Salisbury
and District U3A 
NEWSLETTER
Number
59 August 2007
From the
Chairman
I am told
that there is an American dictionary of misinformation –
things which many people assume to be true but which aren't.
Apparently Sherlock Holmes never said 'Elementary, my dear Watson' and
it was a barber, not Delilah, who gave Samson his short back and sides.
Lindbergh was not the first to fly the Atlantic; Edison didn't invent
the electric light bulb; Dr Guillotine didn't perfect his famous
headache cure.
Galileo didn't invent the telescope. King John didn't sign
Magna Carta because he couldn't write – and Cinderella's
slippers were not made from glass but ermine – a seventeenth
century translator confusing two similar French words.
Misinformation – what we think we know but don't –
not only provides the raw material for booby prizes at quiz shows but
also injects poison into prejudice, that great time-saver which enables
us to form strong opinions either without checking the facts or by
wilfully ignoring them.
'Everybody knows' that women drivers are a menace, immigrants a drain
on social services, and that you are past your mental peak at forty
– even though the statistics say something else.
'It's common knowledge' that Catholics are superstitious, Protestants
bigots, Germans humourless and Americans brash.
Malicious half-truth – what we don't know and can't be
bothered to find out – far from not hurting us, is the cause
of endless misery and bitter enmity.
-----Jack Leeming -----
From
the Secretary
I have had
an interesting first few months in my new role. It has been
quite busy having dealt with new membership applications during
Dieter's absence. They say using the brain is what we are
supposed to do in our senior years. Mine has received a sharp
jolt which I hope will help with future activities!
I will post information on our notice board each month. This
will include a considerable amount of detail from U3A Central
Office. Please try and keep up to date as you may miss out on
offers on holidays and computer hardware etc. Joan New will
be updating the information in the library on our activities via these
notes and other sources on a regular basis.
Don't forget to access our local (www.salisburyu3a.org.uk) and national
websites (www.u3a.org.uk), which will provide information and be
updated from time to time.
Our many thanks to Moira Dickson who has now retired from sending
reports to the Salisbury Journal. This role has been taken
over by Catherine Dyer, and again our thanks to her.
-----Mike Limbrick-----
From
the Treasurer
Room Hire Subsidy
From September 2007 Course Leaders who need to rent a
hall/room for their group may now claim 75% of the cost from the
Treasurer.
Occasional guests at monthly meetings will be admitted and charged
£1. A guest book will be established.
-----Tony Rea-----
From
the Membership Secretary
Modem AV Presentation System
Our working group has compiled a proposal for a modern
audio-visual presentation system and submitted an application for a
lottery grant. The new system will enable us to use
computer-based presentations and make us independent of
location. Full grant request: £4,790.
Salisbury MP Robert Key is supporting our grant application as our
independent referee.
Salisbury & District U3A Membership
Our membership stands at 516. We now have a
waiting list for new members, and we give preference to applicants who
are willing and able to promise active help with our various activities.
-----Hans-Dieter Scholz-----
|
20th Anniversary Lunch
To celebrate this
anniversary we are holding a
special lunch
on Tuesday 6th
November in St Francis Hall.
A two course meal
with a glass of wine will be provided.
Tickets price
£3 will be on sale at the September
meeting and will be
limited to 120 people.
|
Speakers
at the Monthly Meetings
Outings
News
Click
here
for details of forthcoming Outings.
-----John Ewington-----
Distributors Required
Distributors are required to deliver the Newsletter
in April, August and December, and also the Course Programme in June.
Areas in need of distributors are:
| Code
B |
St
Edmunds Art Centre |
| Code
C |
St
Edmunds Art Centre |
| Code
I |
Lower
Bemerton |
| Code
J |
Pauls
Dene |
| Code
K |
Wilton
Road (Police Station) |
| Code
R |
Laverstock |
| Code
V |
Stratford |
If you are interested in helping or need more information, contact Bob
Pearce |
Walking
Group, Autumn Programme
27
September Cow
Down HiIl. GR 023 216. 6 miles. Start 10
am. Pub in Broadchalke afterwards. Geoff.
11 October Forest
walk from The Royal Oak, Fritham. GR 232 142.
5½ miles. Start l0 am. Pam and Tony.
