November 2020 Ontactthe NEWSLETTER of CHINNOR & DISTRICT U3A
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Number 42 November 2020 ontactTHE NEWSLETTER OF CHINNOR & DISTRICT U3A INC THIS ISSUE Art History 6 From the Chair Artificial Intellligence 22 Bus Services 19 I don’t know of anybody who thought that this Card Club 13 ‘Covid business’ would go on so long. When I Chinnor and PR Railway: A Brief History 26 very recently had my eyes tested the optician Christmas Crossword 32 had to seal the top of my obligatory mask with Churches 8 masking tape (aptly named) to stop the lenses Computers 9 and her apparatus from steaming up. The tail Creative Writing 24 Day out in Bury St Edmunds 2 is wagging the dog. French 7 To keep our pet u3a on its way we have had Gardening Group: Report 30 to learn new tricks, old dog or not. ‘I’ve got With Thanks 9 Handicrafts 8 a Zoom meeting’, I keep hearing myself say; words which had never Hempton Activities 21 crossed my lips before this spring. My whole being has had to have its Keeping out of Mischief 2020 vision realigned to keep up with the flow. During Lockdown 21 Members Memories: Clive Bray 10 Our thanks go out to our group coordinators who have been setting Play Reading 12 up Zoom meetings or group emails to keep us all in touch. We all do Poetry Reading and Writing 19 what we can and stretch ourselves as much as possible. But if it’s not Reading 14 proving possible then don’t feel inadequate, we are all only human and Rule of Six 23 Spectalcular Launch 4 volunteers. Time 28 But let’s remember that the u3a organisation is in essence ‘bottom Walking Groups: up’ and doesn’t just rely on the group leaders and the committee. Long Walks 13 Short Walks 20 I know a very few of you have taken the initiative and have started Short Walks Quiz 27 meeting with friends for coffee at the Village Centre now that it’s Walk During Lockdown 12 reopened. We tried to make Coffee Mornings happen again, but We’ll Keep it Going 27 unfortunately Covid restrictions have made this impracticable. Where Have They All Gone? 14 On the bright side, our Monthly Meetings are happening on-line via Zoom, but with no cup of tea to round off the presentation until you Chinnor u3a AGM 16 Interest Groups at a Glance 18 get up and get it for yourself. Read further for news of future talks (see Monthly Meetings 15 page 15). New u3a Logo 16 Just as the committee has been getting used to the Beacon New Members 16 Outings and Holidays 17 Management system, those of you with email will be getting used to Website Update 16 this system keeping you up to date. If you have a friend without this Welfare news 16 technology, please pass on the news by phone or, better still, when it’s news of an online presentation, share the Monthly Meetings with them Please send all correspondence in your home if possible. and contributions to: The Editor, Krystyna Hewitt, The committee has been doing its doggie paddle under the surface Tel: 01844 352396 keeping the body afloat. With three vital members stepping down at the Email: [email protected] AGM we are going to need new committee members. If you value your The Editor reserves the right to edit, shorten or omit any entries submitted. u3a, no matter how long you have been a member or if you have just I would like to point out that any views joined, please think long and hard about what you can do now to help expressed are not necessarily those of the organisation or of the Editor. it into the future. Your u3a needs you. DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: Janet Erskine 5 April 2021 Chairperson A Day Out in Bury St Edmunds On 16 October 2020 a party of seventeen from Everyone was given maps of the town and Chinnor and Risborough u3as went on a coach information on the points of interest all packaged outing to this lovely Suffolk market town. This together in a walking route round the town to had been planned over a year ago and a sixty-three take in the architectural and scenic delights of seater coach was booked, along with tours of the the town, but which could always be shortened town led by local residents. We already knew that if needed. As instructed we all kept in very small the town had a lot to offer as the u3a holiday to groups and found our own way round. Constable Country had a brief stop there last year From the 12th century Abbot’s Bridge, which and it was always planned to return. originally had a portcullis, we proceeded to But Covid struck: we reduced the size of the the 14th century Abbey Gate passing through coach to a forty-two seater, and the Tourist Agency the grounds to reach the ruined buildings no longer could offer tours. In the end only of the original monastery. Here there is a seventeen members joined the trip and both Motts commemoration plaque on the spot where in and Chinnor u3a subsidised the outing. Chinnor 1214, the barons of England swore to compel King u3a have been loyal customers of Motts for well John to sign the document now known as the over ten years and Motts have helped us out Magna Carta. The Rose Garden is