November /
December 2020
Our First “Virtual” General Meeting.
It was very easy to join our first attempt at a “distance” general
meeting. All that was needed was to have previously downloaded
“Zoom” onto a computer, laptop or tablet.
[https://zoom.us/download]. It doesn’t matter if your device doesn’t have a camera, that will simply mean that other participants won’t be able to see you.
At the time allocated for the meeting, we simply clicked onto the link that was in the last newsletter, and waited for the host to admit us. Devices do vary as to buttons and where they appear, but if you have the video and microphone icons at the bottom of your screen switched on, you will be audible and visible to everyone else, although the host does have the
ability to “mute” your microphone. Zoom is quite power hungry, and anyone joining on a battery-reliant device is advised to be charging from the mains whilst participating in a Zoom meeting. Steve Short did very well, not only with the presentation, but also with handling the technicalities at the same time. I thought that he was very hampered by the lack of response from the audience, which would have given him more spontaneity had it been "live", but he did the best he could. He was introduced by Robert, our chairman, and then launched into a fascinating biography of Eric Bartholomew and Ernie Wiseman.
Both of them were discovered by the impresario, Jack Hylton, and appeared as separate acts in his Youth Takes a Bow show in 1940, although they were
both chaperoned by Eric’s mum. From school, Eric went down the mines as
a “Bevin boy,” whilst Ernie went into the merchant navy. Their entertainment careers began at the Liverpool Empire, where they appeared
as separate acts, Bart and Wise. When they entered the “big time”,
appearing at the Windmill Theatre in London – they bombed! When they
Northfleet &
District
broke into television, their first episode of a new series also bombed, leading to the comment,
“What is a television set? Answer, the box in which they buried Morecambe and Wise.”
They continued to do well in summer season and pantomime, until they once again appeared on
television in 1961, in a series called “Two of a Kind”, which ran for seven years. By then they were appearing at venues like the London Palladium. They were invited onto the Ed Sullivan Show in America, with an audience of 53 million viewers. They were invited back no fewer than sixteen times. In 1965 they made the first of three films, “The Intelligence Men”, followed, very quickly, by “That Riviera Touch” and “The Magnificent Two”.
At 42, Eric had the first of three heart attacks.
By the 1970’s, celebrities were queuing up to appear on their
show, often to be ridiculed, but with everything carefully choreographed. Who can forget a harassed André Previn, constantly referred to as Andrew Preview?
At this point, Steve screened a short clip, featuring an
“antique” television set, with Eric and Ernie on the screen. A prop which he now owns.
Morecambe and Wise won BAFTA awards for Television Light Entertainment Personalities in 1963 and 1970; Television Light Entertainment Performance in 1971, 1973 and 1974. The Morecambe & Wise Show was nominated for BAFTA Light Entertainment Programme in 1971, 1974 and 1977, finally winning it for their Christmas Show in 1978. [They were both posthumously awarded a BAFTA Fellowship in 1999]. They both received an O.B.E. in 1974.
In 1979, Eric suffered his second heart attack and had a by-pass operation.
The pair appeared in their last ever show in 1983. Eric died in 1984 at the age of 58.
In 1993, Ernie appeared in “This Is Your Life”, chronicling their
40 years in show business together. He died in 1999 at the age of 73.
Even in these trying times, Gravesend & Northfleet U3A have maintained their standards of providing an entertaining, informative and amusing presentation at a General Meeting. The speaker was given a round of applause by the 35 contacts participating in the meeting.
Trevor Woodward Thanks to our new IT guru – Peter Buttle:
There is now a link to an edited version of the talk, via YouTube, for those of you who wish to see it. https://youtu.be/WpDJJSS30H4
The meeting ended with a montage of photos and videos of some of the over twenty U3A groups that are currently running indoors, outdoors and on Zoom, including Spanish, Photography, Elastixs, Walks, Bowls, Badminton and Ukulele, showing the positive, creative and enthusiastic efforts our groups are making for our members.
Forthcoming attractions.
November General Meeting
–
Friday 13th.
The speaker this month is Howard Slater, Howard is a retired qualified lecturer and has been giving talks for over thirty years.
The talk is about the life and times of Glen Miller, with a musical interlude of his most famous music, together with the mystery of how, and when, he died.
December General Meeting
–
Friday 11
thDec
The speaker for December is Melanie Gibson-Barton BSc (Hons).
Melanie has given presentations to us in the past, and proved to be very popular. Her talk is 'And So To Ted' A history of teddy bears and other bears.
