Can you believe it is October already? Autumn feels like it is really taking hold now and many of the trees are starting to show their autumn colours.  It’s also definitely conker season.  Stoke Lodge isn’t blessed with any horse chestnut trees but Bristol’s conker trees are shedding their fruit and sending those spikey green balls plummeting to the ground to reveal the gorgeous brown nut inside.

In case you hadn’t guessed I have a bit of a thing for conkers.  I think every bit of them is delightful from the speckled spikey case to the milky white cushion that holds the precious shiny brown nut!

Courses available to join starting in October…

• Get ready for Halloween with our Pumpkin Needle Felting Workshop 9.30am to 2.30pm for one session only on 13 October with Elaine at Stoke Lodge. C66B.
• Find out more about how the UK Census can help your Family History Research in this one-off online lecture 6.30pm to 8.30pm with Rosemary on Tuesday 12 October. FHR3C.
• Get green fingers with Growing Fruit and Vegetables for one session 10am to 3pm on Saturday 16 October with Andy at Stoke Lodge. GJW2.
• Or maybe Cinema italiano e letteratura, Il Decameron, one session on Saturday 16 October, 10am to 3pm with Davide at Stoke Lodge. LC15.

and a few more starting in November…

• Experiment with Collage-Mixed Ability on Mondays 9.30am to 12noon from 1 November with Roma at Stoke Lodge. B58A.
• Delve into poetry with Writing From Art: Poetry Inspired By Works Of Art, starting on 2 November for 6 weeks on Tuesdays 7.30pm to 9pm with Samantha online. F41B.
• Work on your wellbeing with Self-Massage.  Running for 5 weeks Tuesdays 2pm to 3pm with Nen at Stoke Lodge. H65A.
• Get ready for the festive season with Christmas Papercraft-Cards And More!  Wednesdays 6.45pm to 9pm for 4 weeks from 3 November with Roma at Stoke Lodge. B55A .
• Improve your figure drawing with Drawing Figures with Mixed Media-Intermediates Fridays 9.45am to 12.15pm starting on 5 November with Bill at Stoke Lodge. B26B.

Black History Month

October is Black History Month and in an annual commemoration of the history, achievements, and contributions of Black people in the UK.  This year’s theme is Proud To Be…
A few of our tutors are offering one-off lectures this month on the theme of BHM that sound really fascinating.

• We have a one-off online lecture on The Slave-Ship Hannibal and all who sailed on Her (1693-1695), 2pm to 4pm on Wednesday 13 October with Rosemary online. SHR5.
• Find out more about The Case for Reparations:  A Short Course for Black History Month over 2 sessions on Wednesday 13 & 20 October 7pm to 9pm with Russell online. HRW3.
• And explore with philosophy tutor Leo the beliefs of Prof. Kwame Anthony Appiah- The concept of Multiple and ever shifting Identities a one-off session Friday, 29 October 7pm to 9pm. LPHL.

Green Fingered Success

We want to send our congratulations to our wonderful gardening tutor Jon Weatley.  Jon has been teaching for Bristol Adult Learning for many years and is a real expert when it comes to all things plants and planting.

Jon is no stranger awards and accolades and is a regular feature at the Chelsea Flower Show, but we were absolutely delighted to hear that this year he won the ‘Plant of the Year 2021’ award at the Chelsea.  Another beautiful vase for the collection Jon – well done from us all at Adult Learning.

Learning at Stoke Lodge

It has been brilliant to have so many classes back and I thank you all for the care you have taken to make sure returning to in person courses has been so enjoyable.
Thank you for wearing your masks around the building and for giving people room as you move about the centre.

Over the next few weeks as the weather becomes more changeable can I remind you it might be useful to bring an extra layer to class.  We have heaters available to top up if its cold but as we are trying to keep the rooms well ventilated, we will still be opening the windows in between classes.
Once again thank you all for your ongoing support of Adult Learning and all your kind words.

Stay safe and take care
Kindest regards
Jenny

Hello everyone, we are so excited to be welcoming many of you back to classes from next week.

More

Autumn Term courses available to book from 9.30am on Monday 2 August.

I am delighted to say the new selection of around 250 courses and workshops for the Autumn term will be available to book from next week.

All the courses are now listed and can be viewed on www.bristolcourses.com but the booking links and web enrol pages won’t be open and working until Monday morning.

You can book courses online, over the phone or in person at Stoke Lodge.
Please bear with us over the first few days, if you don’t get through on the phone, do try us again in a few minutes or please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

If you have an account with us, you can book online at Web.Enrol (webenrol.com).
If you haven’t used your account for a while it may be worth logging in before you book to check you can get in ok and have remembered your password correctly!

For all online bookings you should get two email confirmations from our system.
One to confirm your payment has been processed and one to confirm your place on the course has been booked.  Please look out for both and do give us a call if you only get one confirmation or have any problems.

Staff will be in bright and early on Monday fuelled up and ready with plenty of tea and coffee to start taking calls from 9.30am.

Our terrific team

I am extremely grateful to our fantastic development workers Marlis and Veronique and to all our amazing tutors for pulling together such a fantastic and varied programme.  Coordinating all those courses, sorting rooms, and wrangling with diaries is quite a task.  Never mind all the checking and proofreading required.

