Hickling Broad U3A Newsletter March-April 2018

February Meeting: East Anglian Families of Influence

Peter Lawrence spoke about several influential, well-known Norfolk Quaker families of the nineteenth century, including the Gurneys, the Barclays and the Buxton’s explaining their links to banking and commerce in the City of London and their philanthropic attitudes, illustrating his talk with slides. The families became connected through marriage. The Gurney banking family were known always to be ‘firm but fair’.

The families spent their time “up and down the old A11” with large houses and estates in what was then the Essex countryside (now very much part of inner London) but within easy access to the city of London, while enjoying family holidays in Norfolk. Northrepps Hall was a popular destination for all the families to socialise together, enjoying games, family picnics and trips to the beach.

Although much of the money in banking came from the proceeds of slavery the wealthy Quaker families were very concerned to improve conditions for ordinary people. Elizabeth Fry, nee Gurney campaigned for prison reform, particularly for women and made frequent visits to Newgate prison.

Members of the Buxton family were also instrumental in ensuring that areas of countryside such as Epping Forest i.e. ‘The People’s Forest’ and Hatfield Forest remain undeveloped in perpetuity for all to enjoy.

The long term connection with the Gurney family can still be seen in the Stratford area, although the buildings now have new uses such as a Tesco supermarket. There are also many references to these influential families in the street names in and around Norwich.

The talk concluded with some drawings from eleven year old Ellen Buxton’s diary. March/April 2018 at a Glance: 2nd March Backgammon

5th March Country Dance

7th March Walking

7th March Bookworms

8th March Let’s Discuss It

9th March Voices of Hickling

9th March Main Meeting in the Barn

12th March Wildlife Walk

15th March British History

16th March Backgammon

19th March BLURR

21st March Pub Lunches

23rd March Art

26th March Gourmet Diggers

4th April Walking

4th April Bookworms

6th April Backgammon

9th April Country Dancing

9th April Wildlife Walk

12th April Let’s Discuss It

13th April Voices of Hickling

13th April Main Meeting in the Barn

Next Members’ Meeting in the Barn: 9thMarch at 2.00pm 3 Oceans, 2 Equator Crossings, 1 Family.

Gina Hilton will tell us of her sailing adventure round the world, a journey which involved 157 paper charts, 236 malaria tablets, 7 people and 30,000 nautical miles HBU3A Committee Monthly Update

We would like to thank everyone for attending our February meeting when our old friend Peter Lawrence came and gave the most interesting presentation about East Anglian families of influence. We saw a large turnout of members old and new - it was a great afternoon which we all enjoyed. You will see details of this months speaker, Gina Hilton, elsewhere in the newsletter. Gina lives in Hickling and this is going to be a unique opportunity to hear about her families recent round the world sailing adventure.

Our AGM is fast approaching in May and we would like to invite and welcome anyone who would like to join the committee. We keep our committee meeting frequency and duration to an absolute minimum, and we hold them the same day as the members meeting so as not take up too much of everyones valuable time. We are an open, relaxed and friendly team and hope that some of you might like to join us. You can talk to any one of us to find out more.

You will undoubtedly be pleased to hear that, having reviewed our finances, the Committee are satisfied that there is no need to increase subscriptions for the forthcoming year. So your annual renewal fee , which will be due at the April meeting, will stay at £15 - we think you really can’t get much better value than that!!

We are still in discussion with other local U3a’s about the possibility of forming a cluster group, and there are still several issues to consider, so rather than rush matters we will defer a members vote until we have got this all sorted out.

Last, but by no means least, we would like to say a special thank you to the tea team for doing such a sterling job at our meetings, all help with teas is gratefully received, just let any member of the committee know at the next meeting if you are happy to pitch in.

Also a huge thank you for the home made cakes brought along by some of our members to the meetings. This was an idea inspired by yourselves - long may it continue!

From the Interest Group Co-ordinator:

Following on from the suggestion that members were invited to suggest any new groups they would like to see developed, JL placed clip boards on each table at the last Barn meeting; there were only 2 responses of 1 person for each of the following groups.

The suggestions were Creative Writing and Astronomy. In order to move forwards there needs to be more than one person interested in a topic. There has been no contact with suggestions by phone or mail to JL to date. If anyone is interested in either of the aforementioned subjects or indeed had any other ideas please contact the Group Coordinator

The labels worn by Group contacts at the last meeting appeared to helpful in members identifying who to speak to if interested in a particular group

Outings No suggestions for outings have been received

Croquet The numbers are growing. It is planned to hold a short meeting of those interested at 4pm on 9th March after the main Barn meeting for 15 mins. or so to try and take the group forward. All those who have shown interest have been contacted by e-mail or phone. However if anyone else wants to come along please do so: they will be very welcome

Julie Liggitt Interest Groups: Art 4th Friday (2.00pm-4.00pm) in the Methodist Hall

The Art Group meet on the 4th Friday each month at the Methodist Hall in Hickling 2 – 4pm.

