Issue number one hundred and nine (January 2010) in a series of Signposts from WorldU3A International Group, sent once a month to any and all U3A members anywhere in the world.

Please send snippets of possible interest to the editor, Tom Holloway.
Feel free to copy any or all of this information in your newsletters.

Walkers & Ramblers: The name 'Wainwright' will loom large in the memories of many of us. Some of us will still have copies of those wonderful guides of his on our shelves. We may possibly have something even more precious.

For approximately thirty-five years, AW sent hand-written replies to everyone who wrote to him. Hunter Davies, authorised biographer of Alfred Wainwright, is about to start work on a new project entitled "The Wainwright Letters" and The Wainwright society is looking for anyone who still has any of those letters. To learn more please clickon http://www.wainwright.org.uk/book_review/2009/wainwright_letters.html

The Poetry Archive exists to help make poetry accessible, relevant and enjoyable to a wide audience. It is the result of a meeting between Andrew Motion, soon after he became U.K. Poet Laureate in 1999, and the recording producer, Richard Carrington. Clickon http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do
(Thank you Jeanette Morgan - Windsor & District U3A)

More for Poetry Groups: In spite of the fact that YOUTUBE is 99 percent undiluted garbage, the remaining one percent contains so many nuggets of pure gold, that it cannot be dismissed altogether. For example, this editor was quite overcome by listening to Sylvia Plath reading her autobiographical poem "Daddy".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hHjctqSBwM&feature=related

And now, courtesy of YOUTUBE (if the idea doesn't make you wince) animated 'virtual readings' of their poems by Keats, Christina Rossetti, Dylan Thomas, and Emily's Bronte and Dickinson are available. We can only hope that the animations improve.

Book Groups: Book-lovers will be delighted to learn that November saw a very important agreement between GOOGLE and authors and publishers. A huge number of books and magazines are now available to read FREE at http://books.google.co.uk/
History Groups: Looking for a new project for the new decade? Members of your Local U3A Groups are a living history book. Why not research your community, its organisations, its individuals, the part it played in two world wars? Perhaps your results can be published, as a book or a CD and sold locally to help with expenses. Or perhaps with help from your computer group you can try your hand at a website - see http://www.bognor-local-history.co.uk/ for an example and click on http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/local_history/getting_started/first_steps_local_history_01.shtml for some help.
Science/Technology Groups: For members of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (previously the IEE), the magazine was always a welcome source of informed comment and impartial judgement. The website at http://www.theiet.org/ is equally excellent. Plenty of articles that can be downloaded and discussed at meetings.

While researching in GOOGLE for U3A Group websites I found http://tottonu3apoets.blogspot.com/ -- and what a good idea for any U3A Group. Blogs are easy to set up and use, and a smart way to keep in touch with your members, no matter how many or few. If you need to advertise your future programme or report on your previous meeting, why not ask your computer group to help you start a blog?