Croydon U3A Magazine

Autumn 2017

The Third Age Trust (Operating as the University of the Third Age) U3A Reg. Charity No. 102946612

Website address www.u3asites.org.uk/croydon

Table of Contents

Editorial 1 Musings from the new Chairman 2- 3 A Short Trip to Portugal 3 - 5 U3A National Conference 6 - 7 Summer Activities: Japanese Loan Words 7 – 8 The Victorian Parson 8 - 11 Early Transport in Croydon 11– 14 Grace Oakeshott 14 -15 Let Them Eat Cake 16 - 17 Reports from General Meetings: Dementia 18 Groups: History of 1 19 – 22 London Explorers 1 22 - 25 History Group – 18th and 19th centuries 25 - 27 Play Reading () 27 - 28 Walking 28 Wildflowers 29 Painting for Pleasure 29 Beginners Painting 29 Maths Puzzle 30 Creative Writing: It’s a boy 31 Great Comp poem 32 Write a New Sherlock Holmes Challenge 33 Maths Puzzle answer 33 22 famous people who went to school in Croydon 34 Turtles, Tuna and Terns 34 – 36 Flamenco 37 – 38 More Senior Moments 38 - 39

Cover Picture – Jenny (left) and Val (right) with the U3A cakes

Editorial Senior moments feature in this issue. Your editor is not immune. At Grasmere, Ruth and I carefully chose a water colour to give to a daughter as a welcome home present after years in the Far East. Then we forgot to give it to her, presenting it later with apologies. You may have noticed Croydon’s celebration of the artist, Andy Warhol, during September, organised by the Rise Gallery. I found myself alone there one afternoon, and thought the Gallery deserved better. True, St George’s Walk is not a ‘street’ you would choose to walk up or down unless you had a specific object in mind. But the Gallery is worth the detour. Easily amused by small things, I smiled (inwardly) at the caption of a picture of many sorts of ladies’ shoes: ‘A la recherche du shoe perdu’. (Would Proust have been amused?) The Advertiser does its best for Croydon, witness the issue for 22 September which showed 15 pictures of parts of the Borough which might be mistaken for prestigious places elsewhere. They included: Provence (the lavender fields opposite Oaks Park), a Surrey village green (a corner of Ponds); and Hampton Court (the turrets and pinnacles of our Town Hall). It also listed 22 ‘famous’ people who had been to school in Croydon (see page 34). My abysmal score of only 10 shows what a cloistered life I have led. Anyone who knows at least 18 of the names may like to let me know. (Anonymity assured.) At the AGM, members gave heartfelt thanks to Brenda for her three years as our Chairman. We wish her and other retiring members of the Committee all the best, and welcome Jenny, our new Chairman, and the new Committee members. This Magazine appears three times a year: Spring, Summer, Autumn. Contributions, on any subject, are welcome. The deadline for the next issue is 14 March.

Best wishes for the rest of 2017 from Barbara, Magazine Designer, and me. Gordon Thynne

1 Musings from the New Chairman (aka A Note from Jenny) I have been asked which title I prefer. Shall I be Chair? Chairperson? Chairman? Chairlady? Not to be confused with charlady. What a dilemma! Chair sounds rather cold and distant. Not my style. Wait a minute. Why am I wasting brain time on this? It really doesn’t matter. I’ll be chairman when an official title is required, and Jenny or Jenny Wilson the rest of the time. Many people have stopped using the titles Mrs/ Miss / Ms these days. It does get complicated when relationships change. Should I continue to address a card to Mrs ABC when she is now divorced? The simple and best answer is ask her, if possible, what she prefers. My funniest experience with titles happened years ago. Giving my children their tea, one daughter raised her hand. ‘Miss..ermm… Brown Owl….. I mean Mummy…’ We all fell about laughing (in Peppa Pig style for those of you in the know). I have to add that I did teach all of them, so the reference to Miss wasn’t totally random. Anyway names are vitally important and we all struggle at times to remember them. I am very good at children’s names (decades of teaching I suppose). To my shame I am pretty poor at recalling adult names. So, during my stint in this role, please ease me along and remind me of your name when necessary. I do get a tad annoyed with the over-familiarity of some cold callers. ‘Good morning Jennifer. It’s Tim from XYZ here. You don’t mind me calling you Jennifer do you?’ Yes I do. I hang up. Sadly, I still get cold callers asking to speak to my late husband George. Sometimes I’m flippant. ‘You’ll have a job,’ I quip, ‘he died over 5 years ago.’ On other days I tell them in no uncertain terms to get their database in order. Anyway, I’m already ankle deep in Things To Do Lists. I do love a good list. A proper paper list, handwritten. Rather than notes on my phone. Something magical happens when I put pen to paper. Leaving the shopping list on the kitchen table I can still visualize it, walking round the aisles. Is it old-fashioned? No. Effective? Most definitely. And I love doing an ‘off list’ task, then adding it and immediately crossing it off. Done. Oh, the satisfaction. I wish you all a good autumn and run up to Christmas, 2 P.S. I had no intention of setting out my vision or anything remotely like that. The U3A is not a top-down organisation. At the annual conference Pam Jones, Chairman of the National Executive, reminded delegates ‘Listen to your members.’ Very Best Wishes, Jenny A Short Trip to Portugal One sunny June morning, 22 eager U3A members set off for a sightseeing trip to Porto. Emilia, our Portuguese guide, escorted us from the airport to our well-appointed hotel, and there was time for those with energy to take a trip into the centre of town – some by metro with the help of the ‘station master’ who also issued tickets! Those without energy snoozed. In 200 BC Porto was ‘Portus’ which later became the capital of Portucalae, the kingdom that gave its name to Portugal. Developed in the Middle Ages on the north bank of the River Douro, it was classified as a World Heritage site in 1996. One of the oldest cities in Europe, it is the second largest city in Portugal and is known as the ‘Grey City’ because it is built on granite. What a misnomer – the houses are multi-coloured and the river sparkles. Day Two saw an early start for the sightseeing in the town, a mixture of old and new buildings. We drove down its longest shopping avenue, Avenida da Boavista, and along by the Atlantic, shimmering and inviting, but no doubt cold. Emilia pointed out many places of interest and we stopped at the Palacio da Bolsa, the Stock Exchange. Building was finished in 1850 and many architects were involved with the exquisite interior, with its glass dome over the central courtyard and grand staircase. The Arab Room, decorated in Moorish style, was stunning. Next door is the São Francisco Church. Outside, an ordinary 14th century Gothic and Baroque construction, inside it is one of the most fabulously opulent in all Europe. The 17th and 18th century baroque decoration is a profusion of wood carvings, cherubs, plants and animals dripping with gold – about 400 kg of it.

