CHAIR'S REPORT
Hello Everybody, I am writing this in the midst of another heatwave. We are experiencing almost tropical sunshine and it is not easy to keep cool. I hope that you are all managing to find some shade and keeping hydrated and as cool as possible. It has been a summer of sport. So far, our footballers are doing well and Arthur Fery has exceeded expectations at Wimbledon. There is cricket, golf, rugby, the Tour de France and athletics, so something for anyone interested in sport. It has passed some enjoyable hours when too hot to do much. We have had some excellent speakers at the u3a General Meetings, although sadly the talks have not been well attended. This is very discouraging as we all try to keep going with so few on the committee and some of us with deteriorating health. We are missing Brenda, both as a committee member and a caring friend, and wish her well. We have reluctantly taken the decision to abandon our plans for an August social event. The interest is sadly lacking and it is not financially viable. Therefore, there will not be a meeting in August. I have also decided to step down from the chair at the AGM in November. I have served on the committee for 26 years in various roles and have not taken the decision lightly, but the time has come for others to step forward. Rose
RECENT TALKS
At our February meeting we were entertained by Joy and Kevin Sidall with their hand-picked selection of songs with stories entitled ‘Lyrical Allsorts’. Their act featured songs from over 100 years of great music and genres including pop, jazz and musical theatre. The songs were accompanied by high quality backing tracks, acoustic guitar and even a ukulele and included the theme song from “Georgie Girl” , “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan’s “to Make You Feel My Love” and many others. Each song was accompanied by a story either about the origin of the song, or the singer or songwriter. “Mack the Knife” was sung in German and “La Vie En Rose” by Edith Piaff was sung in French. Many of the songs were old favourites which had the audience clapping or foot tapping, a very enjoyable performance.
On Thursday 26th March David Poppitt (Retired Oncologist) gave a talk about the 'History of the Christie Hospital' He first went to the Christie as a medical student in 1966 and worked there for many years specialising in experimental chemotherapy initially and then developing an interest in cancer education which led to the establishment of the Christie Charity, The Christie is the biggest single site in Europe for the study and treatment of all types of cancer and clinical oncology. The disease is very ancient as discovered from archaeological records, but it was during the industrial revolution that large numbers of testicular cancer were recorded in chimney sweeps and mill workers, who were exposed to toxic substances in their daily work. This started off research in the 1880 ’s and 1890’s and in Manchester four prominent local businessmen and philanthropists Joseph Whitworth, Edward Holt, John Ryland and his wife Anne and Richard Christie and his wife and these set up a unit near to where the M.R.I. is situated now. The unit was called “Institute for Incurables”. In those days it was considered a place where you would go to die, whereas now it is a place for hope and the best possible treatment. Edward Holt became interested in the work of Marie Curie about radiation, and this led to the hospital changing its name to the Holt Radium Institute and finally “The Christie”. It has grown from 300 staff in 1966 to 5000 now with treatment hubs throughout the country so that patients can be treated nearer to their home. David explained about the work that is carried out today clinical trials and research which surprisingly is not funded by the NHS. He became Appeals Director, responsible for raising awareness and charitable donations to fund this work. He has been involved in many schemes, most notably tapathons with the support of Roy Castle, Norman Wisdom and Les Dawson. It was a most enjoyable and informative talk and £97 was donated by the members to the ongoing research of the Christie hospital after the talk.
