Spring Matters Spring 2021 1 The Third Age Trust (Operating as the University of the Third Age) Croydon U3A Registered Charity Number 1029466 www.u3asites.org.uk/croydon Croydon U3A Management Committee 2020–2021 Chairman Jenny Wilson [email protected] Vice Chair, Joy Ellery Venues & Archivist [email protected] David Apps Membership, [email protected] Data & Travel Team [email protected] Business/Minutes Roger Brimble Secretary [email protected] Bulletin and Linda Grigsby Travel Team [email protected] Interest Groups Carol Milgate Co-ordinator [email protected] Treasurer, Gift Aid Paul Smith & Travel Team [email protected] Risk Cliff Brett Publicity Maggie Chan Peggy Green Diversity & Inclusion, Jacqueline Harriott Publicity 2 Dear Member of Croydon u3a, Who would have thought, almost a year ago, that so many members would now have masses of technical expertise? There is so much on-line learning, and so many discussions, virtual social gatherings and parties taking place. Other members are keeping in touch by email and phone calls, and I am immensely proud of our response to the pandemic. The ingenuity, the flexibility, the stoical can-do attitude of Group Leaders and their members are truly terrific. I was able to make contact with an I.T. guru and she has coached over a dozen members so they can now join all Zoom talks and other events. Our Welfare Officer, Lesley Wood, is doing a truly amazing job regularly telephoning members who are not connected to the internet or who are battling with isolation. We have much to be thankful for and proud of within our u3a. We wait patiently for the restrictions to be lifted so that face to face meetings can be resumed, and I know there will continue to be virtual meetings and talks running alongside them. Be assured that rigorous attention to detail for Risk Assessment procedures will be carried out so that all members feel safe and supported. The most important risk assessment will remain as each of our own personal, private considerations of what we are happy to take part in, with regard to our health and circumstances. Let us look forward to Croydon’s 34th Anniversary on 15th April and celebrate everything that is going on. I hope you will say a personal ‘Cheers’ with your favourite tipple. In the early summer we will be promoting the u3a on the first National u3a Day. Wednesday 2nd June is the day to spread the best kept secret – for anyone who is no longer working full-time and not raising their own children, the u3a could be the way to make the best of the future. I call on you to be an ambassador and spread the word. Keep safe, stay well, With every good wish Jenny 1 Hi, I’m Bob, I’m New Here - Help!! My first editorial (if that’s what this is), so where to start? Obviously only one option, with a massive thank you to retiring editor Gordon Thynne for his efforts over the last nine years or so, coupled with Barbara Lister who provided him with such great support in the design and composition of the magazine. Mind you, that doesn’t mean they can put their feet up - I expect to see a continuation of their excellent contributions into the future. The photograph? Well, I was 9 when I first decided that I wanted to become a journalist, so that seemed a reasonable place to start. I never did so, but during a career in computing I did get heavily into technical and commercial authorship, so I hope that’s going to help me. Trust me, I will need the help. Most of all, I need to know what you as a reader want from the magazine. We shall be looking to combine some new thoughts (slipped in a few already), along with more of the good stuff to which you’ve been accustomed in the past. So let me know whether or not you like it. And don’t forget we need contributions to keep us rolling. I’ve relied heavily on long serving favourites for this issue, and will, very gratefully, continue so to do, but we also need all you budding writers out there to come up with the magazine of the future, writing about what interests you. Or just people with something to say. So please do not be shy, and please, please, please don’t think you need to be a Charles Dickens. We have another new book by a member this edition. Darrielle Mayhead has written a fictionalised account of the life of her ancestor Sarah, who faced hardship and tragedy when emigrating to Australia in 1851. And there is a host of goodies from many regular contributors. But, with apologies to everybody else, pride of place must go to Maggie Chan, who has just been announced the winner (and therefore literally gold medalist) of the National Wenlock Olympian Society Flash Fiction Award for 2020-21. We’ve introduced a few brain testers for you - give them a go on a rainy afternoon, not that it makes much difference at the moment. I hope you enjoy. Bob Garner 2 WOT’s Our Very Own Olympic Champion!! Maggie Chan wins The Wenlock Olympian WHERE Society 2020-21 Flash Fiction Gold Medal Read her winning entry on p5 London History 2 Zoom in on London’s Livery Companies p8 A Lifetime in the Music Group News Industry takes Brian Literally a Good Read Dunham from Ringo Starr’s Talks And Musings on George garage to a very special New Groups Elliot’s Middlemarch school in Sierra Leone on p10 p15 P28 Ever suffered from test nerves? A very David Talbot takes a nostalgic strange examination from Ann Smith on p21 look back to the Golden Age of BBC Radio Comedy on p19 The Moving Finger debates the wisdom of parents choosing children’s names on p24 Bookworm reviews A A Milne always delights, as in his Darrielle Mayhead’s whimsical farewell to Winter on p27 account of a very special woman p23 Exercise Your Brain Try the Film Quiz on p4 WordSearch p26 Try this meat free WordBlock p29 version of a classic Double Crossword p30, European Dish on or just read all about the hippocampus on p 25 p32 3 A Identify these films that celebrate a (x5 year) anniversary this year, along with their year of release— answers page 33 B C D E F G H I J L K M 4 All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter Wenlock Olympian Society 1st 2020-21 Gold Medal Winner—Flash Fiction Margaret Chan As day dawns, I grab the bundle of dirty laundry and run down to the river, to get the washing done before class. My aim is to arrive at the schoolhouse just as Teacher opens the doors; I won’t waste one moment of the two years of school time that I’m allowed, now that I’ve fulfilled my social duty and produced a healthy, virus-immune, baby. Teacher says I’m a good student and the Guardians have promised that, if I give birth to a second immune child, I can continue my education for a further two years … ‘You’re lucky,’ Mother says, ‘I didn’t get the chance of any learning. Girls weren’t educated in my day…’ Poor Mother, she anyway birthed only one healthy baby – me. All the others are buried in the Baby Cemetery. Rooting around for stones to use for pounding and scraping away the dirt from our clothes, my fingers dredge up a strange-looking pebble. It feels warm to my touch and almost soft; it gleams in the pale light of the morning sun. I hold it carefully in my open palm, admire its yellow colour; there seems to be some sort of pattern etched into it … Pretty! I give a whoop of pleasure – then look around guiltily when I realise I have made an open-mouthed sound outside the safety of the family Bubble. Luckily, there is nobody about yet to report me. I will keep the pebble and show it to Teacher; maybe he will help me to find some information about it in one of the precious books in the library. I like to do some extra reading before class begins; particularly when Teacher joins me, our heads nearly touching as we pore over the words on the fragile pages. Once, he pointed to one of the magic pictures that the BeforePeople 5 called photographs. ‘See, you have her name, Kylie. She was famous in the Beforetimes.’ ‘What did she do?’ I asked … Teacher laughed, ‘She did singing –that up-and- down sounding the BeforePeople liked to make. They didn’t understand the risks back then …’ Sometimes in class I feel Teacher’s eyes on me and I do believe he cares for me. He often chooses me to read aloud and praises the way I try to voice the Oldspeak words, to tease out their meaning. He smiles at me more than at the other girls. I have a secret plan: Now that I have produced a virus-immune child, the Guardians will let me have some say in who fathers the next one … I’ll ask if Teacher can be selected – and hope that he agrees. Then, if we have a healthy child together, he might choose to be my Life Partner and we could live together in a family Bubble … Just the thought of it makes my heart skip with joy.