AD LIB

The magazine of

Paphos Third Age

Dear Members

Ad Lib is all about our Groups, which I am itching to write about, but before that there are a few notices of a general nature to communicate. September means business as usual for all Groups and it also means it’s nearing the time of year for the AGM. This year the AGM is on Tuesday 29th October at the Avanti Hotel in Kato Paphos. The Secretary will soon be emailing everyone with the necessary papers, which will include instructions for Committee nominations - each year all Committee posts are up for election.

• My thanks to John Harper who on January 1st this year volunteered to temporarily take over the role of Secretary (alongside his post of Treasurer) until a new person was enlisted. I am very pleased to announce that the Secretary role has been filled by Karen Ikin.

• Plans are under way for a Group Leaders meeting and lunch. This event is held annually in recognition of the invaluable contributions the Group Leaders and their Assistants make to the success of P3A. Once venue arrangements are finalised details will be circulated.

• The Coral Star, where seven of our groups meet, will close for the first quarter of 2020 for refurbishment work. Group Leaders are searching for alternative venues. Look to the P3A website News page closer to the time for information.

• The British High Commission asks to share the following message concerning MEU1 / MEU3 status of UK Nationals living in Cyprus; To safeguard free movement and residency rights for UK Nationals after Brexit, the British High Commission seriously encourages UK nationals to read through and fully understand the following information from the UK and Cypriot Governments:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-cyprus

Other official information pages from the Cyprus Ministry of Interior are at:

http://www.moi.gov.cy/moi/CRMD/crmd.nsf/All/C482CD407E0903D8C225830E00384072

Now on to the exciting business of the Groups. The amount of work put in by the Groups makes me think, in appreciation, of the number of volunteers who are involved in P3A events and activities, giving their time and skills freely to the sharing of talents and knowledge for the benefit of all our members. Examples of this are many in this bumper summer edition of Ad Lib.

Continued

www.paphos3rdage.org Editors: Keith and Marian McEwen September 2019

KEITH ADAIR

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P3A committee members

Chair Keith Adair Vice Chair Keith McEwen Treasurer John Harper Secretary Karen Ikin Membership Secretary Dale Ikin Groups Coordinator Jean Alston Magazine Editor Keith McEwen Website Officer Ros Sparrow Events Coordinator Linda Maidment Contact details: http://paphos3rdage.org/committee.htm

Contents

Message from the Chair

Committee News 2,3 New Groups 4 News from The Groups 5-22 Obituary 23

From The Chair—cont’d Here is a very brief run-down of what’s in store; • Two new groups will soon be starting; “Sustainable Planet Earth” and “Foraging” – surely a first for a

Third Age group anywhere. • Photography Group members plan a 3-day field trip to various locations around the island. • Don’t be put off learning to play Bridge. The two groups now boast a membership of 100. • The Natural History Group are bringing the results of their field excursions to everyone through trip Re-

ports published on the group’s webpage. • Earth Sciences discover the devastating effect of land-slippage in Pissouri. The group publishes its own

Newsletter - past copies can be found on the Earth Science’s webpage. • Archaeology have spent the summer months close to home - not in the UKCA Club but in a field close to

it. • For a week in June some of the Friday Walking Group members left behind the heat of Cyprus. Read of

shenanigans on the Emerald Isle. • Where in the World Group would love you to join them this session; hear their travel experiences to

Mexico, USA, Antarctica and the islands of Jersey, Bermuda and Mauritius. • Meals Around the World went down under in June. The evening’s mood was all things Aussie - and ac-

companied by some pretty delicious looking tucker. • Still on the Groups; Boules invites you to join them in Tala on Tuesday mornings for coffee, chat and

some leisurely exercise and Chess for Beginners will resume in October with an invite to the most novice of us to join them and to learn the game.

• Lastly the P3A Facebook page is up and running. There you will find invitations to group activities, gen-eral club news and more.

Enjoy all of your upcoming P3A activities. Keith Adair ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

From the Editors..

