Welcome
Editor Joanne Smith
The last few weeks of putting TAM together are always hectic. With so many events and activities going on it’s hard to keep up with you all! But it’s always hugely enjoyable and a great privilege, not to mention inspiring.
In this issue, we have news of how to enter the u3a poetry competition, and the chance to win a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Poetry Writers’ Handbook. We also have a round-up of some of the numerous events that took place to mark our 40th anniversary year as we look forward to the next 40 years!
With the news that the coronation of King Charles III will take place in May next year, members have been recalling their memories of the 1953 ceremony, from watching it on their neighbours’ new televisions to lining the soggy Mall for a peek at Queen Elizabeth II in her golden carriage. And we welcome two opinion pieces from u3a members, one on volunteering and the other about the lack of new bungalows on the housing market.
Please keep sending in your articles and letters, marked ‘Letters’ on the envelope or in the email subject line. I look forward to hearing from you.
Twitter @Magu3a | Facebook @u3auk
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news
What's been happening across u3a
AGM report
AGM opens up new channels of communication with u3as
Financial forecast is being revised after u3a members reject proposals to raise annual subscriptions.
The u3a Board has said it will look at improving communications at grass roots level after its resolutions to raise the annual subscription fee every year in line with the State Pension increase were defeated at October’s AGM, leaving the Third Age Trust facing a deficit of £250,000 next year.
Initiatives under way to improve lines of communications include Ask the Trust sessions with chair Liz Thackray and CEO Sam Mauger; discussions around strategy and governance are planned for the regions, and Meet the Staff sessions which are due to start this month. The Trust is also in the process of drawing up a revised financial forecast and an action plan.
The Third Age Trust is the umbrella body that supports member u3as. It is made up of a board of 12 regional trustees and three officers including a chair, currently Liz Thackray, who are all volunteer u3a members elected by the membership, plus a small team of paid staff.
The Board had looked to increase the amount u3as pay per member to the Trust. It is currently £4 per person and was last increased by 50p a year in April – the first increase in 12 years.
The Trust proposed a cost of living rise in line with the State Pension increase each year to help keep pace with inflation and because a fall in membership numbers of approximately 63,000 due to the pandemic – numbers that were not recovering as quickly as expected – resulted in a drop in income. The Trust is also facing an increase in the level of support needed by u3as.
A record number of members participated in the hybrid AGM, with 595 u3as taking part in the voting and 540 people logged on and viewing proceedings online. Members also attended the AGM in person in Milton Keynes. In total, 19 amendments to the Board’s resolutions were put forward by u3as, which all proposed an increase of some sort.
In a mailing to u3a chairs, secretaries and treasurers following a Board meeting after the AGM, Liz Thackray said: “The Board recognised that almost 50 per cent of u3as took an active part in the AGM, demonstrating a higher level of engagement than at any other AGM in memory, and that must be positive in a democratic organisation.
“However, there was some disappointment that none of the amendments or resolutions associated with membership subscription were successful. In effect, this means that at this stage for 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Trust will remain underfunded.
“The Board is preparing revised financial forecasts and an action plan. We recognise the need for open discussion with the membership in order to ensure that we hear the concerns, views and aspirations of the u3a membership.”
New vice-chairman Allan Walmsley added: “I thought it was positive that every one of the numerous amendments to the resolutions was offering some form of increase in member subscription, so it was disappointing that the meeting ended without any amendment being passed.
“We need now to look at the arguments presented and speak to members, particularly those u3as who submitted amendments, and find ways of providing more transparency and clarity that will enable future funding resolutions to be more acceptable.”
After the voting had taken place, Liz Thackray told the AGM: “We all have to look very seriously at what has happened this afternoon. Clearly there are things we need to learn and things that u3as have to learn, and together we do something about our communications to make sure we understand each other and where we are going in the future.”
While u3as recognised a need for an increase in subscriptions, there was concern that the Third Age Trust should not raise subscriptions every year without going back to the membership at the AGM.
The amendments ranged from approving the Board’s resolution for April 2023 but afterwards any further increases would have to go back to members, to proposals to increase the capitation fee by 20p in April 2023 and 30p in 2024. Some u3as were concerned that younger u3a members may not be receiving the State Pension or occupational pensions and therefore their incomes may be low, while others may be receiving the State Pension top-up to a low income. They feared that if u3a subscriptions rose along with cost of living increases, some members would feel it was not a priority and would leave.
Other u3as said any increases should be linked to a detailed report from the Trust on where the additional funds would be spent.
Liz Thackray told the AGM that after the resolutions had gone out to u3as for consultation, the Board had considered whether to withdraw them. She said: “Legal advice was that we could not amend our own resolutions but could withdraw them and present reworded resolutions. If we withdrew the resolutions, we would silence our members, many of whom were engaging in the debate. If we proposed reworded resolutions, there would be insufficient time for members to consider them and submit amendments. We considered our resolutions were reasonable.”
In answer to a question from a member, the AGM heard that the development programme had been identified in consultation with the membership before the pandemic and included things such as moving from Sitebuilder to WordPress for u3a websites, a digital strategy including the Beacon update, an online learning hub, developing workshops, improving social-media presence and raising the profile of u3a nationally.
Chief executive Sam Mauger told the AGM that the Trust was keen to look at attracting grants to support u3a but that it was a very competitive area in the charity sector. The Trust is also looking at the possibility of a legacy programme, people supporting u3a through donations and running fundraising activities.
- To get involved in the conversation, please sign up to the electronic newsletter at u3a.org.uk/newsletter
Chair’s report: ‘We are open to suggestions’
u3a chair Liz Thackray said she was “standing on the shoulders of giants who have done so much to make u3a what it is today”.
She said the past two-and-a-half years had been challenging and that while life had returned to near-normal for many, some u3a members were still anxious about meeting in person.
“Our growing use of technology can fill some gaps, but it does not replace human contact,” she said.
She congratulated u3as for their efforts to keep in touch with members who continue to live restricted lives. Some u3as are having problems recruiting members for committees and to lead interest groups, and she pointed out there were no nominations for the two vacant trustee positions in East Midlands and London.
She said some members believe u3a is moving in an inappropriate direction. The Trust had held its first online forum – with more planned – where members’ questions were discussed, but the Board was open to suggestions as to how it can improve two-way communications. She added that compared with other large voluntary organisations, the u3a staff team is very small
She added: “u3as differ considerably. But a strength of being part of the same movement is that we can all learn from each other.” Online meetings had shown it was not always necessary to meet in person and there were now many learning events and workshops online. Most Board, committee and working group meetings will remain online, with some in-person meetings when there is a clear argument for doing so.
Treasurer's report
Membership recovery begins
In his first year as treasurer, Derek Harwood told the AGM that while income had dropped over the past three years, so had expenditure due to the pandemic.
Membership had fallen from the pre-Covid level of 460,000 to 366,000, but was now showing a slow recovery to currently around 388,000.
He said the u3a is highly dependent on subscriptions but is looking to widen its income streams. Overheads were down last year due to staff working from home and the Trust is now in a small, rented office space.
The Third Age Trust Trading Company, which includes TAM, Beacon and the Brand Centre, achieved a profit of £161,000. TAM production costs are covered entirely by advertising revenue, with members paying only the cost of distribution. The budget for 2022-23 was based on membership recovering to 400,000, but this level of membership growth may not be achieved this year.
In addition to normal operating expenditures, capital expenditure of £288,000 for development projects has been budgeted this year.
Derek pointed out that the u3a staff team is very small compared with other charities of a similar size. The budget allows for the staff numbers to grow from 17 full-time equivalents last year to 24 FTEs by year end to deliver the development projects. The current number is 22.
Members’ services have seen an ever-increasing demand on them due to, for example, new legislation from the Charity Commission and are currently dealing with more than 1,000 calls and emails a month on the advice lines. The AGM heard that the general cash levels of £1.6 million included reserves of £1.3 million needed for closure costs.
Derek concluded that the u3a faced uncertain times, with unknowns such as what membership levels would be like in five years’ time, what level of inflation there would be and what progress would be made on development projects such as more digital support. But ongoing financial reviews would address these factors as they became clearer.
Appointments
Movers and shakers
Michaela Moody stood down as vice-chair and was replaced by Allan Walmsley.
Valerie Cobain was re-elected trustee for Northern Ireland, Sandi Rickerby held her position as trustee for the North-East, and Hilary Jones was re-elected to the post for Wales – all for a further year.
Liz Ervine was elected trustee for Scotland for three years, replacing Ann Keating.
Jean Hogg, trustee for the East Midlands, stood down after four years, as did John Bent, trustee for London. These roles remain vacant.
Recording the history of u3a
Michaela Moody left her role as national vice-chair to focus on the u3a archive and updating the movement’s historical records.
Michaela, who has been a u3a member for nearly 20 years, was asked to create the archives in 2019.
She said: “I had always been interested in governance and the history of the u3a so was pleased to be asked to create the archive.
“Before the pandemic, I recorded six oral histories with members who had made a big contribution. These will form part of the archive. I plan to record more next year.”
Michaela first joined Boston u3a in Lincolnshire and helped set up nearby Woodhall Spa u3a in 2009.
The future
Building national prof ile key to growth
Work is under way on a new strategy to steer the u3a out of the pandemic, boost recruitment and raise the movement’s profile, vice-chairman Allan Walmsley told the AGM plenary meeting.
Work began on the strategic aims in the autumn of 2021 with a series of brainstorming sessions and consultations with u3a members.
“There was considerable fear that membership had fallen significantly and all the indications were that a recovery would take time,” said Allan.
“Many u3as had weathered the storm remarkably well but the u3as that were vulnerable had had little regular contact with their members, largely due to low technical ability; little interaction with other u3as, networks and their regional trustee; and many had little energy to start a recruitment campaign, largely due to an ageing membership. There was criticism that the profile of the movement nationally was minimal to zero and this was not helping.
“Finally, there was a strong view that members learned best in a fun, social setting with people that they regarded as friends.”
Some members felt it was not clear what the u3a movement was about and how they could contribute. They wanted to see a wider range of activities, particularly to attract new, younger members, and felt a recruitment campaign focused on the next generation was essential, while joining forces with like-minded organisations would help make the u3a better known.
While the vast majority of learning activities take place through u3a interest groups, there are many more opportunities available, from regional and network study days to u3a-wide research and shared learning projects.
“Some u3as publish these opportunities but many do not, so we have a lot to do to increase awareness and provide enhanced opportunities for those who want it,” said Allan. “Similarly, members should be able to recognise when joining a local u3a that they are joining a UK-wide movement that provides a wealth of learning opportunities. While most will be satisfied with opportunities available within their local u3a, we have a duty to cater for those with wider interests.”
Allan’s speech is available at u3a.org.uk/news/fit-for-the-future. Members are needed to take part in further consultations early next year. Contact
Plans for a new ‘council’ to better represent members
The Board is considering forming a ‘representative council’ to listen to members. Chair Liz Thackray said: “We have been considering what changes might be appropriate to ensure that we have a Board that meets the current, and very challenging, charity and company law requirements, and a structure which ensures that the u3as who comprise our membership are involved in, and consulted on, those developments that affect u3as and the ways in which the u3a movement might develop in the future.”
The Trust Board currently comprises 12 trustees elected from the u3a regions and nations, plus three officers of chair, treasurer and secretary elected from the membership. The proposal, which is in its very early stages and will be subject to consultation with u3as, is to form a ‘representative council’, which would be the voice of the movement. A smaller board would continue to be responsible for meeting the legal requirements set down by the Charity Commission, such as regulatory matters.
All members of the Board would continue to be elected from the membership. Liz Thackray said trustees wanted time to spend with u3as and the current role, with the added Board requirements, resulted in significant time demands upon them.
The plenary meeting also heard from trustees Jean Hogg and Valerie Cobain. Jean, who stood down following a four-year spell as trustee for the East Midlands region, said: “The number of u3as has probably doubled since 2008 and with that comes far more work for the trustee to deal with in terms of general queries and specific issues. The role can feel like being back at work with the accompanying stress and pressure, which really is not what any of us wantin retirement. In my region, no one has put themselves forward to be my successor. That confirms my view that the role has become too large and unwieldy, and that members are not willing to give up so much time.”
- Email your ideas to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Watch the speeches at u3a.org.uk/news/fit-for-the-future - More details can be found in the Annual Report, available at u3a.org.uk/events/agm-2022
Poetry competition
Don’t miss u3a poetry competition!
Fancy yourself as a budding bard? Then don’t miss theThird Age Trust’s third annual poetry competition.
Submit your entry, featuring a maximum of 16 lines on any topic, by 27 January 2023. The three winning poems will be published in Third Age Matters and on the u3a website. More details are available at u3a.org.uk/learning
To celebrate the poetry competition launch, we have got three copies of the Writers’ & Artists’ Poetry Writers’ Handbook: A Practical Guide To Getting Your Poetry Noticed, Published and Performed, by Sophia Blackwell, to give away.
The book provides a clear and up-to-date picture of what aspiring poets should focus on at different stages in their career.
It explores questions such as what kind of publishing model would work best for you and how you can promote your work and get it reviewed, plus details on printing and distribution, marketing and publicity, and submission to editors, reviewers and prizes. It also includes up-to-date contacts for funding organisations, prizes, publishers and magazines.
Sophia Blackwell is a performance and page poet. Her collection The Other Woman was nominated for the Polari Prize. She is a former chair of Poetry London.
To be in with a chance of winning a copy, email your name and u3a to
Alternatively, enter via post to u3a Office, Third Age Trust, 156 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8EN, marking the envelope ‘Poetry Competition’. Entries to be received by 30 November.
- Members can also get 30 per cent off the full price of £20 by entering the code U3A30 at the checkout at bloomsbury.com
Cover story
"I’m one of those women who’s bossy and opinionated"
From cookery school entrepreneur to Bake Off judge, writer, housebuilder and stand-up performer, Prue Leith tells Joanne Smith what drives her on
When I interview Prue Leith, she is in the middle of a short series of one-woman stand-up shows in the UK. At 82, it’s the first time she has done this sort of thing.
“What it boils down to is a whole lot of stories about disasters in the catering business. It’s the story of my life, which has been winging it really,” she laughs.
“I have had a lot of luck in my life and, because I am very cheerful and optimistic, if disaster looms, I tend to tackle it head on and try to either avert it or turn it into something positive. I don’t put my head in my hands and give up.”
Good advice for all those Bake Off contestants...
She certainly has had a very interesting life and continues to work at full pelt. As well as The Great British Bake Off, Prue has updated her autobiography, I’ll Try Anything Once, and has a recipe book out called Bliss On Toast, which she devised during the pandemic as she was cooking for just herself and husband John Playfair.
And when not making meals on toast for John, she can be found working in the garden of the home they built together during lockdown, or cruising around on pub crawls on the back of his three-wheeler motorbike.
“John has the safest motorbike in the world,” she says. “It’s a Harley-Davidson but it’s a three-wheeler. His children call it a bike with stabilisers or his mobility scooter because it can’t turn over.
