Local Organisers: MM&S Margaret Ellis, Mary Graham & Sandra Bagatti Newsletter Editor: Viv: [email protected] Registered Charity No: 295198 www.nwr.org.uk Copydate: 26th August 2020

4th LOCKDOWN Edition

Dear All With lockdown easing, we hope you are all keeping safe and well and that at long last where possible you have been able to see some of your families in person. For us at Kenton it is business as usual, keeping up our annual traditions, with a big thanks to Viv for hosting the annual pub crawl including the trip down Memory Lane…..well done Viv for a most enjoyable evening. This month we will be discussing the Big Read books and whilst there are still travel restrictions, a virtual tour of Finland- the Country chosen by HO. The Telephone Trail , another tradition, is still taking place with some creative thinking in terms of logistics - details in a separate round robin. In case you haven’t realised, it is holiday season and schools have broken up for Summer Holidays so there will be more children out and about. If any of you are planning a getaway, enjoy yourselves and be safe. Best wishes MM&S

Happy Birthday wishes to

Margaret H for 2nd August

ZOOM ETIQUETTE

We have all been on a steep learning curve mastering Zoom and now at last we have at least grasped the basics. Please remember not everyone is tech savvy; some may be experiencing problems joining the Zoom meeting at the start. Should this occur, we will pause the meeting to allow the late joiner to get themselves ready and if needed give some advice before they mute themselves. We are all here to support each other in these difficult times and need to be sensitive to others’ physical and emotional wellbeing. Our aim with Zoom meetings is that they should be lighthearted and enjoyable for all.

ZOOM ETIQUETTE AND PROTOCOLS Please don’t sit there eating your lunch, nobody wants to watch you munch! Sit not too high and not too low. Too much cleavage try not to show. You might think you’re the main attraction but keep still — moving around causes distraction. You can download a backdrop of library books - to show you have brains, not just looks! Hiding your treasures is a good point - someone out there might be casing the joint! At the very start of the meeting, with others you can share a simple greeting. You can see your friends and give them a wave, although in truth it’s their company you crave. After that you must mute and stay shtum or others will hear what is said in your room. Don’t interrupt and take the speaker to task, but raise your hand if you’ve a question to ask. And if for some reason you must leave your seat, use ‘video off’ your picture to delete. Speak on the phone while Zoom is playing, you will loom large and we’ll hear what you’re saying. To taking it easy we’ve all adjusted, but hopefully our brains have not rusted. There’s a whole virtual world outside of your room, once you’ve mastered the basics of Zoom!

THURSDAY 6TH AUGUST – THE BIG READ- 8pm Tonight, we will be discussing the books we chose to read as part of the NWR Big Read, after which our comments will be sent to HO. The three books we chose were The Ballad of Peckham Rye, The L Shaped Room and Black Diamond. There are copies of the books in circulation; if you would like to read one of them, please have a word with Sandra.

FRIDAY 7TH AUGUST – RUMMIKUB GROUP 2.15pm The organisers are leaving this open to those who play Rummikub to decide what they would like to do via Zoom.

TUESDAY 11TH AUGUST – ANOTHER ZOOM PLAYREADING 8pm Like many of us, Glenda is having theatre withdrawal symptoms and has requested we do another Zoom playreading ……………Viv has a set of The Importance of Being Earnest! If you are interested, please let Viv know ASAP so she can organise delivery/postage of scripts. Handbags optional!!!

THURSDAY 13TH AUGUST – OUR MONTHLY WALK Following a circular walk of approx 4 miles, we will meet at 11am at the bottom of Ledway Drive (off Toley Avenue/Preston Road) for a walk around Barn Hill and Fryent Country Park. Bring a picnic.

MONDAY 17TH AUGUST – FINLAND (HO COUNTRY OF THE YEAR) 8pm Finland is the country HO chose for this year which we originally had scheduled for April. We will have a virtual tour round Finland and other interesting facts about the country. Unfortunately, we will only be able to sample any of the country’s cuisine remotely, although on first looks the choice is quite limited.

