H Peter Sinclair
It is with deep regret that members of Harrow U3A mourn the
death of their founder Peter Sinclair last Tuesday.
Peter was encouraged to start up and be the first Chairman of
Harrow U3A in 1991 by Audrey Cloet a NEC member of the Third Age Trust with
special responsibility for developing new U3As in those early days.
Throughout his chairmanship, he worked tirelessly to establish
a unity among members. He and his wife Susan hosted Strawberry Teas in their
lovely garden and they were both keen members of the Music Appreciation group.
Peter Sinclair in the Harrow U3A Committee 1993. Left to right in the photo are:Glenys Tuersley, Secretary; Peter, Chairman; Maurice
Soffa, Vice Chairman.
He quickly realised the potential of Harrow
joining other U3As in forming the Greater London Regional Forum and became one
of its early Chairmen and author of its constitution. He also encouraged links
with Harrow in Europe, which resulted in some funding for a trip to Strasbourg to the European Parliament and an exchange
visit with Douai's
Universitè de Troisième Age.
His knowledge of computing was a rare skill in the early 90s
and he became well known throughout the country among U3As for his PC skills:
encouraging other groups to set up their own websites ‑ Harrow
had one of the earliest with (to Peters intense delight) many international
'hits'. I well remember, as secretary, being presented with a PC for the first
time and asked, because of my typing ability, to produce the first newsletter
with a three column, newspaper format!
He immediately saw the advantage of lists of email addresses
and electronic newsletters to improve communication within the Greater London
Region. He was responsible for establishing Harrow’s
membership database in the early days and continued with electronic support for
Harrow U3A, the Region and the Third Age Trust in various ways until quite
recently.
Peter had been stricken with polio as a young man, but never
allowed his considerable disability to prevent him from making an enormous
contribution to the U3A movement in every way within his means.
We offer our sympathy and condolences to his family and
respect the passing of a very courageous man.
Glenys Tuersley
Chairman GLF.
30.4.2010
Peter Sinclair's life story
in his own words written in 2002 and updated in 2010. Please click on
the link and scroll down and click on "From Siegel to Sinclair: The story of a
Jewish family in our times". Please note this is non-printable for copyright reasons.
Here is the story of Susan Sinclair's departure from Germany Please click on the link and scroll down and click on "Recollections of my life in Nazi Germany
and my emigration to England by Susan E. Sinclair" . This is also non-printable. Both files are for private non commercial use only.
This is a document from the Harrow U3A archive.
Peter Sinclair and the U3A
Peter
Sinclair joined the ‘U3A in London’ in Crowndale Road, Camden
Town, London,
not long after his retirement, primarily to attend the Monday morning lectures.
‘Harrow U3A’ did not exist at that time.
May 1991: Peter attended a meeting in a Kenton Church
Hall, called to set up a full management committee to launch ‘Harrow U3A’ and
he was chosen as Vice chairman. In view
of his existing membership of the ‘U3A in London’ and his many years of
experience as a company managing director, Peter was soon after nominated and
elected as the first Harrow U3A chairman following the resignation of the
initial steering committee’s chairman, Robert Clarkson. He also became the Newsletter
Editor and Speakers’ Secretary.
December
1995: Peter handed over Harrow U3A chairmanship to Maurice Soffa at its 4th
AGM and was unanimously elected Life President by the Management Committee. He
remained Editor of the Harrow U3A Newsletter until December 1995 and as Speakers’
Secretary until December 2005.
May 1994:
representing Harrow U3A, Peter attended the initial ‘Discussion Meeting’ in Crowndale Road of a
proposed Greater London Grouping of U3As. This meeting was chaired by Marjorie
Ogilvy-Webb.
June
1998: Peter was elected Chairman of the ‘Greater London Region’ of the U3A
which he served until the AGM in 2000
when he was succeeded by Dorothea Galewski . He introduced the first
Constitution with the name of ‘Greater London Region U3A Forum’ (GLRF) and remained
a Harrow U3A representative until December 2008. Peter introduced and ran the
GLRF (later GLF) E-mail list, linking representatives of 30 or so U3As in the
Greater London area until December 2008 and he also created the GLRF/GLF logo
and initial website.
August
1996: Peter launched the Harrow U3A website www.harrowu3a.co.uk,
one of the first U3A websites in the UK. This website included a unique compilation
of links to websites created by other U3As or equivalent organisations in the UK and
throughout the world. This listing grew from zero to several hundreds of links in
34 countries by 2009. Many of these links at home and abroad carry a reciprocal
link to the Harrow U3A website and he managed this website until 2010.
January
2001: Peter initiated the Harrow U3A ‘Members Only’ ‘opt-in’ E-mail list with
44 subscribers. He ran this list until 2010. It now totals around 500
subscribers, representing approximately half of the total membership . It remains
a vital means of communication with all our members.
12 May 2009
Amended
2010