“It’s classed as a trike, so you don’t have to wear a helmet. We don’t go very fast but it is fun. We go sort of roaring around the countryside and pop into the odd pub. I do the drinking because he’s driving and not much of a drinker anyway. It’s fun.
“What’s so lovely about a motorbike is you can actually smell the grass when the fields have been cut and the cow parsley. It’s just beautiful.”
Prue met John, her second husband, through mutual friends when she was 70. He turned her into a giddy teenager.
“I was absolutely astonished,” she says. “I was just about to go to Canada to do a book tour for one of my novels and I kept thinking about him all the time. I was just 70 and I was carrying on like a teenager, thinking do I dare text him or will he think that’s a bit too pushy? It’s such a cliché but the fact is your heart bangs all the time and you feel slightly sick, and the first date you spend hours getting dressed. It’s ridiculous but nothing changes.”
During lockdown, Prue sold her nine-bedroom traditional Cotswold stone country house and farm but kept 50 acres and an old farmhouse, which they knocked down to build a modern home.
“It’s been the most wonderful thing to do,” she adds. “Of course, not everyone can do it and I realise how lucky I am, but there is something really lovely about building a house together. One of the greatest joys in life, I think, is nesting, making your own space as you want it.”
And colour is important: a turquoise office, bright yellow sitting room, fire-engine-red library and a large kitchen in sunshine yellow. “It’s our colours, it’s all modern and things work,” she says.
Did they make any concessions to getting older?
Prue reveals: “I said we have got to have a lift for our old age. But John said, ‘That’s ridiculous, we should walk up the stairs as it’s good for us’. What we should have done is made provision for the lift but not put it in. However, we put the lift in and now we both use it all the time!”
John, a former fashion designer, and stylists Jane Galpin and Claire Ginzler have helped to influence Prue’s colourful style. They were her stylists when she was a judge on Australian cookery competition show My Kitchen Rules.
“I was so used to young stylists who either thought of me as an old woman and dressed me in Central Casting’s idea of a librarian, or they dressed me in what they like to wear – baby-doll frilly skirts that were too frilly and silly for me,” she says. “I didn’t want a stylist at all, I wanted to do my own clothes, but they insisted and the wonderful Jane and Claire appeared. Jane got me in five seconds. She had a whole lot of outfits laid out on the floor and I loved them all. I have stuck to her like glue.
“When I took the Bake Off job, I took them with me. Now they do everything. Jane sends me a sheet of paper with what she suggests I wear for every one-woman show, TV show and every Bake Off. The look for Bake Off is a little bit more extreme because it’s that kind of show, but off-screen my look is slightly toned down.”
Prue says she doesn’t understand why so many older women choose to wear dull colours.
“Many women over 50 or 60 say to me they are so impressed that I wear bright colours and that I am still working,” she says. “They have an old-fashioned perception that it’s unsuitable to wear bright colours or extravagant necklaces, which is ridiculous. People say, ‘I used to wear bright red, but I’m over 50 now so I think I should wear black or grey or beige’. When you are young, you don’t need colour as you are beautiful anyway. The older you get, the more help you need!”
While not everyone can have a stylist, Prue suggests shopping with a friend to push you out of your comfort zone.
“If you have a trusted friend, you push each other a bit. If you go shopping with a friend and say, ‘Does this make my bum look big?’, a real friend will say, ‘Yes, it does, try the other one’. You push your friend to be a little bolder.”
Prue’s autobiography is a no-holds-barred account of her life, including her love affair with Rayne Kruger, the husband of her actress mother’s best friend, who she eventually married and with whom she had a son, Danny, an MP and former speechwriter and adviser to David Cameron, and daughter Li-Da, adopted from Cambodia.
“People are impressed at the openness and honesty of the autobiography,” Prue says. “I do admit to the disasters but I try to make them funny, but of course they weren’t funny at the time.
“The personal stuff – my long affair with Rayne before I married him, the adoption of Li-Da – are incredibly emotional and they were quite difficult to write, but on the other hand I don’t think there is any point in writing an autobiography if you leave out all the interesting bits. I was pleased with what I had written.
“What was not pleasant was that I think my children, although they had read it before it was published, were rather upset by the Press’s take on everything. There’s a story about me going to an orgy, which I presumed was so funny because I went innocently with a friend to what I thought was a party, but when I turned up everyone was naked and humping away.
“I was abandoned and ended up taking off all my clothes to be invisible and just running from room to room. You know that thing at a party when you have to pretend you are off to get a drink when actually you are just abandoned and on your own and embarrassed.
“This all became sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, and blown up to ridiculous proportions in the Press, while my affair with Rayne meant I was an adulteress.
“But these things happen to people. I don’t excuse it – I still think infidelity is wrong, I still think it is a tragic thing to happen. However, I wouldn’t have missed it because he was the love of my life and we were together for 30-odd years.”
Prue, who was born in Cape Town, South Africa, attended Le Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London in 1960 and went on to set up and run a successful catering business, cookery school and Michelin-starred restaurant in Notting Hill. As well as a restaurateur, novelist, cookery writer and journalist, she has sat on many company boards.
Shortly after selling her business in 1995, she was persuaded to have some sessions with a life coach, although she was adamant at the time she didn’t need them. However, she admits: “It was very helpful in that she made me prioritise – ‘don’t do anything you don’t enjoy’ – because I am a great one for saying yes to everything. She made me sit there with a list of the things I did and if my face lit up and I was talking about it with enthusiasm, she would give it a tick.
“But if I went, ‘Ooh’, she would cross it off and say, ‘You’ve got to resign from that’. Then we made time in my life for me to do things I wanted to do but had to refuse, which was to open a Leith’s school in South Africa. Sometimes, somebody else’s eyes are very good.”
Her modest and quiet father, Stewart Leith, was a successful businessman working for ICI, while her mother, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Inglis, was an extrovert and entrepreneurial.
“She ran her own company and as a young woman she took Shakespeare to the troops during the war,” says Prue.
Plans are afoot to turn her life story into a movie through Li-Da, a filmmaker, and Prue is busy reading the script.
“It may never happen. If you think Emily In Paris, there’s a similar story there – young woman comes from abroad, shakes the place up,” she laughs. “I think it would be a great film. But there are thousands of great young filmmakers struggling for their first commission and we are just one of them.”
Prue has been one of the judges on Bake Off since 2017, after taking over from Mary Berry. Before she took on the role, she rang Mary to find out about fellow judge Paul Hollywood.
She says: “She was very complimentary about him and said he really did know his onions, especially on bread, and he is such a good and knowledgeable baker.
“But she did say you have to hold your own because he is a strong personality. We have a great deal of fun and he teases me rotten because I never get any of the innuendos. I say things which I think are perfectly normal and only a 14-year-old would think were funny, like ‘I’m worried about the size of your nuts’. He and Matt [Lucas] go into hysterics like children. Half the time I don’t get the jokes, so they have a lot of fun at my expense.”
She believes the show’s success lies in the fact that contestants and judges are kind to each other.
“The wonderful thing is I don’t have to think about what I am going to say because it’s about how it tastes or if it excites you. I would never be rude, but I would be honest if they put in too much salt, too much chilli or if it’s too sweet, I would say, ‘This is overwhelming’.”
Prue has sat on many boards but the thing she is most proud of is the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, of which, as chair of the Royal Society of Arts, she was the instigator. She had to get it through 13 committees, which took five years.
She recalls: “I thought it needed doing, and I’m one of those women who is bossy and opinionated and thinks why shouldn’t I get my oar stuck in?”
The idea for a programme of temporary installations rather than a permanent one came from James Lingwood, of Artangel.
Prue says: “He said we’d never get agreement about a conventional hero, what we needed was something that’s not going to be there for very long, because if something is only going to be there for a year, no one will object to it. However much you hate it, you know it will be removed. You always have the hope your favourite artist will be next year.
“It was a tedious process. But if it’s worth doing, you should stick at it.”
- I’ll Try Anything Once, by Prue Leith, is published in paperback by Quercus Books, priced £9.99. Out now.
- Bliss On Toast, by Prue Leith, is published in hardback by Bloomsbury, priced £14.99. Out now.
News
Bag a trolley full of savings with top discount scheme
u3a members can make savings on their weekly shop at major supermarkets and well-known brands with the Third Age Trust’s u3a Click & Save scheme.
The scheme has been simplified since the Trust first announced the appointment last year of a major new partner, Parliament Hill, which is helping to deliver retailer discounts.
Click & Save is for u3a members and supporters who sign up to the movement’s monthly newsletter.
The scheme offers savings at some of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, M&S and Waitrose, clothes retailers such as ASOS, Clarks, New Look and River Island, plus other big-name brands including Caffe Nero, Costa, Wickes, B&Q, Halfords, Nike, Argos, John Lewis and travel companies.
Sam Mauger, chief executive of the Third Age Trust, said: “We are very pleased to be working with Parliament Hill, who already serve many voluntary bodies in a similar way. They are part of a ‘mutual’ so understand how we tick as a charity focused on u3a needs.
“Whether you are a u3a member, or want to support the charity and find out more about what we do, please sign up to the newsletter as a Friend.
“Our newsletter community already has a readership of 40,000 people. Join our newsletter family – sign up, support u3a and gain access to our offers, news and the latest from the movement.”
- Sign up to the Trust’s monthly newsletter at u3a.org.uk/newsletter
Baker’s dozen years
Val Reed shows off her incredible cake marking the 12th anniversary of Ashby-de-la-Zouch u3a in Leicestershire, with decorations depicting its 22 interest groups. She said: “Boots for the walking group, cards for bridge, and fish and chips for supper club were quite easy. But for the recorder group I had to resort to a piece of shaped dowel with no icing!”
Shop at the u3a
From hats to hot drinks, show off your support for our movement with the latest products.
Bunting, £12
Beanie, £6.50
Lanyard, 90p
Insulated travel mug, £5
2023 diary, £3.50
Sash, £4
To order branded merchandise, log in to the brand centre at u3abrand.org.uk
u3a 40th anniversary news
London walk’s miles better
More than 500 u3a members collectively walked in excess of 230 miles around London for u3a Week.
The event was organised by the London Region to mark the movement’s 40th anniversary and involved 27 u3as, who each took a section of the 78-mile circular Capital Ring to walk or the 150-mile London Outer Orbital Path.
Some u3as walked more than one section while others joined up with their neighbouring group to trek the same part together, many wearing u3a colours. Their fine effort even gained publicity in the local media.
WOOL-D YOU BELIEVE IT? KNITTING ‘BANKSY’ CAUSES STIR
A mystery knitter created this postbox decoration to mark the u3a’s 40th birthday.
Pat Glover, of Syston & District u3a in Leicestershire, said: “They are known as the Syston Knitting Banksy as they create toppers for all events.”
The local u3a craft group made a blanket of 40 knitted squares, while the book group discussed titles first published in 1982.
Banner gets 3D revamp
When Portsdown u3a in Hampshire wanted a new use for its old banner, members chose to adapt it to mark this year’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
They created five-inch squares depicting their many interest groups, from walking to book groups and buildings appreciation, which were then attached to the banner.
One of the criteria was that it should have a 3D element.
Craft group leader Linda Hugo-Vieten said: “We couldn’t stop smiling at the end product. It just looked so amazing, showing what a group of members could achieve with each other’s support and ideas. We all wondered at various points whether it was achievable but we persevered.”
"What a year that was!"
Michaela Moody, who stood down as vice-chair at the AGM, rounds up the u3a’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
This has been an amazing year for the u3a. We have showcased our learning, activity and fun, brought in new friends and members to join us, and raised our profile across the UK.
But this is just the beginning. We always aimed not only to celebrate the past but also to look to the future.
With our new strategy, many upcoming events, building new partnerships and a renewed energy for the 12 months ahead, we have much to look forward to in the next 40 years.
Our anniversary year began with a new u3a promotional film, Do Something Brilliant Today, showcasing the wonderful activities that members get involved with. It has had 15,000 views on our YouTube channel.
The u3a Anniversary Woodland in the Brecon Beacons, to which members contributed donations, surpassed its original target of 5,000 trees and is well on its way to 10,000.
An anniversary lunch attended by 20 u3a members, including our founder Eric Midwinter, celebrated the work of early members in establishing the ethos of the movement.
The 40th Anniversary Quilt showcased the talent, skills and engagement of members and is on display to the public at the Witney Blanket Hall in Oxfordshire until next summer.
The Picnic in the Park events in June were a splendid opportunity for members to get together and promote u3a.
Hundreds attended the Research and Shared Learning conference in Preston, which included a thrilling presentation by Burnham-on-Crouch u3a’s archaeology group about finding a medieval palace.
In Edinburgh, a play called One Foot in the Future, about older people taking positive steps towards a better future, was a sell-out, while the Science Network meeting in July showcased the u3a’s engagement with both technology and science. And we were delighted that the Southport Flower Show judges awarded a gold medal to Southport u3a for its anniversary show garden. September’s u3a week was another opportunity to get together and showcase our contribution to the local community.
Over the year, we have had more than 8,000 clicks on the Join Us page of our website, especially after our Facebook ad campaigns, thousands of attendees visiting online events and more than 10,000 members meeting in person at our face-to-face events. In addition, our Facebook posts reach an average of 80,000 people every few months.
To read how Southport u3a pulled off their stunning win, go to Sources
Esther Rantzen
"Sex is such a turn-off "
Television and film producers need to learn that less is more, says Dame Esther Rantzen.
They have remade the feature film of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The thought fills me with gloom.
I remember DH Lawrence’s novel in 1960 when it had been banned for decades and Penguin Books was tried for obscenity for daring to publish it. I was 20 and at university, and we all roared with laughter when the prosecuting barrister, Mervyn Griffith-Jones, asked the jury: “Is it a book you would even wish your wife or your servants to read?”
The jury laughed too. They acquitted Penguin, of course, and, like three million other people, I bought a copy and read it, delighted by Lady C’s liberation.
Scholars and lawyers still refer to that trial as the landmark moment for British culture, which then abandoned censorship entirely (until, of course, the cancel culture reinstated it, but that’s another topic for another time). The fact that we could talk about sex was sensible progress, we children of the 1960s would say.
But now that I have reached my 80s, I think the fact that we can describe it doesn’t mean that we should show it.
Personally, I would prefer film directors to shield me from other people’s private moments. A closed bedroom door is far more romantic than writhing bodies. And I gather from interviews with actors that they find sex scenes pretty uncomfortable and embarrassing, too, so now producers need to employ ‘intimacy coordinators’.
They could point out that the sexiest scene in any movie was in When Harry Met Sally where Meg Ryan pretended. And an elderly lady in the café said she wanted whatever Meg was having. Like all the best erotic scenes, it all went on in our minds.
Television programmes are getting just as graphic. There are even natural history programmes now which concentrate on procreation. My heart goes out to the male praying mantis, who gets eaten by the female while in flagrante. Maybe the makers of explicit films should be forced to watch the plight of the male mantises. Surely that’s enough to put anyone off.
