Newsletter - February 2026

Greetings from the President:

Welcome back everyone! Christmas and New Year festivities are behind us yet again and perhaps like me you’re looking forward to getting back into normal activities… According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse. The Fire Horse represents action, freedom, and speed. The Fire element is believed to add intensity, passion, and a "wild" energy, suggesting a year of rapid progress and potentially transformative changes….I definitely like the sound of that.

As you will see below, we have a varied and very interesting looking programme ahead of us. Your committee has already met; everything is up to speed and from here on in things are looking good!

We start the year off on Monday February 9 with a catered morning tea – from then on, the catered morning teas will be at the end of each series. I hope as many of you as possible will be able to come, it certainly will be great to catch up with everyone again.

A big thank you to Catering Manager Steph Coster and her team for organising yet another successful end-of-year Christmas Luncheon. It was very well supported and thank you to one and all who were able to come.

A few pics of members enjoying the Christmas Luncheon

Coordinator of Places of Interest

Richard Pickering is unfortunately leaving us (he and Lynne are returning to live in the UK to be closer to family). Richard has done a truly wonderful job in this role and we will miss him dearly, but, there are still lots of Places of Interest in and around Christchurch so we just need someone else to give it a go. It could be one person or even a committee of people who could work together for this purpose. If you have any ideas or can help in any way, please speak to the president or email U3A Godley (u3agodley@gmail.com) and we’ll take it from there. A massive thank you to Richard…there have been a lot of extremely interesting, enjoyable and well organised expeditions under his guidance and we hope all goes well for the Pickerings in the UK.

Programme and Dates for 2026

Series 1	Environmental Awareness	Feb 9,16, 23. March 2, 9
Series 2	Transforming Christchurch	March 30, April 13, 20. May 4,11
Series 3	Telling Stories through Images	June 8, 15, 22, 29. July 6
Series 4	Hot Spots	July 27, Aug 3,10, 17, 24
Series 5	Justice and the Law	Sep 14, 21, 28. Oct 5, 12
Series 6	Pot Pourri	Nov 2, 9, 16

Series One: Environmental Awareness

Feb 9	Professor Ian Shaw DSc, PhD, FRSC, FRCPath School of Physical and Chemical Sciences, UC.	The life and After Life of Plastics Prof Shaw is an expert on many topics, including toxicology, food safety and microplastics.
Feb 16	Judith Lofley Kelp artist with background in teaching, research and writing	Kelp: Art, Science and Climate Solutions Exploring the interface between art and science and creating a kelp conscious future
Feb 23	Dr John Campbell PhD University of London BSc (Hons) UC Now retired.	Marine Archaeology: Lessons Learned Dr Campbell has studied many shipwrecks around the world, and these will be the focus of today’s talk.
Mar 2	Kate Whyte Botanist and past trustee of Banks Peninsular Conservation Trust.  Involved in the work since its inception.	Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust - its work and role. Kate is passionate about protecting and restoring the natural splendour of Banks Peninsular – its plant communities, bird song and wildlife.
Mar 9	Dr Rod Carr    PhD, MA, MBA Scholar, businessman, administrator in public and private sectors. Formerly Vice Chancellor, UC.	Climate Change: Coming, Ready or Not Dr Carr was president of the Climate Change Commission for five years.

Subs for 2026

A big thank you to the 110 people who at the time of writing have already paid their sub for 2026.

Annual membership is $65 or $32.50 after 30 June.  Prospective members are welcome to attend two sessions before being required to pay the membership fee which will entitle the bearer to attend all the year's speaker events at U3A Godley. Membership in any one year commences on 1 January and terminates on the 31 December. Payment for the renewal of memberships is due no later than 9 March please.

Our bank account number is 03-0830-0467355-000. Internet banking is preferable.

New Interest Group – Poetry!

Well. here’s a new one for us, we’ve never had a poetry group before and we’re able to offer it now because member Roderick Lonsdale is keen to give it a go. The group would read and share poems that have made an impact on them. Sometimes the group could look at a theme for the meeting. People may share their own poetry, of course, but this would not be a writing group but perhaps a chance to get feedback.

The focus would be on sharing and enjoying what poetry has to offer: insight, solace, imagination, 'the best words in the best order'.

If you like the sound of a poetry group and you’re thinking… perhaps? Don’t be shy, give it a go. No academic qualifications or other prerequisites required, it’s an ‘all-comers’ group. Please indicate your interest to either the president or Roderick himself at rodericklonsdale46@gmail.com

Report from the Places of Interest visit to Lincoln University, insect collection, 12 November 2025

It is estimated there are 1M different insect species worldwide, far outnumbering most other living organisms.  Insects all have six legs and include diverse families such as flies, beetles, butterflies, wasps etc.  In New Zealand 95% of insect species are endemic (cf UK with one!). Ten thousand of these have been identified, traditionally using morphological traits but more recently combined with molecular techniques.  

The collection in Lincoln, the largest in any New Zealand university, holds 250,000 specimens maintained in movable shelving units containing glass-topped drawers. Specimens are pinned to boards and each has information relating to collection date, collector, location and often a barcode to access its database site.  Most of the collection is based on adults, which are easier to identify than immature larvae or pupae.  However, there are also samples of the latter preserved in ethanol beasts.

Our thanks to curator John Marris for a most impressive talk and showing us examples of wetas, moths, beetles and other strange beings…… Richard Pickering

Annual General Meeting to be held 9 March 2026

With the changed annual format introduced via the recently updated constitution, our Annual General Meeting will be held this year on the 9^th March.

The period reported on will be 14 months i.e. 31 Dec 2024 – 31 March 2025. It will be held after the final session of the first series.