A 'D' themed photography competition, a rather soggy boat trip, and a diverse wildlife walk - that's just some of the things Limebrook u3a groups have been up to this July!

The Weekend Companions Group

Limebrook u3a's Chairman Howard Corlett and members of the Weekend Companions group arranged a two-hour barge trip in addition to their normal monthly meeting.

He reports that the weather forecast at the beginning of the week was favourable, but as the week went by the forecast got worse. "Never mind it'll be fine on the day!" - It wasn't!

We set off with a heavy downpour and the wind picked up as we moved along the estuary. We decided to go below deck for our lunch with the hope that everything would have improved when we resurfaced. As a result, we completely missed the activities going on for the Heybridge regatta. 

Our plans might have been disrupted, as the day didn't turn out how we had hoped but it didn't matter. The important thing was that we enjoyed the company, we had a good laugh and we cemented our friendships.

 I know this isn't a unique experience for the Weekend Companions and certainly all the groups that I belong to are just as much about socialising as participation in the activities.

Some rather soggy Weekend Companions Group members!

The Gardening Group

Limebrook u3a gardening group have been working in partnership with the parks team since 2012 on The Anchor Flower Bed Project, and Blackwater u3a members joined this project in Spring 2021. 

Contributions have been made from both u3a members of plants and seeds as well as cash being received from Limebrook u3a. 

The flower bed was entered into the Maldon in Bloom competition last year and won a Silver Award.

The hard-working Anchor Flower Bed Members.

Thank you to Carol, Dorreen, Lyn, Patricia, Patsy, Sue and Terri for your time and effort with this joint community project.

The Nature Group

Members of the Nature group visited Abberton Reservoir where David and Elaine Thurgood are volunteers at the Essex Wildlife Trust centre. 

Their extensive knowledge enabled us to make the most of our visit. There was an abundance of bird life on the walks along the paths surrounded by trees and shrubs or through open grassland including chiff chaffs and reed bunting.

 From a bird hide looking across the reservoir we could see moorhens, coots, cormorants and grebes with a tiny chick. David led us to patches of spotted orchids and on the way back to our cars we found a couple of bee orchids which are fairly rare.

The Photography Group

Graham Churchill's Photography Group watched three slide shows and during the tea break enjoyed a cake baked by his wife Sonia to celebrate his birthday and some rather delicious doughnuts generously supplied by Phil Davies. 

The competition winner for the month on the theme of anything beginning with the letter "D" was Dave Dove with his photograph of a deer. 

Dave Doves winning image.

Brian Harris had an image of a duck in joint second place with Jo Madge who took a "Drink" photograph.

 Howard Corlett came in third with his thoughtful photograph of a thirst quenching drink.

Brian Harris's second place duck image.

Unfortunately, Limebrook u3a is unable to accept new members as we are currently fully subscribed.