So does Naked Attraction on Channel Four. Have you chanced upon it? Once you have seen humanity in so many different shapes and sizes, and marvelled at the exotic piercings and tattoos, the only interesting fact I’ve gleaned is that when they have seen each other naked, the couples avoid seeing each other at all in the future. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Naked Revulsion, I call it.
I even find myself shocked by the bumping and grinding in some of the dance routines in Strictly Come Dancing. I wonder how much of my prudery is due to my age? Some of it, I admit. After all, none of us liked the idea of the way our parents created us, did we? And part of that was because we thought they were incredibly old. I remember my son, then aged around seven, walking into our bedroom unexpectedly and saying to my husband and me, “Why were you one lump instead of two?” We hastily turned back into two lumps and he said, “No chance of a baby brother, I suppose?” Which shows how well we had educated him, and how little he was traumatised. Thank goodness.
Not that I am against romance, even at our advanced years. Falling in love puts a spring in your step, however old you are. If you can find it, good luck to you. But I won’t be buying a ticket to see Lady Chatterley having her moment with her gamekeeper. Whatever game he’s after, he can keep it to himself.
- Do you agree with Esther? Email
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what's on
u3a runs a programme of online talks, workshops and events, as well as online initiatives for members to get involved with, such as speaker swap, cake decorating and puzzles.
To find out more about talks and events, go to u3a.org.uk/learningevents, and to take part in the national initiatives, go to u3a.org.uk/learning/national-programmes
Seated Yoga for All
Fridays, 18 November to
9 December, 10am
Begin to understand how yoga principles help you find more ease, stability and enjoyment in life. Each week, you will be helped to recognise what is happening in your body and how this relates to your own needs for mobility, strength, independence or general wellbeing.
Creative Thinking
Thursday, 17 November, 2pm
An interactive session where attendees work in small groups.
Laughter Yoga
Second Wednesday of every month
Judith Walker combines laughter exercises with deep yoga-style breathing. Come and have some fun.
The Maths of Bell Ringing
Tuesday, 6 December, 10am
John Harrison, who has been bell
ringing for more than 50 years, talks about this intriguing subject.
Sleep and Dreams
Monday, 9 January, 2pm
Dr Bob Pullen’s talk explains how our brains work to make us sleep and dream.
Getting Started with your Family History
Wednesday, 11 January, 2pm
The first of three talks by Toni Neobard looks at family history for beginners.
Exploring World Faiths talks
Please register to attend by visiting the Online Learning Events and Exploring World Faiths pages on the u3a website. Queries to Dr Peter Rookes at
All Souls – Day of the Dead
Monday, 14 November, 10am
Better known as Halloween, the Day of the Dead is a major event in Latin American nations, particularly Mexico. The webinar has contributions from Christian, Muslim and other faiths.
Reflections, Ideas and Experiences
Monday, 5 December, 10am
Setting up and running local Exploring World Faiths groups.
Your opportunity to raise questions, tell us about your ideas, and your experience of what worked and what didn’t.
The Holocaust
Monday, 16 January, 10am
We hear from someone who experienced the death camps and discuss how genocide occurs.
u3a online Initiatives Autumn programme
Repurpose and Upcycle
If you have given an object a new lease of life, we want to hear all about it! Submit your photo and inspire others.
Speaker Swap
Offer a talk or workshop to a u3a and get one for your u3a in return.
All Our Yesterdays
Submit your memories and photos from the 1950s and 1960s. Go to u3a.org.uk/aoy to find out more.
Cake Decorating
Be inspired and submit your own impressive cake decorations.
Logic Puzzles and Maths Challenge
Monthly logic puzzles and weekly maths teasers.
u3a Eye
A monthly, themed photography competition. The top 15 are displayed on an online gallery.
tech news
Christmas foodie crackers
Prepare for the big day’s dinner with some top tech and tips, writes James Day
Keep your fingers crossed but, a cost of living crisis aside, we might be about to enjoy the most ‘normal’ Christmas in years. With food playing a huge part in festive celebrations, and the kitchen very much at the heart of the home, we’ve pulled together a tasting menu of tech and tips to help you enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.
Five filling foodie apps
1. WW
Free for iOS/Android.
It’s all too easy to over-indulge at Christmas, so the WW app (WeightWatchers to most of us) is an all-encompassing encyclopedia of more than 3,400 recipes that help you keep track of your calorie intake and budget. That’s not all, as you’ll also find kitchen tips from a community of users, goals to help you build healthy habits, live events, cooking classes and other inspirational online sessions for you to join.
2. Whisk
Free for iOS/Android/Samsung.
Someone is bound to forget to buy the bread sauce, so an app to keep track of your shopping list could be invaluable. But Whisk is so much more than that. Save recipes from any website and store them in one place, then let the app turn the recipe into a smart shopping list so you don’t miss an ingredient at the supermarket. This should also help you stay within budget and save time searching the aisles.
3. BBC Good Food
Free for iOS/Android.
Discover more than 13,000 recipes, watch ‘how-to’ video masterclasses and put your cooking questions to the experts. The BBC Good Food app aims to help you improve your cooking skills so you feel more confident in the kitchen. You also get to comment on and rate recipes from users like a kind of virtual John Torode, albeit without the tasting bit. Free for three months, then £4.49 a month or £24.99 for the year (with no obligation to sign up).
4. Yeschef
£11 a month on internet.
Yeschef is a bit like YouTube for foodies, where the world’s greatest chefs transport you to their culinary capitals and teach you how to cook their grub. New lessons are released weekly and feature immersive videos taking you on a journey around the globe, with hands-on lessons where you will learn the techniques and secrets of each chef. And because it’s a web app, you can stream and learn from any device.
5. Epicurious
Free from internet.
Epicurious is a fantastic digital food-themed resource. The website acts like a search engine for more than 35,000 tested recipes. There are wonderful listicles such as ‘67 desserts to cosy up to’, an expert advice section including product guides, and a super-smart ingredients section suggesting various ways to use certain produce – handy for cutting down on food waste and finding a use for what’s left in the fridge.
Three Kitchen gadgets
1. Beast Blender
£155 / thebeast.uk
Promising best-in-class blending and next to no vibration or noise, the Beast offers a brilliant way to liquefy leftovers, make fabulous soups and smoothies, help prepare ingredients even if they are frozen, and make hard-to-swallow meals easier to eat. It looks rather cool too.
2. Smeg KLF05 Mini Kettle
£119.95 / shop.smeguk.com
Overfilling the kettle can be one of the worst ways to waste water and electricity. Smeg’s cute mini kettle makes up to three cups with one boil and is perfect for smaller homes or compact flats. Superfast boiling uses less energy than a standard kettle and it comes in a range of colours.
3. Coravin Pivot
£129.99 / coravin.co.uk
Coravin’s wine preservation system uses a needle that pierces the cork, so you don’t actually open the bottle. This preserves the wine for up to four weeks, meaning you can open that vintage you’ve been saving without having to finish it in one sitting . . .
Three Festive cooking hacks
Cooking Christmas dinner can be stressful at the best of times, so we spoke to Smeg’s expert home economist, Clare Edwards, to get some top roast-dinner cooking tips, plus some clever ways to cut down on food waste with your leftovers.
1. Ultimate crispy roast potatoes
“Parboil or steam your potatoes first and always allow them to dry completely before adding to a roasting tin. Ruffle the roast potatoes in a colander, or score with a fork, to create a rough exterior – perfect for producing crispy, crunchy potatoes. For extra crispiness or flavour, you can always coat your potatoes in seasoned flour, or sprinkle over sesame seeds.
“Preheat your oil in an oven dish before adding the potatoes. Spoon over the oil, or turn the potatoes, before leaving them to cook. Don’t use a high-sided roasting dish or fill the roasting tray too much as this will cause the potatoes to steam, rather than crisp in the oven.”
2. Roasting lamb to perfection
“Lamb is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to turkey at Christmas. To bring out the taste of lamb, make small incisions into the flesh of the meat and stud it with garlic, rosemary and pancetta. It is important to seal your meat. This will ensure that it remains juicy and maintains its size and weight.
“At the beginning of cooking, add your meat to a cold oven and turn it to its maximum temperature. Once the oven has reached this, turn it down to your regular roasting temperature of 180°C. With meats such as lamb and beef, where you can cook it pink, cook it until the thickest part of the meat reaches 50-60°C for rare, 60 -70°C for medium or 75°C for well done. With Smeg’s new Galileo technology, you can now enter the weight of your lamb and it will tell you how to cook and on what setting, as well as how quickly it would do roast potatoes.”
3. How to use up leftovers
“Try stirring leftover meats into pasta with creamy or tomato sauces. For the potatoes, throw them into a pan along with your leftover meat and onions to cook up a bubble and squeak.
“The excessive amount of chocolate at Christmas can also be turned into dishes such as tiffin and loaded cheesecakes by melting down the weight of chocolate needed. For something a little different, the melted chocolate could even be used to dip skewered fruit.”
- Have you got a tech question you’d like help with? Send in your questions to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we’ll do our best to find a solution on these pages
- Follow James on Twitter @James_a_day
NEWS - monarchy special
The Queen’s death sparked many royal memories. Here, we share a few …
My time at the Palace
Yvonne Toms, from Looe & District u3a in Cornwall, recalls working as a Buckingham Palace housemaid in 1972.
Yvonne was just 23 when she saw an advert in The Lady magazine seeking a housemaid for Buckingham Palace. The Yorkshire lass – then Yvonne Pearson – had been working in Polperro, Cornwall, during the summer season and wanted to do something different over winter.
The ad read: “No experience necessary, training will be given.” Yvonne applied and was invited for an interview with the head housekeeper.
“She was a very pleasant lady, ex-Navy and very matronly. We got on well,” recalls Yvonne. “One of the questions she asked me was whether I was any good at housework. I nearly dropped through the floor but, blagging it, I said ‘yes’.
“She said ‘good’, because the role was housework on a grand scale!”
Yvonne headed home thinking that she had at least been to Buckingham Palace. But a few days later, a letter arrived offering her the job. The salary was £577 a year, with three weeks’ leave and a three-month probationary period.
“My mother was in awe of me, as I had only been to London once and here I was, going off to work for the Queen at Buckingham Palace,” says Yvonne.
She was assigned to Prince Charles’s floor, which she was delighted about as there were royal and non-royal floors. She had her own room on the floor and shared a kitchen, bathroom and sitting room with three other housemaids.
At the end of their corridor, two large glass doors led to Prince Charles’s corridor, with a deep-piled red carpet, highly polished floors, marble statues and French lacquered cabinets.
Wearing slippers to keep the noise down, duties included dusting, vacuuming, polishing and cleaning.
Staff were told that they should make themselves ‘invisible’ around royalty.
One day, Yvonne was talking to Charles’s valets when the prince appeared in the corridor. “The valets disappeared into their rooms and Prince Charles began coming down the corridor towards me,” says Yvonne. “He said, ‘Good morning’ and I replied, ‘Good morning, sir’. It was only afterwards that his valet told me I should have said, ‘Good morning, Your Royal Highness’ and curtsied.
“Prince Charles was always very polite and I thought of him as a sweetie pie. He is so interested in people. He has grown into his role as King very well.”
Yvonne also saw young Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, running along the corridor with the Queen’s corgis.
There were some perks for staff, such as seats in the Royal Box at the Albert Hall. “If the Royal Family was not using the box, you could apply for tickets for the seats,” says Yvonne. “I went three times.”
After her three-month probation was up, Yvonne was offered a full-time role but decided to return to her fiancé, Paul, in Polperro, who is now her husband and father to their two children.
“I had a lovely time and met some lovely people but it wasn’t going to be a career move,” she adds. “They treated us wonderfully well.”
Memories of Queen Elizabeth II
Pat Taylor, Burton Joyce u3a
"I remember the Queen’s coronation well. My parents didn’t have a television. However, my uncle had purchased one especially for the occasion – probably discounted as he worked for the Co-operative store selling household items. We took the journey of some 12 miles to sit, with other family members, in front of a 13-inch black-and-white television with a plastic screen enhancer. It was just amazing to watch such a splendid occasion. I recall so well the excitement."
Doris Grimsley, Abbey Wood and Thamesmead u3a, London
"It rained but we waited patiently to catch a glimpse of the Queen’s coach. We were standing about six deep back, so didn’t have a chance of seeing much. But my fiancé, Roy, was a strong chap and hoisted me up on to his shoulders and I enjoyed the spectacle. I did suggest we go up to London for the Queen’s funeral and he could repeat the performance, but at nearly 90 he was not keen!"
Celia and Keith Smith, Sevenoaks & District u3a, Kent
Celia was 17 when her father got tickets to watch the coronation on The Mall in 1953. The family set off from their home near Cambridge at around 4am to be in their seats by 8am. Celia thinks her father got the tickets through his Rotary Club.
"As a child, I was very keen on Princess Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret Rose,” says Celia. “I had picture books about them.
“It was very exciting. There was a procession but it was all about seeing the golden carriage go past with the Queen in it. It was very brief.
“It was a terribly cold and wet day. We had gone prepared with food and blankets but it was much wetter than we had expected. "
Celia’s husband, Keith, an architect, met the Queen in 1956 when she and Prince Philip visited the Ibadan University College Hospital in Nigeria. Keith’s party was responsible for taking the Duke of Edinburgh around while another party took the Queen. But Prince Philip would not follow the agreed route and was late getting back to the Queen, at which time she asked him: “Did you get lost?”
Ruth Ward, Hertford & District u3a
"My memory of seeing the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh was in about 1959 when there was a royal visit to Hove. My family gathered at a first-floor window above my dad’s chemist shop. At the end of the street, there was a school for deaf children who were lined up on the pavement with flags. Later that day, when the royals had gone, a message was passed down from the deaf children to us. They could all lip-read and they told us that, while passing them, the Duke had said to the Queen, “Buck up old girl, you’re flagging”, whereupon the Queen straightened up and smiled her brightest smile! "
Chock Glendinning, Hackney u3a, London
"I was born in the British colony of Malaya. I have shaken hands with Camilla, the Queen Consort, twice – once at the Geffrye Museum when I was a writer and artist there, and last December when I was one of many volunteers at the Chinese New Year in China Town. I also met Prince Philip when he opened the new A&E department of University College Hospital, where I was the chief biomedic scientist. He joked with us: “I supposed you all have to go back to work now!” I am very sad at the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. She was a good role model for us women. "
Valerie Mason, Gloucester & District u3a
'I was in my last year at junior school in 1947 when the Mayor of Windsor selected me to present a bouquet to Princess Elizabeth, who had recently celebrated her 21st birthday and was being granted the Honorary Freedom of the Borough of Windsor. My mother had the problem of assembling an all-white outfit for me. This was not easy, post-war, when availability was severely restricted.
The day in July arrived and, suitably attired, and having learnt a short speech and been taught how to curtsey, I presented a lovely bouquet of carnations and sweet peas to Her Royal Highness, who accepted them and graciously listened to my speech.