On Thursday 23rd April David Seddon gave a talk titled 'SHAKESPEARE AND BEING HUMAN' The talk was intended to create enthusiasm for our most famous English writer, a sometimes rather awesome figure, but in a humble and sympathetic man. He was allegedly born on the 23rd April 1564 although there are no records of his birth, not unusual for the time as so many babies died before they were baptised. His parents were John and Mary, his father was a successful glove maker which meant that William received a good education including Latin but not Greek. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, unusually he was 18 and she was 26. Susannah was born 6 months later, and she lived until she was 77. Twins Judith and Hamnett were born in 1585. It appears to have been a happy marriage. It is not known why he went to London, but he joined the ‘Lord Chamberlain’s Company’ and became a jobbing actor, but then he realised that he had a talent for writing plays rather than acting in them. He went on to write between 36 and 38 plays in his lifetime. Some of the works were very contemporary and appealed to the reigning monarch, King James. With his patronage Shakespeare made a lot of money and was able to buy the famous ‘Anne Hathaway’s cottage’. Sadly, his son Hamnett died of the plague aged 11 which was devastating for the family but inspired him to write the play ‘Hamlet’ according to the author Maggie Farrell. There is no evidence for this. In 1616 he went back to live in Stratford and died aged 52 on 23rd April. David explained the techniques and word structures Shakespeare used to create his work. These were very simple but could create emoHon, humour love and inspiraHon. He created strong characters such as the confidant rogue Falstaff and tortured individuals such as Lady Macbeth, King Lear and Malvolio all of whom were suffering some form of mental illness; a concept not known at the time. After his death, Henry Cadell and two leading actors collated all his plays into a folio edition which sold very well at the time and continues to sell. The very rare editions sell for huge sums of money especially in America. William Shakespeare was a true renaissance man alongside contemporaries such as Erasmus, MarHn Luther and Alexander Pope. He was a visionary who could appeal to the common man by his use of simple speech and vocabulary. This talk was fascinating and made many of us want to revisit some of the plays we were forced to study at school.
THESE ISLES by Brian Green 28.05.26 On Thursday 28th May Brian Groom talked about "These Isles - A history of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland" Brian Groom is a reHred journalist who worked for the Financial Times and was editor of ‘Scotland on Sunday. His talk was based on his latest book and was an ambiHous task of condensing the histories of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in 45 minutes. He started with the ancient Celts who lived in England for centuries, followed by the Roman occupaHon for 350 years, the Anglo Saxons and Vikings unHl the Norman invasion in 1066. The wars between England and Scotland ended in unification in 1707 . Later came the Industrial RevoluHon and the expansion of the BriHsh Empire to become the largest in the world. He talked about its decline up to the present day. Scotland was always closely associated with England through the wars of succession until unification under James 1st who was the son of Mary Queen of Scots. The Scots have had a huge influence on Britain, culturally and through science and engineering. Wales also had a long history of enmity with England with over 300 fortified castles built to deter independence form the English Crown. Finally, was the history of Ireland from the Chietain Brian Buro and the conversion of Ireland to Christianity by St. Patrick, the Protestant ascendancy of the English and their usurping of land and property. The potato famine resulted in the deaths of millions of people, and mass emigration. The Irish ‘Troubles’ eventually resulted in the formaHon of the Republic and the ‘Celtic Tiger’ of the 90’s. Altogether an amazing feat to compress so much history into an informative and entertaining talk.
My LIFE AS A BUSKER - Eric Newton 25.06.26 Eric Newton was born in Burslem, one of 6 children, living in a 2up 2 down terraced house with his parents and Grandfather. His father was a heavy drinker and had mental health problems, as did several siblings in later life. However, his grandfather was a wonderful man who made toys for the children at Christmas making up for the shorjall of his father. He was a good singer and introduced Eric to music. Grandfather bought Eric a clarinet. He taught Himself to play by copying records and later managed to get a place at the Royal Northern College of Music. There he learned to read music, although he found it very difficult. At 17 he joined a local jazz band and played at local town hall funcHons and clubs and travelled around the country with them including to the ‘Cavern Club’ in Liverpool when the Beatles were just gelng started When he was 16 a neighbour took him the ‘Embassy Jazz Club’ and he was hooked, loving the music and the club’s atmosphere. He was then invited to join the ‘Ceramic City Stompers’ ARer he leR the music college, he got a place in a teacher training college and became a clarinet teacher in schools, but he continued to play in the local band. In 1981 he was in London playing whilst running the marathon when he was spo5ed by Bob Wilson on London Bridge and given some publicity. This encouraged him to play in other marathons (36 in all throughout the world) having developed a unique experHse for playing the clarinet whilst running. He raised a lot of money for MIND. During these years he continued to busk in many different places but now in his 80’s and after heart surgery, he doesn’t busk anymore, the streets are simply not safe with thieves and violence. After 70 years playing in jazz bands, he continues to perform at regular venues with a band called ‘Manchester Jazz’. One of the venues is High Lane ConservaHve Club. He keeps fit with gentle exercise at the gym. Throughout the talk he played extracts from many popular tunes and told us amusing anecdotes about himself and other musicians and his life as a jazz musician both on and off the streets. Denise
GROUP REPORTS
ART IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Our classes continue to meet., 10 till 12 noon, first Tuesday with good attendance. We have looked at some audio visual programmes as well as some mounted prints which have been in competitions. We also looked at how to put a matching panel of images together. Usually about 4 to 8 pictures, but can be more if appropriate. Last month we had a number of prints to look at that got no further than printing for one reason or another....failures! We are gelng a bit more comfortable with actually criticising Pam and David's work now. We had a bit of fun a few months back when Pam wore a "Tudor" gown complete with hooped underskirt. We then saw an audio visual that David had made tracing her ancestry back to circa 1200. Also, a book about her infamous Tudor relatives. Pam
THE ART GROUP
The group has grown in numbers, and we are happy to continue meeting each Monday morning in the annexe to Romiley Methodist Church at 10.30am.We have thirteen members and it may be necessary to have a waiting list in future. When we are able to move back into the Studio in the Forum it will be easier in the way of space and location for those who have difficulty with travelling. We have been waiting to hear news of when the RAAC concrete repair to the roof over this part of the building can be completed. We understand that more finance is waited for the job to be done. It is a relaxed group of artists with various talents and enjoying drawing and painting for pleasure, and helping each other.
Shirley
FRENCH CONVERSATION
After an extended break due to various medical problems, the French Group is now back on track and working hard to improve fluency, We usually meet every three weeks and spend the first half of the session chatting, talking about personal and general news in French, helping each other out if someone gets stuck and using the dictionary . The second part of our session is spent reading a story, taking it in turns to read a few sentences and again helping out if someone has a problem. At the moment we are reading a story called Le Vélo about our hero Nicolas, a young schoolboy, who is desperate to have a bike. His parents tell him that if he comes in the first ten in a maths test they are taking at school, they will buy him one. Fortunately for Nicolas only eleven pupils take part in the test because all the other pupils have the 'flu. One of the boys taking the test is the class dunce so in fact Nicolas's result makes him tenth. He forgets to mention that to his parents who are thrilled to hear that he was in the first ten and so Nicolas becomes the proud owner of a shiny new bike. However the fun doesn't stop there because his father is anxious to show Nicolas how good he is at cycling and how, in his youth, he had almost been a champion. To Nicolas's dismay his father gets on the bike with disastrous consequences. Then the next door neighbour looks over the hedge to see what's going on and so it continues. However you will be pleased to know there is a happy ending! Barbara Owen
GARDNERS
On Wednesday 6th May we were invited to Pam’s house. Her garden, although small, was crammed with plants and bushes and displayed an explosion of colourful blooms . There was a Wisteria due to show its cascades of blue flowers in midsummer. It was already very active and had entwined itself in a tree and the roof of the garden shed. Pam’s passion is flower photography and she showed us a collection of flowers of great variety, which she displayed on a number of decoraHve screens. She has a real professional eye for close detail. Then we got the real treat because she produced a film which she showed on her large T.V. screen. The same photographs were enhanced so that the individual petals showed their minute microscopic veins which were very interesting, decoraHve and quite stunning. Then in another film one flower was shown in many different colours. It was very special, and it took our breath away. After that we could relax with tea, coffee and biscuits. Many thanks Pam - you arranged for us an unforgetable treat!