This is another bumper edition of Ad Lib. Considering it is the ’summer break’ Edition there is plenty to read about. We hope you get through it all. Because of the number of items being received we must ask you to keep your Articles to no more than 3 pages long (including pictures) and always in ‘Word’ format. The next edition of Ad Lib is due to be published during the first week of December. We will be in the UK when the next reminder letter is due out so just in case it’s late please make a note that the last date for Articles will be Monday 18th November

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committee news—Cont’d

P3A Saturday Talks – Dates for your Diary We have a full and varied programme of Saturday talks this coming autumn as follows;- 21

st September – Peter Moore – Days We Have Seen – Peter will talk about his experiences

in war-torn Cyprus in 1974 and 1975. October – Speaker to be advised – I am just waiting for confirmation and a final date. 16

th November – Blevin Franks – by the middle of November all the uncertainty over the past

3 years about Brexit should be over and the partners from Blevin Franks will be able to give us up to date information about financial matters. 7

th December – Contemporary Art – Anna from the Abode Gallery will be talking to us about

contemporary art. All meetings will be held at the Community Hall in Mesogi where we have met during the spring. There are lots of ideas of speakers and meetings for the spring but if either you or someone you know would like to do a presentation please do not hesitate to contact me.- Linda Maidment – Events Organiser – E mail lindamaidment52@gmail.com

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MEMBERSHIP NEWS Membership is now at a very healthy total of 800. Since January this year, we have seen a total of 60 new members and 10 re-joining members. Joining P3A has never been easier. Details are on the “JOIN US” page on the website.

A reminder that the membership year runs from 1st September to 31st August. Renew-

als are due now and members should renew by 31st December 2019 or memberships will lapse. The annual subscription remains at €5.

To assist with joining or renewing annual subscriptions, we have 4 mail boxes located:

a. Inside Angelikas Restaurant in Paphos b. Outside the lecture room at the Droushia Heights Hotel

c. Inside the Olive Tree Taverna in Polemi d. Mailbox 275 at the Kamares Club.

P3A also now have a dedicated postal address where members are able to either person-ally deposit or post mail. This is:

Paphos Third Age Mailbox 275

PO Box 60156 Kamares Club 8101 Paphos

NEW FACEBOOK PAGE

We have now created our very own Facebook Page which you can find at Facebook/P3A.We will use this

Page to inform members of P3A of any upcoming events and aim to widen its readership so that more

people in the Paphos district are made aware of our wide ranging Groups. If any Group Leaders would like

to feature their activities on the Page then please do send an email to

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NEW GROUPS

"Sustainable Planet Earth" Group Leaders Jean Alston, Marion Campey, Denise Holt. Wednesday Oct 9 Coral Star 10-12 A Presentation by Denise Holt - Animal Welfare "The way we treat Animals" Most children don't know a blue tit or a bee. Wednesday Nov 13 Coral Star 10-12 A presentation by Marion Campey - Sustainable Planet Earth - We need to act now! Wednesday Dec 11 Coral Star 10-12 A presentation by Jean Alston - Nutrition/Digestion - Raw vs Processed Foods and Meat. The aim of this exciting new group is to bring awareness to the way we live, the choices we make in our every day lives with the food and products we use. We hope to encourage volunteers to give a (10 minute) talk on their views and findings in this ever increasing popular subject. Time will be given for discussion and questions on our views and opinions on the importance of the way we are treating ourselves and the planet. Any doubts we may have newspapers and media keep us well informed and enlightened. Greta Thunberg a 16 year old Swedish Climate Changer has vowed not to fly. Greta is sailing to New York to speak at the United Nations on climate change. As Ex pats we do our fair share of flying. Would you change your life style to help improve the planet? To reserve a place for the 9th October please contact Denise Holt on: 96096906. or email: denise1.holt@gmail.com This new group will met at The Coral Star– Coral Bay.—Opposite Phillippos Supermarket. There will be a refreshment charge of Euro 3.00. Regards Denise ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

FORAGING GROUP.

The idea is to learn about the edible plants, fruits, nuts and other things which can be foraged locally. We will be based in Polemi at the Olive Tree taverna and visit local sites to collect plants etc subject to seasonal availability. Most times we’ll be out and about but will also be able to use the taverna for talks and presen-tations from visitors and group members. We’ll also be able to sample ways of preparing and using some of our pickings. We’ll meet at least once a month, more when things are growing fast in late winter and spring-time, through to June. Any interest please contact me Steve Catchpole on tractorfactorsteve@gmail.com I’d like to think we could get going as the weather cools with the initial foraging being fruit and nuts. Looking forward to hearing from you.

