CHAIR'S REPORT
Welcome to Romiley u3a’s Summer Newsletter! Although we are technically only just over 1 month into meteorological Summer, it seems like we have already had almost a Summer’s-worth of sunshine. I do hope we get some more sunshine in the rest of Summer! By the time many of you get to read this, we will already have had the presentation by our July speaker, Marylin Gregory, on the topic of ‘Leprosy past, present and future’. I do expect to have learned quite a lot about a subject, about which I freely confess to know very little. It has, I am sure, gone below the radar of many folk in this country.
I need now to draw to your attention that we will again be hosting our August Social, on the 28th, when we traditionally do not have a speaker. It will again be held in the Methodist Church Hall, not in the church itself and there will be the usual drinks and cakes, plus at least one quiz(!). Tickets are available to buy in advance (so we know how many to cater for) from our Social Secretary, Maureen and also possibly from one or two Committee members near the centre of Romiley.
Now, for those of you not able to be on our email circulation, I am very sorry to have to bring you another piece of sad news about the loss of a second member of our Committee in 2025! In late May our dedicated and long-serving member, Anne Alsop, passed away after a quite short illness. She had served on our Committee since joining Romiley u3a in 2003 as our Minutes Secretary and, in later years, she also assumed the role of distributor of all of our email communications. She is, and will remain for a long time, very sadly missed. So that has left us with two gaps in our Committee structure, after our Secretary, Ruth Frost, died suddenly in February – oh, I have just read back to our last Newsletter No. 54 and realise that Ruth’s death happened after that Newsletter went to print. Thus that news could also come as a shock to those of you, who depend upon our Newsletters to hear about developments. So, yes, quite worryingly, we are now seeking again new people - or returners – to come on board. As I was explaining to another member at last month’s meeting, we still seek to recruit another couple of members, without any special role, to our Committee. Our Constitution states that we should have 12 members and we are now down to 8. We are getting by – Denise has volunteered to produce meeting minutes for the time being and I have offered to look after the sending out of emails to our membership, but this cannot be sustained for ever.
Having written all that difficult news, Sue is doing a grand job, providing our drinks and biscuits at our monthly meetings and our new Social Secretary, Maureen, has already got ‘her feet well under the table’ in that role, as we will all witness at the August Social, which she is of course organising!
Hope you have a good remainder of the Summer, with temperatures which are agreeable to you!
RECENT TALKS
The Chairman introduced June’s speaker Roger Browne who was speaking about ‘The Golden Age of Radio’.
Roger Browne gave a very entertaining talk about the era mainly in the 50’s before television, when the radio was used to inform, educate, and entertain the population. He played the keyboard to remind us of the theme tunes from programmes like ‘Music While You Work’,’ Family Favourites’ and ‘Workers Playtime’, which were designed to raise the spirits of people after the war. The talk covered comedy programmes such as
‘Round the Horn’, information such as ‘Letter from America’ by Alistair Cook, science fiction and children’s tv. The talk was full of interesting anecdotes and music, including ‘Miss Otis Regrets’ by Cole Porter- an excellent rendition, and a performance of the ‘20th Street Rag’, played at an increasing very fast pace. He concluded a very enjoyable talk with a medley from popular musicals.
The Speaker in May was Frank Rothwell who holds 4 Guinness book of records for sailing and rowing.
He made a fortune from manufacturing and renting out portacabins fitted out as accommodation pods, which enabled him with his family to enjoy sailing first around Ireland, then Europe. He them became more ambitious and sailed with a voluntary crew around North America, which entailed sailing through the Northwest Passage a very hazardous experience. His next venture was to sail around South America, this time with a paid crew, the combination of both North and South America in a figure of 8 eventually earned him his first entry in GBR.
He then became interested in rowing and sailed solo twice from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean, at the age of 71 & 73, for which he earned a further two GBRs. The talk illustrated the difficulties of rowing single handed both physically and mentally, plus of course adverse weather conditions. Especially for someone in their seventies, it was a remarkable achievement and a very interesting talk. It was followed by questions.
GROUP REPORTS
ART IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Classes have continued to be well attended on the 2nd Tuesday of the month, from 10am until midday. Up to now we have had a new genre every month, including landscapes, seascapes and digital and “Dave’s Digital Trickery”! Soon we will cover people at work, people at play, Pam’s digital trickery and a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Those who attend are now getting used to having a little more discussion about the pictures on offer each time and we now watch some digital audio-visual images.Pamela
BOOK GROUP
Sadly. with the death of the co-ordinator Ruth, the group has disbanded, whilst awaiting a new co-ordinator.
DISCUSSION GROUP
After a lot of thought I have decided that I would like to bring the Discussion group to a close. It is with regret because it has been a very enjoyable experience for me. We have been meeting monthly for at least 20 years, I think. The subjects we have
discussed have been varied and overall interesting to the group.
We have lost a lot of knowledgeable members since we started, some have moved house and joined other u3a 's. Some have sadly died or suffered health problems.