Her composure was remarkable. We did not know at the time she was about to become engaged and would be married in November! How excited she must have been but still went through the ceremony with devotion and grace. "
- Go to letters, for more royal memories
Coronation through the ages
As we look forward to King Charles III’s coronation next May, historian and Portsdown u3a member Carole Chapman gives a brief overview of the history of the ceremony and some of its fascinating rituals
The coronation ceremony of the British monarchy involves many elements that have been a part of the ritual for more than 1,000 years.
Its core meaning is religious, and it takes place within the framework of Holy Communion. The monarch is presented to, and acclaimed by, the people; swears an oath to uphold the law and the Church; is anointed with holy oil; is invested with regalia; is crowned; moves from St Edward’s Chair to be enthroned; and then receives the homage of his/her leading subjects. A female consort also receives a crown. Monarch and consort then receive communion.
The new monarch next embarks on a procession to be presented to the people. Since the 20th century, this has culminated in an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
Coronation origins
The earliest English coronation for which we have detailed documentation is the crowning of the Anglo-Saxon King Edgar (ruled 959-975) in Bath in 973. This was apparently a culmination of his reign rather than an initiation.
From the middle of the 10th century, one united English kingdom existed, surviving intact through the rule of Danish kings and, ultimately, passing to William of Normandy, the Conqueror, William I (1066-87).
The ancient Germanic traditions of the king as war leader, descended from pagan gods, was powerfully sanctified, and made sacramental, by the Church as Christian kingship. Anointed with holy oil at his coronation, the King was rex et sacerdos, King and Priest, ruling by the grace of God.
From this early period, other traditions survive. The coronation of William the Conqueror took place on Christmas Day 1066 in the great new church at Westminster which, at the beginning of that year, had witnessed first the funeral of its founder, King Edward the Confessor (1042-66), and then, immediately, the coronation of Harold II, who was to die in the Battle of Hastings.
Westminster Abbey was rebuilt again by Henry III (1216-72) and there were some subsequent changes, but it remained the venue for coronations. Since William the Conqueror, every one of the 39 crowned monarchs has had their ceremony in the Abbey. Edward V, one of the Princes in the Tower, and Edward VIII, who abdicated, were not crowned. The Archbishop of Canterbury generally crowns a monarch unless political considerations dictate otherwise.
Rituals and revision
Successive coronations have preserved the core of the ancient rites, but they have also taken place against a background of profound religious, political and social change.
Naturally, the service has undergone translation and revision, with every monarch initiating some change. In the case of Queen Elizabeth II, the advent of television was of course most notable. Due to their sacred nature, the anointing and communion were not included.
Following the start of the English Reformation, the boy king, Edward VI (1547-53), was crowned in the first Protestant coronation in 1547, with an attack on the Catholic Church from Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
Six years later, his half-sister, Mary I (1553-58), restored the Catholic faith.
In 1559, their half-sister, Elizabeth I (1558-1603), was crowned in the last Latin coronation but with modifications to suit the conservative Protestant outlook of the Queen. Several bishops were therefore excluded or refused to participate, and she was crowned by the Bishop of Carlisle.
With the coronation of James I (1603-25, also James VI of Scotland), the service was fully in English, although Latin made a final appearance for the German Hanoverian George I (1714-27) as it was the only language that King and clergy had in common.
Since the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 greatly enhanced the constitutional powers of Parliament and secured the Protestant succession, the Coronation Oath Act of 1688 has required the sovereign to swear to govern the people according to the “Statutes in Parlyament Agreed on and the Laws and Customs of the same”.
In the 20th century, there was an increasing emphasis on the Empire and then the emerging concept of the Commonwealth.
music AND royal regalia
Music has always played an important role in coronations, with some pieces being a permanent fixture such as George Frederic Handel’s Zadok the Priest, played at all ceremonies since the coronation of George II (1727-60).
This music accompanies the monarch’s progress to the Coronation Chair for the anointing. The chair is also known as St Edward’s Chair, after St Edward the Confessor. It was commissioned in 1296 by Edward I (1272-1307) to contain the coronation stone of Scotland – the Stone of Destiny or Stone of Scone – which had been captured from the Scots. The stone was returned to Scotland in 1996 but should be made available for the coronation of King Charles III in May.
Unlike the Coronation Chair, most of the royal regalia – the Crown Jewels – date from a later period. After the execution of King Charles I (1625-49), most of the Crown Jewels were sold or melted down. Therefore, the majority of the present collection dates from 1660 and 1661, following the restoration of monarchy with Charles II (1660-85) in 1660.
The climax of the entire ceremony is, of course, the actual crowning of the seated monarch. The crown used is usually St Edward’s Crown, again named after Edward the Confessor, and was first made for Henry III. It is likely that parts of a more ancient Anglo-Saxon gold crown were incorporated into this new version. After the restoration in 1660, another new version was made.
This crown is gold and weighs 2.3kg (5lbs). As it is so heavy, after the actual crowning it is usually replaced by another, lighter crown such as the Imperial State Crown. A new version of this crown was made for the coronation of George VI (1936-52) in 1937. It was adjusted for his daughter, Elizabeth II, in 1953.
golden finale
The monarch leaves Westminster Abbey and is transported through the streets of London in a golden carriage so that he/she may be presented to the people. Traditionally, a great feast then took place in Westminster Hall. The last such occasion was in 1821.
Instead of feasts, we now have live television. In the mid-20th century, the coronation of Elizabeth II ignited the imagination of a nation. The ceremony was watched by some 20 million people and, for the vast majority, it was the first event they ever watched on television.
Next year, the coronation of Charles III will doubtless combine tradition and innovation and, as the first in a digital age, will be accessible as never before.
news
Banchory u3a celebrates launch
A new u3a in Aberdeenshire signed up 100 members on its launch day.
Banchory and Deeside u3a’s formation began earlier in the year with a public meeting organised by Mary Lennox and Jane Drury, where more than 70 people filled in questionnaires showing support for its creation. Many more got in touch after the event.
The meeting, which was held in Banchory Town Hall, was advertised in the local paper, on the community Facebook page and on posters.
Mary, who formed a steering group of volunteers, praised those who put themselves forward to help start the u3a.
She called for a team effort to build momentum and generate enthusiasm during the start-up process, adding that the organisers were very grateful for the staunch support of Aberdeen u3a.
Groups co-ordinator Anna MacKay processed the questionnaires to assess what was most popular. She found that walking, discussion groups, poetry, philosophy, theatre and cinema visits, lunch club and mahjong were the favourites, while Scottish history, genealogy, art appreciation, languages and crafts were not far behind.
The inaugural meeting was held in September, with groups due to start that month. A six-month programme of speakers has already been lined up.
Member Karen Hutchison said: “There’s no doubt it’s a big hill to climb but we’re all keen to make it work.”
Hundreds turn their hands to UK-wide Bridge Festival
More than 500 bridge players from across the four home nations came together to celebrate the u3a’s 40th anniversary by playing in a week-long Bridge Festival.
This involved playing the same hands each day, either locally or online, and uploading the results to a central scoring system to determine a daily national winner.
Players took part from as far north as Inverness u3a to Upper Bann u3a in Northern Ireland, Kingsbury Estuary u3a in Devon and Stour Valley u3a in Suffolk.
Each group donated the equivalent of their ‘table money’ and raised more than £1,000 towards charities including Alzheimer’s Research, Chrysalis Club, Age UK and Cancer Research UK.
The winners of each day were: Eileen Williams and Linda Mcmillan, u3a Bridge Group; Mary and David Marshall, Ashbourne & District u3a, Derbyshire; Don and Jane Pilbeam, Witney u3a, Oxfordshire; Babs Bensley and Marilyn Pascoe, u3a Bridge Group; John and Vivienne Carroll, High Lane u3a, Greater Manchester.
The Bridge Festival was so successful that the intention is to repeat the exercise again in the spring.
- To make sure you don't miss out, contact u3a Bridge Subject Adviser Steve Carter at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further details.
Do your bit to limit climate change
A set of guidelines has been adopted by the Third Age Trust to help u3as address issues of climate change and to consider how their activities may impact on the environment and biodiversity loss.
The policy, which was drawn up by the u3a Climate Change Network, provides suggestions on how activities can make a positive contribution to sustainability and mitigate global warming.
These include considering the impact of outdoor activities, such as walking, and how trips and holidays could be made more sustainable.
They also encourage forming climate and environmental groups within u3as; appointing a member as an environmental officer to monitor issues; checking whether venues operate responsible policies such as buying from local suppliers; minimising waste and boosting recycling; and walking to meetings or using public transport or car sharing.
It is hoped such measures would address concerns of members and wider society regarding environmental issues.
- Find out more about the u3a Climate Change Network, led by Subject Adviser Frances Halliday, at u3asites.org.uk/climate-change/welcome
Online workshops will help you run your u3a
The Third Age Trust hosts a variety of online workshops to support members to run their u3a, whether you are a new or current committee member or thinking about joining one.
The workshops cover a range of topics from recruiting new members and running interest groups to finance and what being a trustee involves.
The workshops are delivered online by trust volunteers who bring a wealth of experience from across the movement.
David Platt, chair of Lostwithiel Area u3a in Cornwall, attended the Keeping It Legal online workshop. He said: “As a very new chair – not having even served on the committee previously – I was keen to improve my knowledge and establish our early priorities coming out of the pandemic.
“Attending [this workshop] certainly achieved that for me. I need to know the important basics, not necessarily be an ‘expert’, and at least know where to go for further information or support.
“The group interaction during the workshop is particularly valuable and I’ve already sought the advice of another in our mini-group. As a result, we’ve set up a working party to review our data protection, safeguarding and equality, diversity and inclusion policies. Also, as several other committee members are quite new, I’m planning a five-minute refresher on the trustees’ role in our forthcoming committee meetings which will break down some of the important aspects into ‘bite-sized’ chunks. So far, our committee has willingly engaged with the process.”
- To attend one of the online workshops, or to find out more information and book your place, go to u3a.org.uk/advice/workshops
Hadrian’s Wall festival of fun
A festival of learning and fun will take place at Hadrian’s Wall next year to showcase the many activities of u3a – as well as commemorating the cultural influence of the historic structure.
The event will take place on 10 May at The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre in Hexham, Northumberland.
It will include a programme of speakers as well as the u3a Off The Wall fringe festival of workshops such as drama, art, music and photography.
Discussions are under way for tours around Vindolanda, a Roman luxury fort, while walkers and cyclists will be able to explore the paths along the wall.
Hadrian’s Wall, which dates back to 122 AD, is the largest Roman archaeological feature in Britain.
It runs for 73 miles from Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria to Wallsend in Tyneside.
u3as are invited to showcase their activity groups, either at the festival itself or at online events.
- To take part, please contact Julie Travers at
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WILD DAY AT SAFARI PARK
Members of Wyre Forest & District u3a became amateur zoologists as they handled a corn snake, bearded dragon, giant snail and hissing cockroach at West Midlands Safari Park.
The group also learnt about a variety of topics including conservation, climate change, zoo management and pollution.
They helped prepare food for the red panda, but were denied a look at the beautiful creature because it is nocturnal and won’t get up – even for treats!
The group also cleaned out the sleeping quarters where three retired meercats live in peace, and prepared food for them.
“It was a very inspiring experience never to be forgotten,” said member Sylvia Cooke. “We learnt a lot and it gave us more appreciation and understanding of all creatures great and small.”
STRING TO ONE’S CROW
Ukulele groups are very popular – and nowhere more so than u3a Guernsey, where the metalwork group made this model for the Torteval Scarecrow Festival.
Molly and Bob Thompson also made lifelike scarecrows of members enjoying u3a activities.
Getting together to honour Jo
u3a groups are being invited to take part in an event next year aimed at bringing communities together in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox.
In her maiden speech in the House of Commons, Jo said: “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.”
A year after her murder in 2016, the Labour MP’s family and friends set up the Great Get Together, a weekend in which people across the UK organise community events that celebrate Jo’s #MoreInCommon message. Next year’s event takes place from June 23-25.
Campaign manager James Austin said: “We all know the vital role u3a groups play in reducing loneliness and fostering connections and community, which is why the Jo Cox Foundation would love you to join us in celebrating the Great Get Together.”
- To find out more about the Great Get Together, visit greatgettogether.org or alternatively email
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Newsletter’s 40,000 goal for 40th birthday
The u3a National Newsletter is sent monthly by email to members and friends with the latest up-to-date news, events, offers and opportunities from across the u3a movement.
It has been going for more than five years, has grown every month, and currently has around 39,000 members and friends who send in stories, get involved and provide feedback on what is happening across the u3a movement.
The National Newsletter is a great way to be first in line for offers, events and news, so we would love to mark the end of our 40th anniversary year by reaching a community of 40,000 people.
If you have an email address, please join us and encourage your fellow members to sign up too.
- Join at u3a.org.uk/newsletter
MOOR THAN MEETS THE EYE
This image of masked warriors was taken by John Totten, of Devizes u3a Photography For Fun Group. It shows the ‘Moors and Christians’ event in eastern Spain, which re-enacts victories of the Moors from North Africa.
- More u3a members’ photos can be seen at u3a.org.uk/learning/national-programmes/u3a-eye
AWARD’S HAPPY EVER LAUGHTER FOR JUDITH
Edinburgh u3a member Judith Walker, who runs online laughter yoga classes, has been appointed a Laughter Ambassador in recognition of her work.
Judith has been leading the activity for the u3a since 2012, with members learning to chuckle at the absurdities in life. Her monthly Wednesday class averages around 75 people.
She said: “In a traffic jam, principles of laughter yoga can help us relax – seeing the funny side where there isn’t one.”
The accolade was awarded by Laughter Yoga International.
- To join Judith’s online classes, visit u3a.org.uk/learningevents
Harriet wins short story competition
More than 250 members took part in the u3a’s third creative writing competition.
Harriet Hall, from Gilwern u3a in Wales, was the winner with her story Cinderella – What Happened Next.
Second place went to Ian Ledward, of Cupar u3a in Fife, for A Cold Comfort Affair. Jane Telford, of Lancaster u3a, was third with An Opening Into Darkness.
All finalists received a copy of the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook. The top 12 stories can be read at u3a.org.uk/learning. The judging panel included Alysoun Owen from Bloomsbury, Wales trustee Hilary Jones, u3a Creative Writing Subject Adviser Marcia Humphries and Chris Winner, ex-Learning Committee chair.
- Read Harriet’s winning story in the Living section
opinion
"We need to improve communications and support each other"
Liz Thackray: view from the chair.
One of the problems in writing this column a few weeks before publication is that it is almost inevitably always a little out of date.
You will already know that the AGM on 6 October was something of a marathon with no satisfactory outcome for anybody. Clearly there are lessons to be learned, especially around two-way communication.
By the time you read this column, there will have been one or more meetings with representatives of the u3as which proposed or seconded amendments to the Board resolutions. An aim of those meetings is to work together in order to improve our communications.
