Mull & Iona U3A Newsletter. May 2020Contents.Editorial ( possibly called Ron’s witter.)

Most Irritating Word of the Season.

Up and coming events.

Past Events / What’s Been Happening, Before and During Lockdown.

Barry’s Bytes by Barry Whenman

Wild Flowers – Lesser Celandine and Marsh Marigold by Norma Dowling.

News.

Other U3A News.

Editorial.Well what a turn up for the books. Who would have imagined that we would all be doing virtual U3A , lots of gardening and getting those jobs done which we have been putting off all of 2019.Our U3A groups have been carrying on with their activities while still maintaining the 2meter gap. There is a special report in Past Events / What’s Been Happening.There is also news of a proposed change to our Constitution which will make retention of Committee Members more relevant to our small U3A .As always we have our regular contributions of Barry’s Bytes and Wild Flowers .

Most Irritating Word of the Season.The word which irritates our editor in chief at the moment is INFOTAINMENT.He had been counting his pennies and vaguely thinking about changing his car which shakes his old bones about no end. So he decided to investigate on line brochures and discovered the word INFOTAINMENT. It would seem that cars nowadays have INFOTAINMENT systems. Gone is the car radio with a tape or CD player, now we have USB ports, I player and Android connectivity. The full description is a “Composition Media Infotainment System”. So this will play music tell you where and how to go somewhere and if you have blue-tooth it will communicate with your phone, but only if your phone is smart. Blue-tooth somehow sounds painful and reminds our Editor in chief of blue bags which in his youth were used to treat wasp stings.Car comparisons often come down to the differences between the “Composition Media Infotainment System” never mind how well or not the car drives. Anyway enough of this witter let’s get onto the important U3A stuff.

Up and coming events.Well there were loads but they all have been Covidised. The committee is keeping a close watch on Nicola’s statements ( she’s the First Minister by the way) and will leap into action arranging Open Meetings, AGM etc. as soon as we return to some degree of normality.

Please do check our website, at https://u3asites.org.uk/mull-iona/homeThe webmaster assures me that it is usually upto date – Editor in Chief talking to himself – keeptaking the pills Ron.

Past Events // What’s Been Happening.

The editorial staff have welcomed a new special roving reporter ,Linda Littlewood, her report follows.

U3A Activity Groups’ NewsSpecial Covid Edition!! May 2020Hi Everyone. In case you are wondering what’s happening to our U3A groupsI’ve asked the group leaders what they’ve been up to and some groups I’mactually in myself so...The following is a run around the island and our groups and the lovely thingswe have all been getting up to. Even apart we are together in our thoughts...and most often it seems online...and with photos!!!Science For EveryoneThis group was one of the earliest casualties of the lock down and Barry haddone so much work on the "Where are all the aliens?" session which wasscheduled for this month. He said, ‘Realistically it's probably not going tohappen any time soon.’But rather than leave us in the lurch he sent us some great links to somethought provoking stuff we would have had at the meeting.... So anyone interestedcan check them out on You Tube and Carry On!! No doubt we willhave a discussion about these as soon as we can!!(I have the links if anyone would like me to pass them on!)Walking GroupThough we can’t get together at the moment members are still of course exploring!Barry and Carolyn took off for new walks and said, ‘We’re getting toknow our "local patch" a little better. It's amazing to realise that we've beenhere 5 years, and still hadn't been down to the "spit" of land the other side of the River Ba, beyond the fish farm’. The attached photo is from there, lookingtowards Killiechronan.

Lorraine and Brian have tended to walk around the streets/back lanes of Tobermorymost of the time, although they did visit Aros Park, and like them Alison

and Vic also hit the trail there,with lovely evening walks and went to Aros park via the Coastal path, seeing the empty pontoons and moorings on the way..a very strange sight…..

Cath. meanwhile is walking around Dervaig.

One of her walks she said, was only just up the road, ‘..but this is what I sawon my late evening stroll .... The moon wasn't quite the full moon ... but itwas just great to see this and be able to photograph it.’

