We all know life is full of ups and downs and this week gave us a perfect example of that.
The up was that we held our Christmas celebrations morning at the U3A. It began with a choir of some 42 children from Saint Andrews Primary school singing a medley of Christmas songs for us.
These were possibly the best-behaved children I’ve come across in a long time and their enthusiasm and their joy in singing for us as an audience was absolutely obvious.
We enjoyed their rendition of our favourite Christmas Carols and were thrilled to join in at the end with a very rousing rendition of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Our applause matched their enthusiasm and I’m sure you all agree that the school can be very proud of these children.

We had the pleasure of hearing the Maghull Handbell Ringers who provided us with a medley of Christmas songs including Ding Dong Merrily on High and Jingle Bells which we joined in.

Our readers gave us some humorous anecdotes of Christmas time from the anguish of parents who have to parcel up the presents no matter how tired they are, a cynic’s look at the modern Christmas, the initial joy of receiving presents on each day of the festival and the worry of what to do with them and the Grinch’s realisation; and a reminder to all of us, Christmas means that little bit more!!

Our last reading relating to Santa could also relate to our own u3a. We carry on through the work of volunteers and are always looking for more helpers. If you can help with the Treasury, the refreshments or the setting of tables on a Tuesday morning we would be thrilled to hear from you. Santa needs help just one day a year and we’d be happy if you could give just one morning a month!

Our pianist Chris Otim ably assisted by Lynn Maloret guided us through our own carols and Reverend Ralph Davies gave the blessing at the end of our celebration before we headed down for our coffee and mince pies.

We were able to hand over £344.50 to Woodlands and this was gratefully received on the behalf of the foundation by our own Geoff Heaps who has been a volunteer at Woodlands for over 15 years.

The down? Well that was the weather. Frosty and icy conditions meant that almost a third of our audience couldn’t make it. Funny how life gets in the way when something good is going on!!

I hope you all have a great Christmas with lots of good things going on for you and that 2023 is a great with good health and good friends around you.