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Groups Update

Photography Group

“Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gizmos. A camera didn’t make a great picture, any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel. Photography is about photographers.” This quote, by the well-known American photographer, Peter Adams, accurately defines what the newly

formed P3A Photography Group is all about. The Group meets on alternate Monday mornings at the

Coral Star Restaurant in Coral Bay. Meetings start at 10am, finish at 12, with a coffee break in between.

This friendly and informal Group aims to encourage photographers of all levels of ability, age and

experience to come together to develop their photographic skills by means of illustrated talks given by

the Group Leaders Tom Brown and Chris Scorer, both of whom are very experienced and skilled

photographers. Members in the ‘audience’ are given plenty of opportunities to ask questions and to

contribute ideas and tips they have learned through their own experience.

Topics covered include getting to know your camera and how it works, suggestions for good composi-

tion, how to make the best use of light, working with photo editing software and, very important – how

to correct mistakes – wonky horizons, people with trees or lampposts growing out of the top of their

heads – we’ve all been there!

As well as learning through listening at the Monday morning presentations, members are encouraged to

practice their skills by taking part in field trips and projects. Recently members were invited to

photograph the local sailing club – Paphos International Sailing Club’s Summer Regatta and were given

the opportunity to go out in a power boat to photograph the races at close range, whilst the Club’s Safety

Patrol boats kept a watchful eye on the contestants as they raced across the water.

Later this year some Group members will be taking part in a 3 day Field trip to Northern Cyprus –

visiting Famagusta, the Salamis Ruins, and on the return journey, Cyherbia Herb Garden and, birds will-

ing, to photograph the flamingos in the salt lakes around Larnaca. It is hoped that, in the near future,

members will be invited to spread their photographic wings by exploring photographic opportunities

abroad. The possibilities are endless.

The Group is taking a summer break and sessions start again on Monday 9th September. However, that

doesn’t mean that cameras will be gathering the dust on shelves in the meantime. The Group leaders

have set members a project to undertake during the summer – entitled ‘Pathway’ and to submit two or

three photos of their choice to be projected on screen at the opening session. It will be fascinating to see

how this subject is interpreted by different members.

The famous photographer Henry Cartier-Bresson, once said ‘Your first 10000 photographs are your

worst.’ With expert tutors and plenty of opportunities to practice and hone their skills, it is unlikely that

Photography Group members will ever fall into that trap! Liz Unwin, August 2019. 5

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News from the groups– continued

P3A Bridge Groups are Thriving P3A’s two bridge groups now have over 100 members and we broke our attendance records this year with 40 players enjoying the game at both the Monday and Wednesday groups. The International Olympic Committee recognises Bridge as a Sport and, as such, players at the top tournaments may be subject to random drugs tests by the World Anti-Doping Agency! Despite this the inclusion of Bridge as an Olympic sport eludes us. We have to be content to settle for the description of Bridge as a Mind-Sport. Our Wednesday Intermediate Group, run by Ian Hines and Monday Improvers’ Group, run by Sue McGough and me (Brian Twigger) certainly help keep the minds of our members active and healthy. For those who think of bridge being a game played in smoke-filled rooms or only played by “posh” people, it could not be further from the truth. It is a captivating card game, based on whist, with tricks and trumps. A key feature is that it is a Partnership game for 2 pairs of players. At its simplest level it’s a fine social game that can be enjoyed at home with friends. At our P3A Groups, we take it a stage further into the realms of competitive, duplicate bridge, where the element of “the luck of the cards” is removed. Pairs compete with other pairs playing exactly the same hands. Technology buffs will be blown away with what IT has done for a game of cards. With the generous assistance of a grant and loan from P3A, we have invested in Bridgemates, which are little hand-held devices, like old-fashioned calculators, which sit on every table, recording the contract and the hand and calculating the score. These are linked wirelessly to a laptop, which is linked to the Web. Anyone can now see how many tables we had, who played, the results and the hands we played for every session! Check it out at: www.bridgewebs.com/p3a Stalking your friends is not what it’s about - it’s an incredible learning/training tool. With all this data, programs on the website can tell you what the best contract was, how many tricks you could/should have made and even lets you play each hand again, with guidance on the best line of play. It’s mind-blowingly clever. Bridge is not an easy game to learn, but there are now websites which make self-teaching at home simpler and fun. Informal coaching is also available at the Monday group. If you’d like to learn more and see the game in action, call by at Angelika’s Taverna on the Tomb of the Kings Road. Sessions last for about 3 hours and the Monday group breaks for coffee/tea at around 11am, because Improvers need a rest and a natter! P3A Improvers’ Bridge Group Mondays, 09:30 - 12:30 Sue McGough, 99069789 P3A Intermediate Bridge Group Wednesdays, 13:30 – 17:00 Ian Hines, 96520630

