Friday 2nd May 2025. Bowls Evening at Ashby Bowls Club

The Bowls evening was a great success; even the weather was perfect for us. The club members were very helpful showing us how to play, but despite their help and coaching our bowls did not always go exactly where they should have gone! Everyone nonetheless had a very enjoyable time.

At the end of play we all made our way to the clubhouse where chip butties were served.

A very pleasant evening.

Friday 24th January 2025. Burns Supper

We returned to the Golf Club again for our celebration of the Scottish Bard’s birthday. Don Jarram again welcomed us with traditional tunes on his pipes, the haggis was duly piped around the room before Bill made the address and ritual cutting open of the great chieftain o the puddin'-race and we raised a glass to toast it.

Bill gave the Selkirk Grace - ‘Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit.’, before sitting down to the meal itself.

The soup was followed by the haggis, neeps and tatties and then Cranachan dessert to finish. Delicious all of it.

Then came the entertainment. Bill sang an impassioned ‘My love is like a red, red rose’, Colin Woodland gave a very humorous ‘Toast ta the lassies’ which praised many of the assembled ladies.

Don gave us a fine medley of Scottish tunes and finally we all gathered in a circle to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ before drifting off into the night.

A big thank you to Bill, Don and Colin for their respective performances, to Tony Smith as the evening’s host and to Glenys for organising it all.

Thursday 5th December 2024. Christmas Lunch

85 members made it to the Christmas lunch at Willesley Park Golf Club. It mostly went very well and people enjoyed the company and the food and the carol singing afterwards, however there were one or two hitches. One table reported that they were served much later than all the other tables and a few people, particularly those who had ordered the vegetarian Wellington pie complained that their food was cold or undercooked.

Our apologies to those members but we are of course at the mercy of the caterers. I understand that we will be taking matters up with the caterers after our Burns Supper, which we very much hope will go better, to see how things can be improved in future.

Friday 6th September 2024. Bowls Evening

As you may know, the annual Bowls Evening at Ashby Bowls Club had to be postponed in April at the last minute due to the greens being unplayable after heavy rain and it was rescheduled for 14th June.

This summer's weather defeated us yet again in June after another downpour that afternoon and so it was re-arranged for Sept 6th.

Unfortunately not enough members were able to make the new date and so reluctantly we have now had to CANCEL the event. Hopefully we can organise something for next year, weather permitting.

Friday 14th June 2024. Bowls Evening

As you may know, the annual Bowls Evening at Ashby Bowls Club had to be postponed in April at the last minute due to the greens being unplayable after heavy rain and it was rescheduled for Friday 14th June. Unfortunately this summer's weather defeated us again as the event was off, on and finally off again all through Friday as the prepared greens took another downpour that afternoon! Hopefully the weather will settle down shortly and we can reschedule for later in the year.

The evening has now been arranged for Friday Sept 6th. Glenys will be circulating a sign-up list for those wishing to go along, or contact her at socials@ashbyu3a.co.uk.

Thursday 2nd May 2024. Bowls Evening

Due to the heavy rain, this evening had to be postponed at short notice. It is rescheduled for June 14th when hopefully the weather will be more suitable and the greens will have dried out.

Thursday 25th January 2024. Burns Supper

This year we were able to meet on the actual date of Burns Night, at our customary venue - the Willesley Park Golf Club, were they made us welcome as usual. The evening started with Don Jarram piping in the haggis and leading Bill Wilson, bearer of the haggis, around the room before Bill gave the Address to the Haggis and its ritual disembowelling. (Not as gory as you might imagine).

This was followed by the Toast to the Haggis and the Selkirk Grace (Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be Thankit!) before we all tucked in to the delicious meal.

Afterwards we were entertained with Bill's singing, Tony's stories of the life of Burns and with Colin's excellent and hilarious self-penned poem 'The Address to the Lassies'.

We finished with a rousing rendition of 'Auld Lang Syne', although most of us have still not learned the words to the second verse! Maybe next year!

Saturday 14th December 2024. Christmas Lunch

The Christmas lunch at Willesley Park Golf Club went off very well, despite the club asking us to bring the time forward by half an hour at very short notice. Fortunately everybody seemed to get the message and turn up on time. All 96 of us. That is an all-time record for Ashby u3a and yet another sign of how popular our u3a has become. There was a slight delay between the starter and main course, but we found out later that the head chef had to be rushed to hospital. We have not heard anymore, but hopefully he is fine now. Despite that everything went pretty well and I hope everyone had a great time. Thank you to Glenys for all the hard work organising it all, and to all the staff at the golf club for putting on the lunch.