Another move to improve communications is a series of planned online meetings providing opportunities to meet Trust officers, trustees and members of staff. The first of these meetings was hosted by Network Link on 15 September when chief executive Sam Mauger and I answered a number of questions and there was opportunity for some exchange of views. A follow-up took place on 13 October and our aim is to make these an opportunity for conversation, albeit that might be difficult to achieve in a group of more than 100 participants.
Following the AGM, and already reported on in the newsletter, were presentations from Allan Walmsley – newly-elected vice-chairman of the u3a Trust and formerly trustee for West Midlands – and me, ably assisted by Jean Hogg, retiring trustee for East Midlands, and Valerie Cobain, trustee for Northern Ireland. Allan’s presentation focused on strategy and my one was on governance.
At the 2021 AGM, Jeff Carter, chairman of the governance committee, presented an outline for strategy planning as a follow-up to the pre-Covid development plan. Allan took up the baton and engaged in a consultation process last autumn, which was reported on in TAM earlier this year.
The main focus of attention over the past months has been our 40th anniversary, but Allan has been working in the background and you will be hearing much more about strategy in the future. As I write, the next stage is a strategy planning day on 9 November.
The thinking around governance stems from the realisation that it is challenging to ensure there is sufficient time at Board meetings to adequately discuss governance matters around compliance, finance and keeping it legal, alongside thinking about strategy and development, as well as discussing matters relating to u3as and u3a activities.
The Board wants to ensure that u3as and their experiences are at the centre of decision-making. Other voluntary organisations similar to the u3a have faced similar dilemmas managing the balance of timely debate and local organisation experiences, and have found a way forward is to create a separate body – provisionally called a council, but suggestions for a better name are welcome. This does not introduce another tier of governance, but rather provides a space for bringing together regional and national representatives and others involved in the day-to-day work of u3as to shape our thinking and development around what we do. The focus is not on the national organisation, but on local and regional u3a activities and how these may best be incorporated into the national activities – and how different parts of our organisation can support each other.
The outline thinking has been published on the u3a website and information circulated in the newsletter. Throughout November, there are meetings taking place in regions and nations discussing the outline plans and refining them. In December, the Board will meet to decide whether more discussions are required or whether to bring the plans to an EGM in the spring.
The past few months have been difficult, but conversations are starting and will hopefully lead to us breaking down the divides and becoming a single u3a.
Wartime rations were a great British leveller
Eric Midwinter: u3a founder
Vague talk of ‘levelling up’ has entered the political lexicon recently. Possibly the nearest official British exercise in that regard was wartime rationing, a brilliant and well-organised tour de force. It did not happen immediately. It was public opinion, justly concerned about hoarding, that drove the government to introduce rationing on 8 January 1940.
Rationing was carefully guided by expert dieticians. There were nutritional dividends. One of the most widespread pre-war health hazards was poor teeth, with false teeth very common. Sugar and sweet rationing for several years saw a huge improvement in the nation’s dental health.
One curio was that when butter and bacon were rationed, up went the sales of those commodities. The explanation? In 1939, there were still one million people unemployed. By the end of 1940, the calls on military service, war work and similar duties created full employment. Wages rose – in fact, they doubled during the war. Moreover, food subsidies kept prices abnormally low. It has been estimated that such funding annually would equate to £600billion at today’s values. So many families could now afford such 1930s ‘luxuries’ as butter and bacon.
Over the years I have been irked by telly programmes inviting families to exist just on rations. But many foodstuffs were not rationed. These included bread (except for a few months just after the war), fish, fruit and vegetables, game (hare and rabbit) and milk. There were also other outlets: fish and chip shops were gold mines; civilian British Restaurants (a 1,000-calorie meal for a shilling or so); factory and military canteens; and a meteoric rise in school dinners – from 160,000 a day in 1939 to 1.6 million by 1942 .
A ‘points’ system was introduced for sales of tinned and packaged foods such as pineapple chunks or sardines.
The table below shows how rationing impacted people’s calorific intake and diet.
Daily Nutritional intake - late 1930s & 1944
Average working-class individual daily intake: Late 1930s, 2,500 calories. 1944, 2,400 calories
Average middle-class individual daily intake: Late 1930s, 3,300 calories. 1944, 2,400 calories
The degree of nutritional equity is remarkable, but it does suggest it is difficult to level up without levelling down. It being customary then for women to carry the very heavy burden of shopping and cooking, it’s unsurprising, especially when rationing was prolonged after the war, that they were most vociferous in criticism. And, as they had been the chief losers, to the tune of 900 calories a day, it was middle-class women who were to the fore.
Yet it had, not least through the bravery of our seamen in the crucial Battle of the North Atlantic, been a success. There had been hardship and occasional hunger, but there had been little malnutrition and no starvation. Needless to add, there was no obesity problem. We also out-caloried the foe, for the German daily intake never reached 2,000 calories and it declined lethally during 1945.
Some 50,000 officials in 1,000 food offices organised, sometimes ponderously, this huge undertaking and, while there were grumbles, civic spirit remained high. There were some dodgy ‘under-the-counter’ dealings but in a rigorous study of the black market in all ‘rationed’ nations, from impoverished Poland to the rich United States, the UK emerged as by far the best behaved.
It was in World War Two that, according to historian AJP Taylor, “the British people came of age ... tolerant, patient and generous”, a view endorsed by many commentators. Every one of the founder members of my local u3a, men and women, had experienced full-time war service or work. I have often thought that wartime sense of ‘doing one’s bit’ and co-operating together was a factor in u3a’s early expansion.
Volunteers must step up for u3a to survive
By Barrie Gunter, Trustee and Executive Committee member of Epping Forest u3a
In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Third Age Trust has done its best to lift spirits and provide advice about recruitment and participation.
Nevertheless, many u3as have struggled to reach their pre-pandemic membership levels. Another continuing problem, having spoken with committee members of other u3as, is finding people willing to help to run their charity and its activities.
In its Our Vision statement, the Third Age Trust has confirmed that members should play an active part in running the u3a movement. Yet, in my experience, most members I have talked to don’t realise this. Many regard their local u3a simply as a provider of a range of established activity services which they have paid to join.
The notion of joining a wider movement – as mentioned by the vision statement – also has little traction with prospective new members. The ones I have spoken to often want to join for only one specific activity. If that activity turns out to be full, or even if it changes its location, they don’t join.
The core principles of ‘self-help learning’ and ‘mutual aid’ indicate that members are invited to work together to make things happen.
A volunteering ethos is central to both of these principles. My experience is that this ethos is thin on the ground among most (90 per cent or more) people who join.
Induction and meet-the-committee events are held. The volunteering mantra is repeated to those few who turn up. Then maybe five per cent volunteer to help out.
Most members expect things to be done for them. Others don’t join in with activities – especially those men who have been enrolled (reluctantly) by their wives.
Should we be surprised by this? In my experience, the answer is no. Why? Well, one reason seems to be a reluctance to push too hard on the volunteering aspect of the u3a – at both national and local levels – for fear of discouraging potential members from joining up. Once they have joined, therefore, new members understandably don’t expect to help out because nobody told them otherwise.
This non-volunteering ethos can have damaging consequences. When a group convener steps down, after many years of loyal service, more often than not the group will end because no other group members will want to take over, even though they know how it runs. Complaints might follow. Yet, ultimately, apathy reigns.
Members will suggest ideas for new groups. Do they want to help run them? No, not often. Meetings can be organised to discuss how the proposed new group could be run. Almost invariably, no one will want to take even partial responsibility for it.
So what can be done about this? One way forward might be to bring the volunteering ethos up front and centre in our recruitment messaging. We need to dispel common external notions that the u3a offers ‘classes’ or is run by permanent ‘tutors’. Instead, maybe we should frame the u3a as offering settings in which retired people can meet with others by attending, supporting and helping to run current activities and creating new ones that meet their mutual interests.
Let’s not be afraid to acknowledge why the u3a was developed and, importantly, of what we need from our members to survive.
Why are new bungalows a (single) storey of the past?
By David Bissenden, retired architect and member of Halton u3a in Cheshire
Many older people want to downsize, and their preferred choice of a new home is a bungalow. However, it is getting extremely hard to find new-build bungalows at affordable prices. Why is this? Why are bungalow estates no longer built in any number? This is a problem, not just for the older generation but for society in general.
Press reports have highlighted the massive amount of housing space tied up by pensioners, often living alone in four-bedroom houses. A report from Legal & General estimated some 7.5 million rooms could be available if the occupiers were to downsize to smaller accommodation.
However, Third Agers often feel that suitable smaller housing is not available. The much-maligned bungalow is still the housing of choice for many older people as they usually have all the facilities of a house, including private garden and off-road parking, but with the additional benefit of single-level living. But they are in short supply.
So, what are the barriers to housebuilders constructing bungalows? Firstly, town planning is an issue. With the shortage of suitable housing land, many local planning authorities (LPAs) stipulate in their development frameworks about a minimum density of housing. Typically, it is 40 units per hectare. Bungalows, which are ‘land hungry’, almost inevitably fall foul of this requirement. Reducing the size of bungalow gardens can also mean non-compliance with the ‘back-to-back’ minimum window distances – usually 25 metres – to give occupiers privacy.
So, a typical new housing estate is likely to be a mix of two- and three-storey housing and apartment blocks because these make the optimum use of the land.
Some LPAs view bungalow estates as a waste of good building land which do little to help the housing shortage. However, this argument may be fallacious, and I believe LPAs should stop putting minimum densities in local plans and instead see bungalows as an essential element of the social mix.
If the new occupiers of bungalows release their existing three- or four-bed houses on to the marketplace, then it is entirely possible that the net gain in available housing is higher than if the usual flats and houses mix was built. Obviously, outside of certain premium areas, it is likely that higher density development will be more profitable than bungalows.
However, LPAs could demand (if backed up by government guidance) that an element of all new housing developments should include bungalows or suitable housing for the over-60s. That way the new development would more closely reflect the population mix of the country, as the first wave of ‘baby boomers’ are now in their 70s and account for a substantial percentage of the population. The fact that so little recognition is given to the housing needs of such a large slice of the population is typical of the ageism inherent in this country.
Also, older people have children and grandchildren trying to get housing and many feel, understandably, that it is young families who must be first in the queue for new housing. However, if good housing were available for older citizens to downsize to, then everyone would be winners.
sources
New astronomy network; Southport Flower Show; subject adviser contact details; Scotland summer school.
For more inspiring stories visit sources.u3a.org.uk
Astronomy network reaches for the stars
Learn all about the universe, spacecrafts and sky-gazing at out-of-this-world group
A network has been set up for u3a members interested in astronomy and spaceflight.
It is hoped it will become an online ‘club’ where members can share information. It is aimed at u3a members who do not have a local u3a Astronomy group but any u3a member can join. No prior knowledge is needed but those with expertise are also welcome.
The network’s site is edited by Steve Fletcher of Leigh & District u3a, Greater Manchester, and u3a astronomy adviser Martin Whillock FRAS.
As it is such a huge subject area, the site is broken down into topics such as cosmology, astronomy, space missions and exploration, the night sky and the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.
There is also an events section so you will never miss out on the next Nasa rocket launch, exhibitions, talks and things to look out for in the night sky.
A forum will enable members to take part in discussions and debates, too.
Cosmology covers the formation and expansion of the universe, where you can delve into areas such as dark matter, the life cycle of a star and black holes.
The history of astronomy looks at those who expanded our knowledge, such as Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei.
You will also find interesting and helpful articles, such as advice on buying a telescope, how old the universe is and why Earth doesn’t have rings.
Space exploration delves into the development of rockets, the history of missions and space stations such as MIR, ISS and the Lunar Gateway.
There is also a news section, which currently has articles about Voyager spacecrafts, asteroids and the James Webb Space Telescope.
- You can find out more and sign up to the Astronomy Network at u3a.org.uk/learning/subject-networks
Tips on buying a small telescope
By Martin Whillock FRAS
Using a telescope in the UK requires a lot of patience and practice, as we don’t have many clear, dark nights. But you will get a lot of satisfaction from looking at the night sky. Here are some top starter tips:
Contact your local astronomical society for advice and to see various telescopes.
Do your own research on the internet, in specialist magazines and books.
A cheap telescope will be frustrating. A small, quality starter telescope costs £50 to £150 from specialists. If you can pay £300 or more, you will get something much better.
Store it in a shed to keep it at an ambient temperature. Taking it in and out of the house will cause condensation on the glass.
Practise assembly and use it in the day, so you don’t drop or lose bits in the dark!
Telescopes have four main parts:
Tripod
Must be very steady. Cheap ones will wobble.
Mount
The part between the tripod and telescope tube. It must be strong enough to carry the telescope’s weight and be readily adjustable. Motorless mounts are common, but an RA motor compensates for the Earth turning. Without an RA motor, everything you look at drifts quickly out of view and constant manual adjustment is needed. A second DEC motor is needed if you want to take long exposure photos. A further choice is whether to have a Go-To computerised mount, which will work it all out for you. AZ altitude/azimuth (up-down/left-right respectively) mounts are becoming popular. Power-driven AZ Go-To mounts can be controlled from smartphones or tablets and simplify the setting up considerably. Prices range from £300 to £1,000.
Telescope
The main designs are reflector, Schmidt/Maksutov Cassegrain (SCT) and refractor. Reflectors and SCTs are sized by the diameter of their main mirrors, while refractors are sized by the diameter of their objective lens – the bigger one at the front end. Bigger mirrors/objectives gather more light, allowing fainter objects to be seen. But smaller scopes are quick to set up.
Eyepieces
These determine the magnification. A basic set should include 6mm, 9mm, 15mm and 32mm. The best are multi-coated and made from special glass. Good ones will be expensive but are perhaps the most important part of the assembly. People have also started using CMOS cameras instead of eyepieces. Images are seen on screens, which can be captured and processed for really good results. See my piece on the u3a Subject Advice website for more about CMOS.
- A useful night sky guide is Turn Left At Orion by Guy Consolmagno and Dan M Davis, published by Cambridge University Press
Growing for gold! The tale of green-f ingered group’s glory
Following on from our report in the Autumn issue of TAM about Southport u3a’s award-winning show garden, organiser Jim Hay tells us how they did it …
Preparation
It all started in the autumn of 2019, when we were discussing how to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the u3a and our chairman, Paddy McNeish, suggested taking a stand at Southport Flower Show.
By coincidence, our gardening group had just elected a new team of four leaders and were debating what initiative would give them a new sense of purpose. Voila, the concept was created!
In true u3a tradition, we had no money, no budget, a few sketchy ideas and a lot of enthusiasm. We approached Southport Flower Show with a proposal. It would provide us with a free show garden plot, free stand, free power, water and materials, promotion on its website and publicity material – oh, and offer all u3a members across the country the lowest discount possible on entry ticket sales.
In return, we would build and man the show garden and stand, and promote the discounted entry price across our members, both local and national.
The key to success was that, with 400,000 members across the UK, most of whom were in the middle of the show’s most important demographic target group, the organisers were taking a chance on us delivering new visitors.
