ROMSEY and District
Low-down in the Lockdown Bulletin No.17 - 24 March 2021
Nuthatch by Mike Driscoll
SPRING is here! Have you been waking up with the birds singing; marvelling at glorious sunrises and sunsets; enjoying a walk — maybe meeting up with a friend too? The clocks spring forward this weekend with more daylight to enjoy the outdoors: marvel as the buds start to open, turning the trees that glorious spring green. Happy Easter to you all but do keep to our mantra: Stay Safe, Keep Active & Keep Well.
ARE YOU READY? What will the promised freedom mean for our u3a? We don’t know yet but we’ve started to plan for meeting again in Crosfield Hall and other venues in and around Romsey. If we restart our popular monthly meetings in September, do you think you will be confident, after lockdown, to meet in the hall?
Please let us know your current thinking by answering two questions here.
BOOKWORMS
GOOD DEEDS!
Recommended holiday reading from the group:
It has just come to our notice that, a few weeks before Christmas, when Romsey foodbank was asking for donations of sweets-n-treats as Christmas gifts for children, one of our activity groups sprung into action. They had not been ‘paying to play’, so collected money and prepared 90 ribbon-tied gift bags of goodies for the foodbank.
Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier A 19th century historical novel set in Lyme Regis. Mary Anning has a talent for finding fossils; her discovery of the complete skeletons of two dinosaurs rocks the scientific world. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Thirteen year old Theo's mother is killed in a bombing that rocks Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Unharmed he escapes with a valuable painting called the Goldfinch. Read on… 771 pages! Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell An historical novel tells the story of William Shakespeare's initial production of a Midsummers Nights Dream as recounted by his younger brother Richard. "A well plotted, richly written romp through Shakespeare's time." Kaye Hannah
HAPPINESS IS GOOD FOR YOUR HEART Notice 5 beautiful things in the world outside. Happier : Kinder : Together ACTION FOR HAPPINESS
More recently, against a list of required items from the foodbank website, similar action was taken with a car boot selection as pictured. A big thank you goes to Ashley and Milly, two of the young management staff at Aldi for their help and support. Remember: SHOP LOCAL
WE
STILL NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU IF YOU WOULD
LIKE TO HELP RUN OUR U3A.
GIVE IT A GO!
Why not contact Dave Lovell (vice chair) for a chat? W ORTH THINKING ABOUT: If you switch off your video during Zoom meetings, the carbon footprint of the whole event will be greatly reduced as the internet servers will use less power. You may also notice that your internet connection is improved. Great result!
HEDGEHOGS Living in a retirement block, I was delighted to discover we have hedgehog visitors at night. I’ve been putting food out every evening and have seen four of them together, including a large, easily identifiable one, which almost appears to have racing stripes. They seem pleased with the food, leaving small, black, ‘thank you’ messages! Over the past few winter months the food continued to disappear but with dark, cold, wet weather it was difficult for me to see them; I was concerned that cats or rats might be eating the food. However, this week I was loaned a camera trap / trail cam which you will have seen on nature programmes. After completing my degree in Setting Up a Camera Trap, I strapped it to the bird bath – and there they were, at least three, possibly four hedgehogs. I moved the camera for a clearer view and am thrilled, as hedgehogs are becoming quite scarce. The two wooden ‘houses’ I put out are obviously not up to standard because no residents so far. So, back to Mole to buy more own-brand cat food (which oddly looks like a bag of washers) as that is obviously acceptable – plenty of ‘thank you’ messages all over the lawn! JM You can see some of the footage on YouTube, through a link on our R&D Welcome page. Page 1 of 2