Contact details

ChairMo MacQuarrie✆ 01470 552286; 8 momacquarrie@me.com

Vice ChairDavid Hammond✆ 01478 6407338 davidhammond@aol.com

SecretaryJudy Atherton✆ 01470 5218158 judy.atherton@btinternet.com

TreasurerJohn Kennedy ✆ 01470 5327658 jkenn@live.co.uk

Membership SecretaryIan Burn ✆ 01470 5522918 vlsburia@me.com

The Isle of Skye U3A has been in existence for over six years. It was originally based around the island’s capital, Portree, but has extended itself to now include all corners of the island. With members scattered in remote locations around the island travel distances present special challenges but the Isle of Skye itself is a major compensation, offering rich sources of interest in areas such as archaeology, geology, nature, and walking. Given the population of Skye we will never approach the size of city U3As but we hope to grow and new members are extremely welcome.

Skye U3A news is published as frequently as we possibly can! Copy date for the next issue is 10 February 2018. Please send material for inclusion to Ian Burn [8 vlsburia@me.com].

Message from the (arm)chair

Hi Everybody.I hope you all had a great Christmas and would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year. I have to apologise for some missing meetings at the end of last year due partly to my health in September and the inclement weather in November which caused us to make the decision to cancel.I attended a very good social event at the end of October organised by the Inverness and Black Isle U3A which was really enjoyable. The talk was by Dennis Gentles who is a lecturer in Forensic Science at Abertay University - very useful contact for me! It was suggested that I come to Inverness to give a talk about my

writing and my Mother's life as a Foundling which was the inspiration for it. I will also be going to the All Scotland Assembly which will be held in Kelso in March so, again, I will be meeting other members this time from the whole of Scotland.I hope to be seeing as many members as possible this year as we have some very interesting speakers to entertain you and maybe a couple of new interest groups.Please note that our AGM this year will be slightly earlier as the last Friday in March is Good Friday. Best Wishes to all.Mo MacQuarrie

Message from a past (arm)chair

Hello from 'Englandshire'I am sorry I didn’t say goodbye to many of you. I don’t like saying goodbye and anyway hope sooner or later I will see you all again.For those of you who haven’t noticed my absence, I have moved back to England. There were many reasons for our move and I have to say after 11 years on Skye it is quite scary.We are in a very rural, picturesque, mountainous area yet less than 10 minutes from a busy market town – Penrith.It takes some time to get used to the number of people and cars down here. Penrith has so many shops and supermarkets – so much choice. I feel like a country bumpkin walking around with jaw dropping in amazement at the number of shops, pubs, cafes, people, lights etc. So many opportunities to spend money that I haven’t got!Each time we go out on a walk somewhere, there is a village with a pub or cafe and toilets!!! We have had to make a decision not to have tea/coffee after each walk – we simply can’t afford it. I do begin to understand why tourists on Skye are surprised at the lack of conveniences.

I have joined Penrith U3A – that in itself is a shock. On Skye I was member number 1 of a maximum number of 124 (that is people who have ever

joined, including honorary membership for speakers). In Penrith I am number 1719. Active members on Skye are around 30, active members in Penrith around 600! I will never know all the members here and probably have no wish to do so. The lovely thing about Skye U3A is that you can all know each other.

Other things to amuse you:1) During December you had more snow on Skye

than in Cumbria.2) I used to moan about single track roads on Skye.

Well at least you have passing places, here we don’t – pull over onto muddy grass verge (hoping it is not too soft and there is no deep ditch. My car has been dirtier here in a few months than in years on Skye) – Few passing place signs!!

4) High hedges and walls means you can’t anticipate where you will meet oncoming traffic (or maybe I just don't know the roads!).

3) On the plus side, farmers/tractors very considerate4) Sheep not trained to make road blocks – rarely

seen on roads – curiously sheep here have long tails whereas sheep on Skye seem to have had tails docked.

5) Cows never seen on roads. More dairy cows – I am currently buying milk direct from the farm (some of you won’t like that – it is not pasteurised)

6) Broadband and mobile reception is worse than on Skye!

I hope you won’t delete me from facebook membership as I do like to see what you are all up to.Those of you who travel down to England – I am not far from M6 so please keep in touch and consider breaking your journey by visiting me.Love and best wishes, Joy.

Skye U3A newsIssue #22 – July 2017 web: u3asites.org.uk/code/u3asite.php?site=325&page=0

Tuesday 6 December 2017Christmas lunch

10 ‘self-serving’ diners enjoyed the delights of a warm, light, airy and comfortable room ideally located in the centre of Portree. Many thanks to Eileen and Robert Macdonald who oversaw the

event on behalf of the Church and most importantly for divulging the location of the dishwasher afterwards ..... what luxury. As usual at the Christmas event we were all treated to a visit by Secret Santa.

Friday 26 January 2018 Grazing on the edge

The programme for this month’s meeting will be the one we had to pospone due to bad weather from November last year.It will be three parts. The first part of the meeting will see Chair, Mo, reporting briefly on her recent visit to Inverness for a national U3A meeting where she met with U3A members from all over Scotland.This will be followed by a screening of the film ‘Grazing on the Edge’, which premiered at Aros in November 2016. The film, made by researchers from the James Hutton Institute, captures the experiences of Common Graziers, Young Crofters,

government agencies and advisors working common grazing land on the Trotternish ridge and other parts of Skye during 2015-16. Some of the scenery shown in the film is particularly stunning, even to those who know the area well.After the screening there will be time for discussion on any aspect of the film before we have a short general knowledge quiz (twenty questions and none on crofting!) with prizes.We look forward to seeing as many as possible and let's hope the weather is kinder than it was in November.

We meet at 2.00 pm on the last Friday of each month at the West Highland College in Portree.At most meetings there is a guest speaker, but now and again we hold non-speaker events such as quizzes, group presentations, etc. Tea, coffee, and biscuits are available at all meetings.Non members are welcome at any of our meetings, but we do ask them to make a small donation towards the cost of the hire of the room (as well as for the tea and coffee).

Friday 23 March 2018Annual General Meeting14:00–16:00, West Highland College, PortreeAs our normal monthly meeting date in March is Good Friday we have moved it forward a week to Friday 23 March.As well as collecting membership payments at this year's AGM we will also be asking members to completed one of the new Data Protection forms. New regulations come into force later in the year and we need to comply.For more information, contact Mo MacQuarrie [tel: 01470 552286; email: u3askye@yahoo.co.uk].

Isle of Skye U3A newsletter; issue #23 | January 2018