DISS U3A MONTHLY MEETING REPORTS
For the August talk, Frances Hart as ‘Mrs Mozart’ gave Diss U3A an enlightening talk on her marriage with the famous child prodigy, composer and musician, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1751 – 1791). This talk was in costume and with excerpts from Mozart’s repertoire, including his final, unfinished Requiem Mass.
Constanze Mozart tells us that her husband learned all his early music skills from his father Leopold, who recognized his son’s extraordinary talents and nurtured them rigorously. Some people even accused him of hothousing his son, although his input was better appreciated after his death. As young children, Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl, were taken around Europe to listen to concerts and to perform. He met Marie Antoinette and became infatuated, at an early age, dreaming of marrying her.
By the age of 16, Wolfgang had composed several operas and concertos, still leaving time to travel, listen to gossip, roll a billiard ball and entertain others with his jokes. He was also a very good linguist.
When he was 25, Wolfgang moved to Vienna. He lodged with Constanze’s family and took a fancy to her older sister, Aloysia, a soprano singer. However, when she moved away to pursue her singing career, Wolfgang and Constanze began a romance, resulting in a marriage that lasted until his untimely death. They married in 1782 when Constanze was twenty, much to the horror of Leopold. Wolfgang was not earning enough and Constanze was not the wealthy woman he had hoped his son would marry! The two young Mozarts lived beyond their means, spending money on expensive clothes, food and drink for their lavish social life. They exchanged many love letters during this marriage and had 6 children. In 1791, Wolfgang was commissioned to write a Requiem Mass. He would start at 4.00 and work frenziedly all day. Sadly he became very ill and died before it was finished. Constanze told us she believed it was food poisoning at a Masonic lunch! Others think the rival composer Salieri poisoned him.
After Mozart’s death, Constanze had no income and became destitute. Mozart had a third class funeral, for which she pawned his watch. Fortunately, one of Mozart’s pupils completed the Requiem Mass. Constanze, aged 29, set up an opera company to perform her husband’s works having received considerable financial support from admirers of Wolfgang such as Haydn. Constanze moved into a smaller flat in Vienna and arranged the publication of Mozart’s music. She remarried to a Danish diplomat who wrote a biography of Mozart and she lived until she was 80. It is a great shame that Mozart did not live long enough to enjoy more of his successes.
Portraits of Mozart and Constanze taken from Wikipedia
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 3rd September, starting at 10.30 am in the United Reform Church, Diss.
The guest speaker will be Anne M. May (granddaughter of Ezra John Potter), who will give a talk entitled “A Striking Village” – Burston School Strike
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
In July, a talk on the original Mid-Suffolk Light Railway and the current MSLR Museum was given by John Stark, the Vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Station Master at the current museum.
John explained that the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, affectionately known as the ‘Middy’, was a classic case of a line built too late for the great railway age and which never paid its way. Indeed, it was effectively bankrupt before it opened and the line was never completed, the rails just petering out in the middle of a field. This gave the Middy its other nickname of “The railway to nowhere”. However it still managed to struggle on, providing a useful service to the people of the area for 50 years, finally closing in 1952.
He explained the Middy was a standard gauge railway but that it was lightly constructed, hence the light railway tag. He suggested that it should be thought of as a country lane of a railway meandering through the depths of the Suffolk countryside.
The original 1900 proposal for the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway was an ambitious one. It planned to use the 1896 Light Railway Act, to fill a railway void in the middle of Suffolk and thus address the local transport problems and lessen the impact of the agricultural depression. They planned to build two lines; one from Haughley, near Stowmarket on the GER London to Norwich main line, to Halesworth, on the GER East Suffolk Line, and a second line branching off from Kenton, near Debenham, to Westerfield on the outskirts of lpswich.