The link for both of these meetings is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89531186502?pwd=VUZydlhFd3JGamtnd XZmRFZXM3R4UT09
Meeting ID: 895 3118 6502 Passcode: 405457
Renewal Of Membership
Membership renewal for 2021 is now due at the same price of just £12.50. The deadline for renewal is Saturday 9th January 2021.
Please note that renewals need to be paid by cheque together with an enclosed SAE for the return of your membership card.
If you are unable to pay by cheque, please contact Doreen Neighbour (see last page for contact details). A letter with full details and a renewal form has been emailed to members. Members who are not on email will receive their renewal documentation by post.
Thank you
Doreen
The deadline for notices, articles or photographs for next month’s newsletter, which Mick Brookes will
be editing, is: Wed 2nd December. Please e-mail items to: [email protected]
Editor’s note:
In view of the increased amount of information supplied by Steve Kelly, this month, I have joined Mick in issuing a separate edition containing the latest schemes to relieve you of your hard-won cash. Personally, I would prefer to retain all of the information in one place, but this month, it was threatening to overtake the remainder of the newsletter. What do you think? Which do you prefer? Let us know.
Creative Writing
–
‘
She closed the door softly behind
her……..
’
.
With our stories having to begin with this sentence this way, the theme suggested a thriller or something underhand, but we’ve learnt to expect the unexpected, and that’s exactly what happened.
Two of our stories featured runaway girls, one a five year who, following the very recent birth of her brother, felt neglected and decided to run away. But not too far - in fact, about 100 metres. Happily, she was found. That wasn’t the case with the sixteen year old who, wanting fun in her life, ran away to London. Because of sky high rents, she found herself sleeping rough, while seeking work. When she met a young man, things took a turn for the worse, with disastrous consequences.
Another story featured a tricky love triangle at work, which became even more intriguing when a fourth person from the company became romantically involved. Another, beautifully written story told of Queen Victoria’s favourite grandson, Wilhelm (German future WW1 Kaiser), keeping a vigil at the bedside of Victoria as she lay dying.
An imaginative story told of a visit to an artist’s huge, wild garden, with a secret ramshackle door. Passing through the door, he came across a young girl, who mysteriously took him back to his past.
There was a mini-thriller, about an anxious schoolboy sneaking into the teacher’s room to steal a copy of the mock science exam paper, only to find that the paper presented to the students in the exam had been switched to another. Another told of a troubled twenty something young man in some sort of mental hospital. Beautifully descriptive, the story told of the boy’s recovery.
Finally, there were two stories of unhappy relationships. One, a true story, about a soon to be married couple, but with the man having an incredibly possessive fiancée, constantly checking on him and
constantly, and unfoundedly, accusing him of affairs. The future marriage didn’t look promising, to say the least(!) In the other, an unhappily married woman with an alcoholic, violent and hypercritical husband escaped from the marital home, softly closing the door behind her……. and so we end where we came in!
Colin Nice
Spanish.
In addition to our weekly Spanish meetings, we have a monthly walk to nearby places of interest. Colin introduced us to this lovely 3 mile walk around St Mary’s Island and we were blessed with sunshine - who could ask for more?
Jan Rees
NEWS FROM OUR GROUPS
Photography 1
–
Countries.
Despite a few initial 'glitches,' we have now held our first, successful meeting, courtesy of “Zoom”. Initially, it
transpired that I could be heard, but not seen; I couldn't understand why the rest of the group thought that that was a great idea! The subject for this month's challenge was to produce a number of pictures depicting 'Countries.' These were not to be holiday snaps from the many places we have visited, but more pictorial representations of the countries. I never cease to be amazed at the creativity and inventiness of the members; whilst it is, perhaps, invidious to pick out one member for special mention, plaudits must go to Anne Pilkington for the most original series of photographs. Many of them left us guessing which country was being represented, only to be greeted by groans of frustration when the truth was revealed. We came to the conclusion that, overall, many of the shots showed food and, more particularly, drink, in various stages of consumption. I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about that, but I do anticipate a large influx of new members as a result!
Can you work out the country depicted in each photo? Answers on page 9.
Mike Swift
NEWS FROM OUR GROUPS
The Garden in November.
There is little doubt that November can be a miserable month. The clocks have gone back, the hours of daylight are ever reducing, and very often it is raining. Autumn is still with us, but as we get toward the end of the month, winter begins to emerge.
