Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
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Something to celebrate!
Newcastle U3A’s February A.G.M. and meeting afterwards were proud moments for our members.
In December, we were thrilled to have our proposal for a grant accepted by Newcastle Building
Society. The grant was used to update some of our I.T. equipment. However, after the A.G.M., we
were also thrilled to receive a plaque and a present of a hamper from one of the building society’s
directors. He attended the meeting along with one of the building society’s representatives who had
supported us throughout the proposal. The plaque will be proudly displayed and members will share
in the hamper content of coffee, mugs, pens and key rings all with thanks to Newcastle Building
Society.
The picture shows Catherine receiving the
Newcastle Building Society plaque and hamper.
From the right the picture shows Mick Thompson
(Director of Newcastle Building Society), Lucy
Bell (representative from Newcastle Building
Society) and Catherine Stevenson (Newcastle
U3A Chair).
The newly elected committee was photographed
with the hamper and plaque. In the picture (left to
right) are Mave Mundy (Marketing), Sheila Best
(Member), Jane Kinghorn (Minutes Secretary), Janet
Devoy (Business Secretary), Geoff Dunkley
(Speakers’ Panel), Mike Wallace (Treasurer) and
Rita Stalker (Member).
Learn, laugh, live
Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
2
Some of Northumbria U3A’s
Informal Networks
The numbers of members joining some of our
informal networks are increasing. The S.E.
Northumbria Chairs’ and Business Secretaries’
Network as well as the Treasurers’ Network are
seeing more and more members come along.
We share ideas and challenges as well as get to
know what is happening in the regional and
national U3As. If you have an officer role to
play or you know of someone who might be
please try a session.
And our own informal networks
The global pandemic is a difficult time for
everyone but it has also highlighted the
resilience and ingenuity of people in ways of
keeping in touch.
Some very funny items have been included on
social media, we’ve all now heard of Zoom and
perhaps used it ourselves, and families are even
having virtual Zoom dinners with each other.
Our groups are keeping in touch with each other
in a number of ways, including the Newcastle
U3A Facebook page. If you want to be added to
this just email [email protected].
I suppose one thing it shows is that you can’t
keep the human spirit down.
Notes from the Chair
It’s been a strange year. However, it has led our
U3A in other strong directions by facing the
challenges.
When the committee had to ask members to
cancel meetings, it was concerned about
maintaining communications and about
members’ well-being during the challenging
times ahead.
Learning in a social setting was no longer
available yet we know that lack of brain
stimulation and social isolation, many of us live
alone, are highlighted as the greatest dangers
leading to many older people’s problems. This
reinforced the key role which the U3A takes in
helping to protect its members from depression
and loneliness. New strategies were adopted.
An Action Plan was quickly in place which
included that monthly mailing would continue
and the members’ support team was organized
to contact members regularly and Group
Leaders did likewise. Thank you to so many
members who have stepped in to help in
whatever ways they can.
For mental stimulation and physical activity,
members were led to many areas of learning,
new ways to operate and to continue some form
of social contact e.g. virtual meetings. In doing
these, we learned even more and will continue
to do so!
Many of us found an hour’s walk each day was
a bonus, gardens became havens, neighbours
helped to deliver supplies and conversations
from a distance became the norm! We adapted.
All these reminded me of a well- known poem.
As we found joy in small pleasures - a flower,
bird song and exercising our curiosity to learn
something new, these lines really struck home.
William Henry Davies, ‘Leisure’
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
We took the time and to support each other
which Newcastle U3A does so well and will
continue to do so.
Makes you proud to be a member!
Catherine Stevenson
1 Northumberland
2a Newcastle
2b Gateshead
2c Nth Tyneside
2d Sth Tyneside
2e Sunderland
3 County Durham
4 Darlington
5 Hartlepool
6 Stockton
7 Redcar and
Cleveland
8 Middlesbrough
Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
3
Janet joined Newcastle U3A
in 2012, her aim principally
being to seek company with
others sharing her interests.
As so often happens, she soon
found herself leading the
‘Good Read’ book group.
Although trained as a
scientist, Janet’s interest in literature was down
to her English teacher at school, whom she
describes as ‘inspirational’.
Janet is a native of Edinburgh, where she
attended James Gillespie's School, the school
attended by Muriel Spark. She thinks that ‘The
Prime of Miss Jean
Brodie’, may well
have been based on
that school. Of her
younger life she
particularly
remembers frequent
visits to the repertory theatre with her mother.
From school she went on to the Veterinary
School at Edinburgh University and then to the
London School of Tropical Medicine, intending
to go to work in Africa.