Construction of the line began in 1902 and 19 miles of line from Haughley to Laxfield were constructed together with 1½ miles from Kenton to the outskirts of Debenham. These lines opened to goods traffic in 1904. Sadly due to technical difficulties but mainly financial problems, the line to Halesworth was never completed and the spur down to Debenham was soon abandoned. Unfortunately the contractor building the line proved to be unreliable, the chairman went bankrupt, and the railway went into receivership. Despite these troubles, the railway continued to operate goods trains successfully and even opened for passenger traffic in 1908.
The line then settled down to a regular pattern of 3 trains per day each way and 1 train each way on Sunday. The trains were mixed trains, i.e. trains with wagons as well as carriages. The railway now started to provide a vital community transport service for its passengers as it meandered through the heart of Suffolk. Similarly the Middy provided an essential local transport service for all manner of goods traffic (even animals). This service was never more vital than during World War 1.
In 1924, the London and North Eastern Railway agreed to take over and run the “Middy”, but only after the settlement of its debts. The Haughley to Laxfield line, as the LNER called it, continued to operate despite gradually losing most of its passenger traffic to improved roads and buses. The railway’s busiest period was during World War 2 when RAF Mendlesham and RAF Horham needed supplying. The railway was even upgraded to branch-line standards, so larger locomotives could be used.
John drew the meeting’s attention to the fact that World War 2 offered women full- time permanent employment on the line which continued after the war. One female porter was given temporary employment for a couple of years in World War 1. He commented upon the impact that the arrival of US airforce personnel at the two airfields on the line was a massive cultural shock for both parties. He also commented on the importance of regular permanent employment on the railway during the 20’s and 30’s even if it was poorly paid. He also mentioned the railway’s enrolment of its staff in the local hospital benevolent fund.
The line eventually became part of British Railways on 1st January 1948, but after WW2 the railway carried less and less goods traffic and hardly any passenger traffic. British Railways therefore decided to close the line in July 1952.
One of the earliest pictures of a Middy train at Laxfield
A current MSLR trainwith “Wissington” pulling two Victorian carriages
Everyone might have forgotten the Middy except for Peter Paye’s book in 1986 which did show a few Middy buildings were left. So in 1990, despite the fact that almost all traces of the line had disappeared, a group of enthusiasts decided that this small country railway, once so important to the area, should not be forgotten. The ‘Middy’, a fine example of rural English history, has been resurrected as Suffolk’s only railway museum and is, ironically, probably busier now than it ever was.
Based at the old Middy station at Brockford and Wetheringsett in the heart of rural Suffolk, the MSLR Museum offers much more than just a steam train ride. The atmosphere of a quiet country light railway in the early 20th century has been painstakingly re-created using original buildings and artefacts, together with rolling stock appropriate to the period. Educational displays and a varying programme of exhibitions all help the visitor to understand the importance of the railway to this isolated area, and to appreciate a time when life took a slower pace and everything went by train.
The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway Museum is an independent organisation controlled and operated by a Company Limited by Guarantee. It is an Accredited museum, a Registered Charity and is run entirely by volunteers. In 2014 it welcomed over five thousand visitors, with steam trains running on 30 days throughout the year, the museum opening regularly between May and September. With its unique atmosphere, the museum has won numerous awards including the Heritage Railway Association 2012 Interpretation Award, and 2014 Suffolk Museum of the Year.
Additional photos
The Middy ending in a field just An afternoon train stops at Mendlesham beyond Laxfield in the late 1930’s
A short goods train passing a little grey Wissington and our Victorian carriages “Fergie” tractor in 2012 at Brockford station in 2012
Our June talk was entitled “The R34 Adventure - The First Transatlantic Return Flight” by Basil Abbott.
Basil Abbott is the Curator of Diss Museum. He oversees the day to day running of the Museum, and the creation of new displays. He also is involved in outreach activities including: talks to groups and schools, tours of the town (including a Murder Tour) and events like the Roydon Riots Centenary (1993), Skelton Festival (2004), Nelson Bi-centenary (2005), Betjeman Centenary (2006), Local History Festival (2007) and the Thomas Paine Bi-centenary (2009). Interest in the Museum is promoted by regular columns in the local newspaper and community magazine. Basil’s contribution to the Museum and the town of Diss has been acknowledged through a number of awards which he has received.