3 Afterwards we drove to the Casa da Musica, designed by Dutchman, Rem Koolhaus. The stunning ultra-modern design was not enthusiastically welcomed by the Tripeiros (Porto residents). Its most innovative feature is two walls made completely of glass, which enables it to function without artificial light. The carefully designed acoustics and technology give it one of the best sounds in the world. Opened in 2005 at a cost of €100 Million, it received a RIBA award in 2007. (Maybe when refurbishments are completed, will be another Casa da Musica....) What could beat that? A boat trip on the River Douro maybe? In bright sunshine we sailed from the stunning Dom Luis I Bridge up river to view the other four bridges and then back down to the mouth of the Douro. Day Three saw us heading for a wine tasting adventure at the Aveleda Vineyards where we toured their beautiful garden. The vineyards have been in business for 300 years: the gardens had a eucalyptus tree 200 years old and two ‘baby’ redwoods at 150 years, also marvellous dark blue rhododendrons. After the tour we headed back to the house to taste some wines. It was pleasant sitting on the balcony with grape vines stretching into the distance whilst enjoying cheeses which the vineyard also produces (from cows, not grapes). 4 Then to Amarante, one of Portugal’s hidden gems. Dating back to 360BC, with its São Gonçalo bridge from the 13th century, it is a picturesque town with willow-lined river and balcony-lined streets. People make pilgrimages to the church of São Gonçalo in the hope of finding true love. In 38 degrees we British weren’t much interested in true love, and were drooping rapidly. On Day Four we headed for Guimarães, which King Afonso Henriques made his capital in 1139. The coach dropped us at a high point overlooking the city and the walk downhill through the narrow streets was delightful. Obviously, the town has a long history and it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001 …. ‘for being an exceptionally well-preserved and authentic example of the evolution of a medieval settlement into a modern town in Europe.’ After a long cool coffee break, we drove to Braga and Bom Jesus do Monte, Portugal’s most spectacular religious sanctuary and a place of pilgrimage. It is famous for its giant Baroque Escadaria stairway, a double staircase with exquisite statues and fountains on every level. The church at the top of the staircase is 400 metres above sea level and gives visitors a sweeping view of Braga. The town itself was sleepy on a hot Sunday afternoon but we visited the cathedral. Although initially seeming quite plain, when we looked up we were stunned by the opulent display of gold, angel trumpets, carvings, etc. Later, drumbeats heralded the arrival of a ‘Groupe de Bombas’ and six people dressed as giant marionettes, in celebration of the Festival of St. John. On our last day we headed for Porto Railway Station, not to catch a train, but to see the azulejo-tiled walls and painted ceilings depicting the history of Portugal and its people. We then split into small groups, one of which headed for a tour of the famous Port wine cellars on the South Bank with their massive vats. The visit did include some sampling! Nonetheless, we all found our way back to the coach for our flight home. It was a great trip and we all enjoyed it. Many thanks to Margaret and Annette for their organisation and gentle shepherding.

Noreen Villiers

5 U3A National Conference and AGM 29 - 31 August 2017 On a sunny Tuesday in August, I set off for the U3A Conference and AGM in Nottingham. Having settled into my student accommodation, it was off to the Conference Centre on the Nottingham University campus for the welcome by Pam Jones, Chairman of The Third Age Trust, and Sam Mauger, Chief Executive. Jenny Wilson and I were pleased to accept a certificate from Pam Jones commemorating the 30th anniversary of Croydon U3A and posed proudly for a photo. Only a handful of other U3As celebrated this significant milestone, which was something I hadn’t realised. Then it was off to a meeting with our retiring London Regional Trustee, Ian McCannah, and our new Trustee, John Bent.

The following day we were busy attending workshops. It was quite difficult to choose from the list of topics, as each delegate could only go to three. I opted for Accessibility and Inclusivity, Encouraging Volunteering and Group Co- ordinators – Making it Happen. All were well structured and lots of good ideas were exchanged. It seems many U3As face similar challenges, especially in relation to getting volunteers for the Committee. Everyone I spoke to was enthusiastic about the U3A and passionate about the benefits of membership. We also had two very different presentations: one by Christopher French from Goldsmiths College entitled ‘Weird Science – An introduction to Anomalistic Psychology’, which he described as ‘Psychology of Weird Stuff’. The other was by Jo Coleman, Partner from Bond Dickinson (a UK Law Firm). She spoke about ‘Gruesome Governance’. 6 This could have been a bit heavy going but she made it interesting and humorous, talking on topics such as Muddled Meetings, Cumbersome Committees and Troublesome Trustees! In the evening there was entertainment from Greythorn, the guitar group from West Bridgeford U3A, who treated us to a medley of hits from the 60’s. Soon people were singing along and a few were even dancing. On the final day, the formal proceedings of the AGM took place and all events in the Auditorium were shown live on the internet for the first time. This may have put those conducting the meeting under a little pressure, but it didn’t show. A few points to note about the budget of The Third Age Trust: - • It has budgeted this year for a small surplus of £5000, and total income will reach £2.7m. • The spending on support for learning in the U3As is being significantly increased, and advice and support for the U3As is also being increased. • Third Age Matters and Sources brought in revenue of £948,000. However expenditure on production needs to remain under review to establish efficiencies. A change of print contract has taken place. If anyone would like more details of the 2017-18 budget, please let me know. Cariss Smith, Groups Co-ordinator Summer Activities

Japanese Loan Words Brian Clacey first talked about the background of the introduction of foreign words into Japanese, starting with the large-scale borrowing of Chinese vocabulary, which began in ancient times, but tends not to be designated as ‘foreign’ by the Japanese themselves, unlike words from the West. The latter started with the Portuguese at the end of the 16th century, who introduced pan for ‘bread’, a word that continues to be used to this day.