a permanent immensely, making full refunds for the holiday memorial to American Servicemen, many of which couldn’t go ahead to Northumberland whom were stationed around Suffolk in WWII. earlier this year and now giving financial support The Virginia creeper was in fine splendour and for this outing. there was still some colour in the borders plus a Our first impression was of the beautiful beautiful English rose. historic setting, the Cathedral, the Abbey Gardens The next part of our walk took us past the and also the shopping area on the hill. The town Norman Tower and the Martyrs’ Memorial erected is well looked after – there was no litter, waste to remember seventeen protestant martyrs killed bins are emptied every day, and the award-winning for their beliefs during the reign of the first Queen public toilets spotlessly clean! Residents and the Mary, also known as ‘Bloody Mary’. Through Town Council are proud of their surroundings and the cemetery, past Charnel House, we reached it shows. The town was relatively quiet and it was St Mary’s church where Mary Tudor, Queen of easy to maintain social distancing. France and sister to Henry VIII is buried. Continued on next page 2 Contact November 2020 We noticed a plaque to Thomas Clarkson Canute proving that even a king could not hold who played a major part in the abolition of the back the tide. King Canute was responsible for English slave trade. His wife Catherine was the founding the original Benedictine Abbey in the daughter of William Buck, the founder of Greene town during the 11th century. King brewery which still produces its finest beers Moyse’s Hall, built in around 1180 as a town in the town. Resisting the temptation to sample house, has served as a tavern, workhouse, a police the wares, we continued to the Theatre Royal, station and, since 1899, a museum now housing a recently restored to its original 1819 Georgian Suffolk Regiment gallery. configuration. As we approached the end of the tour, past The 17th century timber framed Dog & The Pillar of Salt street sign – a lighthouse- Partridge is on the way to Guildhall Street shaped street sign built in 1935 and now a listed where – yes, you’ve guessed it – the 13th century monument – we came across The Athenaeum. Guildhall still stands, bearing the Borough of Bury Originally built in the 18th century as Assembly St Edmunds coat of arms depicting three crowns Rooms, it later played host to several readings with arrows below a wolf, given to the town from his works by Charles Dickens who stayed in 1606 when King James I granted it the first in the nearby Angel Hotel. Dickens’ connection Charter of Incorporation. Bury served as the area’s with Bury dates back to his first novel published centre for the marketing of corn and cattle. The in the 1830s The Pickwick Papers, in which he first Corn Exchange was built in 1836 but as trade immortalises the town, mentioning the hotel. quickly outgrew this building, a second was built Some of us visited the Cathedral with its beside it in 1862. I wonder how many other towns beautiful vaulted ceiling, nave, sanctuary and have two Corn Markets still intact? tower. Next to the Cathedral we found the ancient Reputedly the smallest public house in Britain, town walls into which are built some rather good we walked past the Nutshell to Cupola House looking houses. with its 17th century roof-top observatory built by It was a very rewarding morning, after which a three-times mayor of Bury. many of us went into town for refreshments. There is mention of Daniel Defoe who came to Having spent nearly five hours in town we the town in 1704 after serving a prison sentence returned to the coach, suitably tired, and were for publishing a pamphlet deemed to be critical of back in Chinnor by 18.10pm, having all enjoyed the Anglican Church. the day. We thanked our coach driver for taking Onwards to the famous façade above the the strain. W H Smith building, the top panel depicting King Peter Hetherington and Frances Wells PAGE 2: LEFT : The Guildhall CENTRE : The rose garden RIGHT : Abbey Gate PAGE 3: LEFT : The Theatre Royal RIGHT : A view of the Cathedral Contact Novermber 2020 3 A Spectacular Launch The Shuttle Mission, number STS-41-B launch: the maiden flight of the Orbiter Challenger It was early in my career with Vickers Medical basically pressure vessels, would craze and start in 1983 that the company received an enquiry to crack under certain conditions and were thus concerning the status of their Hyperbaric Oxygen costly to maintain for owners and also for us if System business from a Dr J R Maxwell of Dallas under warranty, especially if you had to travel to Texas – no, not the JR of TV Dallas fame, but the Soviet Union or the US to fix them! another person with the same name but also from As the Americans were up for exploiting fringe Dallas! medicine, our enquirer, Dr J R Maxwell, thought Delivering 100% oxygen in a special room or that to acquire Vickers’ hyperbaric medicine chamber above atmospheric pressure (hyperbaric business might be a good money making idea.