But November need not be all doom and gloom. Often the month can be punctuated by nice periods of weather, and such days are ideal to work outdoors. Also, it need not be a time devoid of flowers. Nerines make their appearance this month, with their beautiful pink flowers, as do so many of the best varieties of
Chrysanthemums. Berries are still in evidence on such shrubs as Pyracantha, provided the birds haven’t had
them!
One particularly interesting plant this month is Iris Foetidissima, known rather unkindly as the “stinking Iris”. In
midsummer, it bears flowers of a rather dull purple, suffused with yellow. But in November, it really comes into its own. Scarlet red berries now open from the seed pods, and these are a magnificent sight. With luck, they will grace the plants throughout winter. This Iris is easy to grow, and is fond of dry sites in shade, which makes it an asset in an environment where it is normally difficult for plants to thrive.
So, what jobs need to be done this month? Actually, there are quite a few, but I will confine myself to just three of the most important:
Plant Tulips: Tulips are planted later than other Spring Bulbs in order to prevent the fungal disease Tulip Fire. They like a sunny position, in well-drained soil. Contrary to popular belief, they did not originate in The Netherlands, although most of us always associate them with that country, but in Turkey, where the soils are well drained and dry. Plant the bulbs 4 to 6 inches deep, and put them either in a border, or in containers. Clean the Greenhouse: If you have a greenhouse, this is an ideal month to clean it thoroughly. By doing so, you will enable more light to enter, and so benefit the plants. You will also help make it a clean environment, and so reduce the likelihood of disease killing off your plants and seedlings. Take out all the greenhouse occupants, including electrical appliances, and make that sure you cover all electric power points thoroughly. Give it a good hose down, inside and out, making sure that you get the water into all the nooks and crannies. Then, wash the greenhouse, inside and out, with a mixture of disinfectant and washing up liquid and hose down again. If you have delicate plants living in the greenhouse over winter, you might want to install bubble wrap. This acts like a tea cosy, and enables the greenhouse temperature to be just a little bit warmer, a factor which could be significant in a cold winter.
Prune fruit trees: If you grow blackcurrants, redcurrants or gooseberries, now is a good time to give them their winter prune. The treatment is different for gooseberries and redcurrants on the one hand, and blackcurrants on the other. For the former, the leading shoots should be pruned back by about a third. In addition, go over the bush and look for branches crossing over, and also for diseased wood. Cut these out. Your aim should be to open up the centre of the bush, which will minimise disease. In the case of blackcurrants, your objective should be to encourage the growth of new wood, from which the fruit will emerge. You can achieve this by cutting out some of the older wood to ground level. Take out about a third of the bush each year.
When pruning of fruit trees is finished, give them all a good mulch with either home-made compost, or animal manure. This will help prevent weeds growing and will retain moisture, not to mention acting as a revitalising agent.
Look upon November, like October, as a month of preparation for next Spring. The more you do now, the better your garden shall be next year.
Robert Vanderwindt
NEWS FROM OUR GROUPS
Geography
–
The Gulf States.
We’re real globetrotters in Geography, ignoring Covid and lockdown, as we zip from the islands in the Indian Ocean to Tanzania, and now to the Gulf States. We were each given a different gulf state to research and, between us, we covered the lot.
A lot of our research was predictable and, for each state, the same. We already knew that they were all hot, arid, desert countries. We also knew that their key source of income was oil, which for all the
countries, provided more than 90% of their export income. It hadn’t occurred to me that, generally, their rail infrastructure was pretty close to zero, although several of the capital cities have metro systems.
Some of the smaller nations were particularly interesting. Bahrain is an island, little bigger than
Anglesey, and sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The northern half is highly developed, with a metro system, and it’s linked to Saudi by a 16
mile road bridge, the second longest in the world.
Kuwait is another small state, with Kuwait City, its capital, highly developed, but with little else besides. However, a new city is under construction in the desert, on the other side of Kuwait Bay. A huge bridge linking the new city to the capital has already been built.
Then there’s Qatar, just 5% of the size of the UK, and one of the driest countries on the
planet. Sounds an ideal place to hold a football World Cup(!) and yet in 2017 it was ranked the richest country in the world, per capita of population. And yes, it is going to host the 2022 football World Cup. Just before Christmas!
Now, we geographers need to pack our bags for our next assignation. We’re all off to the southern states of USA, just in time for Christmas!
Colin Nice
Talking of the USA. We hope these
didn’t
influence the
November elections!
Bridge linking Kuwait City to new Silk City
Walking during October.