ST FRIDAY 21 AUGUST – THEATRE CLUB:OPERA HOUSES & CONCERT HALLS 2.15pm As we cannot visit any theatres at the moment, we are going to have a study group on opera houses and concert halls. There are lots to choose from, so please let Lucille know which one you are going to talk about.

Thursday 3rd September – Monuments 8pm Wednesday 9th September – Our Monthly Walk Friday 11th September – Book Club : Author: Anne Tyler 2.15pm Monday 14th September – National NWR AGM and Events Details TBA Daytime Tuesday 22nd September – My life in 5 objects 8pm

REPORTS OF MEETINGS

WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY – VIRTUAL TOUR OF (in lieu of our planned trip) To visit the City you can get a ticket on the hop-on-hop-off bus for £6 for two days. Good value, so off we went. Adeline started the tour talking about the sculptor who commissioned the ‘B of the Bang’ to mark the and was installed next to the City of Manchester Stadium. It took its name from a Linford Christie quote. He said he started his races at the ‘B of the Bang’ of the starting pistol not the bang. It was a tall leaning structure with metal spikes at the top. It was commissioned in 2003, unveiled in 2005 and dismantled in 2009 because of structural problems. Despite promises of it being reinstated, this has never happened. We then moved to the Manchester Ship Canal which was dug out by hand. Jackie told us that it had five sets of locks which could take ocean going vessels; ships could sail from the ocean straight into the Canal. It is 36 miles to the Irish Sea and took six years to construct. In the 1830s Manchester was the greatest industrial city in the world and cotton was the main commodity. Eve popped into the Trafford Centre to the John Ryland Library in Deansgate. Ryland was the first millionaire in Manchester with 17 mills and 15,000 employees. 40,000 books were purchased from Earl Spencer. The Library which looks like a cathedral, has been extended four times and is open to the public. You can take a pre-booked tour which is free. Sandy took us to the Shambles Square which was a street of butchers. The square housed many inns and the Arndale Centre was built nearby. Sandra then showed us which has lovely wooden carvings inside. It has been damaged a few times. It is a Grade I listed building and you can take a tour between 10am and 4pm Margaret E suggested that we could stop for lunch in one of the many Michelin Restaurants and whetted our appetite with a Pizza from Rudy’s, which is supposed to be the best in the UK ………..and of course a glass of wine. I’m sure everyone had a good tour on the bus and hope those on the top deck did not get too cold. Margaret H

THURSDAY 9TH JULY - ART AFTERNOON IN PINNER MEMORIAL PARK This was to replace the Art Afternoon scheduled in Sandy’s garden, which even with easing of lockdown would not have been possible. But although the park had lots of potential for those who wished to bring their sketch books, on this drizzly afternoon our ‘arts were not really in it. So, as Daisy’s was open, the six of us preferred and enjoyed a welcome, long awaited, and socially distanced natter over coffee and cake! We’ll meet again…………. Viv

FRIDAY 10TH JULY – ZOOM BOOK CLUB – TRAVEL WRITING As at the time of planning physical access to libraries was not available, we thought we would have a wider topic - something you might find on your bookshelf. So today we discussed books involving travel. Delia had read - Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s six trips to unlikely destinations showed up the stupidity, selfishness and corrupt nature of humankind and was a very vicious satire on society . Delia found it a bit longwinded but still very relevant. Adeline read - Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. Phileas Fogg is a rich man in 1872, who takes on a £20,000 bet to go round the world in 80 days The book is the story of his adventures and mishaps. Adeline enjoyed it and found it easy to read . Louise read -The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - a mix of science fiction and love story. A man has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably. Not an easy thing to cope with, especially if you are his partner. Louise enjoyed it and said it caught her imagination. Janet read - Mother Tongues by Helena Drysdale. It is about her travels around Europe in a camper van with her children and husband. She specifically visits countries where minority languages are spoken and investigates the relationship between language and identity. Janet loves this book. Viv read -The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christie Lefteri. It is the story of a refugee couple who have to flee Aleppo after it is destroyed by war. Based on true stories, Viv found it very moving and also very informative about the conditions refugees have to cope with. Andrea read -The Broken Road by Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor. He is a British writer, soldier and polyglot who has travelled extensively, mostly on foot, but kept a diary which he has used extensively in his books. “Excellent stuff,” Andrea says.

