newsletter no.52 winter 2021
TRANSCRIPT
Newsletter No.52 – Winter 2021
Here’s hoping that this new year of 2021 will mark the start of better things!
I hope that once again our excellent newsletter will cheer you up and inform you of all our past and ongoing activities through these difficult times.
We are in close contact with our parent and management organisation called the Third Age Trust. They are based in London and have oversight of all u3a groups. (Note: their change in logo style to lower case.)
Our local regional officer is Allan Walmsley. He has attended one of our zoom committee meetings and is a good source of advice and help to us. I recommend, if have access, to try u3a general newsletter by email u3a.org.uk/email. Once logged in they will send you a copy every so often.
The vaccine and the snow have given us all different views on coping with the year. Hopefully the virus with the cold and snow will be gone by the summer.
Our AGM is now going to be on Zoom on 30th of MARCH (a change of date from previous notifications.) This is to allow all the legal requirements to be met. It will also give us time to support the membership, who needs help with Zoom meetings. We must have 60 members attend this meeting to be quorate. Please consider joining us on that day. Full details will be sent to you in due course.
Chris Collins (Chair)
Round the groups
A full list of all interest groups appears on our website
https://u3asites.org.uk/wolverhampton
and a printed list is available on request
Art Appreciation It seems so long ago when we held monthly meetings at TWI, but
we did meet twice this year before lockdown...
In April Di Tordoff patiently enabled me to 'receive' Zoom
'invitations', and about 10 of us have been meeting virtually on some
Wednesday mornings with Di 'hosting'. She has also produced on-
screen illustrations for some members, so we have Di to thank for
continuing this year..
However, we're without several regular members so I've left aside
the planned programme. Instead, I encourage everyone to contribute
10 minutes on a theme so we can share our ideas. We can always
expect great variety, surprises, and to learn something new. Starting
from our lockdown situation we shared recent discoveries, things we
were enjoying and missing, and 'views out of the window' which
inspired several members to show the paintings they'd made.
We've moved on to sessions on 'Black lives matter', chosen colours,
autumn, water, 'Season's greetings' and the most popular so far -
'WOW!'. Any other u3a members interested in joining please let me
know. ('Contributing' isn't compulsory!).
But I am looking forward to meeting up again, without too many
covid restraints!
Margaret Barr 01902 643536.
Classical Music This group (not the composers below!) has unfortunately not met
since February of
last year, mainly
because well
over half its
members do not
have access to a
computer (this
must be the
highest
proportion of any
group in W’ton
u3a!) or do not
wish to use Spotify or Zoom. Some members have contact with
each other through other groups and many of those who don’t are
keeping in touch by phone, something I am sure other groups are
doing. But nothing can replace discussing music that we have
shared by listening to together. Who knows, but we may be able to
resume meetings sometime in 2021 and listen to music by Bach,
Beethoven, Mozart and others.
John Sheard
Computing Apart from answering one or
two queries from members
(something which we are
always willing to do,
remember) there is little to
report this time, so here is
something computer-related
and, I hope, interesting:
what3words is a free app for
smart phones and tablets which you may find entertaining, useful or
possibly even life-saving.
The designers of the app have mapped the whole world into three-
metre squares, each with its own unique identifier consisting of just
three words. For example, I am writing this in the square labelled
upgrading.bikes.dusty, but if I go to my front door I shall be at
puts.donor.tips.
Suppose you fall and sprain an ankle somewhere in Snowdonia or
your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and you need to call
the emergency services, what.three.words will use your GPS to
pinpoint your position precisely.
I’m sure we’ve all experienced this situation: you know the
postcode, but it covers 25 houses, and you can’t see the house
numbers in the dark, or you’ve got the postcode of a National Trust
property you haven’t visited before, but where’s the entrance?
Using what3words your phone will take you straight there. You
can even click on Navigate and it will guide you to your destination
just like a satnav. On your phone or tablet the three-metre grid can
be overlaid on either an outline map or a satellite view map such as
google maps, so it’s very easy to find any three-word identifier.
Enter a place name or street address into the search bar, then switch
to satellite mode, zoom in till you see the grid then click on the
appropriate square.
what3words is increasingly being used by many emergency
services, delivery companies, bird watchers (to record precisely
where you saw a rare bird) and taxis. If you want to order an Uber
for example, all you need to put in is the identifier for where you are
and the one for where you want to go. You can even speak the three
words rather than typing them. In addition, some car manufacturers
are now including what3words in their satnavs.