I would like to think that a new group may form, perhaps consisting of younger, newly retired people and older people with life experience and knowledge to share.
I thank those people who have supported us and opened their homes for meetings and provided welcome refreshments.
I can pass on lists of subjects we have discussed and suggested future subjects to anyone who would be able to form a new group, maybe with a new mode of operation. It is important to listen as well as talk! Shirley
DRAWING AND PAINTING
We meet every week on Monday morning at 10.30 am. We are still waiting for news from the Forum about when the Studio will be available. Meanwhile we are in the Annexe at the Romiley Methodist Church, and we are happy to be there for the time being.
The problem seems to be that the Council is waiting for money to be available to complete the repairs on the area of the building including the studio, kitchen, and committee room.Our enthusiastic group of artists would welcome new members to join us. No experience needed!
FRENCH CONVERSATION
The French Conversation group continues to meet every few weeks to practise speaking in French. We spend the first half of the session talking about various topics and personal news. After that we read a story in French, taking it in turns to read aloud a few sentences and then translate them. The story we are reading at the moment is called 'Les Carnets ‘. The characters in the story are getting their school reports and wondering how their parents will react. As usual there is a lot of humour involved but the text does pose some challenges, so we are learning new vocabulary all the time.
GERMAN - CONVERSATION
Meeting still once a month, face to face in one or other member’s home, 14.30-16.00. The basis of the group is conversation in German. We cover a very wide range of matters of current interest and have never yet needed to specify a topic to be discussed.
GERMAN - LERNERS
We are meeting generally fortnightly on Mondays, 14.30-16.00. We use a variety of materials to advance the group’s abilities, including the Willkommen! series of structured learning, modern reference books on Grammar, also Verb Declension as required, but also lighten the tone at times, when reading the Dino series of books, which are light-hearted and in simple German, aimed at improving spoken German and the level of understanding. We have recently been using the very structured ‘Audible’ online course, ‘Learn German with Paul Noble for Beginners’.
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For both German groups we are actively seeking 1, 2 or perhaps 3 new members:
For the German Learners we seek ideally someone, who has already some knowledge of German, as our Group comprises folk who have either been with us for several years or attained some qualification (like O-level) or had some experience when young of living in Germany. Nonetheless, all are still far from advanced.
Conversation Group means now folk with, as a minimum, quite a bit of academic experience with German and/or a longer period of living in Germany with an active interest in improving use of the language. Providing we have space in the Group, then someone with somewhat lesser experience will doubtless be accommodated.
Both the Learners’ and the Conversation sessions are generally very informal and relaxed occasions. Chris
LITERATURE
In March we discussed ‘The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy’ by Rachel Joyce. This is a companion book to ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’, which we had read previously. When Queenie is dying of cancer she writes a letter to Harold that starts him on his journey. Meanwhile Queenie relives details from her past, her relationships and feeling and her connection to Harold’s son David and her meeting with his wife. We learn about the other patients and staff in the hospice and their resilience and the way they find joy in the face of death. As Queenie confronts her own feelings she is able to find peace before she dies.
We did not enjoy this book as much as the first one and wondered why the author decided to give Queenie such a terrible form of cancer one that made her helpless and mute – possibly so that she could relive everything in her mind?
In April, we abandoned books for a while and met to celebrate our postponed Christmas get together for meal at ‘The Little Mill’ Rowarth, where we enjoyed a lovely meal and a good chat. We are never short of words!
We met in June to discuss ‘Demon Copperhead’ by Barbara Kingsolver after a break due to illness. This book won a Pulitzer prize for fiction. It is a challenging read, at times quite depressing, but comes eventually to a satisfactory conclusion.
Demon is in fact Damon, but was given his nickname due to his red hair. The story follows his life from the only child of a drug addicted mother and the physical and emotional abuse from his mother’s husband, until her death from an overdose.
From this time he was in the hands of the American social services and was fostered by three different people. He as a virtual slave to the first, starved by the second and finally, after intervention by his estranged grandmother, sent to live with Coach where he was trained to be a star in the college American football team. Things went well until he sustained a knee injury.
The story is punctuated by the friends he made and by those who led him astray. Throughout he doesn’t bemoan his fate and accepts stoically whatever is thrown at him, although he feels a lot of anger He is the narrator of his own story and as such it was important the reader was able to like and admire him.
We decided that this was an important book. It raised many important questions and highlighted the failure of social care in the rural parts of America.. Our discussion was wide ranging and related in many ways to the problems faced in this country as well as in America
In July we met to discuss ‘Sheltering Rain’ by JoJo Moyes. This was the author’s debut novel and she has gone on to write much more. We agreed that this was an easy read, a holiday novel, quite a change from June’s book.
The story was character driven and explored the relationships between four generations of the same family. Set in Hong Kong initially the story moved to Ireland, The two countries were vividly depicted. The characters were well-rounded and the misunderstandings, secrets and affection were realistically portrayed.