7 Japan entered a period of isolation from the 1640s until the 1850s, when a flood of foreign words entered the language from mainly Dutch, German - particularly in the fields of medicine and certain technologies - French and English. The last of these, English, become overwhelming in the 20th century, especially during the time of the American occupation following WWII. Brian showed two Japanese-language magazines published in the UK, which illustrated English loan words used in Japanese, such as saabisu (service), jaanii (journey), suupaa (supermarket) and tsuaa (tour). Unfortunately the Japanese tend to think that because certain words are ‘foreign’, Westerners (in general!) will automatically understand them, which is far from the case, as sebirou -‘Saville Row’ (business suit), gaado ‘ - girder’ (bridge), and kanningu - ‘cunning’ (cheating) illustrate. Quite apart from this, some loan words have proved to be popular - particularly in the written form - as they are a simpler and quicker alternative to the Japanese, and the popularity of phone-texting has only encouraged this trend. For example, カメラ (camera) is obviously a lot easier to write than ‘shashinki’ (写真機); ネックレ (necklace) is easier than ‘kubizakari’ (首飾り); and ワイン (wine) most certainly simpler than ‘budōshu’ (葡萄酒). Naturally, this language change is most prevalent amongst younger people, and - as is predictable - there’s been concern expressed in Japan that the knowledge of Chinese characters (‘kanji’) that the young have is in decline. An important factor here is the dreaded (in Japan) university entrance examination, where a demonstration of one’s ability in that field needs to be displayed. Or will a less rigorous approach be taken eventually? This is possible since due to demographic changes the cohort of potential university students is shrinking, unlike in the UK. Only time will tell. Thanks to Brian for this summary – Editor The Victorian Parson Having in the previous two years talked about the Victorian novelists, Anthony Trollope and Mrs Oliphant, Barry Goodwin this year took a wider theme. He posed the question: Victorian Parson – buffoon or social reformer? 8 He began by citing other authors in whose novels clergymen played important roles. Prominent were those in Jane Austen’s novels: e.g. Mr Collins in Pride and Prejudice, Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey, Edward Ferrers in Sense and Sensibility, Mr Elton in Emma. In Jane Eyre there are Mr Brocklehurst, who maltreats the girl students, and St John Rivers who urges Jane to accompany him as a foreign missionary, but who lacks compassion. In Thackeray’s Vanity Fair there is the worldly Mr Bute Crawley. Parsons played a traditional role in country and town life, holding ‘livings’ for life. Their income came from tithes levied on personal and agricultural output of the parish, though curates survived on a small salary. In addition, a rector received income from the working of his ‘glebe’ land. (Although not representative, the income of a particular rector in Cambridgeshire was equivalent to £290,000 in today’s money.) Social uniformity of the clergy resulted from the system of patronage, under which the right to appoint to parishes lay in the hands of such patrons as the Crown, Archbishops and Bishops, and Oxbridge colleges. A living was ‘a nice little earner’. A man did not have to be an earnest Christian to be a parson. But things were changing. The 18th century saw the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the start of the Industrial Revolution and the evangelising of John Wesley. In the Victorian era, reform was on the march. In The Black Book or Corruption Unmasked, published in 1828, John Wade included the Church in his scathing indictment of abuses and corruption in society. The Church underwent transformation through its three traditional wings: the Evangelical (of whom Wilberforce and Hannah More were members); the Catholic, renewed by the Oxford Movement in which Newman, Keble and Pusey were prominent; and the Liberal tradition, emphasising the importance of reason in biblical criticism. The last was represented by Thomas Arnold, F D Maurice and J W Colenso, who became Bishop of Natal. But not everyone was an Anglican. Nonconformists, Catholics and Jews had for long been excluded from local administration. These disabilities were removed by the abolition of the Corporation and Test Acts in 1828 and by Catholic emancipation in 1829, but Jews had to wait till 1890 for full emancipation.

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St James, Stanstead Abotts Under these various influences, the Church of England changed. There were innovations in clerical dress, in church decoration and in the insertion of stained glass windows. The old music-making was replaced by a choir with an organ. (In Under the Greenwood Tree Thomas Hardy describes the retirement of the strings and woodwind of the Mellstock Quire). There was a flurry of church building to meet the increase in population in towns and cities. There was more emphasis on the Church’s role in mitigating the harshness of the Poor Laws. In the field of education there was a transition from Sunday Schools to Day Schools; and the National Society for promoting Religious Education was formed in 1811, with the object of establishing a school in each parish. It built or assisted in the building of 7000 schools between 1811 and 1833. The clergy and their wives helped to make up for the absence of organised medical care. The Church became more identified with the ‘moral compass’ of society, encouraging sexual propriety, hard work, thrift, and the duty to help the worse-off. The image emerged of the Good Parson, an example to his parishioners. Barry reverted to the question posed at the outset: Victorian Parson – buffoon or social reformer? There were some buffoons, but many parsons were unsung heroes. GT 10 Books and websites mentioned by Barry included: Religious Influences and the English Reading Public – Herbert Schlossberg The Victorian Parson – Barry Turner Charles Dickens: His Triumph and Tragedy – Edgar Johnson www.victorianweb.org/religion/herb6.html and https://archive.org.details/blackbookorcorru02wadwuoft Early Transport in Croydon Ian Dorrn gave a talk on how transport developed in Croydon from the 17th century. Croydon was then a thriving market town on the road from London to Brighton, with about 5,700 inhabitants. Where the road passed through town it had some paving, but north and south of the town it was a dirt track. To the north was an open heath with a pond (covered over in the 1950s and recalled in the name Pond). Here coaches would halt to water the horses and highwaymen would lie in wait. This was the time before there were organised police forces. Communities hired a ‘reeve’ whose job was to guard them and do night patrols. The reeves became experienced in catching criminals and, over time, built up local organisations. This led to a senior reeve being nominated as ‘shire-reeve’, which is the origin of the word ‘sheriff’. In Croydon the reeves caught highwaymen, and there were executions at Thornton Heath where gallows were set up close to the pond. Maps from 1690 – 1724 show ‘Gallows Green’. The parish records show three hangings of highwaymen in the early 1720’s. The area developed, and a coaching inn was built in the mid-18th century, with a court room and a cell. Near to the road at Thornton Heath was a cottage where Dick Turpin's aunt lived and where he is said to have sometimes stayed. He is perhaps the best known highwayman, born in Hampstead in 1705 and finally caught in York, tried for murder and hung in April 1739. Britain declared war on Napoleonic France in 1793 and this made supplying the Navy at Portsmouth crucial. The poor state of the roads meant that everything had to be transported by water.

11 From 1809 the Croydon Canal linked Croydon to the and thence to the Thames at Surrey docks (now called Surrey Quays). The route went round through Norwood to the east of what is now Crystal Palace, passing round Anerley Town Hall. At Norwood there are pubs from the period, including ‘The Ship’, which have naval-related names. At West Croydon the canal basin was later filled in and became the site of . Some of the buildings just by the station in London Road were originally warehouses built in the time of the canal. The Croydon Canal was not financially viable and closed in 1836. Ian showed a picture from the early days of the canal when it froze in some cold winters. The picture showed people cutting ice from the canal. This would be sold and stored. (There is an example of an ice house at House, Carshalton – now St Philomena’s School.) There was a proposal for a canal to link Croydon through to the Thames at Kingston. But it would have required diversion of water from the Wandle and Graveney Rivers, and caused a panic among local business interests. The Wandle was the most industrialised river in Britain, its sharp rate of fall making it ideal for water mills (90 in 11 miles at its peak of use). Local business interests therefore promoted an alternative in another private Act of Parliament also in 1801. This was the Surrey Iron Railway, which was built to allow horse drawn freight ‘trains’ taking loads to the Thames by Young's Brewery at . The railway's engineer was Benjamin Outram, recruited from Yorkshire and commemorated in a road name near Sandilands Tramstop. He designed the ‘trammel’ an axle and wheel arrangement for use on rails. The invention is the origin of the word ‘tram’. The Surrey Iron Railway sign can still be seen on West Croydon railway station.

