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Bude & District U3A Report of March Meeting 2011

Anyone who attended the March meeting of the Bude U3A would have quickly realised that this is a lively and expanding organisation both in membership and in the range of activities it can offer its members.

Proceedings were opened by our chairperson, Hilary Workman who welcomed new members who had just enrolled.

Tamar Sailing club have offered to run sailing courses for members and so has the Archeology Society. She drew our attention to the table at the back of the hall where information about these courses and various other matters of interest to U3A members were diplayed, including information about theatre trips, holidays, courses, lectures etc some run by the U3A and others by other organisations.

Cora the group leader of our newly formed Philosophy Group told us about her group which meets on the first Tuesday morning of the month at the Falcon Hotel, and how more members would be welcome

We were then introduced to our two guest speakers, Geoff Moore and Larry Girling who were from the Drive Safely for Longer Scheme. Both of them are pensioners and ex driving instructors and had done research into the problems of older drivers. Between the two of them they created a lively interractive sesion backed up with photographs and short videos. We in the audience were given plenty of opportunities to express our own opinions and anxieties about driving. Many interesting facts emerged during the session about particular problems for older drivers.

Larry stressed the importance of regular eye checks, for all drivers and pointed out that when we get older our eyes take longer to adjust to changing light situations, especially glare. It is possible to get special glare resistant coatings on glasses which can be helpful.

Much of the sesion was taken up with problems at junctions which was backed up by photographs and videoclips. There was a very realistic one shown of a collision with a motor cycle. Most collisions occur at road junctions which is why this was so important.

The Drive Safely for Longer Scheme runs assesment courses for older drivers. Geoff stressed that these courses are not tests but advisory courses for drivers, starting out from their own homes in their own cars experiencing their everday driving situations. These courses normally cost £27 50 but if we signed up at this meeting we could have a free session. As you can imagine our response to this fantastic offer was taken up with enthusiasm.

At our next U3A meeting we are being given a talk about the Childrens Hospice and there will also be a plant sale. This is likely to be very good because we have a flourishing and enthusiastic gardening group

Jenny Leyland