Our walks in October have carried on apace. Whereas, prior to Covid, we had (excluding the strolls) two walks each month, we’ve taken advantage of our extra free time, by having two walks (normally repeated) each week. What’s so pleasing is that the number of people walking has risen sharply; during October we’ve averaged twenty six people, between the two walks, each week, with thirty-eight, different people taking part during the month. Not only that, we’ve pretty much dodged all the rain! Not a single walk has had to be cancelled or moved, and we’ve had a lot of sunshine - although we’ve also had a lot of mud! So where have we been? What have we seen?
We had a nice, local stroll from Jeskyns, that took us into woodland near Thong Lane, and then Dennis led a couple of walks from New Barn, which gave us panoramic views over Longfield, a lovely cup of coffee in the village, and a surprise sighting of a full-size Spitfire, parked in a front garden! We had a hilly walk from Hodsoll Street, and a brilliant, ‘farewell to British Summer Time’ walk, with a trip to the seaside, walking from the Tankerton slopes to Herne Bay, where we had lunch and a chance to explore, before returning. And finally, at the end of the month, we had a lovely – and muddy – circular walk from Aylesford. The first of these two walks was memorable for the newly ploughed field that we had to walk across. During the crossing, the sticky, squelchy mud enabled our boots constantly to try to part themselves from our feet (in one case they did!), and by the time we’d crossed the field we had one to two inches of mud glued to the soles of our shoes. In the subsequent, large, grassy field imagine our surprise to be reprimanded by the land owner, for the nine of us scraping the mud from our boots. Why? Horses are grazed in the field, and she didn’t want us to spoil the grass! You couldn’t make it up!
If you’d like to be included in walks after lockdown please contact me (contact details at end of newsletter)
Creative Writing: In 100 Words.
With each of us having nominated a random song title, we were asked to pick any of the titles and write a 100 word story based on our choice. Now, 100 words is not a lot. In fact it’s little more than a paragraph, and to achieve a start, middle and ending in so few words is a tall order. So did we achieve it? Of course we did!
Lennon/McCartney/Beatles titles provided the lion’s share of the nominations
‘She Came in Through The Bathroom Window,’ featured a girl returning home, far too late after a date with her boyfriend, and, having to climb through the bathroom window, because the front door was locked, she climbed in, only to find her dad on the loo. ‘When I’m 64,’ featured a 64 year old lady, who was the antithesis of the song lyrics, hating knitting, with 10 grandchildren (and rebellious), unable to afford a holiday on the Isle of Wight, and so on.
‘The Long and Winding Road,’ featured a couple on a walk who got hopelessly lost. ‘Yellow Submarine’ told of a submarine about to torpedo a ship, only for its six year old
‘captain’ to be told it was time to get out of the bath.
Other offerings included ‘Come Fly With Me,’ featuring a young couple, but with the misfortune that the girl was too afraid to fly. Another ‘Come Fly With Me’ story provided delightful alternative song words, explaining how birds are able to fly and skim through lovely meadows. In the last
line, we then learnt though, that the bird being spoken to was…..an ostrich. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ featured a Juliet looking for her Romeo, before it was finally revealed that he was her dog.
Lastly, two ‘Scarborough Fair’ stories. The first attempted to include words with the sound ‘fair’ as many times as possible in different contexts. The other wistfully told how an elderly chap had met his first love there. When he met her, though, she was not alone. She had her four dogs with her. Their names? Why, ‘Parsley’, ‘Sage’, ‘Rosemary’ and ‘Thyme’ of course!
Photography 1
–
Countries
Answers
Judy – Red rose – England. Trevor – Lemurs – Madagascar. Colin – “Kiwi” polish – New Zealand Mike – Panama Hats.
Anne – “In” deer – India
Val – Troll – Sweden (Scandinavia). Jackie – Boot shape – Italy
THE FOUR
B’S
OF FAVERSHAM
Beer, bricks, boats and bangs - that is what the locals say in Faversham, when
mentioning the history of their town. I was aware of brewing, brickmaking and boat building - but bangs?
Having recently found a pamphlet about walks in Faversham, I was introduced to the fourth ‘B’ - the gunpowder industry that started in 1550 and which closed in the 1930s. This industrial legacy is larger than anywhere else in the UK, and many traces of it can still be seen today. Two small groups of Solos members went to Faversham, on consecutive days, to investigate. We were very fortunate to have Rod, a volunteer guide from the Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre, open the renovated Chart Mill for us (the only preserved gunpowder mill in the country). The mill had not been open all year, due to Covid 19. Rod then took us on a circular walk around Faversham, pointing out traces of the industry, and also other places of interest.