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Another survival is at the Royal Standard pub in Colliers' Wood where there is a gate where a toll to use the railway was collected. Ian showed us the rates for this toll (including one penny per ton per mile for carriage of dung – lots of which needed to be moved in a time of horse-drawn transport!). The railway had a spur line at , where the place name recalls a local industry in the slaughtering of old horses (‘hacks’) and processing of their skins. A local pub is called the Skinner's Arms. The pub was used as a location for the TV series, ‘Steptoe and Son’, because the presence of working horses was predictable even up to the 1960s. The horse-drawn railway had a viaduct across the roads at the gap, and extended down to Upper Merstham to collect Fuller's earth quarried near Redhill. Today the route section from Pitlake, West Croydon, to Mitcham runs along the route of the Surrey Iron Railway, and is therefore the oldest public railway in the world. Once there was a Central Croydon railway station, built for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. It struggled financially from its opening in 1868 to 1871 when it closed for the first time. Reopening in 1886 it again struggled until 1890. It was then demolished and the site used for Croydon Town Hall. All that remains is the walls which stood around the lines, now around the sunken section of Queen's Gardens. Ian also showed some pictures he had taken of the last London tram (before Tramlink) running near County Hall on 5th July 1952 and of trolleybus route 630 which ran from West Croydon from 1937 to 1962. Because the trolleybuses were electric they could operate over long routes. The 630 ran from West Croydon through Mitcham and Tooting, over Putney Bridge, through Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush to Harlesden. Ian remembered riding the trolleybus from Mitcham as a boy and being able to see Croydon Town Hall from the upper deck. This was because had been cleared of trees as part of Dig for Victory. 13 Ian told us that Waddon is probably the longest settled part of the borough. Its place name derives from ‘woad hill’ as it was a place where the blue dye was grown by pre-Roman Britons. He amused everyone by reciting the National Anthem of the Ancient Britons by William Hope-Jones. BL Grace Oakeshott Jocelyn Robson gave this talk about a woman with two lives. Grace’s family moved to Croydon while she was a child. She and her two sisters, Jessie and Kate Cash, all attended Croydon High School for Girls from 1881. These were early days of secondary education for girls and the school was under the control of its first headmistress, Dorinda Nelligan. Grace spent a year at Newnham College Cambridge. The University did not award degrees to women and it is likely that family finances didn’t stretch to more time there. She married Harold Augustus Oakeshott in 1896. Harold was very involved in nonconformist and radical groups in Croydon, and the couple lived in Coulsdon (their house is still in Downs Road but is now much modernised). Grace started doing voluntary work on the opportunities open to working- class girls and young women with the Women’s Industrial Council. Her work involved visiting employers to discuss what opportunities they had and what training would help girls gain employment. The approach was based on the ‘politics of the possible’ and aimed to improve the economic situation of the working class by helping women find paid work. Where attitudes were deeply prejudiced against women workers nothing further was done; but where employers wanted workers and were prepared to support initiatives to develop their skills, training was organised. In 1904 Grace helped to set up the first Trade School for Girls in what is now part of London South Bank University. It taught waistcoat and dressmaking. It was a photograph of the girls making waistcoats which first attracted Jocelyn’s interest to Grace’s story. Her work was recognised and she was given a paid post with the London County Council as Inspector of Women’s Trades. But Jocelyn found obituaries for Grace in The Times and the Croydon papers of 1907. Her clothes had been found on a beach in Brittany and she was presumed to have drowned while swimming. 14 ‘Googling’ Grace’s name, however, yielded a lead to a fascinating later story. A play had been put on in Auckland, New Zealand, by someone who claimed that she was the great-granddaughter of an English woman called Grace Oakeshott who had faked her own death to go to New Zealand with her lover. Following up this lead, Jocelyn met Grace’s descendants in New Zealand and learnt about the rest of her life. Grace had met Dr Walter Reeve in England, probably while enjoying her leisure pursuit of sailing. He was the son of missionaries, born in the wilderness near Marion Lake in North West Canada. He was educated in England from the age of four as a boarder at schools run by the Church Missionary Society and had trained as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital. At the time, divorce was impossibly expensive. Harold, who re-married a year later, was complicit in Grace’s disappearance. No death certificate was issued, but Harold described himself as a widower on his second marriage certificate. Grace and Walter travelled from Marseilles to Australia as Dr and Mrs Reeve and then on to New Zealand as Mr and Mrs Reeve (also changing ages to help disguise their trail). In New Zealand they settled in Gisborne and raised a family of twin sons and a daughter. Grace was known as Joan Leslie Reeve. Although Grace’s focus was her family she still found time to do voluntary work. In particular she organised fund-raising and sock–knitting to support New Zealand soldiers in the First World War, for which she received the M.B.E. Her earlier life stayed a secret until one of her sons wanted to marry an English admiral’s daughter, when his father told the children the truth. Although that son was deeply embarrassed, his marriage did go ahead and it is his granddaughter who wrote the play based on the family story. Jocelyn has also traced the descendants of Grace’s brother Henry (who live in Kent) and the two families are now in touch. Jocelyn also told us about the careers of Grace’s sisters. Jessie became a teacher and was first headmistress of Winterbourne School, Thornton Heath, and her sister Kate became first a Kindergarten teacher then a teacher trainer working in Roehampton. BL [Jocelyn Robson’s book, Radical Reformers and Respectable Rebels is in Croydon Library at the and Shirley Branches.] 15 Let Them Eat Cake! Our 30th Anniversary Tea Party on 6th October was a great success. The room buzzed. The bunting fluttered. The sun shone. Chat flowed. The laughter resounded round the room, writes Jenny Wilson. One hundred members attended, along with John Bent our new London Executive Trustee, who congratulated Croydon U3A on reaching the milestone of 30 years membership of the Third Age Trust. Whitgift Sports Club did us proud with a delicious selection of sandwiches and dainty cakes. The celebration cakes – three in total – a U, a 3 and an A – were chocolate, lemon and fruit made by Val Apps (pictures on next page). Jenny Wilson iced them in the U3A yellow and blue and decorated them to represent our Interest Groups. Brenda Kidd (chair) cut the centre cake to make a secret wish for our U3A, after an amusing deliberation. Shall it be the U? Shall it be the 3? Shall it be the A? The centre cake got the biggest show of hands in the end! Long standing members, Sylvia Battle and Ethel Dixon, were presented with bouquets in recognition of and appreciation for their contributions. Four former Chairs, Ethel Dixon,

Margaret Derrick, Mary Rendell, and Susanne Baccini, and the outgoing Chair, Brenda Kidd, were brought together for a celebratory photograph.

