EDITOR’S CHAT Summer is here, believe it or not. Members are going their separate ways . On holidays, on learning expeditions and on other jollies. Will this mean fewer articles for the Quarterly? I hope not. We don’t always need items that are just about the U3A . If you have done something interesting that you would like to share with others, send it in. It might start another interest group! Our U3A is flourishing with over 40 interest groups and the number of them is increasing as is our membership. We are around the 300 mark now. We are lucky that we have a big enough hall to accommodate our monthly general meetings—not every U3A has the facilities for members to meet and chat before the guest speaker gets going. Let’s hope that the Festival Hall will continue to be available. Best wishes from Geoff
With West Wolds U3A
LEARN LAUGH LIVE COPY DATE FOR THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE Articles for the next edition should reach the editor no later than 22 August 2016 Send it to gcg@sunny-side.ws or phone me on 01673 842 287 Page 2
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The Open Day at the Festival Hall, Market Rasen was very well supported by our U3A. Thank you to all the performers and all the audience members who came to support us. We may well have several potential new members turning up at our next monthly meeting since there were several enquiries at our display table. The day was another example of how vibrant our U3A is and how willing people are to try something new, in this case performing in front of an audience. Thank you again for being such an important part of the whole event. Best wishes from Gail
No shows at Group Sessions We have recently heard of two instances where Co-ordinators had their classes at a very low (in one case, only 1 person present) attendance level, and almost no apologies. Apologies for absence are only a polite normality when you "can't get there". Group co-ordinators put in a lot of effort preparing their sessions and it’s unfair to them not to let them know if you are unable to attend. Sometimes in an emergency, it is not possible to do this but a chat afterwards would show appreciation.
Cover Picture 1940 Leyland Titan TD7 with Roe body. Seen by the group that visited the Lincoln Waste Treatment Centre and the Transport Museum. Photograph from Brian Ward. Page 3
Cycle Ride to Barton upon Humber
A big thanks to Julie and Fiona for organising this cycle ride.
the way we came stopping for a photo session. Arriving at our starting point Julie gave us two We set off in full view of the choices either go the Ropery Humber Bridge, the weather was Restaurant now, or cross the little slightly overcast but quite warm. bridge and cycle under the On the embankment we cycled along listening to the waves of the Humber Bridge which we all followed. John and I cycled half Humber Estuary on one side and way then stopped, and sat looking at the old pond quarries admiring the scenery and watched full of wild life on the other side. as a large barge sailed along whilst We had to manoeuvre around a we were waiting for the others to kissing gate by the side of the railway line and found ourselves at return. The Ropery restaurant was a station. Continuing along Ferry Road was ideal for we cyclists and extremely busy and satisfied our tastes. John and I investigated the Oh! we passed a pub without museum which was most stopping, how good was that! interesting. We learnt the Navy We did the road circuit and ropes were made with a code returned along the Humber Bank Page 4
through the centre, so if it was stolen they knew exactly from whom it had been stolen. The employees work time was organised by a buzzer which was set off every morning at half past seven. If you were not in the factory gates by the time the buzzer stopped there was no way in and one day’s pay was lost.
stretched out to maintain the tension whilst being twisted, producing ropes up to 145 fathoms (265m) long. The ropes were made on this site by the Hallmark Company for almost 200 years.
This was somewhere I had wanted to investigate each time driving over the Humber Bridge looking down at these ponds. Thanks to Julie and Fiona we The overall size of the original cyclists did it together and a great building was 400m in length, one of the longest pantiled buildings in time was had by all. Heather Barratt the country. The length of the building allowed the strands to be
West Wolds U3A Drama Group West Wolds U3A Drama Group has been running now since Autumn 2010. I had no sooner joined U3A than I was asked to re-start the Drama Group. We have had various people join over the years. Some have moved away or found Drama wasn’t their thing but a core of members have been coming for the last five and a half years. We have done a little performing with script in hand but for the most part we have read a variety of plays ranging from Shakespeare to Terry Prattchet. We have read plays from various centuries and plays by British and Foreign playwrights. We discuss whether we enjoyed the play, whether we could imagine it being staged and how it could be staged. The group has also helped me to bring possible performance pieces to life and then I have suggested them to my theatre group, Amici, who perform a variety of plays in local venues. Some of our U3A Drama Group have now also helped get the Broadbent Theatre ready for the Panto and have been Front of House Staff for performances; all things that people associated with amateur drama have to do as well as perform. We always extend a warm welcome to new U3A Drama Group members, so if you would like to find out more please contact me. Page 5
Gail Dennis
NINE MILE HIKERS 2016 FIRST WALK The 9 Mile Hikers started their 2016 programme with a walk from South Ferriby Marina on Wednesday 18th May. Undeterred by a rainy start, eleven walkers headed along the Humber bank to the village of South Ferriby, and then south on Middlegate Lane, passing the quarry that supplies chalk and clay to the Cemex cement works via a 1.8km long conveyor belt.
bridge, designed by Sir John Rennie and completed in 1836 is one of the earliest examples of a suspension bridge.
