MORE than 65 members of Todmorden U3A gathered at its first annual meeting at Central Methodist Church to hear the founding chairman, John McNair, describe the growth of the organisation during its first twelve months.
In his annual report Mr McNair said that from 27 people meeting to set up a steering group in the spring of 2008, there were now 178 members who had enjoyed a varied programme of meetings.
There were 21 Special Interest Groups covering an impressi
ve range of academic, creative and leisure activities. U3A owed a great debt to the convenors who made these groups possible, to the contribution of POPS in the early stages, and to Todmorden Together and the Central Methodist Church for providing the meeting venues.
Peter Gibson was elected as Chairman for 2009-2010, with David Cross as vice-chairman, and Mary Findon and Marion Kershaw continuing in their posts as Treasurer and Secretary. Alison Greenwood, Brenda Pride, Ann Burgess, Myra Townley and Ernie Rogan made up the new committee.
Mr Gibson's first act as Chairman was to present Mr McNair with life membership of U3A Todmorden, in recognition of his massive contribution in starting up the organisation and steering it through its first successful year.
After the formal business of the annual meeting, members were entertained and instructed by Dr Ryland, speaking on "War, Angina, and Viagra."
His story began with the Chinese invention of gunpowder in the eighth century, and took his audience through the attempts to transform this into a more efficient weapon of war which eventually led to the development of dynamite and gelignite and the discovery that the same basic substances could be used as a cure for angina.
Since this was found to cause headaches, the search went on for another anti-angina drug, which eventually resulted in the development of Viagra and the discovery of its side-effects.
Thanking Dr Ryland, Alan Macdonald said that he was generous with his time and intellect, and brought a delicious strain of dark humour to his subjects.
The next members' meeting will be on June 18. Mrs Joyce Catterick OBE, chairman of the South West Yorkshire Mental Health Trust - which covers Calderdale - and former chair of NHS Calderdale, will be speaking on "Mental Health Care –Who Needs It, Who Gives It?"
