EDITOR
Marion Whyte
EDITORIAL TEAM
Elsie Denham
Vacancy
SUNDERLAND U3Amarch 2010 no: 20
Sunderland University of the Third Age: A member of the Third Age Trust
Sunderland U3A
Fulwell Methodist
Dovedale Road
Sunderland
MEETING:
3rd Wednesday of each month at 1.30 for 2.00pm
MEMBERSHIP:
0191 549 0984
Printed By:
City Print
Civic Centre
Sunderland SR2 7DN
0191 561 1091
CONTENTS
REGULARSFrom the Editorial Team / 2
From the Chair & Future speakers / 3
Groups’ News / 4
Exploring Architecture 3b: Decorated Gothic / 9
1000 Novels Everyone Must Read / 20
Dates for Your Diary / 43
People We Should Know 3: Mary Anning / 45
Who’s Who & Contact Us and Groups at a Glance / 47
FEATURES
Maundy Money / 8
The Mathematics of a Nursery Rhyme / 12
The Long Good-Bye: 3 / 13
ART& ARCHITECTURE
“Labour Pains” – Michelangelo’s Poem / 16
Nature’s Rejects -The Castrati / 17
BOOKS
The Magic of Roald Dhal / 19
What Lewis Carroll Taught Us / 20
HEALTH MATTERS
No Link Between Mobile Phones & Brain Tumours / 23
Drinking Coffee will Not Sober You Up / 24
Arrhythmia Awareness – Know Your Pulse / 25
NEWs TO US
Manifesto – Scrap Default Retirement Age / 27
Reducing Alzheimer’s Risk / 27
SCIENCE
Raspberry Milky Way / 28
A Tern Around the World / 29
Spin, Dance, Jump, Repeat / 30
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint / 30
TRAVEL
Yet Another U3A Meeting / 31
Travel Inn England / 32
Happy Packing – Happy Holiday / 33
FOOD
Ignore Expiration Dates / 35
Catch of the Freezer / 36
Watch Your ORACs / 37
Easter Food Traditions / 38
Easter Recipes / 40
FROM THE EDITORS
Dear Friends
We hope you all had a good Christmas break with lots of fun and feasting; we hope you noticed that our efforts to ensure a white Christmas succeeded i.e. we put an article in the December Mag. saying that these were a thing of the past (& if you believe that you’ll believe anything!). Certainly, we all enjoyed our U3A Christmas party: the food was abundant and the school choir entertaining. So here we are in March, having survived the seemingly endless ice and snow and cold and looking forward to Easter and better weather.
Our magazine aims to provide something for everyone: from articles to make you think (read about the castrati, p17), information on serious health issues (find out how to know your pulse rate, p 25), ideas for your spring reading list (p 19) and things to do (p 44) to oddities to make you smile (some wonderful high quality insults on p 9!). Once again, thanks to everyone who has contributed items, and if you haven't yet done so, please see what you can do. A short description of an interesting place, a recommendation of a book or film, or anything which has caught your attention, please share them with the rest of us. If you think there is anything you would like to see in the magazine, please tell us. And can anyone provide a photograph which suitable for the summer edition in June?
As spring approaches most of us feel more active, so do look at the varied programme our groups offer and try something new.
Best wishes
Marion & Elsie
FROM THE CHAIR
Hello Everyone
I expect everyone is as sick of this weather as I am. It seems that as soon as the green shoots of the bulbs start to show, they are covered in snow. They say this is the worst winter for 30 years and I can well believe it. Fortunately it does not appear to be affecting attendance at U3A meetings. I think everyone enjoyed February’s speaker, Rebecca Elsey, who brought us some of her collection and talked about ‘Collectors’ Items from a Bygone Age’. Rebecca asked that her speaker’s fee be donated to charity and so I sent off a cheque to the Sunderland Alzheimer’s Society for £30. (Our Christmas Celebration combined with the proceeds of card sales by the Art Group resulted in a donation of £161.) I have received thanks for both cheques.