Our walk ended at South Ferriby sluice and lock, also designed by Rennie. The sluice prevents the Humber’s tidal waters from inundating the River Ancholme and the lock enables craft to move between the Ancholme and the Humber. The Amy Howson, a refurbished The rain eased as we walked Humber sloop, is moored near along the Wolds escarpment, allowing some hazy views to the the lock and still sails the estuary west. Dropping down into Saxby waters. all Saints, we enjoyed a break at Shelley Franklin All Saints Church. Dorothy, the churchwarden, kindly provided refreshments and told us about the history of the building and about the renovations being carried out, with support from English Heritage. All Saints is a Grade II listed building, designed by George Gilbert Scott in 1845. We returned to South Ferriby along the bank of the New River Ancholme, pausing to admire the bridges at Saxby and Horkstow. Both are listed buildings, constructed in the 19th century as part of the River Ancholme Drainage Scheme. Horkstow Page 6
MEALS ON WHEELS lamb with date & herb stuffing and mint gravy, ending with lemon tart & cream, with tea or coffee and mints to follow. The wine list and beers offered a good choice and we all managed to savour something to suit our palettes, knowing the coach would be waiting for us at 3.0pm to make the return trip back home to Market Rasen. It was quite quiet on the way back ... something to do with the very from Loughborough to Leicester, good food and drink of which we had partaken in ample and back again, through attractive countryside. Our meal sufficiency, no doubt. Much better than slaving over a hot was tomato and basil soup, stove or sitting in a static followed by our pre-ordered choice of either beef, Merlot and restaurant folks! You missed a treat. mushroom pie, or roast leg of The usual Saturday chores were banished on the 21st May by our enjoying Lunch on a Steam Train, travelling on the heritage railway
Brian Ward
The locomotive that pulled our train with the dining coaches in the background. The original BR coaches have been converted to replicate Pullman interiors—very plush indeed!!!
Our trip organiser doing his David Bailey bit!
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General Meetings 2016 June 9th
Heather Rosser, “Families in the First World War”
July 14th
Julie Stevenson, “Around The World in 365 Days” Follow them as they travel the globe on their grey gap year.
August 11th Jane Barnes, “Tales From A Farmer’s Wife” .
Local History Programme June 14th
Paul Howitt-Cowan — Guided Walk around Gainsborough
July 12th
Outing to Newark organised by Brian Ward. Must pre-book
August 9th
Outing to Doddington Hall, guided by Vic Hughes. Must pre-book
September 13th
Talk by Ruth Andrews at Middle Rasen Church
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THE WEST WOLDS QUARTERLY DIARY INSERT Remove this insert from your magazine, fold along the lines indicated
COMMITTEE & MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES 2016
FOLD
Chairman Gail Dennis Tel: 01673 843575 galedennis@btinternet.com
Press Liaison Brian Ward Tel: 01472 852273 briandgill@btinternet.com
Business Secretary David Oliver Tel: 01673 880188 david.g.oliver@btinternet.com
Visits Organiser Brian Ward Tel: 01472 852273 briandgill@btinternet.com
Treasurer Eunice Hughes Tel: 07794 683096 1949@eunicehughes.plus.com
Webmaster Steve McCarthy Tel: 01673-308364 steve@pigyard.com
Membership Secretary Lyn Henry Tel:Tel: 01673-843851 lynhenry@btinternet.com
Magazine Editor Geoff Goddard Tel: 01673 842287 gcg@sunny-side.ws
Groups Co-ordinator Ken Howitt Tel: 01652-678490 kenhowitt@btinternet.com
Speaker Finder Mandy Murphy Tel: 01673 565295 mandy.murphy1396@gmail.com with assistance from Heather Barratt Tel: 01673 849393 bruin10@spitfire24.plus.com and Sheila Nash Tel: 01673 866569 thenashes60@hotmail.com
Archivist Paul Davison Tel: 07746-626482 davison216@btinternet.com FOLD
Neighbourhood Representative David Oliver Tel: Tel: 01673 880188 david.g.oliver@btinternet.com Charity Commission Liaison David Oliver Tel: Tel: 01673 880188 david.g.oliver@btinternet.com