Lucille investigated the Welsh travel writer Jan Morris who is particularly known as a historian of the British empire and for portraits of famous cities . Born James Morris she married and had children, then decided to have gender reassignment from male to female in 1972 - a fascinating person. Jackie investigated -Dervla Murphy. She is an Irish travel writer who has been writing travel books for over 40 years . She goes alone and on a bicycle and her best known book is Full Tilt about a trip to India . “Well worth a read,” says Jackie. Although in a limited capacity, libraries are now reopening, so for our next meeting on 11th September we are returning to authors. Starting again with Adeline’s choice we will read a book by Ann Tyler. Delia ps Eve was so occupied setting up her new iPhone that she forgot the time and missed the meeting. She had been ready to tell us about “The Road to Little Dribbling” by Bill Bryson

TUESDAY 14TH JULY - VIRTUAL PUB CRAWL I did my last Pub Crawl with the group in 2007, so it was lovely to be invited back to join in the 25th, albeit virtually. Having received various mysterious documents from Viv, and completed a crossword of pub names, a couple of which were very challenging, I Zoomed in. I enjoyed seeing many friendly faces that I knew, including Mal, visiting like me, and some new to us. Louise’s entrance was greeted with a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” with raised glasses, in advance of her 65th the next day. A round of pub cricket, beloved by many families on long car journeys, ensued after some initial confusion as to what did and didn’t have legs! We used one of the cards provided beforehand, listing numerous pub names. The winner and second, Eve and I, were invited to choose a (virtual) alcoholic prize from a selection of bottles and I chose the intriguingly named “Wiki wine”. We then all read out our party pieces, a sentence containing the names of at least five pubs from our card. We also had two rounds of bingo, “Drinks at the Bar”, won by Andrea and Naomi, and “Pub Names”, won by Rosemary and Sandy (I think). For the second session Viv had compiled a slide show of every one of the preceding 24 pub crawls, many with photographs of the participants. Didn’t we all look young! This was a real trip down Memory Lane for many of us, remembering happy evenings with much laughter, and also members who sadly are no longer with us. Thank you to Viv who did all the hard work in putting together a very entertaining and memorable evening. Linda (now Wantage NWR)

WEDNESDAY 15th JULY – OUR MONTHLY WALK KENTON REC/BELMONT TRAIL/BYRON REC 3.5 miles It had started drizzling as we gathered outside Janet’s house. Umbrellas opened up but fortunately were not needed for long as we got on our way. Adeline cycled in from Neasden and locked up her bike in Janet’s garage. After a short stretch of Kenton Rec, a wooded pathway led us towards Christchurch Avenue and to the start of the Belmont Trail. Here Naomi was waiting, having walked down from Stanmore. ……………… Now we were eight! Byron Rec provided us with a very wide pathway - we walked the whole lap (0.6 miles) that encircles the park before returning to Janet’s park to continue circumnavigating that large grassy expanse. To everyone’s delight - about ¾ of the way round - an area with eight picnic benches came into sight. Dutifully, to keep up our social distancing, we split into two groups of four to enjoy picnic lunches and a good natter.