Things didn’t quite turn out like that and after a
few temporary jobs, in 1974 she found herself
in Newcastle working for the Ministry of
Agriculture. This is where she stayed for the
next 30 years. During her time with the
Ministry she saw a number of farming crises,
including the Foot & Mouth Disease epidemic
of 2001, when she had the challenging job of
visiting farms to ensure suspect animals were
slaughtered humanely. Another crisis was the
problem with ‘Mad Cow’ disease or BSE
(Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy).
When Janet started working in Newcastle, she
says it was quite unusual for a woman vet to be
dealing with farm animals. The work did
however allow some scope for research and her
particular interest was in diseases affecting
sheep including scrapie and copper deficiency
in collaboration with Newcastle University.
A further piece of work, which was of popular
interest, was an investigation into the sudden
mass deaths in 1995 of a large number of
Newcastle’s kittiwake population. Fortunately
this turned out to be a one-off episode and was
put down to the birds consuming algal toxins
while out at sea.
Returning to her U3A activities, in addition to
leading the ‘Good Read’ group, Janet is also a
member of the General History group (where
she was able to talk knowledgably about the
lead poisoning of cattle & sheep in the
Pennines), the Poetry group, the Quiz team and
the Quantum Physics group (which she finds
baffling but fun).
Finally, for the last two years she has also been
a member of the U3A committee and recently
took over editorship of the monthly Newsletter.
With thanks to Robert Weiner
Newcastle U3A Profile Series Number 35
Janet Devoy
Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
4
Thoughts for when we meet again
Don't be afraid to……
First: don't be afraid to join a
group dealing with a subject
you know little or nothing
about. The idea for you is to
learn not necessarily to show
off your knowledge. Have a
word with the Group Contact if in real doubt.
And don't be afraid to say, "I really don't know
anything about eg Georgian Poetry, but I think
I'll find it interesting/get the hang of it."
Similarly, don't be afraid to
say "I'm sorry I don't quite
understand”, for instance,
what we have to do for next
time, or what medieval means.
Next: don't be afraid to
volunteer to do things
you've never done
before. You can Meet
and Greet with no
qualifications at all!
Pouring tea is easily
mastered by both men
and women! Perhaps
start small and work up to committee
member….yes, even you.
Don't be afraid to say, "Exactly what will I have
to do?” Honest ignorance is better than pretend
expertise.
Don't be afraid to volunteer for something you
think might be hard, but you would like to do it.
I don't, however, recommend saying, "I'll be
treasurer" if you have no experience!
Be realistic and be aware how what you do know
can be transformed into what is needed.
Finally: don't be afraid to say, "I'm sorry but this
just isn't working for me," and either ask for more
help or try another area of U3A.
Marjorie De’Ath
Birthday Honours
In February Betty
Schofield, a long-time
member of Newcastle
U3A, celebrated her 100th
birthday with some of the
Duplicate Bridge Group
at the Royal British
Legion.
We wish Betty a very belated Happy Birthday
on behalf of the whole of Newcastle U3A.
Reaching 100 is quite a milestone: I remember an
uncle’s 100th birthday some years ago when I was
surprised to be offered a selection of 100th
birthday cards in Fenwick. I thought they might
have one, possibly two, but there were quite a
few to choose from.
It’s interesting seeing the statistics from around
the world on those who reach this great age. It
appears that Japan has the largest number of
centenarians and India has the least. On 9th March
2019 Kane Tanaka, from Japan, was recognised
by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest
living person at 117.
However, the oldest person whose age was
verified came from France. Jeanne Calment was
born in February 1875 and died in August 1997
so she reached an incredible 122. She reportedly
ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful
appearance for her age to a diet rich in olive oil
and she claimed J'ai jamais été malade, jamais,
jamais (I have never been ill, never ever).
Ed (KS)
This Photo by
Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
5
Professor Tournesol Health and wellbeing - a scientific approach
We are bombarded with confusing and
contradictory health advice. One trustworthy
source is the "TV doctor" Dr Michael Mosley
with his 9th series of "Trust Me I'm a Doctor".
Episodes typically have 5 short items which have
been scientifically researched, each personally
testing a new theory or treatment or working with
selected volunteer patients. Here are example
cases from Episode 1.
Case 1 : how much exercise do we need? 10,000
steps per day or 5 x 30 minute brisk walks per
week? Blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood fat
were measured and a questionnaire asked about
mood to assess any mental wellbeing
improvements. It turns out that both exercises
were highly beneficial but that brisk walks are
better and much easier to achieve for most
people: 2.5 hours per week instead of 14 hours.
So, carry on walking ... briskly.
Case 2: A new cure for acrophobia (fear of
heights) using Virtual Reality? Research
confirms that 2 hours wearing a VR headset can
reduce fear by up to 2/3. Patients start with 'easy'
tasks such as standing on a balcony then to more
scary tasks like crossing a rope bridge high over
a gorge. All these are only images projected on
to the small TV screen of the headset. This
gradual acclimatisation is how conventional
phobia therapy works but VR is much cheaper,
more flexible, and safer because it does not need
real situations and heights. Potentially other
phobias could also be treated using VR.