Catering Co-ordinator Margaret Cromack Tel: 01673 876242 margaret.cromack@btinternet.com
Why not visit our website at
www.westwoldsu3a.org Page 9
INTEREST GROUPS WEEK
Monday
Tuesday
10:00 German
1st
14:00 Bridge 14:00 Digital Photography
09:30 Paper Engineering 10:00 German
2nd
13.30 Card Craft 14:00 Bridge 14:00 Turkish Delight Desert Dancers
10:00 German
3rd
14:00 Bridge 14:00 Digital Photography
09:30 Paper Engineering 10:00 German
4th
14:00 Bridge 14:00 Belly Dancing
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14:00 Film 14:30 Spanish
10:00 Local History 10:00 IT Workshops
14:30 Spanish
10:00 Country Walks 10:30 Strollers 14:30 Spanish 19:00 Film
10:00 IT Workshops 10:00 Music Appreciation * (*Last Tuesday of month)
14:30 Art Appreciation 14:30 Spanish
MONTHLY TIMETABLE Wednesday
10:00 Country Walks 10:30 Strollers
10:00 Embroidery 10:00 4 Mile Walkers 12:00 Luncheon Group 14:00 Canasta 14:00 Poetry
Thursday
Friday
10:00 French 10:00 Patchwork * 10:00 Keep Fit
10:00 Beginners Family History 10:00 Latin 10:00 Line Dancing
14:00 Drama 14:00 Patchwork *
14:00 Scrabble 14:00 Biblical Hebrew
09.45 GENERAL MEETING Festival Hall Market Rasen Everyone Welcome Tea, Coffee, Event Notices Guest Speaker
10:00 Family History 10:00 Latin 10:00 Line Dancing 14:00 Biblical Hebrew
14:00 Drama
10:00
Telling our Stories
14:00 Readers Group 1
10:00 Embroidery * (*Last Wednesday of month)
14:00 Readers Group 2 14:00 Knitting and Crochet (Oct—April)
10:00 French 10:00 Keep Fit 10:00 Patchwork * 14:00 Drama 14:00 Patchwork *
10:00 Cross Stitch 10:00 Keep Fit* (* And 5th Thursday, if there is one) 14:00 Drama
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10:00 Latin 10:00 Cycling 10:00 Line Dancing 14:00 Biblical Hebrew 14:00 Scrabble* (* And 5th Friday of the month, if there is one) 10:00 COFFEE MORNING Jossals, Market Rasen 10:00 Latin 10:00 Line Dancing* (* + 5th Friday, if there is one) 14:00 Singing Together 14:00 Mah Jong 14:00 Biblical Hebrew
INTEREST GROUP CO-ORDINATORS ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS COMPUTING Lyn Henry 01673 843851 ART APPRECIATION Linda Coveley 01673 857153 BELLY DANCING Gillian Anderton 01673 844382 BIBLICAL HEBREW Alison Atkinson 01673 849979 BRIDGE Bryan Storey 01673 849625 CANASTA Jan Watkins 01673 308791 CARD CRAFT Cynthia Burke 01673 849506 CROSS STITCH Cynthia Burke 01673 849506 CYCLING Heather Barratt 01673 849393 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Pat Hage 01673 849447 DRAMA Gail Dennis 01673 843575 EMBROIDERY Pat Hage 01673 849447 FAMILY HISTORY Steve Field 01673 857519 FAMILY HISTORY – BEGINNERS Jacqueline Reid 01673 849490 FILM GROUP John Bartlett 01673 857480 FRENCH Pat Spolton 01673 828568 GERMAN Jo Howard 01673 862015 IT WORKSHOPS Steve McCarthy 01673 308364 KEEP FIT Dawn Stopper 01472 851133 KNITTING AND CROCHET Sue Jacobs 01673 828898 LATIN Gwen Parsons 07749 044413
LINE DANCING Margaret White 01673 849274 LOCAL HISTORY Jean Childs 01472 859347 LUNCHEON GROUP Pam John 01673 844260 MAH JONG Jacqueline Reid 01673 849490 MUSIC APPRECIATION Ron Jones 01673 843438 PAPER ENGINEERING Lyn Henry 01673 843851 PATCHWORK Lyn Henry 01673 843851 POETRY Eva Smith 01673 842218 READERS GROUP 1 Audrey Storey 01673 849625 READERS GROUP 2 Lyn Henry 01673 843851 RECORDER GROUP Geoff Goddard 01673 842287 SCRABBLE Audrey Storey 01673 849625 SINGING TOGETHER Heather Barratt 01673 849393 SPANISH Alison Atkinson 01673 849979 TELLING OUR STORIES David Atkinson 01673 849979 THE 4-MILERS Mary Ellis 01673 842584 THE 9-MILE HIKERS Helen Wilson 01673 828315 THE COUNTRY WALKERS Ken Howitt 01652 678490 THE STROLLERS Cynthia Burke 01673 849506 VISITS Brian Ward 01472 852273
THE GROUPS CO-ORDINATOR IS:KEN HOWITT 01652 678490 kenhowitt@btinternet.com LIFTS: If you do not have transport it is usually possible to arrange lifts to the various venues. A contribution to the cost of fuel is also welcome. Page 12
Interest Groups — Update Bellies are out!