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17 Reports from General Meetings Dementia At the General Meeting on 9 August, Anthea Scott, from Dementia Friends, enlightened us about aspects of Dementia. She put over five key messages. - Dementia is not a natural part of ageing. At any one time, 1 in 14 people over 65 has dementia. - It’s caused by diseases of the brain. Damage to brain cells can be mitigated by regular exercise, and a balanced diet (with not too much salt). Alzheimers is one kind of dementia; there are others, such as Vascular Dementia. It is a progressive condition. - Dementia is not just about losing your memory. It can affect thinking, communicating and doing everyday tasks. It can also affect personality and vision. (On vision, Anthea gave examples: a patch of black pavement might look like a black hole; highly patterned carpet might create anxiety.) - It’s possible to live well with dementia. People may be able to continue to work, or to drive (having reported their condition to the DVLA). They need support and understanding. - There’s more to a person than the dementia. Anthea emphasised the importance of looking on the positive side, and of showing understanding, and being patient. Dementia Friends exists to encourage understanding of dementia. Supporters of someone with dementia should not be discouraged by the constant forgetting. Though the memory of, say, an outing may disappear, the pleasant feelings it stimulated continue to have a positive effect on the emotions. Anthea invited any of those present to volunteer to become a Dementia Friend. You can visit the website, dementiafriends.org Alternatively, you can e mail [email protected] . [I note on the Alzheimer’s Society website the advice that becoming a bit more forgetful does not necessarily mean that you have dementia.] GT

18 Groups History of London 1 - visits 2017 When Gordon, our Magazine Editor, asks me if my Group has been anywhere interesting this year, my reply is always the same – ‘everywhere we go is interesting!’ And then my mind goes a blank. I can remember the last place we visited, the National Trust property, Osterley Park, in September. It will be forever etched on my mind for the scary tripping episode (which I’m not going to tell you about), followed by mental pictures of the wonderful Robert Adams ceilings.

July seems a long while ago but visions of a beautiful morning on the Thames aboard the RNLI Tower’s lifeboat, where we had to hang on to the rails because there was quite a swell on the river, come to me, followed by the visit earlier that month to the Crossrail Exhibition at the Museum of Docklands to see many of the objects uncovered during the excavations. Now I’m on a roll, memories are flooding back. A guided walk in June led by Crystal Palace expert, Ian Bevan, saw us covering the site of the Great Exhibition Hall. It was vast, far bigger than I had ever imagined, and all that is left is a memorial to the architect, Joseph Paxton, some terracing, a few broken statues and a couple of recently restored sphinx, set in the well- manicured but empty park. I felt it really was quite sad to see.

19 May saw us in East London on the banks of Regent’s Canal at the Ragged School Museum, housed in a group of three buildings which once formed the largest ‘ragged’ (free) school in London. Thomas Barnardo opened the first school in 1867 to give poor children a free basic education. The Museum is kept very busy with visits from groups of children from local schools who come for a ‘Victorian Classroom’ lesson. We arrived before they had finished and there was not a sound to be heard from them! Our Spring visits were in central London. The newly opened Charterhouse Museum was opened by the Queen and Prince Philip on the very day that Jane and I did the ‘recce’ in preparation for our conducted tour of Charterhouse itself in April. While in March we enjoyed a private tour of the Guildhall and have pictures of the Group sitting around the table in the Chief Commoner’s Parlour. My brain is working overtime now. February? I remember it was cold but fine which was good as we had quite a long walk. Got it – the Cinema Museum! This might be our most interesting and most unknown destination. It’s in deepest Kennington in south London and is housed in the Master’s House which was the administration block of the former Lambeth Workhouse, which Charlie Chaplin entered as a child when his mother faced destitution. We’d arranged to have a conducted tour and were met by the founder of the Museum who is responsible for having saved so much of the equipment, fixtures and fittings from old cinemas. I think he was the only person there, and the first thing he did was to make us coffee which he served to us in the cinema hall. Then he began to tell us about the building and how the Museum had come to be there. I had heard it all before some years previously and I was struck again by how precarious the existence of the Cinema Museum is – it hangs on by a whisker. It is a registered charity but Lambeth Council owns the building, and the site is an extremely valuable one, surrounded now by many high-rise blocks of very expensive housing. It could easily be lost as it is not maintained by public funds, relying on hire of the hall, weekly cinema screenings, film industry events, book launches etc. It is so close to Croydon and yet it could be 100 miles away for all we hear about it. Look at www.cinemamuseum.org.uk to find out more and perhaps plan to go there.

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Photos: The Cinema Museum and some artefacts of the silver screen Pictures by Mary Randell

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Finally, our first visit of the year, in January, was to the purpose-built Design Museum on Kensington High Street which had just opened its doors after moving from small premises near London Bridge. It is, as they say in house viewing-terms, ‘Light and Airy’, with stairs and galleries around a central open space and with views out to Holland Park. All manner of items are displayed there from transport, furniture and gadgets, to telephones, computers and lighting, showing how things have developed and attempting to show what ‘good’ design is. So, a very varied year, with a journey on the Number 15 Routemaster bus and a visit to the Vintner’s Company still to come. Our Group has just passed its 10th anniversary. Aren’t we lucky that London still has so many interesting places for us to find. Having seen so many already is it any wonder that I struggle to instantly recall where we’ve been? Mary Randell London Explorers 1 In the eight years since our London Explorers Group started we have explored London from Highgate in the north to the outskirts of Surrey in the south, and from Hampton Court in the west to Greenwich and Docklands in the east. We have explored villages, parks, rivers, canals and docks.

22 For many of us the Thames is the heart of London and we have walked along its banks noticing how much has changed in the last fifty years. The old docks have now been replaced with very expensive apartments and business areas. New developments along the river now have to allow for the Thames Path to run in front of them, making it much easier to follow. We are now repeating some walks we did early on, like the walk in Regents Park and Primrose Hill. This was our very first walk in 2010 and we have now done it three times. The view from Primrose Hill of the City is quite spectacular and well worth the climb. We also look out for the camels in London Zoo and the aviary beside the Regents Canal. Perhaps the most attractive walk is the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park. This needs careful planning to make sure the rhododendrons and azaleas are at their best when we go. It is a quite magical place with wave after wave of colour. After exploring the Plantation, a walk across the park takes us to Pembroke Lodge for lunch, with another great view from the terrace and, if we are lucky, some deer to admire on the way.