We discussed the reasons behind the characters thoughts and actions and how their differences were finally resolved. We also agreed that there were some weaknesses in the plot and that JoJo Moyes had written better novels but on the whole the book was well received.
Our next books are ‘ The President’s Hat’ by Antoine Laurain followed by ‘H is for Hawk’ by Helen Macdonald.
GET TOGETHER GROUP
On Wednesday 4th June we were invited by Maria to come to her house in order to discuss the future of our Parks Walks Group. Maria provided us with coffee, tea, and a gorgeous choice of cakes. Thank Maria - you did a wonderful job.
During recent years a number of problems have arisen. More members have developed mobility issues and although that means more need for car lifts only a few of us still have cars. And of course, over the past few years very sadly several of our friends have passed away.
We very much appreciate and value our collective friendship and therefore it was decided to keep meeting, so we have now changed our group to ‘Get Together Group’. On the first Wednesday of every month, we will meet at Dobbies Garden Centre at 2.00 - 4.00pm. for a drink etc. and to be together and to discuss possible future activities.
Karin
SPANISH
Spanish is a lovely language and many of the words are similar to the English or French. We meet every two weeks on a Tuesday afternoon. We begin each session reading a prepared text on a specific topic. Now we are presenting items out of the news which really expands our vocabulary. Then we go over some exercises out of Pasos 2 that we have done at home. After that we perhaps do some work out of the textbook and listen to a CD. Sometimes there is a written translation of the text on the CD but at other times we must listen, which is much harder. We might finish the session with a discussion - and of course a cup of tea.
Stockport Car Scheme
This is a voluntary group which will give lifts to people of limited mobility who can’t use the bus. They will take people to the doctor, dentist, paediatrics, shopping or to meetings. They will not go to hospitals. Customers will have to register before making a booking and give one week’s notice. They will be notified of the cost when booking.
Please ring 476 2812.
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OUR ANNUAL CHARITY
Our Charity for 2025 is Walthew House
HOLIDAYS
If you book a holiday with Riviera Travel, please tell them that you are a member of the Romiley u3a. They will then give 10% of the cost of the holiday to the u3a head office and, after they have taken a small handling cost, we will get most of the 10% they donated. This can easily be several hundred pounds. Any money we get from this source could be used to help fund our activities.
Meetings are held on the 4th Thursday of each month from 2 – 4 pm. We meet in the Romiley Methodist Church, 77 Stockport Road. Members should please arrive before 2.00pm to allow a prompt start, thus enabling the speaker to have a full quota of time. The Entrance fee is £2.00 which helps allay the costs incurred.
Contributions, please, for the next newsletter at the beginning of October, preferably by email to the Newsletter Editor (via contacts page) If you have any ‘funnies’, anecdotes, memories, or comments you would like in the next newsletter please get in touch.
Future Speakers
July 24th Marylin Gregory ‘ Leprosy, past, present, and future’
August 28th Social - in the Church Hall from 2 – 4pm
September 25th Sue Holden ‘Hattie’s -ology’
October 23rd - Dave Lee ’60 years messing around with drawing and
painting’
Something to test your General Knowledge
This 20-question quiz also has an added bonus question. The first letters of each correct answer spell out the title of a song.
1. Into which sea does the Nile flow?
2. Three continents lie on the Tropic of Capricorn, South America is one, name any of the other two?
3. In American currency 10 cents make a what?
4. Afrikaans was developed from which European language?
5. An Ortanique is a cross between a tangerine and what other fruit?
6. What Italian word for 'Scratched Drawing' can be found on walls all over the world?
7. What musical features 'Some Enchanted Evening' and 'There Is Nothing Like A Dame'?
8. What was the name of the first manned lunar landing mission in 1969?
9. Which boxer was nicknamed 'The Dark Destroyer'?
10. What was the name of Ritchie Valens' girlfriend?
11. What is the procedure called where an anaesthetic is injected close to the spinal cord?
12. What poisonous oily liquid occurs naturally in tobacco leaves?
13. Who had his first UK top 10 hit with 'Wichita Lineman'?
14. Which sign of the Zodiac is represented by the Scales?
15. In which country was Rudyard Kipling born?
16. What is the gemstone for September?
17. What instrument has been nicknamed the 'Mississippi Saxaphone'?
18. One and a half litres of champagne is known as a what?
19. In alphabetical order name the three particles that make up an atom?
20. What is the common name of the' Auora Borealis'?
BONUS QUESTION - WHAT DOES THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH ANSWER SPELL OUT?
(Answers overleaf)
ANSWERS
1. Mediterranean
2. Australia, Africa
3. Dime
4.Dutch
5. Orange
6. Graffiti
7. South Pacific
8. Apollo XI
9. Nigel Benn
10. Donna
11. Epidural
12. Nicotine
13. Glen Cambell
14. Libra
15. India
16. Sapphire
17. Harmonica
18. Magnum
19. Electron, Neutron, Proton
20. Northern Lights
BONUS ANSWER - MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN