Outings, Visits and Holidays
Contact: Lynda Harris
Tel: 01565 621058
Email: info@knutsfordu3a.co.uk
Details and booking arrangements will appear on this page of the website, also in the Newsletter, and will be announced at the monthly General Meetings.
BOOKINGS FOR OUTINGS – Clarification of Procedure
Unless otherwise stated, all bookings must be accompanied by a bookings form and a cheque made payable to Knutsford u3a. Please write the name of the performance or outing on the back of the cheque.
We will contact you only if your booking has not been successful. If you want confirmation that you have the places you want, please enclose a stamped addressed envelope. Usually your cheque will not be paid in until two weeks before the event.
If an outing is fully booked when we receive your cheque you will be informed and placed on the waiting list.
Places on u3a trips and outings can only be booked for full or associate members of Knutsford u3a. If you need to bring a companion/carer to enable you to take part in a trip or visit please see our Accessibility Policy.
We hope to take bookings for the current outing at our general meetings but, as our outings are proving very popular we cannot guarantee the availability at the time of the meeting. In other words please book early to be sure of a place!
The outings subcommittee hope you like the outings we plan. Please contact Lynda Harris on 01565 621058, or email info@knutsfordu3a.co.uk if you have any ideas or suggestions for future outings.
VISIT TO NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM
Thursday, August 8th, 2024
Coach departs 9 am.
Cost £23.00, includes transport, coffee on arrival and a seat on the land train.
Following the recent memorable events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, we thought it might be appropriate, and hopefully popular!, to make another visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. This is a 150 acre site in Staffordshire, developed since 2000 and officially opened in 2004. Over 400 memorials are placed amongst some 25,000 trees and gardens, ensuring the unique contribution of those who served and died will not be forgotten. It is an attractive and moving site.
We should arrive by 10.30 and will have coffee on arrival. At 11.30 we will then board a land train, which explores the grounds for 50 minutes, with a pre-recorded commentary. Following this, you have time to purchase your own lunch in the restaurant, (or bring a picnic) and to look more closely at some of the memorials that you have seen from the land train.
We plan to leave at 3.30 to return by 5 pm.
N.B. The land train is wheel chair accessible. Please pre book your own chair space on 01283 245100. Or you can prebook your own mobility scooter, on the same number.
Places for the visit can be reserved by completing the booking form, and sending it with your cheque, made out to Knutsford U3A, to Margaret Hinde, 1 Warford Hall Drive, Alderley Edge, SK9 7TR. Tel 01565 872643
OR they can be bought via PayPal or Debit/Credit card at our On-line Tickets page.
VISIT TO ST GILES CHURCH, CHEADLE, STAFFORDSHIRE AND
THE AWARD-WINNING TRENTHAM GARDENS
FRIDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 2024
DEPART: Knutsford Bus Station at 09.15 – RETURN: approx 17.15
PRICE: £25.00 per person
This will be a very varied day out! The day will start with a short coach journey to Cheadle in Staffordshire to visit St Giles’ Roman Catholic Church. This is a Grade 1 listed Gothic Revival Church built between 1841-46 and considered to be one of the finest designed by Augustus Pugin. I am hoping that we shall have a guided visit, but if that is not possible then there is a wealth of information about the decorations on the Church’s website www.stgilescheadle.org.uk
After about an hour we shall continue our journey to the award-winning Trentham Gardens. This will be a totally different experience! There is so much to explore. There is a shopping village, with its blend of independent stores and high street names; a Garden Centre with a huge selection of products; three restaurants and the gardens. The perennial displays in the Italian Gardens are at their peak in late summer and autumn and if you want to escape the crowds there is the circular walk around the spectacular mile-long lake designed by Capability Brown. It will be difficult to do everything in the time!
Refreshments are not included. Further information and Accessibility Guides are on the websites: www.trentham.co.uk and www.stgilescheadle.org.uk
Tickets for this event can be bought via PayPal or Debit/Credit card at our On-line Tickets page.
Alternatively they can be reserved by completing the booking form and sending it together with your cheque made payable to Knutsford & District u3a to:
Marian Goddard, 1 Devis Way, Knutsford WA16 0GY, Telephone: 07412 936 971
Visit to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and a Trip on the Llangollen Steam Railway
Friday 21st June 2024
Depart: Knutsford Bus Station 9.15am – Return: 5.15pm
SOLD OUT
11am – This exciting trip will take us to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct to float over Thomas Telford’s ‘Stream in the Sky’ in the canal boat ‘Little Star’ – taking in marvellous views from this historic structure. Hot and cold drinks and ice cream can be purchased on board. We will return to be collected by the coach which will take us into Llangollen with time to look around and where we will be able to purchase lunch or drinks if you prefer to take a picnic.
2.45pm board the steam train at Llangollen Station for the trip to Corwen. There is a café at the station and drinks are available to purchase on arrival in Corwen. The coach will meet us again at Corwen for the return journey to Knutsford.
Please note there will be a short walk along the towpath from the car park to join the boat and then a step onto the boat. Likewise there will be a step onto the steam train, as on a normal train. Please also be aware that the Aqueduct is, by its construction, very high and is not for anybody who is afraid of heights!
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
TBA.
For a review of the Holiday in Northumbria, June 2022, click here
For photos of the Hebridean Holiday, May 2017, click Hebridean Holiday Photos
For photos from the visit to Highgrove, August 2017, click Highgrove Visit Photos
For reviews and photos of the visits listed below, see the Reviews of Group Events, Outings and Visits page:
JCB Factory at Rocester, October 2014
Morgan Factory at Malvern, September 2015
Birmingham, September 2017
Wentworth Woodhouse, September 2018
Whitworth Art Gallery and the Portico Library, Manchester, November 2018
Chethams Library and Manchester Cathedral, March 2019
Black Country Museum, Dudley, West Midlands, May 2019
Tissington, June 2019
Cruise, Manchester Ship Canal to Liverpool, July 2019
Lichfield Cathedral and the National Memorial Arboretum, September 2019
A Day of Merchandise and Molecules: Visits to the Amazon Fulfilment Centre, near Manchester Airport, and to Waters’ Mass Spectrometry near Wilmslow, October 2019
Gorton Monastery, December 2019