23 We have had coffee stops in some interesting places. Recently we went to Wimbledon Common and had coffee at the windmill. This walk also includes a walk round a lake, a walk across the common, a walk round a park, some wonderful houses and a Grade 2 listed Victorian letter box, which is still in use. Bushey Park, opposite Hampton Court, offers an interesting walk along a river, but a man-made river this time. It supplies the water for the Hampton Court fountains and has done since it was constructed in 1629. We always like to walk by water and have walked most of the Regents Canal. The stretch from Little Venice to Camden Lock is probably the most interesting, starting with coffee on a boat moored at Little Venice. There are more and more houseboats being moored along this stretch, many of them with very colourful gardens. We have also walked from Mile End to Islington but this stretch has a very different feel to it. There is quite a lot of new development here with many canal side apartments springing up. A short detour leads to Victoria Park with its cafe by the side of the lake. Not all our walks are organised around water features. We have done the Parkland Walk which runs from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace along a disused railway track. This route is London’s longest linear park and also forms part of the Capital Ring, the 78 mile walk right round London. It was featured on Countryfile on BBC1 a couple of months ago and showed one of the presenters walking the stretch between Highgate and Finsbury Park. There are the ghosts of old railway stations, their platforms fast disappearing in the vegetation, and the only sound you can hear is birdsong - the steam train whistle is only in your imagination! We did the walk in two halves, each starting out from Highgate underground station. The walk from Highgate to Alexandra Palace afforded some very good distant views of London and the views from the Palace itself are worth the walk. Those are just a few of the walks we have done recently. In all we have done more than forty different walks, all interesting, all easily accessible by public transport and all reasonably easy walking - no ploughed fields or stiles to negotiate! It is surprising how far you can travel with a Freedom Pass. Did you know you can go to Tattenham Corner on the train and then explore the Epsom Downs racecourse? 24 We have also been to Banstead to see the lavender farm and Oaks Park. I think we have enough walks, even without any new ones, to keep us going for a few more years yet. The same walks are also used by the second London Explorers group. Most of them are adapted from books of London Walks - why not take advantage of other people’s hard work? As long as there is a nice walk with something of interest to see, a coffee stop, a loo stop and preferably somewhere for lunch we are happy! Pat Lemans [London Explorers 1 is full, with a short waiting list. London Explorers 2 has vacancies.] History Group – 18th and 19th centuries Although we are more than 100 years beyond the end of Nineteenth Century, we have all known grandparents and others who lived at that time. We have had direct links to a century we never experienced ourselves. My grandmother was born in 1870 and recounted how she was offered (but could not afford to take up) the post of village school monitor, the Victorian apprenticeship for school teachers. She also recalled seeing the celebrated Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in London and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. It is therefore fitting that we should study this pivotal period in European history. The Group, which meets at Sonja Hawkins’ home each month under the supervision of her Siamese cat ‘Zar’, was set up about 12 years ago. It began by looking at the Eighteenth Century before moving on to the next 100 years. The titles of some of the leading text books reveal why the period fascinates us so much today. The Age of George the Third, The Age of Reform, The Zenith of European Power, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, Material Progress and Worldwide Problems and Britain’s Imperial Century are tasters of what is covered. The period is suddenly back in favour with popular culture. Millions have watched Jenna Coleman’s portrayal of the young queen in Victoria and millions more will see Judi Dench portray the aged monarch in Victoria and Abdul.

25 It is difficult to understand today’s world without some knowledge of these two centuries. Modern industry, farming and transport all developed at this time. The world is still affected by the former domination by the European powers. The cultures of Britain and India were deeply affected by the occupation of the subcontinent by the East India Company. (The Company’s army training college was in from 1809 to 1861.) When we explained in France recently how we set and run our own curriculum, eyebrows were raised in astonishment. The French and continental U3A model is what we term ‘university extension – courses’, led by university lecturers. We each have to choose a subject and then prepare a talk, but always allow plenty of time for gossip and a tea break. The range of topics is very diverse, reflecting members’ varied backgrounds and interests. Having, and having had, members born in New Zealand, Germany, Bangladesh and the Netherlands, or having close links to Africa and Europe, has brought diversity of subjects and perspectives to our meetings. Recently we have looked at British India, Ethiopia, France, the rise of the seaside holiday, Italy and America. Some subjects have been grand sweeps such as Latin America or China, while others have concentrated on specific topics such as votes for women. It is now 50 years since most of us studied history and our interpretations can easily be hangovers from that period. The Victorian Whig historians thought that if they assembled all the facts of history then the sense of progress achieved would be fully understood. Like Dickens’ Mr Gradgrind, all you needed were facts. The trouble is you need to decide what is important. The fact that William Gladstone liked chopping down trees is amusing, but his decision to bring in an Irish Home Rule Bill that split the Liberal Party and left Ireland angry is infinitely more important. Our recent presentations have overcome the trap of falling back on old and out-of-date views of our history. It is not always easy because our public libraries cannot afford to buy as many new books as they did years ago. But members of the Group have filled the gap in other ways and, used wisely, the internet is so useful.

26 The Group will evolve and change as members look for new areas to study. One area was declared off limits in 2014 – the First World War. Although we had a talk on the way the Austrians and Germans deliberately engineered the war, we kept off the subject generally. We knew that exhibitions, articles, programmes and books about the war would be everywhere. Although the Group has met more than 100 times, there are still many areas that we can enjoyably look at in the years ahead. Richard Offer Play Reading Group (Selsdon) On a Monday afternoon about twenty years ago the Croydon U3A play reading group met at a member’s house in Selsdon. The group still meets, sometimes in Selsdon, sometimes in and also in , and on the first Monday in the month. We all differ in ‘acting’ expertise, but we can all read aloud and sometimes even manage an interesting accent. The focus of the session is the play, which will have been chosen in turn by a member and borrowed from the library in Croydon, and cast ready for the reading with the aim of each member participating. The play may be serious, a classic, a ‘who dunnit’ or a comedy and will usually take all afternoon with a break for tea in the middle.

27 Teatime is essential. Therefore, when deciding how we wished to celebrate the 30th Anniversary year, a tea party in the garden was agreed with enthusiasm. On this occasion, we read a selection of short plays by Pip Parry, a U3A member from Milton Keynes. This made for a very enjoyable session. As a new activity for this special year, we are going to visit the Surrey Performing Arts Library at Dorking, which we have joined and which has a huge selection of material, and is adjacent to Denbies’ pleasant café for lunch and tea. Joyce Kill Walking Barbara and Alan Turney led Croydon U3A walkers on a circular walk from Richmond Station on 18 August. Special features were: the famous view from Richmond Hill, the Isabella Plantation (photograph), Pembroke Lodge garden, and the riverside from Petersham.