The Belly Dancers wish to be known henceforth as the “Turkish Delight Desert Dancers”. Skiing
Phyl Murray is keen to contact members who would be interested in skiing in Scotland. Contact her on 07960 222 105. Keep Fit – on a chair
This might be the answer for those of you who want to keep fit but could not cope with standing for an hour. As the title suggests, this would entail doing suitable exercises on a chair and, perhaps, for about 30 minutes each session. If you are interested sign the sheet at the next General Meeting. We may have a co-ordinator for this group. New members` suggestions
At a recent meeting for new members the following groups were suggested: Keyboard Skills (for musical instruments, not computers) Upholstery and Furniture Restoration Gardens and Gardening As with all our groups one or more persons have to be prepared to take a hand in the running of the group. There must be plenty of expertise and experience out there! Sign the sheet to express your interest at the next General Meeting Short Courses
It has been suggested that some members might like to see the introduction of a number of short course, lasting, perhaps, only a few weeks or so. This format might be more suitable for certain topics and would undoubtedly demand less commitment for the person/persons co-ordinating the group. Please let any member of the committee know if you have suggestions. Ken Howitt Groups` Co-ordinator – May 2016
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U3A Latin et alia Group The Latin group studies the language of the Romans, among other things. We seem to digress a lot but the class insists everything is relevant. I have recently moved house and my new garden was a shingle desert until I was bombarded by the two keen gardeners in the group, Pat and Sylvia, who gave advice and came to class laden with grasses and other plants, all with Latin names of course. The retired teachers among us were interested in Roman education and Jennifer researched the beginnings of grammar schools in England. The first one was King's College, Canterbury founded in 597AD. The early grammar schools were educating boys for the priesthood and so the main focus was the learning of Latin. The school day stretched from 6am until 5pm so I imagine there was a lot of “ amo amas amat” chanting going on. We have come across many famous and fascinating people. Pythagoras was born on the Greek island of Samos in 6 BC. He was a mathematician, as we
all know, but he was also an authority on Philosophy and Religion. He believed in the transmigration of souls and there is a story of him interceding on behalf of a dog that was being beaten, saying he recognised in its cries the voice of a departed friend. Pythagoras was also interested in music and it was probably him who discovered the mathematics of sound i.e. that the length of a string determines the pitch of its sound. Euclid ,a Greek, who lived in C4 BC, wrote his book “Elements” which is about mathematics. Amazingly it is still used today for teaching maths. Geoff , one of our group members and a maths tutor for the Open University, actually learnt geometry from Euclid's book. He got very excited when we read about Euclid being the first to explain about prime and perfect numbers. Demosthenes was a famous Greek orator. Helga found out that he had a speech impediment. A big problem for an orator. But he decided he was going to overcome this obstacle. So he started to practise his speeches
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with pebbles in his mouth. He even went to the sea shore to shout above the waves in order to strengthen his voice, ready to speak in the rowdy law courts of his day. We have come across other topics of interest such as the concept of Time after we read about the Roman calendar. The founding of the United States of America was investigated after we studied the difficulties the
Romans had in unifying Italy and later their empire, as they conquered more and more peoples. The Latin group tries to follow the principles of the U3A. We learn Latin et alia to broaden our education and to ward off dementia but mainly we meet up to have a laugh (often at the teacher's expense) and to scoff penguin bars. Gwen Parsons
NEW!!! Ukulele Group
Our Ukulele Group is just beginning so if you have never played a ukulele before and would like to learn and give it a try please contact me. On the other hand, if you can already play, please come along and give us advice. Every one welcome with or without a ukulele just
give it a go. The ukulele is the most popular bought instrument at present. Schools have dumped recorders for ukuleles as you can soon be playing a tune with only three chords.