11 of us got together on Friday 23 February when several of us got started on the work intended for the mini exhibition in August while others carried on with work already begun.

If you would like to join us, please give me a call or drop me an email.

Backgammon 1st and 3rd Fridays at the Pleasure Boat Inn (2.00pm-4.00pm)

The next backgammon meetings will be on 2nd March, 16th March and 6th April in the Pleasure Boat pub.

Boards are provided we welcome new members - instruction can be given. Come along and join us.

BLURR – The Camera Group 3rd Monday each month at The Hickling Barn (2.00-4.00pm)

Bring and Brag. (Portraits) This months topic - Portraits - was well represented with lots of examples to peruse. After some debate Sue Badger’s portrait of a woman was chosen. The deciding factors being composition and lighting.

Nice one Sue.

Martin led the group for a ‘natural light’ portrait session. Light was controlled by closing / opening the shutter doors on the windows. Ray was volunteered to be the model. Many pictures were taken as the light, and the models position, was varied. A most constructive session.

The group agreed to produce another calendar (2019) for charity this year. The theme was agreed as ‘North East Norfolk’.

Photographic outings: John agree to find out the entry costs for a group to visit the museum of the Broads and Dorian suggested an evening visit to central Norwich.

The next BLURR meeting will be at at The Barn at 2pm - 4pm on 19th March 2018 'Bookworms' Reading Group 1st Wednesday each month (pm)

Bookworms meet on the first Wednesday of the month and we take turns to host our meetings. The host will have chosen the book to be discussed.

On 3 February we welcomed our 12th Bookworms member, Sue. We discussed 'Spill, Simmer, Falter, Wither' by Sara Baum. A lonely chap befriends a dog after seeing an advert in a shop window and together they go on an extraordinary journey. This book is quite well written and created a good discussion even though many of us decided it was quite a strange story line with a few loose ends and unanswered questions!

For March we will discuss 'The Secret of Not Drowning' by Collette Snowdon. British History 3rd Thursday of each month, 2.00pm

At the last meeting of the British History Group, the brief was to look at the changes in medical practice as a result of WW1, as part of the Group’s theme to recognise the end of WW1 100 years ago during this years programme.

The status of medical services at the beginning of WW1were noted along with some historical background about how the weapons of war had advanced and therefore the increased lethality of the weapons with the reduction in hand to hand fighting and more use of high explosive shells, machine guns gas and tanks. All of this brought about new injuries to be treated in vast numbers Some of the improvements were the institution of the triage system of dealing with causalities (although this was not without its faults), greater understanding of the bodies’ reaction to trauma and the need to replace blood loss as soon as possible to prevent shock and as a consequence blood banks were set up.

There was improvement in Psychiatric services once Shell Shock had been recognised as an illness. Improvements in gas masks, protective head gear were achieved. There was improvement in plastic surgery with a specialist hospital set up in 1917. The use of the Thomas splint for fractured thigh bones reduced the number of amputations. There were new antiseptics developed for cleaning wounds, there being no antibiotics as we have today There was recognition of the need to have fit soldiers and the need to have medical personnel as near to the front line as possible.

Sadly, many of these improvements came late in the war.

In conclusion, it was important to remember that despite the efforts made by all members of the medical profession, there was a need to reflect on the carnage and life changing injuries that occurs in all wars

Next months topic is ‘North Walsham and Dilham Canal’ (15th March)

Country Dancing 1st Monday each month (pm):

The next sessions are on 5th March and 9th April (Please note that the April meeting is one week later than usual).

Cycling 3rd Thursday each month (am)

Spring is on its way, so dust off your bikes and pump up your tyres.

The dates of the first cycle rides are 15th March and 19th April.

All welcome: contact Roy for further details.

Gourmet Diggers 4th Monday each month (2.00-4.00pm) in The Barn

On a very cold and snowy afternoon it was so good to see nearly everybody at the group. The gardening theme this month was about houseplants, the table looked like a garden centre with everybody’s plants.

The idea was that we would all give a talk on our houseplant, why we bought it or was it a present, where we kept it in our house and most importantly how we looked after it. I think the first prize (if there was one) has to go to Lauraine and David for their magnificent Aloe Vera, but mostly the in depth information that Lauraine gave.