28 Wildflower Group We have had our final meeting for this year as the flowers are now fading. We ended with a fungus foray which was a bit different and interesting. 2017 has been a good year for us, with fair weather and a variety of flowers for us to find. We are fortunate in Croydon to have so many green spaces including chalk grassland, woodland, acid grassland and some which cannot be defined. We don’t have a lot of water but there are, nonetheless, one or two locations nearby where we can find water plants. Next year’s programme will be ready in February and our walks will start in woodland in April. 2018 will be our tenth year! Shirley Shephard Painting for Pleasure At the moment this group is full. Most of us paint with watercolour or acrylics, some use coloured pencils. Our subjects vary from detailed flowers, portraits and buildings to wide landscapes, trees and seascapes. The one common factor is that we all thoroughly enjoy what we do. Shirley Shephard Beginners’ Painting This group was set up because so many people expressed a desire to paint but had never previously had the opportunity. Places soon filled up and one or two had to be turned away, sadly. All the members really seem to be enjoying their newly acquired skill and, hopefully, will continue to enjoy painting well into the future. Shirley Shephard

29 Maths Puzzle - Blaise Pascal (1623 to 1662) Blaise Pascal made contributions to many branches of knowledge including science and theology. He was an important mathematician. He initiated work in new areas, one of which, probability, is of significance now in sociology, economics and other sciences and in gambling. His name has been given to a pattern known as ‘Pascal’s Triangle’ although it was known before his time. It was discussed in Persia and China in the 11th century. In Iran it was known as the Khayyam triangle (after the poet Omar Khayyam), and in Italy in the 16th century as ‘Tartaglia’s Triangle’, but Pascal explored it and its applications more thoroughly. These are the first six rows of “Pascal’s Triangle” (there is no upper limit to the number of rows) 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 3 1 1 4 6 4 1 1 5 10 10 5 1

The pattern is formed by writing the number 1 on one line, the number 11 below, the number obtained by multiplying 11 by itself on the next, 11x11x11 on the next and so on. The pattern is important in considering permutations. For example you can think of row two as the options if you toss a single coin (one head, one tail); and row three as the options for tossing two coins (two heads one way, a head and a tail two ways and two tails one way). Why does the pattern break down after multiplying 11 by itself 4 times? By looking at the pattern can you write down some more lines? 2. How many ways are there of tossing five coins and getting four heads and one tail?' Margaret Turner/Barbara Lister [Answers on page 33]

30 Creative writing It’s a boy Alois and his wife Klara were not wealthy. They lived modestly in a small town in southern Europe in the 1880s and longed for a family. They had already had three children, all of whom died in infancy: infant mortality was not unknown in the area in those days. Trying one last and final time for a child, to her delight Klara found herself pregnant once again. The birth was successful but the child - a boy - was small and under-nourished. After a shaky start however and just when they thought they might lose this one as well, he began to thrive and put on weight and the parents decided to get the little mite baptised as soon as possible, just as they had done with the other three. A date was decided upon and their small family joined the local village church for the service and baptism. The service went well, hymns were sung and the baby was duly baptised, along with two others, both girls. The Pastor bade the parents farewell afterwards and hoped to see them again the following Sunday. He went into the Vestry and unlocked the security safe where the church registry of baptisms, marriages and funerals was kept. Opening the large tome - which had been in use for over seventy years - and admiring once again the creamy pages and marbled edges, he pondered to himself: what will the future of these little children be? Teachers, scientists maybe? What sort of world will they grow up in? Shaking himself out of his reverie, he took his pen, uncorked his bottle of ink and began to write in the names of the children. Inge Muller, Marlene Willhelm and the boy. As he did so he thought to himself: ‘I hope they don't shorten his name from Adolphus. Can't say I like the sound of Adolf Hitler.’ Colin Read

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Great Comp Sitting alone in a beautiful garden, Why would one wish to go wander? Hearing the birds and the rustle of trees, Who could ask for more than these? While the sun, for a wonder, keeps blazing away, How believe it is not yet May?

One does not need to know What flowers here grow, Let the mind sleep - The words can keep. Slip into dreams, and sink Into the mist of blue and pink.

How still, how still, the garden hardly breathes Making a garland pathway through the leaves. Life waits – suspended – out of time, and how The hours creep slow.

Without a sound The magnolia drops a petal on the ground.

Wendy Holt

32 Write a new Sherlock Holmes Challenge Recent research by Rachael Durkin (Lecturer in Music at Edinburgh Napier University) has shown that Sherlock Holmes’s violin was a Victorian forgery. This raises intriguing possibilities! Does Holmes know? If not, what would happen if he found out he had been conned? Do you think you could write a short story to answer these questions? (Maximum number of words: 1000.) Starting from what we now know: in ‘The Adventure of the Cardboard Box’ Watson talks about how the detective had ‘purchased his own Stradivarius, which was worth at least five hundred guineas, at a Jew broker’s in Tottenham Court Road for fifty-five shillings’. So the violin had passed through the hands of a pawnbroker. In real life, it was very common for fake instruments to move through pawnbrokers as a way of removing the identity of the forger or reseller. Send your story to the Editor by the end of 2017. (38 Woodmansterne Road, Coulsdon, CR5 2DE. E mail: see inside front cover) The best will be included in a future issue

Blaise Pascal Puzzle Answers 1. When you multiply 11 by itself five times (11x11x11x11x11), we get the answer 161051. But following the pattern would give 1 5 10 10 5 1. This is because in our number system we carry 10s. 2. There are five ways (row six penultimate figure- see below). This means that the chances of this outcome are 5/32 or roughly 15 %. 1 5 10 10 5 1 (all tails: one head: two heads: two tails: one tail: all heads)

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22 famous people who all went to school in Croydon (Croydon Advertiser, 22 September 2017)

Derren Brown Martin Clunes Danny Cipriani Noel Fielding Paul Oakenfold Amy Winehouse J B Gill Adele Leona Lewis Kieran Gibbs Tom Holland Cathy Shipton Susanna Reid Jessie J Sue Perkins Ray Mears Luol Deng Ben Heanow Bill Nighy Kirsty Maccoll David Bowie

Turtles, Tuna and Terns One very hot morning in late January (read on, things will become clearer) I found myself on a tiny speck of land in mid-Atlantic: ‘found myself’ in the literary rather than the literal sense, as I knew I would be there, but it wasn’t my final destination. You may have guessed, or even know, where I was – en route to the Falkland Islands; and although this hot little island was mainly a refuelling stop, in the three days I was there I saw some wonderful sights and got a taste of what life is like in such a small and remote community. I was on Ascension Island – known for its frigate birds and green turtles, also for being isolated, the nearest land being St. Helena, 800 miles away, which is itself also rather isolated, being 1,200 miles from the coast of West Africa.

34 So, back to my title - the biggest ‘Wow!’ was the turtles. They lay their eggs on Long Beach, a 10 minute walk from the hotel in Georgetown, and when I say ‘the’ hotel, you should be aware that it is the only one on the island. So we got up at 5 o’clock one morning and went to see them. These magnificent creatures are much bigger than I had expected and I felt privileged to be watching them, as dawn broke, laying their eggs.