The gardening group leaders developed a plan and design for a 40th anniversary cottage garden, which included many elements from other u3a groups. They created a Gantt chart showing each action needed and a timetable leading up to the show. An appeal resulted in 25 volunteers coming forward who were split into two groups – planting and building.
The leaders secured sponsorship from seven local firms who agreed to supply fencing, a summerhouse, paving, wood, trees, shrubs and flowers for free.
North West Region u3a trustee Neil Stevenson also arranged a £500 grant from the national office towards our costs.
We advertised the event in our own magazines, newsletters and Facebook site. We also ran articles in the local press, in TAM, the u3a monthly electronic newsletter, the 40th Anniversary blog and other u3a Facebook sites, supplying monthly updates and pictures of our progress. We also wrote to the chairperson and gardening group leaders of every u3a north of Birmingham, encouraging them to take advantage of the discounted ticket price. We were inundated with emails.
As we got nearer to the event, our planting volunteers were busily growing flowers from seed in greenhouses, cold frames and on windowsills, while our small group of building volunteers created the infrastructure.
Building the garden from scratch took us ten days. From a bare five-metre square of earth, our volunteers built fencing, concreted, dug out great holes to plant trees, built the summerhouse, painted, laid paths and turf – and finally planted the masses of shrubs, plants and flowers.
This was complemented by items from many of our groups. Quilting created a special throw, crochet created woollen vegetables, cycling produced a bike and a bookcase was created specially with large-size books bound with the names of every group in our u3a.
The show begins!
Meeting many fellow u3a members and exchanging ideas, contacts and experiences of belonging to this great organisation was wonderful. So, too, was the opportunity of talking about the u3a to so many non-members, most of whom had never heard of the movement. We ran out of leaflets and magazines to give out!
I do hope that u3as around the country will benefit from a boost in membership. The best way to communicate our ideas is face-to-face, and having the show garden as a catalyst was a great starting point.
Day 1
The show kicked off with a bang – or even a shriek! We arrived to find that we had been presented with a Large Gold Medal award for our garden. BBC Merseyside did a live interview with leader Lisa Fryer and deputy Diane Fitton for the morning show, and we had quite a few visitors saying they had come to the flower show because of the media exposure.
Hot on their heels came a visit from BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Adam Frost and Granada TV host Paul Crone, who informed Lisa and Diane that we had won The Brian Aughton Memorial Trophy for best use of plants in a display. The reaction to that announcement could be heard all over the showground! Our leaders were then interviewed for the day’s Granada news bulletins.
The day flew past. We had visitors from Mawdesley, St Helens, Wakefield, Spalding, Neston and even a member from Torrevieja u3a in Spain!
In the evening, 150 of us enjoyed a lovely dinner-dance organised by our jazz group in the glittering marquee.
Day 2
Our interview on Granada TV had created a huge amount of interest from locals who all wanted to see our garden, as well as members from our own u3a.
There was more excitement when we had a visit from Strictly Come Dancing stars Janette Manrara and Aljaz Skorjanec. They came into the garden for photos, sitting with our u3a 40th birthday cake, and demonstrated their moves in front of the summerhouse.
Once again, we were overwhelmed with visits from other u3as, many of whom had come in coachloads.
At the end of the day, BBC Merseyside arrived and interviewed Chris Howorth for its afternoon and evening editions.
Day 3
Despite a forecast of mixed weather, the day started with a magnificent sunrise over Southport. I couldn’t resist taking a shot of it and sending it to BBC Weather Watchers with a plug for the flower show!
We had a visit from u3a North West Trustee Neil Stevenson, who had a good look round our garden. It is safe to say he was impressed. I think he saw that growth of the u3a is not about Zoom and meetings among ourselves – it is about being in front of the public to let them know that the u3a is something they should have in their life. His support for us in this venture has been invaluable.
We also had a visit from Hairy Biker Si King, who went away with a complimentary packet of runner bean seeds for next year from our sponsors.
Day 4
We were still as busy as ever. Coaches of u3a members turned up – Barnsley must have been empty as there were so many visitors. We had lots of lovely feedback about our garden and the effort we had made to put the u3a on the map.
Katie Rushworth, of ITV’s Love Your Garden fame, also popped in.
The team is exhilarated, enthused, exhausted and ecstatic with the enormous amount of positive feedback. We counted members from at least 80 u3as visiting us and 1,292 discounted tickets were sold to u3a members.
This must be the most successful promotion that the u3a has ever had nationally – and it has been a great way to celebrate its 40th anniversary.
Subject Advisers
Looking for fresh ideas for your interest group? whether you want to share ideas with similar groups or need some support to start a new one, find resources and information at u3a.org.uk/learning/subjects
Could you be our next gardening, geology or natural history subject adviser?
To find out more, please email
Find a full ist of where to get help on the Subject Advisers page.
Learning and laughter at Scotland Summer School
Organiser Susan Tester reports on the popular event’s revival north of the border.
u3a members enjoyed their first Scotland Summer School in three years at Stirling Court Hotel, in the beautiful surroundings of Stirling University.
Some 67 delegates from Inverness to Dumfries, Oban to Aberdeen, as well as five from England, took part.
They studied one of five courses: Ancient Civilisations of Mesoamerica with tutor Maria Chester, of East Berwickshire u3a; Creative Writing with Gilly Beckett, also of East Berwickshire u3a; Exploring Poetry with Peter Holmes, of Forth Valley u3a; Immunology with David I Stott, from Bearsden and Milngavie u3a, near Glasgow; and Scottish History 1750-1850 with Bill Bedborough, Dr Sheena Bedborough and Robert Hough, from Forth Valley u3a.
Stirling Provost Douglas Dodds joined participants for afternoon teas and coffees, while encouraging them to visit local attractions. Evening entertainment included a quiz organised by George Johnston and Scottish music led by Christine Davidson, both from Forth Valley u3a. After the final lunch, a small group walked up to the nearby Wallace Monument and Abbey Craig woodland.
During the final plenary session, there was feedback from each of the courses. Those taking part hailed them as a great success and very worthwhile.
One said: “Thoroughly enjoyed it. Met such interesting people with different backgrounds and areas of knowledge.”
Another added: “Great enjoyment – good company, beautiful setting, interesting stimulating seminars.”
The organisation of the event and services provided by Stirling Court Hotel were both highly appreciated.
living
Personal story; coastal walk; short story winner
Backstage with the gags-meister
Comedy scriptwriter Brad Ashton, of Palmers Green and Southgate u3a in North London, shares his recollections of working with the greats of British entertainment.
Since retiring after 50 years of writing for top comedians, I’m always being asked who was pleasurable to work with and which entertainers were, to put it succinctly, a pain in the posterior.
Heading the list of stars I really enjoyed working with are Les Dawson, Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Crowther and Ted Rogers. All four never let problems in their private lives interfere with their work and were people I felt I could be honest with. If I didn’t like their work, I was free to voice my criticism. When my own work fell below standard, I never took umbrage at their rejection of a gag, routine or sketch. They were the ones facing the audience and their confidence in the material was paramount.
A good writer carefully tailors the material to the performer. A line delivered with aplomb by Frankie Howerd would probably not even evoke a titter in the hands of, say, Tommy Cooper or Bob Monkhouse. Every comedian I worked with had their own persona and form of delivery.
To me, Les Dawson was the poor man’s Shakespeare. His elongated gags had a flowery flow right up to the surprise punchline. Though I wrote many sketches for Les, he never let me, or any other writer, provide his monologues. He concocted those himself, digging into the huge file of routines he had painstakingly built up during his long journey through the clubs and pubs on his way to stardom. He honed them over and over and knew their strength. His monologues were, after all, the warm-up routines that paved the way for the successful sketches that followed.
Bob Monkhouse, who started out as a cartoonist, loved adorning his scripts with funny caricatures. Nobody studied comedy as thoroughly as the Dulwich College-educated Bob. His garden shed housed literally thousands of audio and video tapes from just about every comedian he knew of. The difference between Bob and most of his contemporaries was that he – together with his partner Denis Goodwin – wrote not only his own shows but also for dozens of other star name performers.
Bob and I started writing comedy in the early 1950s and became firm friends. As showbusiness historians, we often challenged each other to remember the names of bit-part players in old films and TV shows. I was one of four writers Bob had on a retainer fee to keep his material up to date. He took on too many shows to do it all himself.
I first saw Ted Rogers doing his impersonation of Danny Kaye at the Streatham Locarno and mistook his Cockney accent for Australian. He sang, danced and had a stream of gags that mostly relied on puns. His appearance was always ultra-smart, his clothes impeccable. I must admit to being surprised when he was chosen to host 3-2-1 which Yorkshire TV imported from Spain. I was hired as the writer for the first series and really enjoyed working with Ted, who settled into the job quickly.
We soon discovered in the pilot show that our try-out gags were dying because of the show’s initial set-up.
Ted began the show at the top of a flight of stairs, delivering his material as he walked down towards the waiting cameras. Consequently, he did his opening monologue with his back to the audience. It didn’t work and we soon realised the set needed configuring so Ted could face the studio audience.
But his quick-fire gags were still not registering because the show was recorded on weekday afternoons and the only audience available were non-workers. In other words, mostly geriatrics who were not hip to his topical references. We decided to cut down on the humour and just play the game.
We did give him the occasional gag, which he had trouble remembering, so he wrote the punchlines on the palms of his hands and read them after pretending to scratch his eyebrows. People thought he had the itchiest eyebrows in the business!
Comedy writer Eddie McGuire got ill and had to drop out of providing gags and sketches for the children’s show Crackerjack, so I was called in. Leslie Crowther was the anchorman with Peter Glaze as his sidekick.
Writing for the multi-talented Crowther was no problem, but Peter was so anxious to perform his straight lines he often rushed without allowing time for the laughs. In desperation, I resorted to writing the sketches so that Leslie himself had the next line of dialogue after each potential laugh. Leslie told me he had known the problem for a long time but was afraid of offending Peter by pointing it out.
Often, a scriptwriter gets the credit for lines ad-libbed by the performers. I admit that often happened on Mike and Bernie Winters’ shows. In my defence, I would have to say I deliberately inserted straight lines that I knew would spark Bernie off on a stream of ad libs. We allowed an extra 40 seconds on each sketch for Bernie’s hilarious meandering.
While working with Tommy Cooper, I soon realised that, apart from his puns and prop gags, he struggled to remember his lines in the sketches. Those he did remember were frequently mistimed. He was always better as the victim in a situation. So, as much as possible, I had him reacting to other characters’ lines. Tommy was at his best when we had him misunderstanding the situation he was in.
At the start of my career, I wrote solo routines for many burgeoning comedians. One of them was Dick Emery, who paid me a princely eight guineas a time. Fifteen years later, when the BBC awarded him his own TV series, he called me in as script editor. By that time, he had a multitude of funny characters in his repertoire but somehow he had lost the knack of being funny as himself. His monologues weren’t getting the guffaws his characters got. In essence, Dick was competing with his own inventions, so we very soon dropped the monologues.
Spike Milligan had the office immediately below mine for more than 20 years and we often had lunch together. My one resounding memory of Spike was when he invited 20 writers and our wives to a party at his house and completely forgot about it. He turned up at 10.30pm and asked, “What are you lot doing here?” When reminded that he had invited us he said, “Well, you all enjoy yourselves, I’m going to bed.” And he did.
Trek of myths and legends
Trevor Bell, of Tarporley & District u3a in Cheshire, recalls tackling Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk, which is to be a National Trail
The announcement that Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk is to become a government-designated National Trail brought back many happy memories of walking the 190-mile route between Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire to St Bees in Cumbria in the early 1990s.
Indeed, I enjoyed it so much I subsequently published the experience, together with nearly 80 photographs and drawings, as a personal and historical travelogue in 2021. I consider it the finest long-distance walk in England. Even now, with that inward eye, I look back on the experience nostalgically.
The route was devised by fell wanderer Wainwright and is one of the country’s most popular, walked in its entirety by about 6,000 people a year. It takes in three of England’s national parks: the North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales and Lake District. It visits many moors and mountains, bogs, lakes, medieval castles and monasteries, ancient ruins, stone circles and, thankfully, a number of pubs!
Walking the trail is an opportunity to step back in time and appreciate England’s rich history. Some interesting experiences included being chased by a bull near Shap as I sought to examine the Thunder Stone for hieroglyphics; being given back my soaking waterproofs and boots in exactly the same condition as I had handed them to a farmer’s wife the night before; and being presented with an unrecognisable fish in a Richmond hotel, accompanied by soggy chips which lay like tombstones, gleaming with fat, as if mourning the creature’s death.
Happier times were standing on Nine Standards Rigg, the northernmost summit of the Pennine Dales, from where you can see, in fine weather, virtually all of northern England; and visiting Pendragon Castle, reputedly the home of Uther Pendragon, the father of legendary King Arthur, which stands on a small round hill above a bend in the River Eden. It was a one-time favourite of Lady Anne Clifford, originally Countess of Dorset and Pembroke, who fell in love with Westmorland and restored many of its castles, including Pendragon. There is a deep moat around it crossed by two causeways. It is an exciting and romantic ruin, especially with respect to the Arthurian legend and, though on private land, can be permissively visited, provided one closes the gate after oneself.
Alas, the castle’s foundations have been seriously undermined by ‘prospectors’ digging beneath its walls for Arthurian gold. A shadow of its former self, little is left of it unconsumed by time. This description is even more easily applied to nearby Lammerside Castle which, like Pendragon, has fallen into disuse. Lammerside is believed to be Castle Dolorous, the home of Sir Tarquin, who, according to the Arthurian legend, ate children.
It was also a thrill to meet a woman on the trail who knew Alice, the ‘wild girl of the dales’, who lived at Crackpot Hall. The woman had played with Alice as a child, and described her as playful and adventurous with an accent so strong strangers thought it a foreign tongue. She said Alice, who has passed into dales’ folklore, had married and lives not too many miles away.
In a further treat, I caught sight of a male golden eagle soaring near Kidsty Pike, above Haweswater, on my way to Patterdale.
It takes most people about a fortnight (in my case, 13 nights) to walk the route and it is a journey one will always remember and cherish, as I do. The advice is to go now, before the trail alters irrevocably, and learn about northern England in the process.
- The Coast-to-Coast Walk, by Trevor Bell, is published by The Book Guild. Out now.