Geology GroupIn ‘desperation’ some of us started to try and find our own rocks in our garden!Steve said, ‘Our rocks are about 18m under the peat bog’. I shall start excavating shortly in the certain belief that there won't be any hurry to finish anytime soon, but I have a feeling that I'll hit the water table before I hit the Mullite.’

Dee and Peter seemed to have much better luck though! Dee wrote,‘I am working on our garden. Removing the top turf and soil to reveal thebedrock on the slope part of our garden.A lot of earth moving but once the Alpine flowers are growing it will be a nice feature in the garden’

Before and After.

Ron went much further and unearthed ancient shorelines!!!

‘As part of my lock-down therapy I have been exposing some rocks in ourgarden, photo attached. We knew that our house was built on a raised beachso I decided to find out where the ancient shore lines were.On Mull they are quoted in scientific lit. as being approximately at 30 metersand 20 meters, 98 feet and 65 feet in old money, above present average sealevels.Using a Garmin GPS which gives height above sea level I investigated. Nowas you know we are on a hill above Bunessan but the 20m sea level justreached our front garden and obviously submerged most of the village. Thehigher level left about 5ft of our roof out of the water and coincided with therocks I uncovered previously.So rocks in the photo maybe the shore line about 15000years ago.Interesting to discover if the levels affect other people’s houses similarly.

This looked like a lot of hard work’!

Meanwhile Steve and I just sauntered off from our peat bog to the shore ofLoch Na Keal to see ‘P’ forms.…

And some dykes…

We also asked Ron to identify some stuff we saw near Fishnish on anotherday....We’re still working on the actual point on map!!

( Ron’s comment – not a clue, a mystery to be solved post Covid.)

Philosophy GroupWe had a really interesting ‘discussion’ about Beauty and Ugliness. Many contributionswere made after we were set the task of finding something that wefound either beautiful or ugly. Some interesting pictures were exchanged anddiscussed and we really thought hard about what we thought they meant...Can you work out which photo shows beauty and which ugliness?

Steve found a fun Scottish definition of Metaphysics :When the party who listens dinna ken what the party who speaks means, andwhen the party who speaks dinna ken what he means himself - that's meta-physics.He said it worked for him!!Art and CraftShirley sent the group some fascinating links to look at work by the artistGerda Lipski. The technique she used is interesting.’ and no doubt we’ll getback to that when we all meet up again! https://youtu.be/xFVZRKtH1qYLater some of us actually got our act together and did some Lino cutting,sharing the progress as we went.

Shirley thought, ‘It was fun and it was good to share the day.’Meanwhile in the tradition of the group we worked on the topic we’d chosenfor that meeting and shared electronically.

Felicity said,‘It was great fun, sharing photos and feedback as we went along and endingup with a finished print each. It would be lovely to have more people takingpart next time! Of course we do have to supply our own posh biscuits, but wecan share ideas and feedback and much else. I look forward to seeing ourphotos on the website later on.’ ( Web-master comment “ ’Tis done.”)

Must say I’m really looking forward to our next project. I have to say the emails were flying thick and fast between the small group that took part in thelast Art and Craft day which turned into about a week.... We learned lots fromeach other and it was good fun exchanging ideas and photos!!!

Starting up again.Meanwhile, thought I’d check out what the queen does, and when its safe forher... I’ll be out!!! If you are interested in any activities you are not yet involvedin, or you have some ideas about interests we can pursue in this very strangeperiod of time, do let me know, and we will continue to try and keep intouch and have fun together!!Take care everyone, and I hope you enjoyed this short ‘tour’ around ourmembers activities in these strange times. Keep going. We’re still here!

Linda.

Before Lockdown.

Not the Christmas Do - 6th March 2020Your Editor in Chief was distraught that he and his trusty personal assistant ( Shirley’s never to his knowledge been called that ), were unable to attend this culinary extravaganza but going by the following report from our special roving reporter it was truly splendiferous.

Well the food was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G as usual!!! What culinary skills our members have! We werestuffed by end and all sitting over coffee trying hard to force in another morsel …..

We’d all written something that we thought no one knew about us on a slip as we came in.Then we tried to find out which ‘statements’ fitted which member.