Basil’s fascinating talk to Diss U3A featured the R34 airship.
In 1919 the R34 became the first double airborne conqueror of the Atlantic. The airship set off from East Fortune in Scotland, flew to Long Island and back to Pulham in Norfolk. Basil described the background to the flight, the commandeering of German Zeppelin technology and the characters, hazards and bravery of this epic voyage.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 2nd July 2015, at Diss United Reform Church, starting at 10.30am. The guest speaker will be John Stark, who will give a talk entitled “The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway & Museum”.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
May - Travels of a Botanical Artist by Reinhild Raistrick
Reinhild Raistrick is a botanical artist, born in Tanzania and now living in Suffolk.
She has painted wild flowers in various parts of the world, ranging from the Tien Shan Mountains, Kazakhstan to the Mediterranean, from East and South Africa to the British Isles. In 1991 - 1992 she was involved in painting flowers of the equatorial rainforests, Tanzania. A number of her flower paintings from there were purchased by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for their permanent collection. Some of her work is featured in the Curtis's Botanical Magazine. The August 2000 edition devoted a whole issue on the Genus Fritillaria, using her paintings.
She exhibits both locally and nationally and has been awarded four Gold Medals by the Royal Horticultural Society. Reinhild tutors in Botanical Painting at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, as well as other centres.
Her great love and interest is painting wild flowers in situ.
She is a member of the Society of Botanical Artists, with whom she regularly exhibits. She is also one of the tutors for the SBA Distance Learning Diploma Course. She is also a member of the newly formed East Anglian Iceni Botanical Artists. As well as exhibiting annually, the group have commenced a project on illustrating and recording the rare and endangered Breckland Flora.
(From Reinhild’s website: http://www.reinhildraistrick.co.uk) Copyright 2013
Reinhild talked mainly about her work in Tanzania, identifying rare wild flowers. She spends many hours carefully drawing the flowers and recording the exact colours in her sketch book. Her paint box is tiny! Photos are only used to identify the features of the flower’s habitat, not to aid her painting, which is carried out back in her studio. She uses a light box to lightly trace the detailed drawing and then paints. We were shown several of her beautiful original paintings. One of her projects has been to find as many species of African Violet as possible. These grow in a small Kenyan forest. She always takes a local guide with her up in the mountains as the wild pigs are a potential danger. After seven years she has identified 27 different species of African Violet!
A particularly stunning flower, found in South Africa – on the beach, is The Paintbrush Lily (Haemanthus coccineus).
Reinhild quoted Dr Roy Strong who believes that “today’s artists paint what may never be seen again.” Many rare plants are under threat as a result of global warming and man-made changes to the landscape. Thus, there is no doubt Reinhild’s work recording these flowers will be remembered many years ahead.
Reinhild has an exhibition in St Edmunds Gallery, Bury St Edmunds from 27th June until the 9th July. I am sure this will be well worth visiting. I shall certainly go…..
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 4th June 2015, at Diss United Reform Church, starting at 10.30 am, when the guest speaker will be Basil Abbott, who will give a talk entitled “The R34 Adventure - The First Transatlantic Return Flight”.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk April - A Year in the Life of the Wildlife of RSPB Minsmere by Alexander Bass
Alexander Bass, a wildlife tour guide who runs tours in North East Suffolk, gave us an informative and illustrated talk entitled ‘A year in the Wildlife of RSPB Minsmere’. He took us all on a guided tour of the reserve and surrounding areas from the comfort of our chairs around the woodland, coastline and reed beds looking at a range of wildlife found during a typical year here. Wildlife he showed us and discussed included the elusive ‘Booming’ Bittern, Water Rail, Bearded Reedling, Marsh Harrier, the dragonfly hunting bird of prey called the Hobby and a range of butterflies and plants. Other areas he visited were the lesser known sites of Eastbridge Village, North Warren and Westleton Heath. Here, he shared his knowledge of heathland plants and wildlife with us using a range of colourful and seasonal slides including Silver Studded Blue and Speckled Wood Butterflies and Red Deer.