25 October Donhead
St Andrew and Barker Hill. Start at the Church 10 am, park
alongside the wall on left. GR 914248.
4½ miles. Lunch at the Black Dog pub.
Rex.
8 November Abbotswell,
Broomey Island, Hasley Hill. Park at Abbotsbury car
park. GR 178 129. 5 miles Start l0
am. Kay.
22 November Rockbourne,
Whitsbury. Park at The Rose and Thistle pub or behind village
hall. GR 114 183. 5 miles. Start 10
am. Maggie.
6 December Coombe
Bisset, Homington, Great Yews. Start Fox and Goose
pub. GR 104 265. 5½ miles.
Start 9.45 am. End of term lunch at the pub. Anne.
Please note: Wear
appropriate footwear, bring wet weather gear if necessary, drink (and
snack if you wish). PLEASE let the leader or Maggie know if
you are NOT coming. Meet at Dorset Road, Salisbury to share
cars if possible.
-----Maggie
Hunter-----
Mini
Walks
| August |
No walk |
| 20
September |
Pitton. Park at the village hall.
GR 212 312 |
| 18
October |
Tisbury. The Avenue car park. GR 945 293
|
| 15
November |
Alvediston. Park at The Crown pub.
GR 975 234. |
All walks start at 10
am. Boots or stout shoes are necessary, please bring a drink
and a waterproof.
-----Sheila and Peter
Brown-----
Second
Wednesday Monthly Walks
12
September
Stourhead. 6 miles. Start 10 am from Visitors
Centre car park. GR ST 779 340 (Explorer 142).
October No
walk as I am away.
14 November
Old Sarum. 6 miles. Start 10 am from English
Heritage car park. GR SU 139 326 (Explorer 130).
12 December Wilton.
6 miles. Start 10am from Michael Herbert Hall car
park. GR SU 095 311 (Explorer 130).
You should
have the following – good walking footwear, waterproof
clothing, water, food for short rest.
-----Helga Burt-----
Chris
Dickson's course dates Sept - December
|
| Family History |
13
September Introduction,
what we can expect to find and where to find it.
27 September Birth, Marriage
and Death Certificates, their value in our research and where to find
them.
11 October
Open Informal meeting.
25 October
The Censuses: 1841-1901
8 November Parish
Registers, information before 1837.
22 November Open
informal meeting.
6 December
County Record Offices, the IGI, the Internet.
20 December
Recording information.
|
| Researching Local History |
| 4 September, 2 October, 6
November, 4 December. |
| Lifestory |
| 19 September, 17 October, 21
November, 19 December. |
| Play Reading |
| 12 September, 26 September, 10
October, 24 October, 14
November, 28 November, 12 December. |
Please note these dates in your
diary. Details of time and
venue are in the Programme.
I shall be continuing my previous practice of
holding
informal meetings for Family History. Anyone with an interest
in Family History is welcome to come and bring their problems for
general discussion.
-----Chris Dickson----- |
Vacancies
on Courses for 2007-8
If you have
been disappointed with the places you have been offered for next year,
you may consider applying for one or more of these below. It
must be noted that in some cases only one place is available and they
must be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’
basis. Therefore, I would recommend that you phone me as soon
as possible.
Navigation
for Back Seat Drivers
Italian
Improvers
German
Discussion
Gardening
U3A
Choir
Walking New Forest North West
Italian Beginners
Intermediate Spanish
Sugarcraft (continuation)
Origami for Beginners
Metrication Made Easy
Researching Local History
Art for All
Walking
|
Play Reading
Canvas Embroidery
Bowling Experience
Reading and Discovering Poetry
Lifestory
Oral History
Sacred Cows and Sacred Places
Walking Group
Family History
Bible Study
Sugarcraft
Tennyson without In Memoriam
World Affairs
|
Please apply for places on these Courses directly to Chris Dickson and
not to the Course Leader or Tutor.All details – time, date,
venue and tutor – are as
listed in the Programme and notes.
----Chris Dickson----
Dates
for Metrication and Origami
Metrication
Made Easy
This course
consists of FOUR meetings at fortnightly intervals, starting on 30
October.
Origami
for Beginners
This course
consists of SIX meetings at weekly intervals, starting on 15 January
2008.