We had a fun time discovering all sorts of hidden secrets! We had a really good laugh about: A kidnap; A stalker carrying someone’s photo and pursuing them into the air with it after 50 years; An athlete in our midst… (well we’re not surprised!!); A suspicious member being questioned closely due to a dodgy numberplate; a naughty child climbing out of the window and another almost getting locked into a crypt!!! As well as this one of us got invited to a party on the 'Arc Royal’, whilst another rubbed shoulders with Royalty, who couldn’t understand why they were coming to Mull’; A quiet diplomat; Someone posing as a nun…..And……. one of our number being arrested... Twice!!!! - Our lips are sealed!! Intriguing huh!!! You should have been there!!

We hope of course you will be at our next Bring and share do!

Linda

Odd Activities During LockDown.By magic of the internet the editorial staff have discovered some ordinary and unusual activities being carried out by members while under lock down.Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."You may recognise that statement from the distant past. First correct answer to the editor in chief buys him a bottle of red wine.

So here goes :-

Collecting seaweed from shore in fishermens’ boxes --- permission to use?Collecting the middle of toilet rolls --- must be an offence in broad daylight?Making face masks with fluffy ties ----- the mind boggles.Fixing an irritating spot that kept falling out of the ceiling – new medical condition?Buying two pairs snazzy socks --- photo promised for next newsletter.Lots and Lots of gardening ---- back ache?Playing with Debbie --- no no not a person but a computer operating system.Practising procrastination ---- new medical procedure?Learning the ukulele and at the same time painting a gate and doing a Future Learn Course on Renewable energy --- Now this is a useful person to know for all those jobs round your house.Propagating --- No No in the greenhouse of course ,no no that didn’t come out right, no no I think I should stop.Exposing rocks --- that’s me as in above report, which doesn’t say that after exposing them I washed them to catch the sunlight on the mica whilst drinking a beer or two. Sad I know. And last by no means least :- I have also been gardening. Emptied one of my compost bins and filled mussel floats ready for vegetables. I collected lots of seaweed and put it through my food processor! Took me ages!! Then I collected more and sat outside listening to Wuthering Heights tapes and this time chopped it up with scissors! My granddaughter said ‘ I bet that was boring!’ But it was actually very therapeutic. Also made a couple of bags and three pairs of socks!!****** keeps me busy. I do talk to myself more than usual but haven’t resorted to arguing with myself!

***** added to protect the innocent and sensitive of nature. Barry’s Bytes #2: by Barry Whenman.“Dancing with the Pope” - How to spot a hoax or scam

Remember that “Dance of the Pope” video youwere warned not to open? And you should warnall your friends, just in case? Well it neverexisted. It was just a hoax.The Internet is a wonderful thing. Unfortunatelyhoaxers and scammers also rather like it, as itgives them the ability to reach millions of peoplevery easily. Even though many of us are used toseeing fake or “too good to be true” messages, itdoesn’t take much to trip us up occasionally – andthe scammers only need a very low success ratefor it to remain profitable. The current crisis hassadly given them another opportunity to prey on our anxieties.

What’s the difference between a scam and a hoax?

A “scam” is designed to defraud you - by pretending to be your bank, the Inland Revenue, or a long lost relative - their aim is to get you to part with your money.A “hoax” may seem more benign. There is usually no obvious “harm”. But the aim is to get you to pass on “fake news”, perpetuating fear and uncertainty, wasting time and resources, and

adding to the general confusion – which makes us all more susceptible to the scammers in the long term.

What should I look for?

The scammers are getting better, but there are usually some tell-tale signs to look out for: Any request to “send to everyone you know” or “forward to as many friends as possible”

– this is a sure pointer that the contents are a hoax. Threats or dire warnings of what might happen if you ignore the request. Does the message quote a source for the information? Check that source - are they

known to you? Many hoaxes are attributed to a vague or unknown source (e.g. “a doctorin France”) to lend an air of authenticity. Do you suppose the person that sent you the message did any checks first?

Who sent the message? Is there a bogus email address? A text from a number you don’trecognise? Look very closely at the sender information - but beware, it is often forged.

Is it addressed to you individually? Beware of generic “Dear Friend” / “Esteemed Client”.