But today was no ordinary picnic as we were here to celebrate Kenton NWR’s youngest member’s 65th birthday! Topped with three candles which refused to stay alight, we all enjoyed a slice from Louise’s birthday cake. (Margaret E and Susan had joined us for lunch so it was 10% each). It was so good to meet up with people again - it made us realise how much we have missed by not being able to see and do normal everyday things during these days of lockdown. Contrary to Zoom evidence, everyone had legs. It isn’t going to be simple easing ourselves into the new norm, but this was a good start. Viv

MONDAY 20TH JULY – SEA PORTS WE VISITED ZOOMING ROUND THE WORLD Although we could have sailed around the world, the ports we visited were confined to Europe and North Africa. First stop was Belfast which was founded in 1613 on the Irish Sea. It’s the 7th largest port in the UK and the Titanic was built there at the Harland & Woolf shipyard. Then on to Oporto, Portugal’s 2nd city on the Douro river, a centre for its renowned port wines and a popular tourist destination. Heading south in the Atlantic we arrived at Esouirea (Morocco) which is the largest port near to Marakkesh. It has a safe harbour and attractive surroundings and is historically known for the purple dyes produced from seashells in Roman times. Next port of call was Alexandria, 2nd largest city of Egypt, founded in 331BC by Alexander the Great and famous for the Pyros lighthouse and being Cleopatra’s birthplace. Close by is Port Said on the Suez canal (built in 1859) with its twin city Port Fahed on the other side in Asia. It was the centre of the Suez crisis and the Six Day War. Sailing on to Israel’s 2nd city and largest port Haifa, we find the Bahai temple in a lovely setting on a hill. This is a centre for a religion which originated in Persia. Then on to Piraeus, Athens’ port, founded in the fifth century. It’s the chief port of Greece and the 5th largest city handling both freight and cruise ships. Costco now owns most of the port area.

Valetta in Malta is a natural harbour with evidence of being used in 3700BC. The order of St. John came in 1530 and their fortresses still remain. It was a British colony and was badly bombed in WW2. From there we headed north to Genoa which is the largest Mediterranean port of Italy, handling 51.6 million tons of cargo. It covers 700 hectares of both land and water with 2 major lighthouses. Christopher Columbus was born here and the area is a tourist attraction. Our final stop was in colder waters in Lerwick, Scotland’s most northerly town. In the summer, cruise ships swamp the harbour, town and shops and the inhabitants live on the income for the rest of the year. In 1792 Arthur Anderson co-founded P & 0 Cruises. They have a Viking boat-burning festival -Up Helly Ah - every January. Thank you Mary for organizing our cruise and let’s hope that these companies survive and we are able to sail again. Andrea

NATIONAL THEATRE AT HOME DISCUSSIONS On July 2nd we discussed the Bridge Theatre’s inventive staging of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream. The production involved modern dress; a promenading audience; a role reversal involving Oberon not Titania falling for Bottom; and spectacular high wire acrobatics by mischief-making Puck and the starling fairies. We loved it, with several saying they wished they had been in the audience to experience the party atmosphere and the pantomime of the production. Many didn’t think Titania was well cast but Bottom was brilliantly comic. We especially laughed recalling the bubble bath scene between an adoring Oberon and the ass-translated toy boy, Bottom. July 7th saw us discussing Les Blancs, a play screened from the Olivier Theatre about imperialism and racism in the dying days of colonialism and the rise of African nationalism, set in an unnamed African country. We considered it a really powerful and thought provoking play which we were glad to have seen, recognizing the Black Lives Matter relevance. We thought it was emotionally and psychologically realistic and that we have a lot to answer for on the cruelties of colonialism. We praised the simple staging, the haunting African music and the strong cast. We spent much time discussing the symbolism of the emaciated figure loping silently round the action. We all liked Terence’s Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea which we discussed on July 17th. It was set in 1952 in a flat with Hester having left her establishment undemonstrative husband for a dashing, sexy, hard drinking jack-the-lad, Freddy. It starts with her failed suicide attempt. Hester craves Freddy passionately but he is too shallow to reciprocate. We thought the play was interesting, realistic and sad. We reckoned Hester became stronger through the play and the final scene where Hester makes a fried egg sandwich on stage offered a glimmer of hope for the future. The acting was brilliant by all the cast and Helen McRory as the adoring, desperate and lonely Hester was thrilling.

