Out and about group Once a month visit to places of interest in the area. Some of these are of historical interest, some are places of scenic beauty, such as gardens or estates. Others are National Trust properties, and some are tourist attractions. Transport can be arranged for members who have no transport of their own, usually by car owners with space to spare. This is a chance for members to visit places which would normally be out of their scope, a chance to get together over lunch or tea, and make new friends, plus an opportunity to be educated at the same time!
Play reading group
This group started in March 2000 and meets about 10 times a year, each meeting finding a convenient date for the next. Exeter Performing Arts Library can provide play-sets, and plays we have read range from Shakespeare and Ibsen to Alan Ayckbourn, Peter Shaffer, etc., with short sketches or one-act plays occasionally. We read from scratch, and meetings are unpretentious (you don't have to be particularly good) and always interesting and enjoyable
affairs This is a new group. We meet monthly on Tuesdays at 2 to 4 pm. We discuss current topics from newspapers, TV and radio. We meet in members' homes, therefore numbers may be limited.
Discussion group This group which meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 2:30pm in Exeter College, sets out to consider a single topic at each meeting. Anybody can suggest a topic, but we hope that they will prepare themselves to lead the discussion on their chosen topic as this exercises their own creativity. We try to choose a subject with some philosophical content rather than problems of the day. For instance we chose fundamentalism on one occasion, the intention being to look at the root of the problem rather than current specific instances.
In this way we hope to extend our understanding of the way things work, rather than searching for a solution to a particular problem. We hope that our meetings are convivial and to the point. It is important that a certain amount of humour enters into the discussion, but we try to keep flippancy at bay, although we are not always successful.