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Contact Heather 01673 849 393 bruin10@spitfire24.plus.com
A Technical Day Out Do you know what happens to your black bin rubbish? Well, 20 WWU3A members do, following a visit to Lincolnshire County Council’s Energy from Waste Centre at North Hykeham Lincoln. Rubbish is no longer (since 2013) used as landfill, but as a fuel to generate electricity. Lincolnshire, according to our very informative guide at the visitors’ centre, produces 365,000 Tonnes of rubbish annually. About half of this total is recyclable and compostable. The remaining 170,000 Tonnes is used for conversion into energy. Street collection vehicles in W. Lindsey deposit their black bin rubbish at one of 5 Waste Stations in the county (probably at Gainsborough). From there, very large special vehicles take the rubbish to N. Hykeham. On arrival as part of the closely monitored process the vehicles are weighed. After this, these vehicles with a moving floor system, deposit the rubbish into a deep pit and are then weighed empty on the way out. The rubbish is then loaded by skilful operators using giant
grabs, into a hopper which feeds by gravity into the furnace running at 900C. This is a continuous process where the rubbish is the fuel. The hot gases produced then pass through boiler tubes to raise water in a closed system to superheated steam which expands through a turbine to drive the electrical generator in the normal way to supply 300 plus MW into the National Grid, (enough for 26,000 houses). There is some waste in this whole process. The furnace has a shaking action which deposits ash and ferrous metal below it. The ash is used as an aggregate in road building and the metal is recovered for recycling. The flue gases are neutralised and particulates are removed, before being released up a 75m chimney. Environmental control of the gases is a major part of the final process. Any solids removed are in the form of a fine powder which goes to make building blocks. There is scope in the plant design to use low grade heat presently released via fans, in a district heating scheme when funds permit.
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Following our visit we drove to the nearby Pride of Lincoln pub for some R&R. Our next engagement was with the Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicle Society. A green 1940 Leyland Titan double-decker bus came from the Society’s Museum to the pub. We embarked, there followed some rearrangement of seating, as our volunteer driver was
mostly buses, cars, motor-cycles and memorabilia displayed there. All these vehicles were functional; but behind the display area in the workshop it was a different story. There was much work in progress to be seen. One could not but admire the optimism of some of the Society’s members in tackling the restoration tasks they had set themselves. We did however see the outcome of much past effort and money spent, when the owner of an immaculate 1930’s SS model “Jaguar” proudly showed us his car. All too soon our day out came
worried that most were upstairs and the centre of gravity needed lowering for stability. Reseated more evenly we set off for a tour of Lincoln. Tickets were issued by our volunteer conductor whilst the driver wrestled the bus through the narrow streets to stop outside the Cathedral for photos. We changed seating to give everyone a share of the topdeck and set off for the Road Transport Museum also in North Hykeham.
to a close. We were delivered back to the pub carpark in an ex Co-Op single decker. Thanks to Brian Ward for making all the arrangements which led to a different and most interesting day out with not too far to travel.
At the Museum we had time to wander amongst the collection of Page 17
Barry Dukes
Fun with Morecambe and Wise Steve Short is a professional magician and raconteur. His vehicle for his amusing talk was the life and times of Morecambe and Wise. Right from the beginning he was telling jokes, demonstrating his magic and generally keeping the audience amused. He talked us through how they got together, the influences on their act (Abbot and Costello) and their rise to fame with the who became a part of the national inevitable failures on the way. With such well-loved characters psyche and who we invited into our homes on a regular basis during the 60s, 70s and 80s there was bound to be the sadness of Eric’s death at the age of 58 in 1984. There was audience participation with simple but impressive tricks – how did he produce that tissue paper hat after tearing up two pieces of tissue paper? The whole event was presented extremely well with Steve measuring the humour, comedy and magic with a deft lightness that left the audience uplifted and singing “Bring me Sunshine” as we left the Festival Hall
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Who can remember conductors on buses?
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THE TENDER SMILE
A smile is such a simple thing And yet in its own way It adds a touch of tenderness to any kind of day A smile can take the darkest cloud and turn it inside out A smile is the beginning of what love is all about A smile can be the little seed that starts a friendship growing With its warm straightforward message You’re someone well worth knowing Heaven and earth seem closer for at least a little while When people draw together in exchanging JUST A SMILE
Poem contributed by Valerie Walsh
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