Case 3: Group therapy sessions to replace 10
minute individual interviews at your GP? No,
but they might be introduced as a useful follow
up after the usual 1-to-1 initial diagnosis with
your doctor. It would be voluntary, and trials
showed that a group of 6 patients with similar
diabetes problems sharing a 90 minute in-depth
discussion session with a specialist had major
benefits in terms of understanding their illness
and treatments, and provided group support.
So, Prof Tournesol says, be a TV couch potato
for just 1 hour between your walks to watch
and learn with Michael.
Food & Drink
I have long been interested
in this subject, not just
because eating and
drinking can be so
enjoyable, but because it
also tells us a lot about
ourselves and human ingenuity.
We have to eat and drink to stay alive. Similarly
a car won’t run without some sort of fuel. So
eating and drinking could have developed into
nothing more than heading into some sort of
‘garage of food’ to consume whatever basics are
necessary to keep us going. Whilst there are
aspects of that in our lives sometimes – wolfing
down a sandwich ‘on the hoof’ – for most people
these are the exception not the rule. We have
converted a basic necessity of life into one of its
greatest pleasures and, frequently, the centre
piece of any celebration.
Why and how have we
done this? Let’s take
the why first. I think it
probably happened
because we are social
beings, we also need
to keep warm, and so
perhaps the concept of
eating together, and cooking, developed out of
this. It’s easy to imagine our ancient ancestors
leaving some meat close to the fire by accident
and finding it not only tastes better that way but
is easier to eat, but then we come to the how.
Going from simply heating food to working out
how to make bread, or chocolate, or how mixing
ingredients together can make a wonderful sauce,
is a significant step. The food available now is
often created by highly complex means. Moving
on to drink it’s easy to imagine, long ago, some
grapes being left, naturally fermenting and
creating some sort of (pretty disgusting) wine but
how did anyone work out what you needed to do
to make beer?
I’d love to hear from others who also have an
interest in this subject – perhaps we could start a
regular column.
Kate Scott
Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
6
A visit to Shipley Art Gallery
Several of our members visited the Shipley Art
Gallery in Gateshead and learned about the
founding of the gallery and how it all came about.
It opened in 1917 with 504 paintings bequeathed
by local solicitor Joseph Shipley. Within a
decade, a neoclassical gallery had been built and
the collection now includes nearly 800 paintings
and other works on paper, decorative art and
contemporary crafts. What stood out in Shipley’s
bequest were the Dutch and Flemish paintings
represented by artists such as Hans Schäufelein
and Abraham Janssens and the Shipley now has
one of the best 16th and 17th centuries Dutch and
Flemish painting collections in the U.K.
Additionally a man called William Wales who
owned Saltwell Towers situated in nearby
Saltwell Park was passionate about art and many
of the paintings owned by the gallery were
donated by him.
We were given a tour of the archives by the
Assistant Keeper of Art, Niall Hodson, who
selected paintings for us to discuss. Niall also
showed us many other objets d'art owned by the
gallery which, sadly, along with hundreds of
paintings, they do not have the space to display.
Our visit culminated with an extremely
knowledgeable talk delivered by our own Chair,
Catherine, about an original painting on display -
"Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet".
The artist, Jacopo Robusti, is perhaps better
known as Tintoretto, meaning "Little Dyer".
There are many 18th and 19th centuries works
now in the gallery.
It was a most enjoyable and informative morning
- well worth the visit. Thank you to all involved.
Eileen Smith
Une Amie Francaise
Betty Holmes experience of working as a nanny
in Paris in 1967-8 which she wrote in French.
Je garde toujours un bon souvenir d’une amitié que
j’ai nouee a Paris en 1967. J’etais aide-familiale
chez Madame Boulet, journaliste et divorcee. Elle
demeurait a Montparnasse dans un gratte-ciel avec
son fils Olivier. Je le gardais et Juliette sa toute
petite cousine aussi.
Un jour je suis tombee sur Marie-Paule dans le
vestibule.Elle faisait le même travail dans
l’appartement en face. Au fur et a mesure nous
sortions régulièrement avec les gosses – elle avec
le landau et moi avec une poussette jumelle.Mon
amie deposait Guillaume, age de trois ans et
Valerie, la cadette a la maternelle gratuite dans une
ecole publique. A l’epoque elles n’existaient pas
ainsi en Angleterre.Notre route quotidienne,
d’habitude aux Jardins du Luxembourg, passait
par des chantiers bruyants. On modernisait le
14ieme quartier et chaque jour encore de caractere
et des petits magasins dans les ruelles
disparaissaient.