Non-specific dates such as “last week” rather than a fixed point in time. “Phishing” – dressed up to look like an official communication from your bank, etc.

Check the email address (often “close but not quite”). If on a computer then “hover” over links to check the web address (but don’t click!).

Is the message suspiciously brief, or does it contain poor spelling / grammar? These should all be warning signs.

ANYTHING WRITTEN IN CAPITALS IS ALMOST CERTAINLY UNTRUE.

If you really feel that you must send something on, then at least check it out with other sources first. “Snopes” is my favourite site for a quick check on known hoaxes. You may want to have a quick browse around to see how many others you recognise:https://www.snopes.com/The following site is particularly useful for debunking coronavirus-specific myths:https://theferret.scot/coronavirus-myths-fact-check-covid-19/

Some general rules to follow:

Don’t click on any links or attachments, unless you are absolutely sure where the message has come from.

Do not blindly forward unconfirmed rumours. Look for a trustworthy source which might back up the message. Don’t give out personal information. Your bank will never request this from you in an

email or text message. If in any doubt, log on to your account via the usual method, not by following a link.

Anything that sounds “too good to be true” inevitably is. Think twice - and then think again!

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future topics - then feel free to get in touch via email: bytes@whenman.co.uk

Occasional Spotlight on Wildflowers by Norma Dowling.

2. LESSER CELANDINE and MARSH-MARIGOLD

What a delight it has been to have the sun shining on the wild flowers in these difficult times! As a bonus, here are two for the price of one this time!The yellow flowers of both appear earlyand they are similar as they both belong to the Buttercup family. However, it is easy to tell themapart.Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is the smaller and probably morecommon plantand has 8-12 glossy, narrow petals, a starry appearance, 3 green sepalsand numerous stamens. This flower can be 1-3cm across. The leaves are heart-shaped and darkgreen, on long stems, up to4cm across. It is also known as Pilewort as ithas been used to treat haemorrhoids.The plant has small tubers that enable it to last through the winter. In theHebrides, charred remnants of these have been found in Mesolithic deposits and it is thought they may have been cooked for food as they are by indigenous North Americans. It must not be confused with the Greater celandine, which is in the Poppy family.

Marsh- marigold (Caltha palustris), also known as Kingcups and Molly blobs, prefers damper areas. It also has a deep yellow, cup-shaped flower but it can beup to 10cm across. The flower consists of 5 sepals, not petals.The flower can have as many as 100 stamens and provides pollenand nectar for many insects.Leaves of the Marsh marigold are also heart-shaped but can be10cms across. We saw both these plants on our walk along SalenBay. Early last month I was a little concerned to discover that the heapon the drive, that I mentioned last time, had disappeared. Where were the Colts-foot plants? I need not have worried. The stones had been spread out and the plants had too! There were at least twenty! How special!! The leaves and seed heads are developing now.

Ref.“Wild Flowers of Coll and Tiree”

John Bowler, Emma Grant, Charlie Self & Simon Wellock“Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain & Northern Europe”

David Sutton“Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain”

Reader’s Digest Nature Lover’s Library

News.

Proposed change in Mull & Iona U3A Constitution.

You are probably aware that our Constitution specifies a maximum period of time that a membercan serve on the Committee and more specifically how long they can serve as an officer.Officer being defined as , Chair, Vice Chair, Business Secretary and Treasurer.With having a comparatively small membership filling committee roles has always been problematic so the committee made representations to the Third Age Trust to allow us to change our Constitution. The following very encouraging email was received from Samantha Mauger CEO Third Age Trust :- Best advice is not to have open ended terms of office.

My advice is that you change your constitution to say that

the maximum term of office on the U3A committee is 12 consecutive years after which a break of at least one calendar year must elapse before being eligible to stand for further election

Subject to the above clause all committee members whether officers or non officers may stand for election for up to two terms of six years in any role.

To create the changes on the lines suggested an EGM must be held and a vote taken by the members. Obviously with Covid-19 this is on hold but as soon as possible it is proposed that this will happen.Other U3A News.

The best source for all of this is the main U3A website :-

https://www.u3a.org.uk/