Tuna featured quite a bit too, but on our plates, for three days running. I didn’t mind because it was tasty. Cuisine on remote islands can be limited, as can water supplies, newspapers, shops, mobile phone signals, etc. Not that it mattered to us, but it would have done to those people who got stranded there in April when the airport runway developed potholes, flights were cancelled, and the only supply boat developed trouble with its propeller, leaving no way on or off the island for a few weeks. And terns, terns, everywhere, of many species, but mainly Fairy terns and Wideawake terns. Fairy terns are small, beautiful, delicate white birds, whilst Wideawake terns (called sooty terns elsewhere) are best known for their call which is thought by the islanders to resemble the words ‘wide awake’. They have given their name to the airport beside which they nest, which leads you, despite the long journey from Brize Norton, to arrive Wideawake!

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That, together with the frigate birds, dolphins, sharks and many species of fish we spied on our boat trip to Boatswain Bird Island, just about covers the fauna. So what about the flora? One cannot really discuss it without mentioning Charles Darwin and Joseph Hooker. Darwin went ashore from the Beagle, and observed the parched island with no rivers or streams and very little vegetation. He later told his friend, Hooker, botanist and explorer,who himself visited the island a few years later. With the help of Kew Gardens, where his father was Director, shipments of trees were sent to Ascension to capture moisture from clouds and produce a more temperate micro-climate than the scorching lower slopes of the volcanoes. At one time, farming took place up there, and there was enough lush vegetation to keep cattle. Today some scientists think that what Darwin and Hooker achieved on Ascension may hold the key to colonising Mars. Much research is currently under way, both to protect indigenous plants and monitor extinctions and we were privileged to be accompanied during our visit by some of the resident researchers and scientists. Flights are planned to resume in 2019 when the runway has been mended. In the meantime, if you want to go, you’ll have to get a boat from Cape Town. Margaret Derrick

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Flamenco This is the captivating folk art of Southern Spain, expressed in music, dance and song. It is one of the great intangibles, like music itself, which have no existence unless performed. The Roma (gypsy) people, who brought it from India, trekked in their caravans across half a continent before they found a spiritual home in Andalucia. Here they settled and sang and danced their pain and joy around their camp fires at night under the stars or in the caves where they sought warmth and shelter in winter. Slowly they embraced local melodies – both Arabic and Spanish – into their cante jondo (‘deep song’). This is a serious poetic medium for soulful pleading, well-illustrated in Federico Garcia Lorca’s overwrought lyrics: Pues si mi pecho tuviera vidrieras de cristal te asomaras y lo vieras gotas de sangre llorar

So if my breast had a glass case you’d peep and see it weep drops of blood

Its lighter underside is cante chico (‘little song’), a jokey medium for sung versions of the piropo (a flirtatious compliment), viz., ‘Heaven must be missing an angel!’

In the tablao (literally ‘floorboard’) which has now replaced the old cafe cantante, play begins with a stirring thrum of guitar (toque) to set the mood and tempo of the dance. Male and female strut out fiercely erect and break into a kind of courtship ritual in a whirl and flurry of movement, whose rhythm is stamped out on the floor in a detonating heel-and-toe tapping of a lightning speed and precision. This has little or nothing in common with tap of Gaelic dancing; and much more to do with passion, bearing and emotional expression than mere virtuoso technique.

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The female dancer trails and flounces the train of her voluminous spotted dress around and around in a whirr of agitated choreography, giving fleeting glimpses of ankle and calf, while her male partner in his tight, black sheath of a costume sustains his frenetic footwork, rapt with erotic tension, until the gunpowder seems to run out of the heels of his boots. This slightly crazed cavorting is sporadically punctuated by rousing tenor yelps and trills (jaleo) from the guitarist – not song exactly, rather more supporters’ whoops of encouragement – and the constant clapping (palmas) and finger- clicking (pitos) of the company. There follow joyful sets of alegrias and fandangos, followed by formal tangos (without the abrupt head-turns and leg- flicks of the Argentine), seguidillas and martinetes, where the set the mood and tempo of the dance. ‘Flamenco’ – the origin of the name is unclear. It could plausibly be derived from ‘flame’, given the incendiary nature of the dance and the fiery gypsy temperament. Equally plausibly, it could be a corruption of ‘fella mengu’ or ‘expelled peasant’, applied to the gitanos (gypsies) as outcasts. Either way, it is firmly established as a definitive part of Spanish culture – just like other primitive traditions such as bullfighting – an earthy and elemental force of nature which tames both lust and fear and seeks in its performance to summon the human spirit to rise above the mortal to the realm of the duende or soul. Barnaby Powell More Senior Moments I am unable to drive due to impaired eyesight, and my friend picks me up to go to play bowls. It was a friendly match and the overcast day threatened rain. Bowls players are a hardy bunch and unlike cricketers do not retire to the pavilion in the event of a downpour. They simply don wet gear and continue grimly on, for in a league game there are three points at stake. But this was only a friendly and after suffering the elements for a time, an early tea was suggested. Alas the rain continued and a halt was called to the proceedings. Wearing my rainproof coat we proceeded to my friend’s parked car and drove to my home. I waved cheerfully as he drove off and putting my hand in the wet gear pocket realised that my door key was nestled firmly in my jacket hanging snugly in the bowls club pavilion.

38 My young next door neighbour was away and on the other side was my delightful elderly neighbour who, unfortunately, is decidedly deaf. I rang and knocked frequently and loudly and at last she timidly opened the door. At a pitch just below a shout I conveyed my misfortune and entered her house. ‘I left the phone somewhere’, she said, and hurried away. After long minutes she returned and I gave her my friend’s telephone number. Despite frequent attempts, nothing seemed to happen. She smiled sweetly and said she had another of similar ilk and carried out a further search. I examined the non- working phone but its number formation was inadequate for my failing eyes. She returned with an identical model and the number pressing continued, with no result. I learned later that my friend’s wife had continually answered a ringing telephone without success. ‘Have you a mobile phone?’ I asked. ‘Yes’, she replied, ‘I keep it in the car in case I break down’. Luckily it was not in the car and a further search produced it. Success at last, and my friend’s wife assured me that she would send him round the moment he got in. I went out in the rain and waited for his return and rejoiced at the sight of his car. We had got perhaps half way to the bowling green when he said, ‘Oh bother,’ or some stronger expletive, ‘I haven’t got the bowling green keys, I left them on the table’. I felt myself beginning to suffer from nervous hysteria as we returned to his home. Suffice to say the jacket was there and so were the keys, but since then they have resided in my trouser pocket when we are playing bowls. Peter Steptoe

So………I’m on the bus going into Croydon. I always have something to read with me and on this particular day I was totally engrossed in the plot. Getting to the bottom of the page, my right thumb automatically tries to press ‘Click” (the page turner). Oh! Doh! It’s a BOOK, a real paper book, not my usual kindle! Message to hand -•> turn the page dopey! Jenny Wilson

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