Author: Brian Twigger, co-Group Leader, Monday Group, 99023418

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News from the Groups—continued

Natural History Group

Ros Sparrow writes: The Natural History group launched in a new direction this past year, following the arrival of Chris Morgan, who has been sharing with us his extensive knowledge of plants. Dave and I contribute on the fauna side. Our presentations have moved outside, as we visit spots with high plant diversity, where Chris introduces us to many floral species along our path. We always try to find some fauna too – though birds and insects are often better at eluding us than the flowers are. We limit the number on each trip to around 20, so that everyone can hear and see at least some of what Chris (and myself) are showing them. We learn about plant families and anatomy, how to identify different groups, and their adaptations to the climate and habitat. After each outing we produce a photographic report, with information on the species identified. Each report is laid out like a glossy magazine, and as they cover nearly every month since last November, they form a visual catalogue of many common (and a few rare) flowers found in Cyprus through the changing seasons. So far, they include over 100 flowering plants, several ferns, and a smattering of bugs, butterflies and other small beasties. Our June issue had a special focus on dragonflies, and an August/September issue will be in pipeline by the time you read this article. Several group members who are not able to join the trips, for health or other reasons, tell us that they still enjoy seeing the reports. We keep all the issues on our webpage for reference, so you may like to take a look: http://paphos3rdage.org/natural-history For the coming year – we hope to keep doing more of the same! Perhaps an occasional talk too. We are open to

new members, so if you’d like to join our circulation list, please contact me at rosalynsparrow@cytanet.com.cy.

Pictures from below left, clockwise: the Bell Flower Campanula Peregrina, a gentian Centaurium pulchellum, and Erodium gruinum, which belongs to the Geranium family

Photo: Chris Morgan

Photos: Ros Sparrow

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EARTH SCIENCES

Landslide Problems at Pissouri

In May the Earth Sciences Field Trip was to Pissouri to view the land subsidence and subsequent road and residential building collapses there. The Limnes area of Pissouri is on a south facing hill that consists of chalk and clay (marl). When wet and heavy from long periods of high rainfall, the soil loses cohesion and will eventually slip downwards. There also happens to be a north – south fault here that results in small earthquakes that will unsettle unstable ground. Land movement down the hill continues, yet house building in the area also continues. Firstly we saw an area where the hillside had slipped south causing the road on it to col-lapse downwards some two metres bringing down electricity cables – see below. Rob Harris ponders a concrete road ripped apart.

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Earth Sciences cont’d

We then moved to an area near the cemetery where the ground had slipped away from under walls and houses resulting in their collapse. We saw collapsed garden walls, gardens, patios and pools that have fallen into pits more than one metre deep in places and house walls, outside and in, that have split from roof to the floor and even collapsed leaving exposed pipes and wiring. Many of the houses are uninhabitable forcing residents to abandon their homes and despite concerted efforts by the Limnes community any sort of immediate compensation seems unlikely. The land slippage continues with little that can be done to prevent it and unfortunately more homes are likely to be affected in the future.

Three examples of the damage caused to people’s homes.

