2 minute read
Seaford u3a News
by Fran Tegg
The coronavirus and lockdowns have taken a toll on the happiness index of most people, and the long cold spring has done little to dispel the gloom. We think of things as they used to be and we have a long way to go to get back to what we used to take for granted as ‘normal’. Fortunately, there are more things to look forward to as summer approaches.
Seaford u3a is getting ready to reopen with a summer buffet party and our usual coffee mornings as soon as we are allowed to do so. Meanwhile our members enjoy free Zoom talks, some by our own members which reflect their interests, and some by professional speakers. Members who are unsure about using Zoom are given support by those who lead on technology in our u3a. The coffee mornings are continuing by Zoom.
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Early in April we had a presentation from an experienced retired police officer and detective who is also a tour guide in London. The subject was the poisoning and murder of Alexander Litvienenko. We looked at his life, death and the reasons why he was murdered using the radioactive nerve agent Polonium 210. The talk was very clear and well illustrated. There was the opportunity to ask questions and discuss points raised. We found out what happened to his family for example. Our espionage speaker who presented the talk on Alexander Litvienenko will give us another treat in July when we will hear about the mysterious death of a codebreaker and agent found dead in strange circumstances in 2010.
The talk which followed could not have been more different. Jenny Mallin is a published author whose great, great, great grandmother Wilhelmena Hardy was Anglo-Indian, born in India in 1828. Jenny told us about her family tree and how all the women of her family from that ancestor were born and lived in India. The link between them all was a handwritten recipe book which was started by Wilhelmena in 1844 to which recipes were added by each generation. As the women had visited and lived in diverse areas of India the recipes reflected those found in different areas of that huge country, which at the time seemed to have little in common by way of ingredients and dishes. Most of the recipes had a strong Indian influence because the AngloIndian women would have Indian cooks who added spices and sauces to English dishes. A recipe for spiced scrambled eggs sounded delicious and was known as Rufty-Tufty.
The recipe book was more than just a cook book – it was an exercise in social history which reflected an era gone by. Wilhelmena was alive in the time of the East India Company, before the British Raj, and the history of this one family ran through until the British were beginning to be unwelcome in India in the 1940s when the speaker’s parents left India for England. A family legacy which the speaker had commemorated in her talk and a book which she has published.
Seaford u3a is continuing to host Zoom talks at least once a month. For more information about Seaford u3a (particularly pre-Covid) see the website www.u3asites.org.uk/seaford. To find out about membership email seafordu3a@gmail.com sending your postal address for a welcome pack.
S. R. DAVIS & SONS
ESTABLISHED 1978
