome to two new members i.e. Shirley Davies and Trish Holden – Shirley is going to pick up the coordination of our Interest Groups and Trish will be our new Programme Coordinator. Please use the U3A Godley email address (above) if you wish to contact any committee member and your message will be forwarded. |
President | Helen Vear |
Vice President | Dick Clayton |
Secretary | Margaret Harper |
Treasurer | Deb Rowley |
Course Planning | Trish Holden (coordinator) |
Membership | Jill Halliburton |
Interest groups | Shirley Davies (coordinator) |
Catering | Steph Coster (assisted by Adrienne Buchanan) |
Hospitality | Pam Austin (assisted by Lorraine Williams) |
AV Oversight | Pam Hurst |
Newsletter | Helen Vear |
‘Other’ responsibilities:
Website | Michelle Blackmore, Steph Coster, Helen Vear |
Interest Groups | Ross Nicholas (Cycling), Margaret Nicholas (Book Discussion), Julie Foley (Art Appreciation), Richard Pickering (Places of Interest), Jill Halliburton and Pam Craig (Movies), Liz Swallow (Walking), Carmel Harris (Recorder). |
AV Team | Eric Scott, Iain Chinnery, Brian Coghlan, John Dodgshun and Pam Hurst. |
Programme Team | Trish Holden ( Co-ordinator), Helen Vear, Dick Clayton, Prue Taylor, Katherine Baird, Pam Hurst, Richard McElrea, David Morrell, Chris Connor, Pam Craig and Linda Winskill. |
Did You Know ………2025 is The Year of the Snake
The Year of the Snake has started, and the vibes are all about renewal and regeneration.
Lunar New Year — which includes Chinese New Year, Seollal in Korea, Tet in Vietnam and more — began on Jan. 29, kicking off more than two weeks of parties, customs and copious feasts.
The holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, celebrates the arrival of spring and the start of a fresh year based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.
Although the snake may get a bad rap across many Western cultures, the animal is actually a celebrated and revered sign across the Eastern hemisphere. Its year is expected to be one of positive transformation as people slither into new beginnings — if they’re willing to move on.
It’s all about “shedding toxicity in personality, in character traits,” said Jonathan H. X. Lee, an Asian and Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University whose research focuses in part on Chinese folklore.
“It’s shedding the ego, letting go of the past, letting go of anger, letting go of love lost,” Lee said. “This is the year where that kind of growth — personal and macro, internal and external — is very much possible.”
Lee said that the snake is an auspicious sign for inner work, whether it’s releasing unrealistic expectations of loved ones or getting rid of bad habits.
The snake, which matches up with the years of people born in 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013 and 2025, is most commonly associated with intelligence, resilience and love, Lee said. And people born in those years are thought to do “whatever it takes to accomplish a goal.”
“They are known to have this innate potential to be really successful, because they can think outside the box, and they will endure and they will persevere,” Lee said.
