News category

Hi all,

Welcome to 2023 and I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Year, even with the rain. As most of you know, I will be away for most of February so I have had a couple of volunteers to take the February Mini Hikes for me. Thankyou Lorainne and Phil for letting me twist your arms.

WATER - it is summer, our walks are 1 1/2 to 2 hours or maybe longer, it will be hot, please bring plenty of water on our walks.

1st February:

Walk Leader - Phil Sinclair Ph 022 0490 454. Please let Phil know if you are coming on this walk.

Waihi Beach northern end to Orokawa Bay return

Start time - 10am, don't be late. Anyone more than 15 minutes late will be on their own.

Meet outside the Surf Club at Waihi Beach. There are toilets here.

Footwear - I have not done this walk but it is in the bush so boots and walking poles are recommended but not essential.

15th February:

Walk Leader - Lorainne Barnes Ph 07 548 2351 Please let Lorraine know if you are coming on this walk.

Tuaha Kauri Track which is at the very end of Hot Springs Rd, south of Katikati. The walk will be to the kauri grove and then onto the stream, then return.

Start time - 10am, don't be late. Anyone more than 15 minutes late will be on their own.

Footwear - boots and walking poles are recommended but not essential.

Toilets - at the carpark

Carpooling for the Waihi walk from Bethlehem area organized by Phil Ph 022 0490 454. Meet in Carmichael Rd, Bethlehem somewhere between Bethlehem Primary School and Te Paeroa Rd, leaving at 9am.

Car pooling for both walks, For the Mount/Papamoa and other people, meet at the corner of Gloucester Rd and Sanhurst Dr.

Please let Barbara Ph 027 315 1136 know if you are carpooling with this group and she will tell you the meeting time.

From the Pyes Pa area, call Ed on 027 323 6053 if you want to carpool with him.

Note that later start time. Also the after-walk cafe will be decided on the day.

Cancellations, Barbara will send out any cancellation emails no later than 730am on the day.

This will be your only reminder as I will be away next week for a month with unknown or no internet and potential withdrawal symptoms coming up for me. My phone will definitely NOT be working from 22nd January until the middle of February so don't bother trying to even leave a message or text.

I will also be asking for your U3A receipt number as soon as I get back but if you already have then, can you please email them to me.

See you all in March

 

Steve Subritzky

 

Details

The Mini hikes will be on the following days

1st February 2023, Phil will be leading the hike from Waihi.

15th February 2023, Lorraine will be leading the hike to the Kauri trees and beyond up near Katikati, a great walk in summer.

I will email further details of these Mini Hikes mid January before I leave on my trip.

Note that we will be trying a new start time next year of 10am at the venue. This is for a couple of reasons, the finish time and cafe is closer to lunchtime and we may avoid more traffic congestion with any luck. We will see how it works for everyone after a couple of months to see if we keep it at 10am or revert back to 930am.

Just to give you plenty of warning, I will need 5 or 6 people to lead a Mini Hike each later in the year. Basically you just need to turn up and lead the group. I will help with the planning and emails before I leave.

So thanks everyone for walking with us this year, remember it is your group and it is you guys and girls that have made it successful.

Have a great Christmas and New Year

Steve Subritzky

Details

Mini Hikes 1 & KatiKati Walking Group

Just a reminder our last walk will be on Wednesday the 7th December with details following.

 
This is a combined Christmas walk/lunch for my 2 U3A groups, the Katakiati walking group and U3A Mini Hikes 1 group.
 
Venue - The Lakes, meet in the carpark by the playground in Caslani Lane, The Lakes. We will be walking around the lakes on the flat for approx 1 hour, then having a Christmas lunch at Maude Cafe.
 
Note Maude has some counter food, light lunches and mains so there should be something there for everyone.
 
Time - meet at 11am, DO NOT BE LATE, we will be starting our walk at 1115am at the latest.
 
Footwear, shoes are OK.
 
Toilets, start finish and halfway 
 
Please let me know if you have not already done so if you are intending to come to lunch, the cafe wants numbers by Monday
 
See you all then
 
Steve Subritzky
Details

Joyeux Noel! Members of French Conversation 1 group at Somerset Cottage having enjoyed a delicious lunch and great conversations to celebrate the end of 2022.


French 1 Dec 1 2022

Details

Around the world in 80 Minutes

Details

We have 2 more walks planned for this year with details as follows.
 
 
16th November
 
Venue - Otanewainuku Rimu loop track. We will be doing this track both ways - time 1.5 to 2 hours. See the following link for more details and directions.
 
 
Time - 930am at the carpark. DO NOT BE LATE, we will only wait up to 15 mins before our walk starts. We will not be inconveniencing the whole group if you are late.
 
Toilets - start and finish
 
Footwear - boots recommended
 
Walking poles - recommended
 
After match cafe - anyone got ideas for this area so we will decide on the day.
 