On July 24th, there were some mixed feelings regarding the season’s finale - Peter Shaffer’s iconic play Amadeus. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy autistic young prodigy, arrives determined to make a splash- very athletic in his Doc Marten boots, and even compared to Johnny Rotten! Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy it. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music and, ultimately, with God. Some found it an uncomfortable play, uncomfortable to watch as nobody is nice and you want this treatment to stop. However, we all thought Lucian Msamati playing Salieri was brilliant and were won over by the live orchestral accompaniment by Southbank Sinfonia who popped up all over the place. ¾ Louise ¼ Viv

The National Theatre has said that this is the final show in the ‘at ’ series, now that cinemas have re-opened, so we can pay to view their productions on the big screen if we’re brave enough to venture out . If you haven’t already done so, but have viewed many of their productions over recent weeks at home, do please make a financial donation to the National Theatre. You can find out how to do so on the At Home webpage here https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/nt-at-home If you’ve seen them all since we started with One Man Two Guvnors, that will be 16 plays you’ve watched.

WHAT’S IN A NAME ? Following on from the Muppets introduction to our pub crawl with their rendition of “Down at the Old Bull and Bush” we all had to take about five pub names from our bingo card and combine them into a sentence/short story. Here are all our efforts!

The Plume of Feathers decorating the headband of The Black Horse that The Marquis of Granby had purchased as a hunter to follow The Fox and Hounds came from The Swan that had been killed when trampled on by The Black Bull., Eve I sat under THE WALNUT TREE and looked at THE RISING SUN, while waiting for THE WOODMAN to stop THE WAGON AND HORSES from driving into THE CRICKETERS and ruining their game. Mags

The Victoria was getting ideas from the antics of The Bull and The Dun Cow . So she grabbed The Marquis of Granby and threw him on The Woolsack. Delia

LORD NELSON DISCOVERED VICTORIA KISSING THE WOODMAN UNDER THE WALNUT TREE BY THE WATERSIDE. Mal

The Greyhound chased The Lamb, who was hiding from The White Lion as it had discovered that The Fox and Goose had The Feathers hanging from The Holly Bush Jackie

"Walking along the road on his way to The Railway, The Marquis of Granby saw The Nags Head hanging from the branch of The Orange Tree near The Roundbush." Lucille

The Shoulder of Mutton was a nice supper for The White Lion and The Prince of Wales, who met at The Rising Sun of The Globe Rosemary

The Prince of Wales out with his Dog and Gun met The Two Brewers who invited him to The King's Head to sample their ale made from the best Barley Mow. Sandy

The Fox went with The Woodman and The Black Horse together with The Lamb to The Travellers Rest. Sandra.

"On behalf of The Crown, The Botanist circumnavigated The Globe in search of the fabled Walnut Tree, but only brought back a Holly Bush". Linda The Bird in the Hand is worth two in The Roundbush Naomi

The Botanist, relieving himself behind The Roundbush, saw The Woodman with The Dog and Gun, jump onto The White Horse and ride towards The Waterside, where he shot The Duke of Wellington in front of The Ferry Inn. Adeline The Prince of Wales went out hunting with his Dog and Gun. He wanted to shoot The Swan that had been plaguing The Crown. He hid behind The Holly Bush and waited. Bang! Horror! It was not The White Swan but The White Bear that lay dead on the ground. Louise

"The Queen Victoria, being fashionable, had The Beehive hairdo worn with a Golden Fleece when she stopped at The Elephant and Castle for a Travellers Rest." Andrea

The White Lion and The Fox went together into The Castle to search for The Turks Head but found The Kings Head instead. Glenda

The Fox sat under The Walnut Tree, his mouth watering as he gazed at The Grapes hanging above the door of The White Hart, but the landlord came out and chased him away with a Malt Shovel. Janet

The Black Bull charges through The Globe, runs through The Foresters Arms and The Turks Head, and finally flops down at The Travellers Rest. Margaret E

The Crown slipped off The Queens Head as she lay in The Kings Arms sitting under The Orange Tree , enjoying The Sun by The Waterside. Viv