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Earth Sciences cont’d

Removing The Roof

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Pupa (aka Chrysalis)

Painted Lady Egg

SUMMER VISITS FOR THE ARCHAEOLOGY GROUP

During the early summer, the Archaeology Group made two visits to see interesting new developments in sites close to Paphos. In June, we went to see the new excavations being conducted at Chlorakas by archaeologists and students from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Over the past few years, in their annual few weeks of digging, they have uncovered another settlement of round houses dating back to the late Chalcolithic period, that is, about 2500 BC. The group of foundations of these houses is similar to those at Lemba and Mosfilia, in Kissonerga. Dr. Bleda During, the Director of the dig, gave us a first visit to their new site near the earlier one, called ‘Palloures’, in a field very close to the UKCA club. He described the difficulty of working on a site where there had been so much disturbance from farming, dumping and levelling. Even so, we were able to see the latest excavation of another round house. This site has so much potential that the Cyprus Department of Antiquities has bought the land to prevent building. Dr. Bleda During shows us the newest ‘round house’ which they have just uncovered in Chlorakas

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Archaeology cont’d A member of the Leiden team explains the collection of broken pots recently uncovered in one of the houses

In July, we made another visit to the large area called Fabrika Hill in Kato Paphos, where there has been a lot of archaeological activity recently. Several overseas universities dig regularly in this area, and the government have plans to open the hill up to visitors by linking it to the rest of the Archaeological Park, with an over-head walkway. We visited all the sites where digs have been conducted in 2019. Fabrika Hill contains a variety of remains from many ages, including the quarries/caves, a

rare Hellenistic pebble mosaic and possible site of a Hellenistic temple, a theatre along-

side the main Roman road into Paphos from the east, signs of the aqueduct that brought

water into the town from Tala, a Roman house, and clues to the existence of some medi-

eval churches and houses, with burials nearby.

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Archaeology cont’d Members of the Group examine a ‘secret’ church site on Fabrika Hill, which has only just come to light

Earlier in June, members attended the annual CAARI Workshop, a day long event in Nic-

osia http://caari.org/programs/, in which many of the archaeologists who work in Cyprus,

make presentations on their latest discoveries.

Well over 40 foreign universities from around the world regularly take part in excavations

in Cyprus.

There is so much still to be found!

Geoff Cosson

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THE FRIDAY WALKING GROUP IN IRELAND

“WANDERING THROUGH WICKLOW”

On June 7th, a boisterous group of some 20 P3A walkers, plus two or three non-walking

supporters, arrived at the Glenview Hotel in County Wicklow for a week walking the wonderfully green and scenic Wicklow Way. Walking commenced on the next day with an easy 13 km walk from Aughavannagh to Glenmalure. There was a certain amount of climbing - 500 metres in all - but slow and steady rather than steep and spectacular. Drinks afterwards at the Glenmalure Lodge, where the group photo below was taken.

Sunday found us walking 13km from Glenmalure to Glendalough, in the heart of Saint Kevin country (to read about the great saint, please click this hyperlink- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_of_Glendalough). Our leader Margaret set a stiff pace and some of the party struggled to keep up. In fairness, however, she did take regular stops and allowed the tail-enders to catch up and have a rest before moving on. The toughest ascent, about half way through the walk up some large rocks, was very challenging but everybody took it at their own pace and all made the climb OK.

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Friday Walking Group cont’d

Monday found us walking from Glendalough to Pier Gates, about 13 km with various degrees of toughness but well within the Group’s capability. In a poignant moment, the Group stopped to pay tribute to the late Wally Oppenheim at the summit of Paddock Hill. Wally was Jewish and our own Alf Oldman, also Jewish, mentioned their tradition of placing pebbles on the grave of the deceased. So to honour and remember Wally we all placed pebbles on a large rock and I took the picture below.

R.I.P, Wally

Tuesday June 11th was a designated rest day, which was very well received after three consecutive

walking days. Some of the group visited Dublin, while others went on a trip to the Newgrange prehistoric settlement and then the Battle of the Boyne museum.

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Friday Walking Group cont’d On Wednesday June 12

th January came to June, with freezing cold, strong winds and driving rain.

Mad fools that we are, most of the group set off walking anyway, heading from Pier Gates towards Cuttlestown Wood, largely on wooden boards laid across boggy ground on and around the Djouce hill. I was worried that somebody might be blown off the boards and sink in the mud, but fortunately we all survived. This would have been the very best walking of the whole week in good conditions, but having covered only 10.8 km, we called it a day and hurried into the Enniskerry Inn to warm up.