His talk was also accompanied by his own bird songs.
Here are some of the photos Alex took of Minsmere wildlife.
Studded Blue
Bullfinch
Booming Bittern Marsh Harrier
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 7th May 2015, at Diss United Reform Church, starting at 10.30am, when the guest speaker will be Reinhild Raistrick , who will give a talk entitled “Travels of a Botanical Artist”
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Denise Hammond-Webb gave our March talk entitled ‘Semer and the Workhouse – the story of a little Suffolk Village’
Cosford view from South 1905
Denise has many interests, in particular, the history of workhouses. Semer, in Suffolk, is close to her heart because she was brought up there, though not in the workhouse! This talk helped us understand how the Poor Laws affected the lives of the poor, both those who could work but wouldn’t, and those who would work but couldn’t. The Poor Laws set out to make the poor become the responsibility of the state instead of relying wholly on charity. An act was passed to fix wages and restrict the movement of labourers. By 1576 poor relief was given in return for labour. By the beginning of the seventeenth century the parish was expected to care for those unable to work. The Napoleonic Wars led to an increase in poverty with soldiers returning home unable to find work. In 1884 a New Poor Law was introduced which resulted in the formation of the union workhouses. Over 500 were built in 50 years.
The country was divided into hundreds; there were nineteen in Suffolk. Life in the workhouse was very tough, rather like prison. New arrivals were stripped, searched, washed and had their hair closely cropped, because of lice! Uniforms were generally prison-style. There were many rules, read out loud once a week and displayed around the building, although presumably most inmates could not read. Punishment books reveal very harsh regimes. For instance a woman was locked up for 24 hours for swearing and being noisy. For fighting, an inmate would have no meat for a week while breaking a window resulted in two months hard labour in prison. Women were separated from men. Families were split up and some children never saw their parents or indeed, the outside world. The work was tedious and exhausting; for instance, stone crushing, bone crushing (for fertilizer) and sack making. Food was strictly rationed: Breakfast – gruel for men, a pint of tea and bread. Dinner: possibly pease soup and a pint of beer. Supper for men and boys: bread and butter or cheese and beer (1/2 a pint for the boys).
Semer hundred is between Hadleigh and Stowmarket. It is a little bigger than a village. Hollow Trees Farm shop used to be Sayers Farm. This was the home of Denise’s family.
Plans for the workhouse show that the yards were built in 1780, including a hospital for the aged and infirm – quite unusual. There was also a separate ward for very young children and for able-bodied poor adults as well as a reception area for sick inmates, the ‘pest house’, and a secure area to house ‘lunatics’. There was also a burial ground here. This plan shows the building in 1882.
The main tasks involved spinning wool which was sent to Norwich, and gardening. There were 10 acres which were used very productively for growing fruit and vegetables. Work conditions at Semer were less harsh than in other union workhouses. The women at Semer were even allowed five pints of beer on wash days! Apart from keeping them cheerful, it was recognized that beer was safer than water and would reduce the number of infectious diseases!
Cosford isolation hospital from the south-east, 2001.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 2nd April 2015, at Diss United Reform Church, starting at 10.30am, when the guest speaker will be Alexander Bass who will give a talk entitled “A Year in the Life of the Wildlife of RSPB Minsmere”.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Our speaker in February 2015 was Ann May, who entertained us with ‘Fans-tastic – The History of Fans’.
Ann started collecting fans after she found one in a school jumble sale. Early wall paintings have evidence of fans being used to keep cool, often by male dignitaries. Ann later discovered some beautiful antique fans and began her quest to find out their history.