Here are a few of the facts that we discovered:
• The gunpowder pioneers were attracted to the Faversham area, because of its proximity to the sea, for importing sulphur and saltpetre from Sicily and India respectively, (two ingredients of gunpowder), and also for exporting the finished product.
• There was plenty of low lying woodland around Faversham, with alder and willow, to make charcoal (the third ingredient).
• There was easy access to the ‘Market’ e.g. Chatham and Sheerness Dockyards, Woolwich Arsenal, the Tower of London and the London gun trade.
• In general, Faversham’s gunpowder industry reached its peak in the
Napoleonic Wars, and could well have supplied powder for both Trafalgar and Waterloo.
• Manufacturing of explosives ceased in 1934, when, with the clouds of World War 2 looming, all the factories were closed, much of their machinery and staff transferring to a location at Ardeer in Ayreshire, which was less vulnerable to attack from Europe.
BANGS! - There were many explosions in the factories throughout the manufacture of gunpowder in Faversham. Hence, the fourth ‘B’ of the local saying. One particular occasion occurred on Sunday 2nd April
1911, when two factories, working to capacity for munitions in World War 1, were the site of a terrible explosion, killing 108 men and boys, and injuring many others. Had it been a weekday, there would have been many more casualties. There were more than 700 women in the workforce, but the law did not allow them to work on Sundays.
So much more information about Faversham was gleaned from Rod, our guide, and with the usual friendly inquisitive nature of U3A members, we enjoyed excellent days out.
Photography 2
–
“Lost
and Abandoned
‘’
.
A philosophical theme this one - could it be lost if we found it? Was it abandoned, or was someone coming back for it?
There were a few ‘lost’ feathers, dogs and items of clothing (a striptease perhaps), but most photos fell into the ‘abandoned’ category. There was a forlorn cruise ship at Tilbury, rusting hulks on the Medway, skeletal pier structures and a bemused baby seagull wondering where its Mummy was.
Graham’s baby grandchild was temporarily abandoned in a crate of fishing nets but was quickly reclaimed (we think). Autumn is now here, so we are looking for ‘Fallen Leaves’.
If you’d like to see some more of our photographs, they are on our U3A website.
Joan Porter.
Quote of the Month:
If we had no faults, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing them in others.
Life is different, but groups were still flourishing during the pandemic,
(and not ALL outdoors).
This article was devised before the second lockdown. Some of the groups managing to
operate during lockdown are listed on the back page.
Virtual Reading Group
The introductory meeting of this group was held by Zoom on the 19th October.
By some miracle (with only a couple of members having used Zoom before) this proved very successful. Basic procedures were agreed and we decided to take turns at choosing the books to be read and discussed. Zoom meetings will take place on the 3rd Monday monthly at 2pm. It is proposed that the group will initially run for the duration of Covid restrictions, after which a decision as to its future will be agreed. At present we are few in number, and new members would be very welcome, as we
are not now restricted by room size! This month’s book, to be discussed on the 16th of November is “The Beekeeper of Aleppo” by Christy Lefteri.
If you are interested in joining us please contact Carol Edwards, whose details can be found at the end of the newsletter.
Carol Edwards
Petanque.
There we were, all ready to start a U3A Winter Petanque Afternoon Group in November, when we were
“locked down” again. When we are able to start, there will probably be some extra conditions, depending on the, then, current regulations. Note, the sessions will be moving from the evenings to afternoons.
Pétanque is a sport that is enjoyed by everyone.It’s very
easy to learn the basics of pétanque, and our group can get complete novices up and running in a short time. Before you know it, you will be pointing and shooting, and getting that first win under your belt by getting a winning score of 13 points!
We are enthusiastic about introducing new people to the sport, and then helping our members improve their
skills.Although it is a very easy sport for people to start playing, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.
That’s where our experienced members help, by coaching new members, improving their technique,
tactics and mental approach. How to hold a boule, stance, different ways to point and shoot, game play, deciding what the next best play should be, and keeping calm under pressure, are all part of perfecting your mastery of the sport.
Joint group leaders Di Stoneham and Alan Scott would like to hear from any members interested in joining this group, which will be undercover at Gravesend Rugby Club DA12 2TL at £3 per session. To express interest, please contact Alan Scott, details at the end of the newsletter.
Alan Scott
(Note picture above was taken before social distancing).
