General Meetings are normally scheduled for the third Wednesday of
every second month. The dates for 2024 are:
13 March (AGM), 15 May, 17 July, 18 September, 20 November.
We are very grateful to Howick High School for making their
facilities available to us as the regular venue for our General
Meetings. Please note that our General Meetings start promptly at
15:00 (3:00 PM) and you should arrive as soon after
14:30 as possible (not before) for registration / checking in.
Members, please remember to wear your name tags.
The next General Meeting of U3A Howick will be on Wednesday 20 November 2024 at 3:00 pm.
Please note that this meeting will NOT be held in the usual venue at Howick High School. It will be held in the SUNFIELD HALL at Sunfield Home, on Main Street opposite Amber Avenue.
Detailed directions will be provided in the notice of the meeeting sent to members two weeks before the meeting.
The Guest Speaker and topic at the November General Meeting will be
Synopsis: Estelle will talk about working as a journalist in
South Africa and the UK, highlighting stories that she has covered
during her interesting and varied career. She will also look at how
the industry is changing, and what the future holds for newspapers.
Speaker: Estelle Sinkins is the Editor of Village Talk,
The Hilton and Greytown Gazette, three of the community
newspapers owned by Capital Newspapers in Pietermaritzburg. She is
also the Arts and Books Editor of The Witness.
Estelle has been a journalist for more than 30 years. Born and raised in Ladysmith, she completed a National Diploma in Journalism at the then Natal Technikon (now Durban University of Technology). She returned home to work at the Ladysmith Gazette where she was mentored by veteran journalist and editor Bevis Fairbrother. While still a rookie she won the Caxton Journalist of the Year award and a highly commended citation for investigative journalism for her coverage of mass murderer Kallie Delport’s rampage in Ladysmith.
Estelle was later promoted and helped establish a new newspaper for Caxton from the amalgamation of the Estcourt News and Midlands Observer papers, a challenge which coincided with the run-up to the country’s first democratic elections. She went on to join the Highway Mail group in Pinetown, writing for the Highway Mail, the Berea Mail, the Northglen News and Queensburgh News, under editor James Byrom.
In 1997, Estelle and her husband Graydon moved to the United Kingdom, where she worked for the Mirror group’s titles Bucks Examiner, Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Slough and Windsor Express, covering everything from politics and royal events to issues important to the community.
In February 2006, Estelle joined The Witness and during her tenure has held the posts of Features and Supplements Editor, Arts Editor and Books Editor. She has also been a senior member of the news team.
The Guest Speakers at our previous General Meetings in 2024 have
been:
13 March: Martin Prozesky - "Goodies, Baddies, Boundaries and Brains."
15 May: Tammi Caine (FreeMe Wildlife) - "Rise of the Phoenix"
17 July: Mary Carlisle (Midlands Forum) - "Midlands Forum - Zoom or
Doom?"
18 September: Raymond Perrier (Denis Hurley Centre) - "Archbishop
Denis Hurley
and Paddy Kearney – what can their lives and mission teach us today?"
The Guest Speaker at our last General Meeting of 2024 will be:
20 November: Estelle Sinkins (Village Talk) - "A Life in Words –
Reflecting on three decades as a journalist and what the future holds"
Our first General Meeting of 2025 will be the AGM on Wednesday 19 March. Watch this space...