Cinderella – What Happened Next
Harriet Hall, of Gilwern u3a, is the winner of the u3a national creative writing competition for 2022. Here is her story …
Three weeks after she had triumphantly fitted her elegant foot into the glass slipper, Cinderella began to get, if not cold feet, a definite chill around her pretty toes. At first this opening of an entirely new life had been intoxicating. The swift move into the palace, being given her own luxurious suite of rooms, having lovely clothes made for her and being lavished with jewels by Prince Rudolph who was amazingly good looking, charming and adored her. The King and Queen would rather he had chosen a bride nearer his station, but Cinderella’s father was, after all, a Baron from the old aristocracy and they could not resist her warmth, thoughtfulness and outstanding beauty so were very kind to her. Above all Cinderella relished not having to cook, clean and run endless errands for her spiteful sisters. Free of these chores she imagined she would have some time to herself, to explore the lovely palace grounds and, above all, to read. Before she died, her mother had done her best to educate Cinderella and had instilled in her a love of reading which she had pursued during every spare moment she had. In showing her round the palace, Rudolph, after opening the door of a wonderful library, shut it again saying that she would not want to read a lot of old books. She protested, but he laughed at her saying that there were better things to do and that she should relax and enjoy the company of his sisters. Annabel and Sylvia were around Cinderella’s age and entirely concerned with their looks and gossip, but they also hero-worshipped Cinderella and stuck to her like leeches whenever her company was not demanded by Rudolph or his parents.
The King and Queen began planning a fabulous wedding, one that would display their wealth and power, mark the opening of a new and youthful era while presenting Rudolph as triumphant in having won the heart of such a beautiful woman. Cinderella, her housekeeping in a debt-ridden household having made her thrifty, suggested tentatively that, since they had just given a huge and expensive ball, a small ceremony in the pretty palace chapel would be lovely. Rudolph mocked her and said that as the most beautiful bride in the world she should have an appropriately grand wedding, but Cinderella thought the money would be better spent on the parlous state of the tenants on the royal estate. Rudolph took her riding to show her off and she saw run-down properties and neglected land. The people were friendly to her but looked sullen when addressed by Rudolph. At dinner that night, with no guests present, Rudolph complained about their useless tenants who made so little money for them, and Cinderella, angry, said that perhaps some investment was necessary.
“Nonsense,” said the King, “they waste any money we give them.” Anyway, it was not something she should bother her pretty head over. That night Rudolph had too much to drink, becoming much less charming, upbraiding her for being a soft touch and telling her not to interfere.
Cinderella’s feet were, by now, very cold indeed. This opening up of her life was proving rather to be a closing down. On a rare occasion when she had escaped the royal attentions, she had found, in a corner of the garden, a hedge with an almost invisible opening. She squeezed through the tiny gap into a secret space with a seat and a pond. She had been unable to return, but now having brooded over her situation for a week she slipped out of the palace one night and went to this secluded spot. She sat down and put all her strength into begging her Godmother to come to her. She told her Godmother how guilty she felt at complaining after such an amazing future had been arranged for her, but she believed that nothing but unhappiness for everyone would result from her marrying Rudolph. Her Godmother expressed her delight at what she felt was a sensible decision and said briskly that her cousin in Washington, a top-rate lawyer, needed a cook. She said Cinderella would have time for study as well as feeding the family and should come to the same spot in the garden in one week carrying as little luggage as possible.
Cinderella spent a guilty week concealing her excitement before selecting the plainest outfit from her stuffed wardrobe. She left all the jewellery, the grand clothes and the glass slippers, together with an apologetic note, and tiptoed away without a backward glance. Her Godmother gave her a passport in the name of Ella Cinderford together with other necessary papers, put her on a plane to America and the opening of a very different life.
The cousin was sympathetic and appreciative of Ella’s cooking. She helped with her studies and encouraged Ella not only to read, but to go to law school where she did exceptionally well. She intended one day to go back to her own country and seek redress for the royal tenants, but in the meantime, she set out to build her experience. Her first case was occasioned by her Godmother who, when visiting Washington, was enraged by a man who stole her parking space. She was so angry that, without thinking, she changed his lovely new Porsche into a pumpkin and stormed off. By the time the spell wore off, the man had missed an important appointment. She was charged with criminal damage, but Ella argued that he had been deluded and such was her skill that the jury believed her. It was the opening of a great career. Meanwhile her sisters, deprived of Ella’s care, learnt cookery and business management, opening a restaurant which became a tremendous success. Prince Rudolph, who had given up looking for a woman to fit the glass slippers and married someone as boring as he was, became a regular customer while their father sat in a corner lamenting the loss of his daughter.
Fast rewind
Berlin airlift; Max Wall; saving a Grade II air raid siren
Wing and a prayer: The Berlin Airlift operation
Former RAF flight mechanic Roy Hardiman, of Causeway u3a in Northern Ireland, details his role in vital post-war mercy mission
In June 1948, Soviet forces blockaded road, rail and water access to areas of Berlin occupied by the UK, US and France, which lay within Russian-occupied East Germany, in a dispute over the economic future of the country. The intention was to starve out the population of West Berlin, thereby giving control of the whole of the city to the USSR.
However, by prior agreement, air access was allowed using three 20-mile-wide air corridors from West Germany to airfields in West Berlin. That June, the US, UK and France mobilised their transport aircraft to carry food and fuel along the corridors on a 24/7 schedule to people living there.
In 1943, I had joined the Air Training Corps, following my older brother who went on to fly Lancaster bombers during World War Two. I enjoyed my time, rising to the rank of Flight Sergeant. Most of my fellow cadets opted to go for aircrew training but I was unable due to an illness in childhood which affected my hearing, so I selected aircraft maintenance.
I joined the RAF in 1947 and took the Flight Mechanic (Engines) course at RAF Cosford training depot. After completing the course, I was posted to RAF Abingdon, near Oxford, servicing 40 Squadron Avro Yorks. These were four-engined transport aircraft developed from the Lancaster bombers.
In July 1948, our squadron flew to RAF Wunstorf near Hannover, West Germany, with the ground staff and our tools. Our task was to keep the Yorks serviceable for the rescue operation.
The Yorks were the main aircraft type used by the RAF in the early part of the airlift, with Avro Lancastrians modified to carry petrol and heating oil.
Larger, faster Handley Page Hastings later joined the fleet, as well as private operators including future airline entrepreneur Freddy Laker flying DC-3 Dakotas. There were also RAF Short Sunderland flying boats which were able to land on lakes in West Berlin.
In order to carry maximum supplies, we had to ensure only sufficient fuel was pumped into the tanks to make the flight to Berlin and back with just one circuit and landing at the Berlin airfield. There was one incident, to my knowledge, when a York crash-landed at Wunstorf after running out of fuel on its return.
The Russians thought we would be unable to keep flying during the severe winter of 1948-49. I remember having to de-ice the wings of Yorks before take-off by coating the surfaces with sticky liquid using hand pumps. It was a horrible job!
There were also incidents where Russian planes would buzz the Allied aircraft in the so-called safe corridors.
By the summer of 1949, it became obvious to the Russians that the Allies were becoming more successful at supplying West Berlin, so they called off the rail and road blockade. The final airlift flights officially ended that September.
Keeping Max’s name in lights
Paul Foxall, of Kennet u3a, recalls meeting our founder, Eric Midwinter, at an annual dinner of the Max Wall Society to celebrate the actor and comedian’s career
I thoroughly enjoyed Joanne Smith’s excellent portrait of u3a co-founder Eric Midwinter (TAM, February). It reminded me of my meeting with Eric at the annual dinner of the Max Wall Society held at the National Liberal Club in Whitehall, London.
The year was 2018 during my spell as chairman of the society. I needed an experienced speaker to entertain our members, who are known as Bricks. My choice of Eric was spot on as he had already written Max Wall’s entry in the Dictionary of National Biography, as well as his knowledge and admiration for other music hall comedians like Jimmy James, Robb Wilton and Sandy Powell.
Eric was in distinguished company as previous guests included Prunella Scales, Ian Lavender and Wayne Sleep. The latter told us, via a choreographic demonstration, that he couldn’t dance like Max as he “didn’t bend that way”.
Others attending were patrons Alison Steadman and character actor David Bradley, best known for playing Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films. During his speech, David surprised us all by giving the most superb impersonation of Max’s stage voice as Professor Wallofski. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, Wall’s the name, Max Wall standing before you, in the flesh not a cartoon.”
His faultless rendition was greeted by a loud round of applause. A few years ago, David appeared on the BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind and his specialist subject was … Max Wall.
Also at the dinner was Elizabeth Seal, who leapt to fame in The Pajama Game in 1955. Elizabeth was the young dancer who shared the stage with Max at the London Coliseum.
Just days before the 2018 dinner, our president, Sir Ken Dodd, died. Ken was another entertainer that Eric knew, having spent many hours in preparatory talks with him at his home in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, for an article that was published in New Society magazine in 1976.
After giving much thought about a new president, the committee voted for one of our long-serving patrons, Barry Cryer, which proved very popular with Bricks. Barry spent four years at the helm.
Now we are faced with finding another president after Barry’s death. As before, the committee have gone for a former patron and voted for that fine actor Simon Callow. Simon will be a splendid president as he knows and admires Max’s astonishing career, both as a clown and a straight actor.
My connection with Max lasted 20 years until his death in 1990 at the age of 82. I first met him while on the staff of BBC Television, which was just before he reinvented himself from star comic to a successful theatre actor. In 1984, I directed Max in a documentary on his affinity with Samuel Beckett for Melvyn Bragg’s South Bank Show – a shoot that included meeting the playwright in London where he was directing his own production of Waiting For Godot, having flown from his home in Paris. We filmed Max in extracts of three Beckett plays, including Malone Dies, at the Edinburgh Festival, which proved a great success.
When Max passed away after a tragic fall following lunch in London with friends, a group of admirers formed an association that would keep his flame alive – hence the Max Wall Society.
It was evident Eric enjoyed being a guest at our annual dinner that year as he later wrote in our journal, Wall Paper: “Having been flattered and privileged by an invitation, I found myself mingling with the glitterati of cinema and television. I especially enjoyed catching up with my valued pal Michael Pointon and meeting such a happy throng. It was a wonderful evening.”
Oh, sorry Eric, congratulations on reaching your 90th birthday!
Campaigner saves rare air raid siren
A rare World War Two air raid siren has been protected – thanks to the efforts of a u3a member.
George Cogswell, of Sale u3a in Greater Manchester, spent two years campaigning to preserve the iconic ‘pole’ siren, which has been awarded Grade II listing status by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport following a recommendation by Historic England.
The siren is mounted on top of an 11-metre steel pole in what is now a small car park but was once Hale fire station.
It was one of many thousands erected in 1938, mostly on top of tall buildings and spaced a mile apart, in response to the threat of bombing by the Nazis.
If a town did not have a tall building, a pole siren was strategically placed. Consequently, the devices are very rare.
The siren control panels incorporated an ‘auto-wailer’ to create a fluctuating pitch sound to warn of an imminent air raid attack (red warning) with the ‘all clear’ being a long steady pitch note (white warning).
Most air raid sirens were removed and scrapped in 1999 after the Civil Defence Committee was disbanded. But, somehow, this one was overlooked.
George said: “The protection of this war memorial is very important to me as it is a significant part of my memory of World War Two.
“I’m told that I used to stick my finger in the air and go ‘Ooooohh’ mimicking the sound of the siren or ‘Moaning Minnie’ as they were known. I expect other readers have even more vivid memories of the frightening sound of the sirens than I do.”
George was evacuated from East London in 1944 to escape the V1 and V2 missiles that were landing in the area, taking refuge in an Anderson shelter during air raids.
Brain games
Bridge
From Michael Cleaver, of Lancaster & Morecambe u3a
Defence at Trick 1
Much has been written about the careful thought required of declarer before they play to the first trick. But little has been said about the player at the declarer's right – East in the normal diagram.
When you are in this position you often have a difficult but vital role to play. Unlike declarer, you cannot see partner's hand, but by reviewing the bidding and observing the lead you may visualise it.
While South is thinking over their plan, you may have a chance to plan your defence. Even if South plays quickly to the first trick, you should not allow yourself to be hurried.
♥ 2
N
♠ 95
♥ J104
♦ KQ2
♣ A10753
E
♠ J1072
♥ Q853
♦ A94
♣ K6
The auction
S 1♠
N 2♣
3NT
West leads the ♥2 and declarer quickly plays the ♥10 and of course you cover with the ♥Q automatically. Or do you? Not unless you have been lulled into following suit without thinking. So I will assume you are concentrating and are ready to begin the chore of counting points. You and dummy each have 10, South has 16, so your partner has at most 4. Their fourth-best lead shows a four-card suit headed by A or K. If it is the K, you break even, so you turn your attention to the A, which gives declarer Kx. In this case you must duck, and when you come in with ♣K, your heart return defeats the contract.
Even when you have an automatic play to the first trick, you can still pause and say, ”Sorry, I'm not thinking about this trick.” This may help you prepare for a vital decision at the next trick, as in this example:
N
♠ 765
♥ 92
♦ KJ10987
♣ A3
E
♠ A3
♥ J987
♦ A65
♣ KJ109
South opens (strong) 1NT, North raises to 3NT and partner leads ♠Q. Counting points presents no problem. You have 13, the dummy 8, and partner's lead shows 3. The total is 24, and since declarer has 15/16, you are on your own as sole defender.
Now you turn your attention to tricks. If declarer can bring in the diamonds, they will romp home.
But as you gaze at the dummy you notice that the ♣A is only once guarded. You win the first trick and then lead the ♣K. When declarer plays on diamonds, you will play your ace when declarer plays their last card in the suit, cutting them off from their winners in dummy.