I am also very grateful to the Administrative team of Sam, Maria and Abi who have had the task of updating our databases and systems with all the new courses and course details and getting them all correct and ready for booking next week.

I feel very blessed to be working as part of such a committed and skilled team.

Continuing to be cautious

We will be continuing to watch the local and national restrictions and guidance over the summer and all courses are starting with lower than usual maximum numbers, to allow more space in the classrooms as we cautiously return to in person learning.

A few courses are remaining online so do check the details for each course on the website before you book.  We will update all our learners with any specific restrictions before the start of term.

Amazing artwork

Yesterday evening I was lucky enough to get to visit the fantastic art exhibition of work by 11 artists who have all been learning with tutor Laurel Smart over the last year.

The exhibition held at the Create Centre included work by Jane Boot, Kate Howard, Lyn Harradine, Stella Berkeley, Susie Harvey, Mina Malpass, Liza Donoghue, Jo Hearn, Di Ward, Jan Denton, Maggie Pearson, and Tutor Laurel Smart.

There were some truly beautiful pieces from all the artists, and I want to congratulate them all on a wonderful display of work.

Once again, we are one of the host venues for the BS9 Arts Trail on the weekend of the 4/5 September and along with displays from the BS9 artists we plan to have work from Stoke Lodge learners on display in the main foyer and in the corridors.

Our learners always have something amazing to show and I do hope many of you will be able to come along, view all their hard work and maybe even be inspired to sign up to one of the wonderful creative courses on offer.

Stoke Lodge has a very talented team of creative tutors offering courses in lots of disciplines for beginners and the more experienced learner, so really something for everyone who fancies getting their creative juices flowing.

As always stay safe, have a peaceful summer break and we look forward to seeing many of you in the Autumn term.

Kindest regards
Jenny

Hello everyone, I am so delighted to be able to tell you we have actual ‘in person’ courses starting in less than two weeks!  We are very happy to be able to welcome you back to Stoke Lodge.More

Hello everyone and welcome to another ‘in the loop’. We are delighted to share with you some of our new courses starting after the Easter break.

For the moment courses starting after Easter will continue online but as we move towards the easing of lockdown restrictions, we hope to open for in person courses later in the term.

As always there are lots to choose from. Here are just some of the fantastic courses that you can join right now:

American History:  From the Gilded to the Jazz Age, 1878 to the Roaring 20s on Tuesdays 6.45 pm to 8.45pm from the 20 April (HA3) or on Thursdays 6.45 pm to 8.45pm from the 20 April (HA4) with Russell

Painting and Drawing – Mixed Ability on Mondays 1pm to 4pm from 19 April (N15D) with Roma

Body and Mind Awareness / Developing Inner Resilience on Thursdays 9.30am to 10.30am from 22 April (R14D) with Saara

Computer Technologies: Get Started with Photoshop Elements on Wednesdays 10am to 12noon, from 21 April (DTC6) with Carmel

Get by in Portuguese on Holiday on Wednesdays 2pm to 4pm from 21 April (PLH5) with Margarida

Mindful Walking Group/Gentle Exercise Outdoors Thursdays 11am to 12noon from 22 April (R15D) with Saara

Filming The Art Life – exploring films about artists on Fridays 1pm to 2.30pm (N42E) with Davide

Contemporary Hispanic Literature and Film on Thursdays 9.45am to 11.45am from 22 April (SLF1) with Gorka

Italian Book Club: Cesare Pavese “La Bella Estate” on Thursdays 1pm to 3pm from 22 April (LICP) with Davide

Discover your Family History: Stage 1 on Thursdays 1.30pm to 4pm from 22 April (DYFH) with Rosemary

Drawing Figures in Motion Fridays 9.45am to 12.15pm from 23 April (N14L) with Bill

You can see lots more exciting courses on our website www.bristolcourses.com and our online booking site webenrol.

EU nationals

Are you, or is someone you know, from an EU country?
EU citizens who want to continue living in the UK must apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by 30 June 2021 to protect their rights following Brexit.

Even if you have lived in the UK for many years EU nationals still need to apply for settled status.  This means that as well as being able to work in the UK you can also use the NHS and access public funds such as pensions and benefits.

EU nationals and their family members who have lived continuously in the UK for five years should be entitled to get Settled Status, meaning they are free to go on living and working in the UK indefinitely.

People with less than five years’ residence can get pre-settled status, which after five years of continuous stay can convert to settled status.

Its free to apply but you do need to apply before 30 June this year.

Bristol values its EU citizens.  We need and want you to stay living, working and studying here.

Find out how to apply and find support at EU Settlement Scheme – bristol.gov.uk

A bit about March.

In early versions of the Roman calendar March was the first month of the year marking the beginning of Spring and the Spring Equinox.  The flower of March is of course the Daffodil, plenty of which are decorating our gardens, tables, parks and verges at the moment.

March is also Women’s History Month
If you fancy finding out about some of the amazing women in history you can see some great family friendly stories on the BBC website Women’s History Month – Teaching Resources – BBC Teach

English Heritage are also sharing some fascinating stories about Women in History including how women have shaped gardens and garden design. Women in History | English Heritage (english-heritage.org.uk)

Stay safe and take care

Kindest regards
Jenny

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
stirs the dancing daffodil.

The Garden Year by Sara Coleridge