-----Joan New-----
Gardening
Group
2007
8 October
Rosemary Nichols
Japanese Gardens
12 November Irene Bowron
Sir Harold Hillier Garden and Arboretum
10 December Moira Dickson
Growing Vegetables in Pots
2008
14 January
Chris Yates
Restoring the Walled
Victorian Garden
11 February Sue
Hampton
Winter Colour in the Garden
10 March
Gerald
A Trip Through Iberia
Three outings to gardens in the summer.
-----Moira Dickson-----
Sunday
Lunches
The
lunches
are held on the first Sunday after the Wednesday General Meeting (the
coffee morning to some). A list is on the notice board at the
General Meeting with details, or telephone me.
-----Sheila
Tupling-----
|
Outing
to Barcelona
From the
time that we left Salisbury coach station for Bournemouth airport on
the Monday until our return on the Friday evening we were happily
looked after. John counted us out and counted us back and
happily not a single one of the party succumbed to the Spanish smiles
– and there were plenty of those, although it has to be
admitted that, but for the lack of a helmet, we might have lost one to
a lady scooter-driver who threatened to drive off with him into the
darkness.
On our first morning we were taken by coach round Barcelona and were
impressed by its layout and general cleanliness. The
following day we visited Montserrat – a monastery built on a
bare mountain that rises pudding-like from the ground – the
road to the top winding about its face has 92 frighteningly sharp bends
with plenty of sheer drops to remind passengers of the need for the
spiritual consolations offered by the monastery. Not that
there was much opportunity for silent meditation; the whole area was
awash with visitors. Hear the boys sing, urged all the guide books, so
twenty minutes or so before the stated time we made our way, with
considerable difficulty, into the enormous Basilica, to find that it
was absolutely packed. The many children in the pews looked,
and acted, as though they had been there for hours. The noise
was horrific. Eventually a priest mounted the pulpit and
welcomed us in five languages. Then the boys arrived,
promptly on time, sang for all of ten minutes and quietly filed
out. ‘Crowds?’ said our guide,
‘You should see it in the summer. It’s
almost impossible to move. Coaches are forced to queue back
along the road.’
In the afternoon we sought, and found solace by visiting a winery where
a little wine-tasting soon restored our flagging spirits and we
returned to Barcelona feeling that life wasn't all that bad after
all. The following morning we were guided on foot –
the roads are far too narrow for motor traffic – around what
is known as the Gothic quarter, where a guitarist brought one of the
ancient squares to life with her beautiful playing. Oh, while
I think of it, Senior Citizens are described in Spanish as –
wait for it! – Jubilado. Isn't that a lovely
descriptive name? Jubilado got very good concessions
everywhere. Two of our Jubilado managed to get into the
Picasso museum, ahead of a long, long queue, by going to the exit and
asking an official if that was the way in. He, poor innocent
man, thinking they were the ordinary run of the mill Jubilado, lost
souls, led them to the very head of the queue and ushered them
in. That's a wonderful example of what the U3A can do for you.
The rest of the time was our own and splitting into small groups we
made our way by taxi – very cheap – or public
transport to the many places of interest in the city. I feel
that the Palau de la Musica Catalana is worthy of a special mention
because, apart from it being a beautiful building in the modernist
style, our very own John had actually sung there on three occasions
with the London Philharmonia Chorus; twice in 1981 and again in
1991. Not that he remembered much of the building since his
time had been taken up with the serious business of singing and,
standing on stage as he had been, had no opportunity to see the
bas-relief of the Valkuries on the proscenium arch galloping towards a
somewhat startled bust of Beethoven.
One expects in another country to experience culinary delights that sit
strangely on the tongue and Barcelona proved equal to the
occasion. Apart from the famous tapas – squid, for
example cooked in its own ink – one of our party found on her
plate, in a perfectly ordinary restaurant, fried duck on a bed of salad
accompanied by ginger ice-cream. Two courses in one, as she
calmly remarked, with typical British under-statement.