Jostling for position in front of the fire at Enniskerry. Left to right: Kevin (seated), Alf, Andrew, Marilyn, myself and Chris. We were all absolutely frozen stiff !

Affected by the day’s shenanigans, our resident pianist Andrew Oliver came out of retirement that evening and led us all in a rousing rendition of “Singing in the Rain” !! The local Cats Choir welcomed the competition.

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Friday Walking Group cont’d With further appalling weather forecast for Thursday June 13

th, walking was cancelled in favour of a

visit to the Irish National Stud at The Curragh. Your scribe is a horse racing enthusiast and found the information about how horses are bred and raised very interesting. Rounding off the holiday in spectacular fashion, we all made our way to the famous Johnnie Fox’s pub on our final night for an evening of Irish music, dancing and the odd pint or two of Guinness.

A thirsty bunch outside Johnnie Fox’s

On Friday June 14th we all went our separate ways after a truly memorable week.

The friendliness and hospitality of Irish people is famous, and we all experienced their warmth and helpfulness during our stay. Many thanks to our excellent bus driver David, who gave us a level of service above and beyond what we could reasonably have expected. Thanks to the Glenview Hotel for great accommodation and food. And, of course, special thanks to our holiday organisers Kevin and Margaret McAnallen, who must have put in a huge amount of work to ensure we all had a great time. David Greensmith

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MEALS AROUND THE WORLD in 80 Dishes All the cobbers met in June to celebrate food from Australia we all provided "Good On Ya dishes" with the Shiela’s providing great deserts and good company. As all the dishes appeared everyone said “Strewth” look at all that “tucker”" wrap you laughing gear “ 'round" that. Marian and Keith presented the “Aussie dining area with flags and Australian memorabilia, it looked absolutely

great.”fair Dinkum?”

Salmon Roulade Beer, Beef and Beetroot Pie /

Aussie Meat Loaf /Aussie salad/

Pavlova

Fruit Salad

Peach Melba

Homemade Ice

Cream

Cobber – Very good friend. ‘Alright me ‘ol cobber Fair Dinkum – ‘Fair Dinkum?’ … ‘Fair Dinkum!’ = Honestly? … Yeah honestly! Good On Ya – Good work Sheila – A woman Strewth – An exclamation of surprise Tucker – Food. ‘Bush Tucker’ tends to be food found in the Outback such as witchety

In September

we will tasting

food from

America

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MEALS AROUND THE WORLD in 80 Dishes Group B

When we decided to open up a second group we didn't expect to be full within 24 hours - but we were and now there is a wonderfully diverse second group of 10 members origi-nating from 5 different countries. Our first meal together was Italian so we could have all our favourite pasta dishes and all kinds of things made with aubergines, but we did leave enough room for the tiramisu and a wonderful Italian orange cake (usually made for birthdays but this was to celebrate our first meal together). From there we went on to a South African brae on a beautiful terrace in Chloraka on a glorious June evening when we could almost imagine we were there, especially when one member produced his South African music and another some boarwurst! It has been a good start and imaginative plans for future meetings and it has been fun talking about the different countries we have been brought up in and lived and worked and how much it has influenced our liking for certain foods. Jill Dare

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Where in the World Group

Summer is nearly over and many members are now returning to these shores. Have you been away to somewhere different and have stories and experiences of your travels you would like to share with others? Or maybe you would like to hear about different places in the world. Members of the Where in the World Group enjoy finding out about different places and peoples of the world. Members give presentations of countries/areas they have ei-ther visited, lived and/ or worked in. So far we have dipped into many different coun-tries and continents but there are still so many places we need to discover. Our programme for this coming autumn is as follows;- Monday 16

th September – Mary Pope – Mexico

Monday 21

st October – Kevin McAnallen – Antartica

Monday 18

th November – Shirley Spratley – New Mexico, USA

Monday 16

th December – John Harper – My Islands in the Sun – Jersey, Bermuda &

Mauritius. Meetings are held on the 3

rd Monday afternoon in the month at the Mesogi Community

Hall from 3pm to 5pm ish. We normally have a refreshment break at 4pm. If you would like to find out more or join this group please contact me and I will put you on the mailing list and send you further details of our meetings. It is not mandatory that you will have to give a presentation if you join, but if you would like to share your experiences with others we will be pleased to help you put together a talk. I look forward to hearing from you. Linda Maidment – P3A Where in the World Group Leader – lindamaid-ment52@gmail.com ……………………...…………………………………………………………………………………

CHESS FOR BEGINNERS

I am pleased to announce that Chess for Beginners recommences on Wednesday

2nd October at 2pm at the Coral Star restaurant.