Finally, you can just have fun with it. Because the three-metre grid
covers the whole world, there’s a fair chance that any combination
of three random words will represent a grid square somewhere.
These are some I tried: the u3a motto learn.laugh.live is in Armenia
on the border with Azerbaijan, hands.face.space is in the sea off the
coast of Llandudno and take.back.control is lost somewhere in the
jungles of Brazil.
Footnote for my fellow pedants. Since what3words uses a selection
of words from a known, finite sample, shouldn’t they have called it
which3words?
Geoff Williams
Contemporary History In the Contemporary History Group we’ve learnt that the past has a
habit of coming back and catching up with you. In 2020 it soon
became clear that we were living in interesting times and that we
badly needed a better historical perspective on them. In April, at our
first Zoom meeting of the lockdown, the topic was the “Spanish Flu”
epidemic of 1918, estimated to have caused 20-50 million excess
deaths. In May we read James Barr’s Lords of the Desert, showing
how effectively successive post-war “America-first” governments in
Washington dismantled the remnants of British imperial power in
the Middle East, from Suez to Iraq. In July we confronted the
arguments of David Runciman’s How Democracy Ends (his
determined refusal to despair about the near future appears - so far -
to have been justified). In June and September we looked at how the
National Health Service came to be set up, and at the history of the
World Health Organisation.
In October we faced up to the hard-to-believe scandal of Home
Office botching and individual distress and destitution described in
The Windrush Betrayal (the
journalist Amelia Gentleman did an
important part of the research for
her book in Wolverhampton, helped
by employees and volunteers at the
Refugee and Migrant Centre). This
was followed in November by Afua
Hirsch’s Brit(ish): On Race, Identity
and Belonging, and Renni Eddo-
Lodge’s Why I’m no longer talking
to White People about Race. In
early 2021 we’ll be considering
Kate Raworth’s account of how 20th
century economic practice has
threatened the planet’s ecological
boundaries.
As always, new members (or people thinking of putting a toe in the
water by logging into a meeting or two) are welcome. Other topics
coming up – the French Resistance in World War 2, the defence of
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Chernobyl, Philby, Ernest Bevin, and Joe
Biden.
Contact us at [email protected]
Neil Malcolm
Country Dancing The laughter and happy
chatter of friends
sharing together two
hours weekly in a
common pleasure -
- Country Dancing -- is
now stilled, leaving only
an echo in the memory.
Early efforts to stay in touch, friendly offers of help, marked the
early stages of what was to become one of the bleakest times in our
history. Self reliance comes to the fore in desperate times, but we are
social animals and long for togetherness.
A glimmer of light glows in the darkness and we realise that soon -
- SOON - we will be able to meet again.
Looking forward to that time!
Faith Russell
Games If you enjoy playing board
games, please join us; it’s a
chance to forget everything
and just play. There may be
a favourite childhood game
you really enjoyed - bring it
along, we will all join in.
It’s not about winning or
losing it’s being with a really
nice group of people and
relaxing. There may be
frustrations along the way,
you will probably learn a lot
about yourself with the
thoughts you have whilst
playing - it’s all very light
hearted and a lot of fun .!!!!
Pauline Ward
French Since March Group members have kept in touch weekly via email.
At first we circulated summaries of articles we have read in our bi-
monthly French magazine but as the months passed all kinds of
interesting stories, poems, videos etc were shared by the group. One
we all found amusing was a video entitled ‘Brexit Song’. Here is a
flavour of the content…….
Brexit Song..... « Chanson Brexit »
Oh England you broke our hearts,
When you first voted to depart,
But before you off and pack,
One thing...... « we want our language back »
No you can’t have « joie de vivre » without « le français »,
You’ll lose yourself without our « cul de sac »,
No fizz without « champagne »
Though you can keep your blooming rain 🌂☔️
We’re taking all our French words back.
You cannot drive a car without a « chauffeur » 🚘,
So many things that you will sorely miss like (You have probably
got the idea by now but here are additional ‘take back’ words
included in the song):-
« déjà vu » « lingerie » « rendezvous » « toupée »
« etiquette » « ambience » « pas de chance »
« fiancé » « soufflé » « risqué » « à la carte » « encore »
« R.S.V.P » « à la carte » , « encore »
« à la mode » « après ski »
« nil points »
If you would like to watch the full performance of the Brexit Song
then try this link:
https://app.box.com/s/k5i86ymvn9sid0kdtsv1qward7spc6mb
« Entente cordiale à tous »
Groupe français Wolverhampton
Judith Rose
Gardening
As you can imagine the garden group has been in abeyance since
lockdown, Much of our programme involves visits to various venues
and to members' gardens. It has been possible to keep in touch by
email and phone and, for those who were able, to visit each other
according to the ever changing rules. Possibly the thing that most
people miss is visiting each other to see how gardens have
developed and to exchange ideas, plants and tips.Having a garden at
all is a luxury we all appreciate. So many people have remarked on
the way they have enjoyed their gardens this year, having the time to
really see and hear the world around us. We are usually so busy
rushing around that it has been good to be able to take stock, observe
closely, plan changes to the garden or try out new things.