Crossword
From Susan Hillyard of Cotgrave and District u3a
Across
1. The birds at the back fly from side to side (12)
5. You will find part of a fish in here (3)
6. As well as can be expected (4)
7. Caps seen in the Himalayas maybe? (3)
9. You might have little but you can definitely start small in America (4)
11. You can get this without difficulty (6)
14. Get near and shut it! (5)
15. Unhappily a winter disorder (3)
17. Yorkshire sweets (5)
20. Metallic and colourful sounding, quite pleasant to listen to (10)
22. Those in third and second place came as a bit of a shock! (2)
23. A cracked one sounds dull and crazy (3)
24. Nottingham is apparently in this backward little region (2)
25. Perhaps the confused sailor was unwelcome onboard? (3)
27. It’s definitely not us who are short of a topic! (4)
29 and 29 down. I heard you on the radio (3)
30. Just look at her age and you’ll find her particular time period (3)
31. Even without King George it’s still very good that we all do this (3)
32. I play an instrument in the last rumba but not in the last tango (5)
33. Sounds like the chap got his money through altruistic provisions? (6)
Down
1. Without nitrogen the tobacco sniffers don’t do so well (6)
2. Lovely money laying around (5)
3. 7 across combined with 2 down results in one of these (12)
4. I can can do high ones (5)
7. Symbolic of the brand? (6)
8. A tasty sounding symbol (2)
10. This short man was one of the writers (2)
12. Was this the original broad band? (4)
13. The noisy confusion could be fair game (4)
16. That sailor got mixed up to use this creative medium (3)
18. The inverted triangle top is one you can descend into (3)
19vThey can take 3 days; others not so long - or even longer (6)
20. Without a royal warrant you can still plot a safe voyage (5)
21. Not a copy cat but a species with the same characteristics (3)
22. The confused flower produces minerals (4)
24. See me at the butcher’s (4)
26. The aforementioned sailor is sticky (3)
28. Half of the fence is in the ditch (2)
29. See 29 across (3)
- Quizzes and maths challenges are available online at u3a.org.uk/learning/national-programmes
crossword solution
Across
1 Shuttlecocks 5 Fin 6 Also 7 Ice 9 Lack 11 Easily 14 Close 15 Sad 17 Spice 20 Chromatic 22 Oh 23 Pot 24 Me 25 Rat 27 Them 29 Ten 30 Era 31 Eat 32 Strum 33 Grants
Down
1 Suffers 2 Lolly 3 Cool customer 4 Kicks 7 Iconic 8 Pi 10 Al 12 Sash 13 Ludo 16 Art 18 Pit 19 Events 20 Chart 21 Ape 22 Ores 24 Meat 26 Tar 28 Ha 29 Ten
professor rebus
pitcherwits™
Across
7. What a peculiar spare weapon! (5)
8. Former deed is precise (5)
9. Forerunner of the repeat (2-3)
11. Old counter's strange, picturesque secret is out (5)
1a. Holdall, afar off for your fifty cents' worth (4,1,6)
5a. It gets longer once nested by proxy (7)
12a. Still expecting work at tables (7)
13a. Man who clumsily overshot September night-shiner (7,4)
Down
2. Change later, and change again! (5)
3. Bounced out to say, "Wait!" (5)
10. I've an odd notion it's innocent (5)
11. Silence can be quite unnerving (5
1d. Final distance that can be done on an elastic house? (4,7)
4d. Dish for mutants to root out? (5,6)
5d. It could be raised, if yob were to be reformed (7)
6d. Putting forward the medication, with force (7)
- For more professor rebus puzzles visit pitcherwits.co.uk
professor rebus solution
Across
1 Half a dollar 5 Extends 7 Spear 8 Exact 9 Re-run 11 Quipu 12 Waiting 13 Harvest moon
Down
1 Home stretch 2 Alter 3 Ounce 4 Roast mutton 5 Eyebrow 6 Stating 10 Naive 11 Quiet
letters
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Queen memories
It was around 1974 when I took my two small children to The Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park. It was spring and we went to see the spectacular rhododendrons. Queen Elizabeth must also have had a free day and decided to go and view her amazing show of flowers.
My youngest, aged four, was learning to read and proudly read out a notice ‘No Dogs Allowed’. Imagine her dismay when a corgi popped out from behind the bushes, followed by three or four further corgis. The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Her Majesty followed together with a lady-in-waiting and, presumably at a discreet distance, bodyguards. They were dressed in drab raincoats and clear plastic rain hoods. All three gave us beaming smiles and a cheery wave of acknowledgement.
It all happened in the rain, suddenly and unexpectedly. I tried to curtsey but failed miserably as I was wearing trousers and Wellington boots. It must have made an early impression on my oldest daughter as she now owns two corgis!
Shirley Alexander, Guildford u3a, Surrey
I was five when King George VI died, so the only monarch I remember was Queen Elizabeth II. I had a new dress for her coronation in red, white and blue with red ricrac round the bottom and the sleeves.
We had a party at school where we all had Union Jacks to wave, and we were all given a coronation mug. I also had a hanky and a 3D image of the Queen that changed to Prince Philip as you moved it.
Mary Childs, Guildford u3a, Surrey
When I was young, I was employed in the Cabinet Office typing pool. We were all very sad when King George VI died. His coffin, like his daughter Elizabeth’s, was laid in state in Westminster Hall.
Our office was issued with two tickets, which would allow the lucky recipients to avoid the crowds. My ticket and that of a close friend were drawn out!
It was a very sad and solemn occasion but such a privilege to have the opportunity to pay our last respects to this well-respected King. The occasion will stay in my mind for ever.
Elizabeth Brown, Lea Valley u3a, Hertfordshire
PROBLEM IS SO JARRING
I so agree with Lucille Balkin about the difficulty with opening jars and bottles (TAM Letters, Spring). Only hazardous items need to be childproof, such as bleach and garden fertiliser.
I await the arrival of the grandchildren to loosen my last shop of unopened jars, then I can enjoy a dollop of pickle in my ham sandwich. The u3a has such a large membership that perhaps they could draw this problem to the Government’s attention via a petition.
Kay Rackshaw, Dunstable u3a, Bedfordshire
Online talks can be difficult to hear
I found it interesting to read about the range of speakers and talks in Speaker Swap (TAM, Autumn). I like art history but can’t always follow a lot of the talks on Zoom as there are no subtitles and I’m partially deaf.
Sometimes talks have closed captions but it is difficult to catch proper names as the captions are automatic – you can’t guess if you don’t know the name. Could speakers enunciate names slowly and even show a slide with the name on, which would be very helpful?
The trick is to talk slowly and clearly to allow hearing aids time to translate, towards the camera where possible. Clarity is particularly important when showing a slide and we can’t see the speaker to try to lip-read. There must be a lot of people who don’t come to u3a talks or attend classes because of hearing problems. I have had to give up on discussion classes in people’s houses because some people talk very quietly and others all talk at once, making it impossible for the hearing impaired.
Eric Midwinter wrote about the numbers of retired third-age people, but nowhere was there a mention of what must be a big reason for not joining. Six per cent of the population have hearing problems and this rises to a much higher rate in older age.
Group leaders need to be aware of the needs of the hearing impaired so they can adjust their classes accordingly.
Cherry Eddy, Elmbridge u3a, Surrey
I agree with the letter ‘App-y to have some help’ about the difficulties of completing forms such as passports and visas online (TAM Letters, Autumn).
Particularly annoying is registering a family trust. It would take five to ten minutes on a paper form but at least three times as long online, given all the security. It may help HMRC but it hinders its ‘customers’.
But on passports, I do recommend the Post Office service. You pay a fee, they take a compliant photograph (often a stumbling block for do-it-yourself), take you through the questions and send it off. Easy and, in my case, a quick result.
Bill Church, Hertford & District u3a, Hertfordshire
LANGUAGE OF TOLERANCE
Recent letter writers have talked about their intolerance of poor grammar and incorrect verb tenses (TAM Letters, Autumn). Jill Chambers suggests complaining to the media “until we get our language back”.
In my experience, it is better to try to understand what people are saying, rather than turning to criticism of how they are saying it.
As the u3a is striving to promote diversity and inclusivity, we need to accept that educational standards will vary enormously among our potential new members and adapt accordingly.
Charles Gates, Sarum u3a, Wiltshire
GROUNDS FOR CELEBRATION
I would like to offer my congratulations to Southport u3a (TAM, Autumn), which was so successful at the Southport Flower Show with its beautiful show garden.
I also found the article about the GrandNature website in the same issue very interesting.
Diane Cowley, Bolton u3a
TOP UP YOUR pension
Joyce Thorne says a “large proportion of pensioners live on only £82” (TAM Letters, Autumn). I agree that the State Pension should be regarded as an entitlement rather than a benefit; however, Pension Credit of £182.60 a week is available as an entitlement for a single person with an income of less than that. Even if one’s income is more than that it might still be possible to claim this.
Furthermore, even if the top-up is small, it will be worth claiming as this can then trigger help with other costs, including council tax reduction and a free TV licence if aged over 75.
It is true that many people who could claim Pension Credit do not, and should be encouraged to do so. There has been some recent publicity to encourage take-up but probably more could be done.
It is, however, misleading to suggest that the UK Government expects pensioners to live on less than the figure mentioned above. Whether the State Pension is adequate is a separate argument.
Judith Wells, East Grinstead u3a, West Sussex
Music to our ears
I was interested to read the letter from a reader concerning musical tastes of u3a members. I have recently started an Easy Listening Music group at my own u3a branch, something I have been presenting at various groups and clubs for about 20 years.
I have a very large CD collection and a good knowledge of composers and lyricists, but it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I started such a group. I should not have worried. My first two meetings, featuring music from all eras and genres, have been amazingly well received. Everyone has been very complimentary and I am confident the group can flourish and grow.
Music is so therapeutic to all ages.
Beryl Cannell, Hawkwell Village u3a, Essex
A little more respect
Good for Esther Rantzen for sorting out the problem for ‘Elizabeth’ when she was double-billed by her energy company (TAM, Autumn).
There are so many areas where older people are ignored or overlooked. My particular frustration relates to the way radio and TV programmes fail to take into account the hard of hearing. The obvious example is the way announcers drop their voices from time to time, especially when they are about to give a name which I particularly want to catch.
Even more serious is the new tendency in so many programmes to play background music, presumably to create atmosphere, making it impossible to hear what the actor is saying.
Arnold Simanowitz, Lewes u3a, East Sussex
I enjoyed reading Esther Rantzen’s article (TAM, Autumn) and would like to comment on her report of the swimming group having to pay by phone for the car park.
I help out in our local museum and use a long-stay car park as I need to be there more than three hours. I try to always have the correct change but decided that I ought to learn how to pay by phone as this might be more convenient.
However, I was shocked to discover that it cost me £2.10 instead of the £1.70 when paying by cash. The extra is made up by a service charge of 17p, a confirmatory text of 8p, a reminder text (which told me I could extend the time if necessary) of 8p, plus VAT.
I sympathise with those who have no choice but to pay by phone, and those who cannot manage to do this.
Betty Cloke, Chard, Ilminster and District u3a, Somerset
Ice cream specials have got it licked
Meopham, Redbourn, Crouch End... we have learned about different parts of the country from u3a groups who visited London Canal Museum this summer.
After four days of u3a Ice Cream Summer Specials – and two more in the autumn – we have got to know a lot of you. Thank you to everyone who visited and your kind feedback.
You’ve enjoyed learning about canals and the history of London, plus making and tasting ice cream with the redoubtable Victorian ‘Mrs Marshall, Queen of the Ices’ – the original celebrity chef and Mary Berry of her day.
We are planning a 2023 u3a Summer Special. We will let you know more in the February edition so you can plan ahead.
Joanna Charlton, group visits co-ordinator, London Canal Museum
Mixed felines
I must reply to Beth Hawthorne’s letter about cats and her suggestion they be kept in at night and trained to use litter trays (TAM Letters, Autumn).
Cats are too intelligent to be trained as she suggests. We all know dogs have masters, cats have servants. Has she ever tried to put a collar on a cat that does not want it? Has she ever tried to get a cat in that does not want to?
A lot of wildlife is killed on the roads at night. Should we all stop driving after 10pm? Cats, like all pets, provide companionship to people on their own, or with mental-health problems.
Good on Esther Rantzen for having a rescue cat. I hope her and Boots have many happy years together.
Bill Hammond, Swanley & District u3a, Kent
I must agree with Beth Hawthorne’s comments on cats and their effects on wildlife and fouling in other people’s gardens. Although not a pet owner myself, I understand how attached people are to their domestic pets and they obviously give a lot of joy to their owners.
Friends who own dogs have to abide by the rules, such as picking up after fouling, keeping them on a lead when asked to and only frequenting public areas where dogs are welcomed.
On the other hand, cats have the run of things, fouling wherever they want and killing birds and small creatures they may feel are fair game. This is not acceptable, and they should be kept in at night and wear an elasticated collar with a bell on.
Leila Steel, Reigate and Redhill u3a, Surrey
I’m always having to clear cat mess off my garden. I have a totally blind neighbour who likes to feel her plants. I have to constantly check to make sure she doesn’t put her hands into stinking cat mess.
Dave Woolven, Newport/Casnewydd South-East Wales u3a
Sighted guide support
Most people have heard of the four-legged guide dogs we train. But did you know we also recruit two-legged guides?
We run a national, volunteer-led service called My Sighted Guide, where a volunteer is partnered up with someone who has a visual impairment, in order to get people out of their homes, engage with their local community and increase confidence and wellbeing.
Since Covid, the interest in our service has doubled and we are now looking for new volunteers. We ask for a couple of hours per week or fortnight and it is not essential to be a car user. Full training will be given. As a volunteer you can expect:
The satisfaction in knowing you are supporting people with sight loss to live actively, independently and well;
To have fun socialising and interacting with others;
The health and wellbeing benefits of getting out and about in your community;
A new passion and hobby to get involved with in the future, that can spark from your partnership.
I notice that a current focus for u3a is ‘Do Something Brilliant Today’ and I really think this volunteer role fits into that category. To find out more, please visit guidedogs.org.uk/volunteering where you can apply online, or you can call our GuideLine on 0800 781 1444.
Karen Toozer, My Sighted Guide volunteer experience officer, Guide Dogs, Midlands Regional Centre
TAM LETTERS
TAM receives more letters than it has space for, so they may be edited, cut, omitted or held over
classified ads
Contact Jenni Murphy 020 8466 6139 /
Copy to Jenni Murphy
Third Age Trust
156 Blackfriars Road
London, SE1 8EN
Email: advertise@u3a org uk
Deadline for next issue:
1 January 2023
Rate £1.87 a word + VAT @ 20%
Box number charge: £10
A box number is essential for any advertisement seeking contact with others, as we do not publish private postal or email addresses, nor phone numbers, in such advertisements.
Send box number replies to: Jenni Murphy, Third Age Trust, The Foundry, 156 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8EN. Write the Box No above the address on the envelope and remember to enclose your contact details.
As soon as your order is accepted, you will be sent a formal invoice with the details of your order, and you will be asked to pay this before the deadline. Please include a full postal address (not for publication unless requested) with your advertisement and state if you are a member of a u3a and, if so, which one. Remittances should be sent to Jenni Murphy at the national office (address left) and cheques made payable to the Third Age Trust.
Holiday advertisements
Readers should ensure any offer complies with UK and EU regulations governing package holidays etc, if appropriate, before parting with any money. The Third Age Trust cannot be held responsible for this.
Family Research
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Tel 029 20759314
Personal
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Call Sandra at Affinity, 020 8832 9030.
www.affinitylondon.com
Widower (active retired engineer) WLTM lady in her 70s. Bradford on Avon area.
Reply to Box No 376
Widower, active retired WLTM lady in her late 60s or 70s, non-smoker. Suffolk or Norfolk area.
Reply to Box No 387
WIDOW WLTM MAN as companion for travel UK, abroad. Herts, Beds, Bucks.
Reply to Box No 292
GAY WOMAN, 76 WLTM similar or younger. Interests include the arts, walking, reading, laughing, good food and conversation, London.
Reply to Box No 389
FIT AND ACTIVE WIDOW living in SW London, late 60s, WLTM gentleman of similar age for companionship, walking, travel and general pleasures of life.
Reply to Box No 386
Single lady, 67 (Staffordshire) looking for companions (male & female) to spend winter in warm climate.
Reply to Box No 388
Bohemian man into 60s, GSOH, seeks woman for adventure. Yorkshire.
Reply to Box No 390
SLIM ACTIVE WIDOW late 70. Many interests Holidays, Theatre, Walking, Music, plus. WLTM Gent to share Love of Life. Tewkesbury
Reply to Box No 330
Services
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FULLY ILLUSTRATED TALKS Own equipment. Salisbury, Bath, Tutankhamun, astronomy, archaeology, etc, fees negotiable.
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Wanted
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Please call 01763 262102 or email