As the name implies, absolute beginners are especially welcome, but so too are

players with only very limited knowledge.

Some of you experienced players too have shown an interest and I see no problem

in you playing one another while chess tuition is taking place at the same time

(noise of course not being an inhibiting factor!).

I look forward to seeing a fair few of you and in particular those of you who have

yet to move a pawn in anger!

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BOULES GROUP

We have now been up and running for over five months.A lovely venue, a cheerful gang of ‘Boulers’ and some gentle exercise. A great way to pass a Tuesday morning. The Boules is the main objective but we seem to spend just as much time sitting in the shade, having a coffee and lots of laughs.Over 50% of our group have never played the game before. They are now proud owners of their own set of Boules. The original start up letter for the group is below. Have a read, look at the photos, then come along and try for yourself. We have spare Boules just waiting to be used.

If One Of Your Reasons For Coming To Cyprus Was A Wish To Spend Many Happy Mornings With Good Company, In A Scenic Location With Good Facilities, And Also Enjoy Playing An Easy To Learn Game In The Fresh Air, Please Read On. It Could Be The Start Of Something Good. It is easy to understand why Boules has proved popular. Both men and woman can play with equal ease. Learning the rules and ‘does and don’ts’ takes around five minutes. We play outdoors and you do not have to be athletic. Once you have bought the Boules the cost is minimal, 1 Euro per morning. A set of Boules for two people is approximately 35 Euros. It is a fun game to play and yet can be surprisingly exciting.

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Boules cont’d Far and away the most important element of our group is enjoyment. Spending a morn-ing with friends, taking part in a friendly game in the fresh air, is what we are all about. Winning is all very nice, but enjoying yourself is the important part. We do not have pre-arranged teams. Every week everyone draws a card to discover who we will be playing with, and also find out who will be on the opposing team. Total pot luck for everyone. This system means everyone has an equal chance, and it also provides an ideal way to make new friends We play in Tala on Tuesday mornings. Our venue is purpose made, quite scenic, and has a coffee shop. Many of us go for lunch at a local taverna afterwards. You will be very welcome to join us. If this sounds like something you could ‘sink your teeth into’, just drop us a line. brianandjeanincyprus@gmail.com and mailto:suzannecousins605@sky.com We think you will find you will be glad you did and look forward to welcoming you.

Brian & Suzanne

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OBITUARY

Pat Bates was a well known founding member and Group Leader of P3A. Pat

passed away suddenly in July whilst visiting the UK. Her friend Maggi Yorworth

has written her memories of her.

“I have known Pat since I came out in 2000, mostly through the UKCA to begin with, where she used to put on musical evenings which were brilliant and always very well at-tended. Over the years I got to know her better and all I can say is, she was one of the nicest, kindest and most genuine people I have ever been fortunate enough to meet. Then the U3A arrived, and at one of the open days Pat was on one of the stands and roped me in to joining her Classical Music Appreciation group, she had taken over from a retired Judge ( I think his name was Steven Willis) and she ran it so well for many many years. I was her Tea Lady at the once a month get together. I learned more about good music from Pat than anyone else, she explained everything prior to the music and then we all gave opinions, it was an afternoon that we all looked forward to. However when she started with AMD it became impossible for her to continue, we tried to go it alone with each one of us doing an individual afternoon, I only managed one, and it was then when I realised just how much work she had put into those afternoons. Unfortunately without such a strong leader the group faded into insignificance, with very few people attending each meeting and unfortunately is no more. However it is a great legacy for her to be re-membered for. After the group finished I would call and see Pat from time to time , just for a catch up and a cup of tea, and she and George were always at my Birthdays bashes The last time I saw her was at an evening concert at the Markideio theatre, when we sat close by and arranged for a get together when she returned from the U.K., which unfortunately was not to be. All I can say in closing is that her always smiling gentle face be greatly missed, by all who knew her.”