Carpooling - you know the drill, see previous emails for details
 
 
7th December
 
This is a combined Christmas walk/lunch for my 2 U3A groups, the Katakiati walking group and U3A Mini Hikes 1 group.
 
Venue - The Lakes, meet in the carpark by the playground in Caslani Lane, The Lakes. We will be walking around the lakes on the flat for approx 1 hour, then having a Christmas lunch at Maude Cafe.
 
Note Maude has some counter food, light lunches and mains so there should be something there for everyone.
 
Time - meet at 11am, DO NOT BE LATE, we will be starting our walk at 1115am at the latest.
 
Footwear, shoes are OK.
 
Toilets, start finish and halfway 
 
Can you please let me know if you are doing these walks, 
 
Cancellation - there will be email no later than 730am on the day if either walk is cancelled.
 
Steve Subritzky
Ph 021 159 5613
Details

Garden Ramblers 1 visited the Maynard Homestead in Whakamarama 

Click on the first image below to scroll through the images of our visit

View the embedded image gallery online at:
http://u3atauranga.kiwi.nz/index.php/2016-03-23-07-41-28.html?start=48#sigProId9fe36a89ef

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Classical Music Lovers B Group News
Meeting 13 October 2022

MOZART - A LIFE OF MUSIC
by Margaret Marsh
 
Mozart Image 2
 

Mozart is perhaps the greatest composer in history. In a creative lifetime spanning only 30 years and featuring more than 600 works, he redefined the symphony, composed some of the greatest operas ever written and lifted chamber music to new heights of artistic achievement.  In this programme, I have tried to present Mozart from his first K1 at age 5 in 1761, through to his final unfinished Requiem K626 in 1791 at 35 just prior to his death. Sometimes we know the music but do we know how old Mozart was when he wrote it?   This PDF presentation contains many links to the music clips we watched during our meeting.
Details

Group News:  Classical Music Lovers B

Meeting 11 August 2022
ALMA DEUTSCHER - A MODERN CLASSICAL COMPOSER
Story by Margaret Marsh
 
Alma Deutscher, born in England in 2005, is a composer, violinist, pianist and conductor. She started playing the piano when she was two years old and the violin when she was three. She composed her first piano sonata at the age of five. At seven, she completed a short opera 'The Sweeper of Dreams'. Aged nine, she wrote a concerto for violin and orchestra.  At the age of ten, she wrote her first full-length opera, 'Cinderella'.  Her compositions have been praised by classical music’s royalty, including Anna Sophie-Mutter, Thomas Hampson, and Zubin Mehta who called her “one of the greatest musical talents today”. Sir Simon Rattle declared that “Alma is a force of nature”.Europe’s most prestigious music festivals—from Aix-en-Provence to Lucerne—have welcomed her participation. The Vienna State Opera has performed the family version of her opera "Cinderella". It has now been performed on three continents to sold-out houses, and was described as “a once-in-a-lifetime opera-going event that had audiences standing and cheering”. In 2019, she gave her sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, in a concert dedicated to her own compositions. Her new full-length opera, 'The Emperor's New Waltz', commissioned by the Salzburg State Theatre, will premiere in March 2023. 
 
CML B Aug 2022 1
 
CML B Aug 2022 2c
Links:
Her YouTube channel has more than 15 million views:   https://www.youtube.com/c/AlmaDeutscher.


The Programme:
1.   The Bee by Shubert (4:57)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPGAzuHSMy4
Alma is 8 years old and is talking to Ellen DeGeneres. She plays a short piece "The Bee".

2. Introduction - Alma Deutscher - NBC News December 2019.  (2.51)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbHgDLqWcMM
Alma has loved music ever since her parents gave her a violin for her third birthday. Alma is now a world-class composer and she performed her original compositions in a sold out show at Carnegie Hall.

3.  Alma Deutscher pulls four musical notes out of hat (4:38)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvECZ_ZXGqs
Born in 2005, Alma was playing piano and violin by the time she was 3 years old. She composed her first piano sonata at the age of five. At seven, she completed a short opera The Sweeper of Dreams. Aged nine, she wrote a concerto for violin and orchestra, which she premiered in Spain in 2014.

4.  60 Minutes Archives: Alma Deutscher, British music prodigy 2020. (13.0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgeF3EklbFA  
Alma was playing piano and violin by the time she was 3 years old and wrote her first opera at 10. For her, making music seems as natural as breathing.

5.  Shine Holy Ray of Love - from Cinderella (8:21)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf0kaSliPng
At the age 10 she wrote her first full-length opera, Cinderella, which had its European premiere in Vienna in 2016 under the patronage of conductor Zubin Mehta, and its U.S. premiere a year later. Presented by Opera San Jose and the Packard Humanities Institute. Alma is on the left hand side playing the organ - her sister is the flower girl.

