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 n.r.malcolm@blueyonder.co.uk

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 pat.reeve14@gmail.com

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