Friday 1st September 2023. Ashby Bowls Club social evening

There was a great turnout for the bowls night which was postponed from July. The 17 members who attended enjoyed the evening and our great hosts showed lots of patience with the novices. Many of us stayed for a drink afterwards chatting to the bowls members who I think enjoyed our company and the weather behaved itself.

The Bowls Club Committee appeared to be especially pleased that there were so many u3a members joining in and who took the time to stay afterwards since the bar takings, and our participation in the cash prize games, contributed to their nominated charity STEPS.

All in all a good evening.

Saturday 29th July 2023.

It was intended to hold a Bowls Evening at Ashby Bowls Club this month put unfortunately it had to be cancelled/postponed due to a shortage of members signing up for it, seemingly due to holidays and such. It may be arranged for later in the year.

Also in the planning stage is a possible Archery evening. Keep an eye out for further details.

Thursday 26th January 2023. Burns Supper

70 people arrived at Willesley Park Golf Club for this year's Burns Supper. Don Jarram was there again this year to entertain us with the bagpipes whilst we socialised before taking our places. The evening commenced with Bill parading the haggis around the room accompanied by Don and his pipes. Bill then gave "The Address to the Haggis" - "Great chieftain o' the Puddin-race...", ritually cutting it open with a dirk during the third verse. This was followed by the Selkirk Grace. The Haggis was then paraded back round the room and out to the kitchen to be served up.

The meal started with the traditional Scotch Broth before the Haggis neeps and tatties arrived (some opted for chicken or a vegetarian option) which was followed by Cranachan, a dessert of oats, cream and raspberries (and possibly a little whisky). All very lovely and served nicely by the staff at the Golf Club.

After the excellent meal, Don played a selection of well known Scottish tunes which had us all singing and clapping along, Chairman Tony gave us a potted history of Rabbie, and our resident poet laureate, Colin Woodland, gave the "Address to the Lassies" with a hilarious poem of his own composition.

Bill was in fine voice as he sang one of Burns' many songs and recited the tale of "The Wee Timorous Beastie"

The evening closed, of course, with us all singing Auld Lang Syne after being reminded that one doesn't hold hands until the second verse. We are getting better, a few more this year knew the words to verse two!

Another excellent evening with lovely food, great entertainment and plenty of good company. Thank you to Bill and Avril, Tony, Colin and all the staff at the Golf Club.

Thursday 8th December 2022. Christmas lunch

It was good to have some sense of normality back again for Christmas as lunch at the Golf Club went ahead with little or no worries of pandemics. It was good to see many new members amongst the 69 who were able to attend and the conversations were flowing along with the drink well before we all sat down to another excellent 3 course meal ably cooked and served by the staff at the club. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, although 1 or 2 couples weren't on the tables that they had hoped for. We'll try better next time to get everyone seated at the tables of their choice.

Friday 29th July 2022. Bowls Evening

Thursday 27th January 2022. Burns Supper

Thursday 9th December 2021. Christmas lunch

The Christmas Lunch went ahead as planned on the 9th Dec at Willesley Park Golf Club. Lynne and her staff did an excellent job, as in previous years, to serve wonderful food to all 76 members who attended. I hope you all had a good time if you were there.

Friday 6th August 2021. Bowls Evening

Report to follow

Friday 24th January 2020. Burns Supper

Although it was a day early, 56 members gathered at the Golf Club for our second Burns Supper and very good it was too. Andy and his bagpipes were there to serenade us with a selection of Scottish tunes and airs, some more familiar to Sassenachs than others.

We all sat down to a starter of Scotch Broth before the Haggis was piped into and around the room. Bill then gave us the 'Address to a Haggis' before ritually cutting it open. This was followed by the Toast to the Haggis before we sat down to tuck into the Haggis with the traditional Neeps and Tatties, followed by Cranachan for dessert.

Wine flowed, everyone had a good time, Barbara was presented with a birthday cake accompanied by the usual tune from the throng and finally we all stood for a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne, although some of us need to practise the second verse before next year!

An excellent evening.

Thursday 12th December 2019. Christmas Lunch

Despite the awful weather we have been having lately, 63 members made it to Willeseley Park Golf Club for our Christmas Lunch. As usual, the Club provided an excellent combination of venue, good service and great food. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Friday 26th July 2019. Bowls evening

Friday 5th July 2019. Barn Dance