On Wednesday 3rd June Rose invited us to to a garden party at her house. Due to early light rain we stayed inside and we enjoyed watching several very nice videos. One started by showing a variety of Roses among others flowers from Neuschwanstein Castle in Southern Germany. There were views from the gardens with a lake in France which formed the inspiraHon for beautiful paintings by Monet during the 19th century. The real treat was a video giving a rendition of the old folk song “ In an English Country Garden”. While that was being sung all the flowers mentioned in the folksong were shown in lovely cottage gardens which gave us a very pleasant feeling. We all smiled and sung along with it. We had all brought some food and enjoyed a very nice, varied salad lunch. Because afterwards it was dry, we went on the balcony and looked down at her garden with its many views and great variety. Many thanks Rose for you arranged a wonderful get together for us which we really enjoy
On Wednesday 1st July we were invited by Maria to her house to discuss the signs how the changing climate pattern is affecting our gardens. So far the changing weather has resulted in twice the normal plant growth as well as it coming about 3 weeks earlier. Mallows flowered throughout the soft winter only to be killed by the late severe frost in May while Fuchsias showed off their lovely flowers during the Christmas period and after the late frost celebrated Spring with more beautiful flowers. So far no frogs have been noticed but the nice cute hedgehogs marched about everywhere in the gardens and were dicing with death crossing our roads but cleverly so far avoiding the lethal human cars. The thieving magpies are winging about in abundance as well as the immigrants - the noisy green parakeets while we noticed fewer small birds. The bees are having a tough Hme and many dead ones were found. Let us hope that nature will be able to adapt to this rapidly changing climate and be able to soon carry on normally again. Many thanks to Maria for welcoming us in her house and treat us to tea or coffee with cakes. Karin
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 - LEARNERS
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 May we discussed ‘The Woman’ by Kristen Hannah. The book is set around the Vietnam War and follows Frankie who in a fit of nationalism, and to the horror of her parents, follows her brother to Vietnam as a nursing volunteer. The conditions are terrible at the field hospital where she is stationed, hot, wet , muddy and insect infested. She forms a strong bond with two other nurses who support and advise as she faces challenge after challenge. They become life-long friends. The author’s descriptions are vivid and we all found the book compulsive reading.
The novel is virtually in two parts. The first part is of the of Frankie’s experiences during the war. The second, and longer part, describes her attempts at rehabilitation in an America that has turned its back on those who fought and doesn’t even recognise the women who were involved. She is vilified and spat at. Her parents pretend that her absence from home was because she was in another part of America. Despite all this and PTSD, Frankie eventually wins through and builds a satisfactory life.
For all who enjoy a good read this book is highly recommended.
June’s book was ‘Disorientation’ by Elaine Chou. This came with highly recommended reviews, having won a number of literary prizes. We all agreed , however, that it was difficult to get into and what was prized as humour was in many cases farcical. It dealt with a number of controversial issues eg racism, misogyny, academic elitism , fraud and relationships with parents, friends, colleagues etc. We decided that in reality the story was secondary to the views that the author was anxious to air. It was not really enjoyed although we found a lot to discuss.
In July we met to discuss ‘ the Long Winter’ by Colm Toibin. This short novella was a little gem. It is set in Spain and focusses on a farming family living in a remote village. The younger son, Jorge is preparing to leave for his military service. Whilst very anxious, he doesn’t talk of his feelings. It becomes apparent that this is true of the whole family, that while there is undoubted affection, each person keeps silent about their concerns. When Miguel, the elder brother learns that his mother is harbouring a big secret of her own, he doesn’t reveal this. Finally, the husband, who has known of her secret all along takes action, with tragic consequences.
The success of the book is the way in which the author intermingles the characters and the landscape, how we are left to discover the dynamics of the family and their relationships with each other and their neighbours as we read.
There are no wasted words. The style of writing is straightforward and skilful. The main theme is one of isolation, that of the characters and their surroundings. We intend to read more work by this author, as we enjoyed the novella so much.
Our next four books are -
August My Dear, What I Wanted to Tell You Louisa Young
September The Housemaid Freda McFadden
October Sweet Caress William Boyd
November Brooklyn Colm Toibin
SPANISH
Spanish is a lovely language and many of the words are similar to English or French. We meet every two weeks on a Tuesday afternoon. We begin each session reading a prepared text on a specific topic. These have recently included our favourite places and a summer of sport. We then try to discuss the subjects ad-lib to practice our vocabularies. At the moment we read a passage on a selected topic and translate it, before we have well deserved refreshments.
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 2026 is Motor Neurone/Rainbow Trust
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
24th September Co-Op Estate Planning “Tax, Care and Toyboys”
29th October Marylyn and Allan Shalks “History of Manchester Theatres Volume 2”
November 26th AGM and David Lee with Part 2 of his Talk about messing about with paints
Something to puzzle about
If 2 = 6, 3 = 12, 4 = 20, 5 = 30
What does 9 equal?
Note the words below. Initially, you will have difficulty reading them. However, gradually your brain will interpret the words correctly. Please give a chance for these words to speak to your brain.
Here we go!
7H15 M3554G3
53RV35 7O PR0V3
H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!
1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17 4U70M471C4LLY
W17H0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15!
PL3453 F0RW4RD 1F
U C4N R34D 7H15