u3a Core meetings allow all members to meet together as a single group, develop friendships, catch up on news, exchange ideas, and feel valued as part of a local community.
Our Core meetings take place on the second Monday of each month. We meet at at 13:45 for a prompt start at 14:00 in the Bentley Heath Community Centre, finishing by 16:00 at the latest.
The meeting starts with a welcome from our Chair, followed by the main topic of the meeting; a talk by a guest speaker on a topic chosen to be of interest to our membership. Over the years we have had a very wide range of talks and presentations, exemplified by some of the reports of ‘Recent meetings’ below. On some occasions, particularly in December, we have a more social party instead. We always break for refreshments partway through the afternoon, and this provides an opportunity for meeting other members.
Potential new members are always encouraged to come along for a ‘taster core meeting' and we have a good reputation for making them feel very welcome.
Note: The views and opinions expressed by guest speakers are their own and should not be taken as representing the views or position of South Solihull u3a.
Forthcoming meetings
Recent meetings
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AI in everyday life
Speaker: Jean Jackson
As regional u3a representative for AI, Jean has presented a variety of regional courses about Artificial Intelligence.
In her presentation for us, she tackled this very broad-ranging and rapidly-developing topic based on her professional study and real life experience. She revealed to our members an understanding of AI, including its pros and cons, across many aspects of everyday life. We heard about how one well-known developer rates our future existence in comparison to AI, and how one President has been forced to curtail his ambitions in the use of it.
Our members learned about how AI works and what it can do to help improve health in terms of medical research and diagnosis, increase industrial and human productivity, and enhance personal banking and home technology. Jean gave tips on how to refine prompts and use AI to improve images, and discussed and showed results of her interaction with several AI agents to help design & landscape a new garden for her home, thus saving the time and money otherwise needed to engage an expert.
On the more negative side, Jean gave us an awareness of how AI can be used to fake images, advised us to be wary of unnecessary data collection and gave examples of some common scams used by criminals to defraud people. Afterwards, our audience asked several searching questions, which Jean was pleased to answer.
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Secrets of a Wildlife Photographer
Picture copyright: Nick Martin Speaker: Nick Martin
Nick delighted our members with his superb array of photographs and stories from around the British Isles.
He explained how he frames the perfect scene to capture his subjects in all their splendour. From birds of every kind (and particularly Puffins) to wild boar and seals, Nick showed the beauty of his skilful photography and described how a variety of equipment improved each shot.
His presentation was extremely well received, and he amused our members with his tales of manipulating his subjects, and/or himself, into the best spot for an artistic angle or background.
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Little Black Dress
Speaker: Molly Murray
"I started off as a call-girl. At least, that was what the GPO engineers called us, down at the Telephone Exchange" - Molly recalls the start of her interesting and varied career. Molly regaled us with seemingly endless witty tales of her early career as a waitress, including how she became proficient with silver service, following her less-than-sophisticated beginnings in a “greasy spoon” cafe in Birmingham.
Her many amusing anecdotes, including learning how to serve the vegetables with “spoon and fork”, and how she was initially confused by the idea of Prawn Cocktails and orders for “Black Forest Gattocks”, brought back many nostalgic memories for those of us who were involved in the restaurant scene of years gone by.
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Our 15-year Anniversary Celebration
Our Social Event brought many members together to enjoy an afternoon to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the founding of our South Solihull u3a. Members were treated to two challenging quizzes, which not only tested their recall but also how to keep their answers from being overheard by the next table! One team won a rather marvellous selection of chocolates for their impressive score.
The excitement of the quizzes was followed by two narrated Powerpoint presentations, both of which sparked many happy memories for us all, from our founding through to our development, proving just how much we have thrived.
Cheers! 
Enjoying the Cream Tea 
All smiles (the prize-winners!) A traditional English afternoon tea, accompanied by Prosecco, was then served to round off the afternoon, causing many to linger in conversation - so much, that ‘time’ eventually had to be called!
Thanks to everyone who organised and took part in this very successful event.
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Golden Years of Radio
Speaker: Roger Browne
For our June Core meeting, we had a return visit from Roger Browne, a very accomplished pianist and raconteur.
His “Golden Years of Radio” presentation recounted funny anecdotes and fascinating historical facts woven around a selection of famous, old radio theme tunes, which prompted our audience to break into song. It was a lovely trip down memory lane for our members.
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Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) occupied the first part of our Core Meeting this month. Following the Chair's annual report and approval of the Accounts, the nominated Committee and Support Group members were approved by the attendees. As usual, the Minutes are available on the Documents page and will be due for approval at next year's AGM.
All the usual business was concluded speedily, leaving plenty of time for early refreshments, followed by a recital by Dorridge u3a Choir, who proved to be a merry band of singers with a wide-ranging repertoire.