Annie has part of an allotment and has grown fruit bushes.
Ruth has started to overhaul her garden as a result of a visit from the
group before lock down.
A gift of seeds led to Pat growing them in pots which is another
activity that has proved to be satisfying and productive.
Hilary has experimented with growing salad in planters, which can
be placed close to the house for easy access.
Angela S. has managed to successfully to grow mistletoe and is now
waiting for berries to form.
Marian G. is someone else who has been enjoying growing
vegetables.
In the spring Mary is planning to grow climbing roses, having
removed an old honeysuckle, and to grow fruit bushes.
Gardens are constantly evolving, which is their joy - they are many
things to many people. Fruit, veggies, climbers, bedding plants - the
list is endless with something to suit all tastes and personalities.
Ponds are gaining in popularity, with so many t.v. programmes
urging us to be kind to wild life - even the smallest pond adds bio
diversity to the garden, as do plants that attract bees and butterflies.
Even in a small garden it's good to have a messy corner where bugs
can find a home. I am planning a bug hotel using pallets. Of course
we mustn't forget the bird feeders, bird baths and nest boxes.
If I have the energy I would like to have a prairie border, we shall
see! I hope everyone is keeping well. Roll on the vaccine.
Jeanette Black. 341460
Food The Food Group has not been able to run in the normal way due to
Covid. We did try communicating via a Newsletter at the start of
the pandemic which would be great if we could start up again as it
would be a good platform to keep us in touch, as we are widely
dispersed. Perhaps when
we are able to meet up
again we can resurrect the
Group's interest and
continue in the friendly
format that we enjoy,
meeting in each other's
homes to discuss a variety
of aspects pertaining to
food and venturing out to
taste world food in
restaurants. In the meantime, I would be really pleased to hear from
group members with any news or food ideas you may wish to share
with other group members. My telephone number is 01902
845580 and my email address is [email protected]
Pat Reeve
Some informative ideas you might like to try to while away an hour or so during lockdown….
1.The Science Museum website www.sciencemuseum.org.uk has virtual visits to their collection and a range of online events and talks you can book on line. 2. Similarly the Natural History Museum www.nhm.ac.uk have virtual tours, talks and events. 2. BBC Sounds on Radio 4 have a range of short talks to tap into including “39 Ways to save the Planet”. 3. Science Focus Magazine has a "Lunch Time Genius” item each weekday about wide ranging areas on science which are a very worthwhile read. Go to www.sciencefocus.com for their daily newsletter. 4. Jodrell Bank in conjunction with Manchester University give a range of 'Lovell Lectures’ on www.jodrellbank.net 5. The University of Manchester have a range of “Lockdown Lectures”, short talks by UK’s foremost scientists e.g. Brian Cox. Access via manchester.ac.uk 6. www.artuk.org issue a free, periodic online magazine on a range of areas if interest of art which you can subscribe to. 7. Visit ‘www.grisham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events' to register for informative lectures in a range of subjects including a series by “Professor Chris Whitty 8. For something a little less taxing, dip into 'BBC Bitesize - online learning for children', which has some interesting programmes. 9. Once the current lockdown is eased we will all be wanting to get out and enjoy interaction with nature again. An option for you would be to visit Kingswood Trust, walk their 9 acres of woodlands and open spaces, have a hot chocolate and a cake and feel the joys of freedom from our restrictions. Kingswood will be opening again, Tuesday and Saturday mornings, hopefully in the next few weeks, and we will inform all u3a members when dates are known.
CENSUS 2021 The next census is planned for Sunday 21 March 2021 and it will be the first digital census. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is aiming to make it easy for everyone to take part but help will be available online, by phone, webchat, email, social media, text message or at Census Support Centres across England and Wales. The ONS will contact you with an access code and explanatory information nearer the time.
……and finally
Editors Margaret Taylor 01902 341528 and Di Tordoff 01952 986104