6. Finding Cinderella - BBC Documentary 2017 (20.28)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0mb0F8fjqQ
Alma Deutscher - Finding Cinderella - Is she a reincarnation of Mozart's sister?

7.  Waltz of the Sirens (18:06)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0xMpLXQNvM
Composed by Alma at age 14 and performed at Carnegie Hall, Dec 2019. The waltz was the ending of Alma's sold-out debut at Carnegie Hall, in which she also played her violin concerto and her piano concerto.

8.  Rondino in Eb major (4.33)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgfmpqWPBIE
Alma aged 7 (violin), Itamar Ringel (viola), Daniel Seroussi (piano). This is a revised version (for Violin, Viola and Piano) of Alma's Rondino in E-flat major for violin and piano from 2012. Recorded in the Mendelssohn Remise in Berlin, May 9, 2013.

9.  Quartet movement in G major, Rondo, by Alma Deutscher (8 yrs). (5:32)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXLSNOPuZhM
Crans-Montana Classics Festival, Switzerland, 17.8.2013. New Russian Quartet and Alma Deutscher.

10.  Dance of the Solent Mermaids. (8.02)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITowZi3AMwI
Dance of the Solent Mermaids, symphonic movement by Alma Deutscher. Israel Philharmonic Orchestra 1.6.2015. Commissioned as a string quartet by the Solent Music Festival and its artistic director/pianist Sam Haywood. The piece was performed by the Endellion String Quartet during the 2014 Solent Music Festival. Alma subsequently revised the piece and orchestrated it, and it premiered as a symphonic movement in January 2015. 
 
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U3A Classical Music Lovers B
Convener: Vaughan Chetwynd, 027 565 7724.
2nd and 4th Thursday of the month.
Venue: Bethlehem Shores Retirement Village.
Next meeting: Thursday, 25 August 2022, 2-4 pm.
 
Details

Ballet Appreciation Group

It’s so difficult to see live productions here in Tauranga but that doesn’t stop our group from watching the most marvellous ballet companies in the world giving spectacular performances.  One month we watch a well-known ballet in rich, ornate costumes with wonderfully painted backdrops, then we alternate with a little known production, maybe pared-down scenery and basic costume.

In the early 20th Century Diaghilev and Fokine began to experiment with movement and costume, collaboration with Stravinsky produced The Rite of Spring which caused the audience to riot!  Now it is considered a classic.

Matthew Bourne’s imagination has proved a wonderful asset, from his all-male Swan Lake to his version of Red Shoes intrigues and exploits every known facet of dance.

Not all the ballets we watch are classical.  The Car Man was much appreciated with its mayhem of drink, gambling and murder!  New ballets to watch out for are Merlin and the Great Gatsby. 

2022 08 09 Ballet Pic1Matthew Bourne’s

version of

Red Shoes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bolshoi Ballet Co Taming of the Shrew2022 08 09 Ballet Pic2

If you would like to join us for an afternoon of wonder please ring the convenor Margaret Osbourn 544 3865.

Group details here

 

Details

Thank you Ann hosting us today and afternoon tea.
I enjoy the interpretations of each theme
The theme was :
clothes of cultures
Bev started telling us the difference in elephants in continents and their place in Thai history and how the white elephants were given to the Royal family. I wondered if I had the right topic for a moment, and Bev continued her lovely talk of elephant images on clothing for Thai people and showed us her richly coloured wrap skirts with rows of elephant images woven into the fabric. So interesting Bev.
Ann then emerged from her back room in the black, head to toe clothing of women in Saudi Arabia and described the details and customs of women wearing the garment as well as what the men wore. She also told us many stories of her work as a midwife there. ( some hair raising).
Annie had researched Japanese clothing and styles and famous designers and. How the garments were made in partisan factories from the 1500's. Her beautiful books showed the loose fitting, unisex,avant- garde styles of Yamamoto and
Rei Kawa Kubo.
Annie showed us a Vogue pattern she had used which replicated the similar style of contemporary Japanese clothing.
We digressed frequently around these topics which was fun and I'm sure ' could change our world'.🤣
Marion showed a royal blue Chinese style silk jacket with embroidered borders. Mandarin style collar snd sleeves and split sides and toggle style buttons. She also showed a patchwork fabric of Indian wedding dresses bound with a thin rolled fabric and broad stitching which was used as a display type of wall hanging.
A fun afternoon and much enjoyed.
 
Report by Marion.
Details

Last Tuesday we had another theme day for our group's regular session. The theme was "Hippy Day", where members were encouraged to dress up from memories of the Hippy era, and we played/sang songs from the Woodstock Music Festival and others from that era. It was a real blast man! Smoking joints was discouraged for health reasons, i.e. we no longer have the tolerance for such chemicals!
 
Hippy Day3 0722
 
Hippy Day2 0722 
 
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