The food side of the group was cooking from Poland. I did a Hungarian dish (near enough to Poland) 'Letcho' which is a Hungarian sausage and pepper casserole.

Steve made a cheesecake with Polish cheese. Delicious

Next months meeting is on Monday 26th March at The Barn. 2-4pm

'Let’s Discuss It’ 2nd Thursday each month (pm)

The February meeting was cancelled, so there’s nothing to report this month.

8th March: What are the Health Implications if we do not get enough sleep?

12th April: Plastic Waste

Outings No set dates

Please see separate BULLETIN for details

Pub Lunches 3rd Wednesday each month

“The Goat” in Skeyton 21.2.18

“The Goat” in Skeyton is just out of the main village, but fortunately is sign-posted off the ‘main’ road. Sat navs advised the drivers of several different routes but we all managed to arrive in good time. There is some parking to the front of the pub but a larger car park at the side, with even more space further along the track. The pub has been extended over time from a small area at the bar, to a larger restaurant divided into two sections to the side. Although a bit chilly when we arrived, most of us warmed up as the lunch progressed. We had pre-ordered and were impressed that all the nineteen meals came out together and were hot! As well as the main menus, the pub also offers daily specials. Our waitresses were very obliging and pleasant, and didn’t seem to mind the frivolity of the group!

Our next Pub Lunch is at 12.15pm on Wednesday 21 March at “The Green Man” in Rackheath. We do not have to pre-order (as there are various daily specials on offer), but we do need to give the numbers in good time, so please let me know if you are coming on Friday 16 March.

Sailing Varied Wednesday and Friday mornings, May to October

Sailing should resume after Easter 2018. Please contact me for further information.

Voices of Hickling 2nd Friday each month, 11.30-1.00

Our February meeting saw a full house of members, which was advantageous as the group voted on some fairly significant changes to how we plan to move forward.

Our new website is virtually ready to launch - see next newsletter for more details - and we are finalising a launch event in April in addition to our annual Members meeting presentation in October.

We also mapped out a programme of interviews and other tasks and agreed that these would take two years after which we would review whether and how to continue the project.

For some time we have seen log jams in finalising written transcripts of interviews and the group agreed an alternative way forward which will clear our backlog whilst experiencing little or no loss of accuracy.

The last significant change was to introduce a tracking sheet so that we can monitor our progress in contacting prospective "Voices" and arranging audio recording of their reminiscences. We reviewed other areas of progress - notably audio recording, written transcripts and collecting and identification of our extensive and growing stock of old photographs of the village.

We are always willing to welcome new members to the group - no particular skills necessary, just a desire to preserve a picture of Hickling in bygone days. Even if this is not for you do have a look at our website after its April launch - we are very excited by how it looks.

Walking 1st Wednesday each month

Our February walk was a circular walk starting at Wroxham Barns. We walked along the main road then turning onto a path across a very muddy field, negotiating a couple of stiles. Where there was a sign Beware of the Bull where was the Bull?

We crossed the main Sheringham to Norwich railway line where we waved to a passing train, making sure we closed the gate so not to have to pay the forty shilling fine.

We ended the four mile walk joined by two others for a fine lunch at Wroxham Barns

Our next walk dates are 7th March and 4th April

Wildlife Walks 2nd Monday each month

Our wildlife walks resume in March. The first one will be on March 12th at 2.00 pm and subsequent walks will be on 2nd Mondays at the same time. Number one will be very local – a ramble round our local Hickling nature reserve to look for signs of spring. Resident birds should be starting to nest and some of the early migrants may be arriving. Some trees should be breaking into leaf and hopefully we shall see some spring flowers.

We meet at the reserve car park at 2.00. Entry is free to Hickling residents and NWT members – otherwise there is a £4.00 charge. Please note that some of the footpaths can be very wet at this time of year.

During the year I hope to include visits to Horsey (for butterflies and dragonflies instead of seals), Ranworth (last time there we saw an osprey) and Pigney’s Wood – which was gifted to NWT last year and contains over 40 species pf trees and shrubs and has a recently restored part of the Dilham canal flowing near one of its borders.

Please me know if there are any venues you would particularly like to explore on one of our walks.

I look forward to seeing you.

Hilary

Members’ Meeting in The Barn - 13th April 2018 at 2.00pm Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and more!

Margaret and Mike Baker will present an illustrated account of their recent travels to some astonishing, diverse and unique places on the other side of the world.