Monthly Speaker Meetings
Monthly Speaker Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of every month at:-
Burton Joyce and Bulcote Village Hall
Burton Joyce
Nottingham
NG14 5EY
They are followed by refreshments, tea/coffee and cakes. Many of the Group coordinators are also present so if you’re thinking about joining a group can take the opportunity to find more about it from the coordinator in person and you can also able to speak to any member of the Committee as our Chairman and other Committee members always attend.
The meetings start at 1.45 p.m. and members are asked to be seated in good time as late arrivals make it difficult for those sitting near the entrance to hear the announcements.
TUESDAY 10TH NOVEMBER 2026 – JAYNE DARLING
Jayne will give us a performance (during Remembrance week) of Second World War 40’s songs in the style of Vera Lynn, Glenn Miller, etc. Jayne performs in elegant vintage styling with a classic retro microphone, creating a look and sound that fits perfectly at vintage themed events and nostalgic celebrations. Her performances capture the atmosphere of the wartime years.
TUESDAY 9TH DECEMBER 2026 – CHRISTMAS MEETING
Our Ukulele group will perform Christmas favourites and there will be a table quiz, mulled wine, and festive fayre.
TUESDAY 12TH JANUARY 2027 – TIM COLTMAN
“A STRETCHER BEARER IN WWI – WILLIAM COLTMAN VC, DCM & BAR, MM & BAR”
Tim Coltman’s great grandfather, William Coltman, refused to fight and kill in WW1 as a result of his faith, but he did go to war as a stretcher bearer. William Coltman is now described as the most highly decorated soldier of the British Army, having been awarded the Victoria Cross, Military medal and bar and the Distinguished Conduct Medal and bar. The presentation lasts for approximately 45 mins and traces the life of William Coltman and how he came to be awarded all of these medals.
TUESDAY 9TH FEBRUARY 2027 – DAVID COLEMAN – “THE WORKING OF A PITMAN”
This month we will be bringing local history to life with a talk about “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗻” by ex-miner and deputy, 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻, also known as ‘The Eastwood Pitman’. David started working at Moorgreen pit when he was just 15 before spending much of his life as a miner and rescue worker at Thoresby Colliery. He will tell us about his working life and the lives of the people he worked with.
TUESDAY 9TH MARCH 2027 – DAVE PINION – “MY AMAZING JOURNEYS TO ANTARCTICA”
This talk covers Dave’s experiences from small ship expedition cruises to the coldest and most remote place on Earth. In February/March 2023, inspired by the exploits of Robert Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton and other legends from the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration, Dave visited Antarctica on a small ship expedition. He was hoping, with luck, to stand in their footsteps. He was very lucky and now stands on their shoulders, having seen everything he had hoped for, and experienced far more than he expected. He fell in love with Antarctica, caught the “polar bug”, a little known and incurable disease he now shares with his fellow travellers from five expeditions to the white continent (so far!!).
TUESDAY 13TH APRIL 2027 – TBA
TUESDAY 11TH MAY 2027 – ANNA-LOUISE PICKERING – “WONDERFUL WORLD: TRAVELS WITH A WILDLIFE ARTIST”
Anna-Louise is President of the Pollyanna Pickering Foundation. For over 25 years Anna-Louise worked alongside her late mother Pollyanna as her business partner. Pollyanna was passionate about only painting animals she had seen and sketched in their natural habitats, a quest which lead to her painting on all seven continents. Anna-Louise accompanied her on every journey, documenting the journeys photographically, and writing the text for their popular books. She has travelled by dog sled in the High Arctic, camping on the ice at temperatures of -40, canoed through crocodile infested rivers, and been charged by a wild tiger in search of her subjects.
From being presented with an orphaned bear cub as a gift on her 21st birthday to being charged by a komodo dragon, for Anna-Louise life working alongside Pollyanna was never dull. In this light hearted talk she tells new stories of life and work alongside Pollyanna from her perspective. Not many careers involve requests to organise expeditions to Ethiopia to search for the world’s rarest wolf, or to take a bucket of live toads to a TV studio. But equally few provide the opportunities to bottle feed an orphaned six month old baby panda bear or to photograph wild jaguars from a boat in the wilds of Brazil.
Social Events
60s/70s/80s DISCO! FRIDAY OCTOBER 2ND – BURTON JOYCE VILLAGE HALL
Attended by 76 members who enjoyed great tracks from three outstanding musical decades, played by DJ and Vocalist Freddie Vokes. Members contribute to the playlist in advance by saying what songs they wanted to hear. The cost? Just £5 per person.
QUIZ NIGHT! FRIDAY JUNE 5TH 2026 – BURTON JOYCE VILLAGE HALL
Almost 70 members and friends attended the now “annual“ U3A quiz night. A very close scoring night was won by the (ironically-named) team, “THE DONALD TRUMP FAN CLUB” who just got over the line by 1 point after scoring a maximum 10 points on the last round. The second-placed team on the night, “UNIVERSALLY CHALLENGED” led all the way but could only score 8 points on the last round. Other prize winners on the night were “QUIZ TEAM AGUILERA” for the most inventive name and, in the sense that they were bottom of the table, supporting all the others, the “strongest” team at the event, “THE CRISP APPRECIATION SOCIETY” happily accepted “specially commissioned“ wooden spoons. A very good night was had by all.
FRIDAY 3rd OCTOBER 2025 – SOCIAL EVENT – KELLYS HEROES – BURTON JOYCE VILLAGE HALL 7:30pm.
A great night with one of the most sought after bands on the circuit. Their repertoire encompassed fast and furious Celtic tunes and songs, gentle ballads, quality contemporary numbers as well as some original material. The band will performed a 2 x 45-minute sets between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.