Not that we should be surprised for had not the good folk of Barcelona
allowed their famous architect, Gaudi, the freedom to create what has
obviously flowed out of his imagination like white-hot lava, barely
restrained by traditional architectural practice, buildings that owed
much to his plasticine days and a cathedral – not to be
completed until 2030 – The Sagrada Familia, that would not
have looked amiss in the Lord of the Rings. Here, compared
with the dull pedestrian cathedrals of Liverpool and Guildford the
life-force is at work, transmuting the extruded statuesque rocks of the
Montserrat mountain into tall, narrow, tapering spires and bringing
nature into the spiritual equation through the use of reinforced
concrete columns, cast on the rake, that soar as arboreal ambassadors
up to an impossibly high roof glittering with fragments of gilded
tiles. Although I have the feeling that when we went as a
group to a restaurant to be fed and entertained on our last night, many
of us were surprised at the sheer energy of the flamenco
dancers. This was nature once again but a-different nature,
disciplined but immediate, called forth by the shamen of the dance
– the two guitarists and the singers, finding expression in
the dancers who from a controlled start by gradually surrendering
themselves, became its victims, stamping their feet, whirling about,
their faces masks that revealed they were lost to our normal everyday
world. Yet a moment or two later, the music having stopped,
they were completely back with us, smiling among themselves, as though
all they had been on was a brief journey and had returned
safely. What a wonderful way to end the visit to
Barcelona. As we drove back to the hotel along Las
Ramblas – one of the principal streets – people
were just beginning their evening's entertainment. If only we
could have joined them.
As our return flight was in the afternoon John arranged for us to be
taken to Girona on the way to the airport – a delightful
medieval town with a wonderful cathedral, which the culture-vultures,
braving the steps placed there to deter the weak-hearted, visited,
while the rest idled around the narrow streets, some not sure whether
to eat or drink the glass of chocolate they were served at a 'Palace of
Chocolate' which, had it cooled, would have required a chisel to prise
from the glass.
We were all sorry when it came to an end. It had been a
wonderful experience. One of the group described it to me as
a party – and that is exactly what it had been, with everyone
enjoying each other’s company. John has made it
clear that he feels that he has done nothing out of the ordinary but we
know that a great deal of hard work went into making this trip the
success that it undoubtedly was.
For all those who went to Barcelona and were unable to attend the
Wednesday meeting, John was presented, on your behalf, with a little
something to cheer his heart.
-----Ivan Raynsford-Smith-----
Educated
to Fail?
I was
invited to the annual Commemoration Day of my old school.
Well, why not? After all I was a pupil, then a parent, then a
governor – indeed, chairman of the governing body –
of that school. I have known my way from here to there like
the back of my hand, every twist and turn of the road along the A36 to
Bath.
It was one of the few sunny days of early July. The school
buildings glowed and the trees looked fresh. The service in
Bath Abbey was, as usual, an inspiration. How wonderfully
these young people can sing ancient and modem psalms of
praise. The last time I was taken to the music department the
blazered tribe were composing on computers. Beethoven would have been
out of his depth. Beethoven and I have one thing in common.
I sat at lunch with two twenty-somethings, she a maths teacher and he
in music. Only when asked did I explain, with some pride, my
connection with the school. After all, my name was set in
gold letters on the board hanging in the dining hall.
‘And what was it like in your day?’ How
could I resist that one?
At 14 years old someone had to decide whether I was to go
‘classics’ or
‘science’. The lot fell on classics and
so I spent the next four years studying Latin, Greek and Ancient
History – no physics and no chemistry or biology.
Maths at a higher level was also fit for classicists; but no formal
education in the sciences.
What next? What university or career? These two
teachers were wide-eyed to realise that the future held no
options. The 18 year old only waited for the brown envelope
to fall on the mat conscripting him into the armed forces.
There may be no future. D-Day and Burma needed armed
forces. They were planning to drop the H bomb at the time.
That was a different world, unrecognised by these teachers some sixty
years younger. I did not wallow in nostalgia but warmed again
in the bosom of the school that sent me out with no science skills but
with an enquiring mind groomed by Latin and Greek
translations. The vocabulary and grammar have
faded. Understanding of science never took shape. But U3A
groups engage that education year by year.
-----David Ensor-----
U3A
Information File
A file containing information
about U3A is to be found in the Salisbury Reference Library shelved
with prospectuses of Higher Education under the heading ‘370 EDUCATION’.
The file has a copy of the current Newsletter and programme and the
latest Third Age News. It also contains recent issues of
Sources and sections on Spire and Sarum U3As.
If you want to place
information in this file or have any questions about it, please contact
Joan New.