Marie-Paule m’ invitait souvent chez elle. Nous
prenions le train en Picardie. Comme membre
d’une famille nombreuse (neuf enfants) ma
compagne avait droit a une remise importante pour
le billet.A St. Quentin son père nous faisait monter
dans son Citroen 2CV. En arriere la bagnole
cabossee avait les sieges de toile, donc les
passagers bougeaient sans cesse! Au hameau La
Ferte-Chevresis, la petite propriete louee par les
Quignon, une maison traditionelle sans etage, se
tenait dans un grand jardin potager.Papa travaillait
comme ouvrier ;Marie-Paule et sa sœur versaient
la plupart de leur paie dans ses mains. La vieille
maison manquait une salle de bains, mais le salon
etait reserve aux visiteurs et a la baignoire de zinc.
La chambre au rez-de-chaussee était celle des
parents et du bebe. Les autres devaient monter une
echelle aux matelas dans le grenier. Chaque enfant
avait sa tache. On mangeait bien aux nombreuses
fetes, mais frugalement autrement.
Samedi soir nous deux assistions a un bal
champetre avec une bande de camarades. On
dansait jusqu’a l’aube. Nous passions les journees
a flaner, visiter les cafes, faire du leche-vitrines ou
du canotage au lac. Je voudrais bien retrouver
Marie-Paule et nous aurions beaucoup de choses a
nous dire apres une demi-siecle !
Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW
7
A summary of a few previous pandemics
430 B.C.: Athens
The earliest recorded pandemic happened
during the Peloponnesian War. After the
disease passed through Libya, Ethiopia and
Egypt, it crossed the Athenian walls as the
Spartans laid siege. As much as two-thirds
of the population died. The disease,
suspected to have been typhoid fever,
weakened the Athenians significantly and
was a significant factor in their defeat by
the Spartans.
1918: Spanish Flu
The avian-borne flu that resulted in 50
million deaths worldwide was first
observed in Europe, the United States and
parts of Asia before swiftly spreading
around the world. Wire service reports of a
flu outbreak in Madrid in the spring of 1918
led to the pandemic being called the
“Spanish flu.” The flu threat disappeared in
summer 1919 when most of the infected had
either developed immunities or died.
2003: SARS
First identified in 2003, Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome is believed to have
possibly started with bats, spread to cats
and then to humans in China, followed by
26 other countries, infecting 8,096 people,
with 774 deaths. SARS was seen by global
health professionals as a wake-up call to
improve outbreak responses, and lessons
from the pandemic were used to keep
diseases like H1N1, Ebola and Zika under
control.
Our magazine provides an opportunity fondly to
remember some of our members who have died
and who will be sadly missed. In their different
ways they reflect the diversity of U3A and we are
very grateful for their contribution to us.
Laura Mullen : Laura was a lovely lady, a regular
member of the Poetry group for many years and
attended the monthly meetings as well as being
involved in the Esoterics, Tin Pin Bowling and
Philosophy groups. She lived life to the full and
had an open mind and a way of looking at things
in an original way. A number of us attended
Laura’s funeral in December.
Michelle Hetherington : Although not a member
of Newcastle U3A Michelle was well known to a
number of us as she ran the PNE office which
oversees the Old Post Office. She was helpful
and sympathetic to the needs to our organisation
and we were shocked by her sudden, early, death.
A number of Newcastle U3A members attended
her funeral in January.
An
swer
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1 H
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2 A
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3 L
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under
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5 J
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love
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8 L
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9 P
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10 2
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11 A
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12 M
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13 L
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914
1. The Wynward Passage separates Cuba from which country?
2. What is the only London Underground station that shares its name with a football club?
3. What were the concerts the organisers of 1985’s Live Aid event arranged 20 years later called?
4. The author James Herriot was born in which North East city?
5. In a non-leap year which day is the midpoint of the year?
6. In which decade was national service abolished in the UK?
7. Ljubljana is the capital of which European country?
8. Betty Joan Perske was the real name of which late US film star?
9. Which term is used for the legal process by which a will is proved to be authentic?
10. How many miles of shoreline does Kielder Water have – 22, 27 or 32?
11. The slow loris is a primate found on which continent?
12. Margaretha Geertruida Zelie was the real name of which figure associated with the First World
War?
13. Where in the body is the sartorius muscle?
14. Joseph Priestley was a British chemist credited with discovering what in 1774?
15. Which North East athlete was known as the ‘Jarrow Arrow’ during his career?
16. Which English city lies in the confluence of the River Don and its tributaries?
17. Which dramatist’s plays included Pygmalion and Mrs Warren’s Profession?
18. In the Anglo-Saxon period what was Newcastle known as?
19. Which religion associated with Japan has many deities in the form of spirits, souls, and forces
of nature?
20. In which year did the first ship pass through the Panama Canal - 1904, 1914 or 1924?
With thanks to Jane Kinghorn and the quiz group
Quiz Group Quiz!
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