There wasn’t a lot of support expressed for a Whist Group but we will soon be asking for expressions of interest in the possibility of Tai Chi, Ten Pin Bowling, Carpet Bowls and Textiles Groups.
Warnings
I often receive e mails about viruses and scams. Sometimes these are genuine but sometimes they are out of date or hoaxes. The best thing to do before forwarding them on is to check them out by visiting the website www.snopes.com which will tell you their status and also alerts you to the most recent problems. I have had problems with e mails purporting to come from the delivery company DHL which are infected with viruses. Fortunately my security system has dealt with them. If you have a computer you need good security but you do not have to pay a fortune for it. Several firms, including the one that I use, will give you a free security package.
Something else that I have been alerted to is criminals ringing people up saying that they are fraud investigators from leading banks and building societies. They will have a lot of information about you and your card but what they want is the security number on the back of your card. A legitimate fraud investigator would not ask for that number!
Reminder
The April meeting is also our AGM & as well, your subscriptions (£10) are due then and need to be paid promptly. If you have decided not to renew please let Lilian know so that places can be given to those on the waiting list.
Regards
Judith Ayles
Chair Sunderland U3A
FUTURE SPEAKERS
April 21st [AGM] Robert Moon ‘Nicholas and Alexandra’
May 19th Morris Anglin ‘Heart Research’
June 16th Derek Hutchinson ‘Voyage across the North Sea Part 2’
GROUPS’ NEWS
AMATEUR ARTISTS
Our group continues to meet twice a month and it has been lovely to see some new faces turning up – although we love all the old ones too!
Rest assured you don’t need to be a Van Gogh to join in – far from it. Meetings are very informal and friendly and you can try your hand at any kind of medium or style. Help is on hand from our Group Leaders should you need it (as I do) and we try to get involved in activities outside of the normal meetings, such as exhibitions of work and possibly outdoor meetings if any nice whether ever decides to grace us with its presence.
Marion, one of our leaders, has not been too well lately so we send you our best wishes Marion and hope that by the time we all read this you are much improved.
Meetings are on the second and fourth Monday of each month at Monkwearmouth Railway Museum. Meet at 10.15am. DS
Marion Miller Josie Thompson
0191 548 1009 0191 534 2702
CARD MAKING
Come along to join us or just to try it out; we meet on the 4th Monday of each month, 10.00am at my home. Remember – Easter is coming!
Pat Devenport
0191 536 2365
COMPUTER & DIGITAL SUPPORT
Sunderland U3A and Wearside U3A computer groups have merged . . . apparently successfully!
The combined group meet from 10:30 to 12:00 approx, first and third Tuesdays at Amble House, Lakeside (Near Hunter’s Lodge, Gilley Law area). The common interest at present is digital photography and image manipulation, but other aspects of computer use can be covered if requested.
Alan Denham
0191 521 2760
GEOLOGY GROUP
The Geology Group meets on the third Friday of each month, either for an outing in summer or at the Bangladeshi Centre in Tatham St during the rest of the year. No scientific knowledge is needed, just an interest in the world around us. Meetings in the Bangladeshi Centre start at 2 p.m. and the programme for the next few months is as follows:-
Friday 19th March – A talk by Alan Denham on the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.
Friday 16th April - Talk – A Geological look at Buildings, with slides of churches, castles, cathedrals and who knows what else.
Friday 21st May - Fossils - What exactly are they and how are they formed. There will an opportunity to handle them and look at them through microscopes rather than simply stare at them through glass cases in museums.
John Baty Barbara Vaughan
0191 522 6462 0191 529 5334
LOOKING @ ART
In January we visited The Gallery at Northumbria University to view the exhibition ”100 Portraits by Jane Brown” which were photographs commissioned by The Observer newspaper spanning many years. One of the staff gave us an introductory talk before leaving us to browse.
In February we were welcomed at the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens by a staff member who took us on a guided tour of a major exhibition from the British Museum called “China: Journey to the East” This was very colourful and interesting and several of our group intend to visit again. [This exhibition runs until May 9th at Sunderland Museum. Eds]
Our March 18th programme is a visit by around 20 members to The Biscuit Factory at Newcastle, always a popular location.
Sheila Humby Rose Marshall
0191 548 2259 0191 528 1468
LOOKING AT BUILDINGS
In January we had a very interesting talk by architect Dennis Jones about Brancepath Castle and how it has changed from a mediaeval castle to a country house with a fascinating series of slides showing the castle in its many guises and different standards of decoration & upkeep. It made us determined to go & see it for ourselves.
In February we had a “Snowdrops at Mount Pleasant” visit followed by a delicious tea at Wynyard Hall. Mount Grace is fascinating, showing the difference in the way of life of the Carthusians as opposed to the e.g. Benedictines of Durham. We were particularly astonished at the size of the cloister 230ft x 270 ft – this size because of the size of the so-called cells of an individual monk, each cell having a hall with its hatchway where the lay servants would place the food so that the monk wasn’t interrupted in his devotions), living room (with large fire), study, bedroom, upstairs workroom, garden on 3 sides, covered “cloister” and their own personal outside privy (reached by the covered “cloister” so that one didn’t get, inconveniently wet) – some of us have lived in smaller flats! Together with its carpets of snowdrops – unforgettable and well worth a re-visit, perhaps on a slightly warmer day!
We were fortunate at Wynyard Hall, not only for the quality of its tea but also that we were allowed to see rooms not open that day such as the ballroom and the chapel. We agreed with Pevsner that it is a nineteenth century jewel.
I am sorry to have to tell you that, for personal reasons I am giving up not only “Looking at Buildings” but my involvement with U3A. You have been very kind in expressing your appreciation of our programme of talks and visits and I have loved organising and going to see so much of our amazing heritage with you. The trip to Suffolk has been organised and will go ahead with the kindly offered support of Elsie Denham but the rest of the proposed programme will need to be taken over by one of you – volunteers wanted.
Marion Whyte
019 0 0191 584 2480
MUSIC APPRECIATION
As ever, the willingness of our members to think of musical topics for us to enjoy, is greatly appreciated, but this is definitely not a condition for joining the Group! As I've said before, we need Listeners as well as Compilers - but it's surprising how the imagination starts working once you get the hang of it! Subjects for the next three months are:-
March 26th " Debussy" presented by Susan Quayle
April 23rd " The Development of Harmony" presented by Joyce Hoseason (yes, members, these two have been reversed due to unavoidable circumstances)
May 28th " Charles' Choice" Presented by Charles Slater
Joyce Hoseason
0191 548 6041
READING GROUP
We met in December to discuss “When the Tide comes in” by local authors Anthony Major and Tula Tew which was self published.
Our January discussion was “The Angels Game” by Carlos Ruis Zaphon which was a prequel to “Shadow of the Wind”; both books have been in the best seller’s list and take place in Barcelona.
February’s choice was “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga which won the Booker Prize in 2008 and gave an insight into life in India.
In March we discussed “The Dare” by John Boyne, this was a quick read volume in large print, short, but gave us a lot to talk about.
At present we are reading “The Quiet American” by Graham Green and will meet to discuss this on Tuesday 6th April.
Many thanks to all members who have braved the ice and snow to attend our meetings.
Rose Marshall
0191 528 1468
TRAVEL GROUP
Twenty members who went on the Turkey and Tinsel break in December to the Lake District expressed their delight and enjoyment of this holiday where we stayed at a beautiful hotel with excellent food. In fact, they enjoyed it so much they have expressed a desire to go back again - we will see!
We ended our last meeting of the year with a travel quiz, holiday poems and even coffee and scones - a different and relaxing end to 2009. So far this year we have tried to whet the appetite for visits to many parts of the world by showing "Wonders of Man's Creation" e.g. Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, Pyramids, Great Wall of China and many more fascinating places. At our next meeting on 25th March, Freda Mason will be speaking on "Croatia" and showing us some of her slides.
If you feel like joining the group we meet at Monkwearmouth Station Museum on the fourth Thursday of each month at 10.15 a.m. for a 10.30 a.m. start.