When Howard Carter opened the tomb of Tutenkhamun, he discovered a chalice-shaped ostrich feather fan, which, unfortunately disintegrated when exposed to the outside world. It is thought that fans were also used to expel evil spirits from the burial chamber. Tambour- shaped fans were also used in religious ceremonies, again, carried by men.
Fans were also used by the Greeks and Romans to keep flies away from religious vessels. The materials varied. They included animal horn handles, skin, peacock feathers, even brass.
By the time of Queen Elizabeth, fans were being used as fashion accessories. Travellers would bring them back from the Far-East, often decorated with jewels and gold tassles. These could be attached to belts and carried by men. Tudor fans tended to be heavy and bulky, whereas Stuart fans were smaller and lighter. The brisé (folding) fans were delicate and needed to be opened and closed correctly.
Some of the most delicate fans came from China. These would be made from ivory with hand-made decorations. Other materials introduced were mother of pearl, silver and gilt. Some had paintings on them and fabric stuck to the figures, with tiny, intricate features painted on to the faces.
Queen Victoria, renowned for her black mourning attire, encouraged the use of black fans. These were large and austere, although some of them were made with delicate black lace and tortoise-shell. At this time many fans arrived in satin-lined boxes or engraved wooden cases.
In the early twentieth century fans were sometimes used to advertise or commemorate events. They were also used by women to spy on others! These peephole fans had tiny holes covered in gauze, for peering at others in secret.
In the eighteenth century there was a language of fans whereby men and women could speak to each other in code, sending messages of love and intrigue.
Ann has collected over 100 fans and showed us a variety of different sizes, materials and designs. This is an impressive collection and invited many questions from the audience.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 5th March 2015, at Diss United Reform Church. The guest speaker will be Denise Hammond-Webb who will give a talk entitled, ‘Semer and the Workhouse’, the story of a little Suffolk village.
Please note: the Annual General Meeting will take place before this talk, starting PROMPTLY at 9.45.
Please try to arrive by 9.30 as it is very important that our AGM has a quorum of least 70 people.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Jon Read started our 2015 programme of speakers in January with his talk entitled ‘Steel Yourself!’ - the story of Old Hall stainless steel tableware.
The trigger for Old Hall tableware was the discovery by Harry Brearley (born 1871, Sheffield) of ‘rustless steel’. Son of a steelworker, Harry began to research steels that could withstand intense heat. During a troubled period before WW1, arms manufacturing increased significantly. However, the excessive heat caused the erosion of the internal surfaces of gun barrels. Harry began to research new steels that might be able to resist this erosion and discovered that the addition of chromium, with a higher melting point, to steel, could solve the problem. Thus, he is considered by many to be the inventor of stainless steel.
James Thomas Wiggin (born 1893) and his son, James Enoch, set up a small business in harness and buckle manufacture in Bloxwich, Walsall. As the business flourished they moved to a Salvation Army Hall in 1901, hence the trade name ‘Old Hall’. All five sons joined the family business. After the war, during which time the Old Hall was used for munitions, other products were tried out such as windscreens and roller-skates. The term ‘staybrite’ was used to describe these non-rusting steel goods.
The first tableware was a toaster, made by another of James’s sons, William, for his wife. They were celebrating their silver wedding and had been given many gifts made of silver. Nellie, reluctant to do all the silver cleaning, had suggested James make something out of the same staybrite material as their bathroom fittings. The success of their first toaster inspired Nellie to design a teapot to be made in stainless steel (1930).
Today, his grandson, Nigel Wiggin, is the owner of the first one of these teapots, which cost him 25 shillings. There are now 200 of these teapots and, we were told, they NEVER drip! These were the forerunners of Old Hall stainless steelware.
Much time was spent running advertising campaigns in the press and having stands at trade and public exhibitions. In 1934 the Wiggins’s tableware range was displayed at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition, known as ‘Staybrite City’. Many other items were displayed along with the famous toaster and teapot, such as trays, cake stands, cruets, vegetable dishes, sauceboats and candlesticks.
In 1938 a leading industrial designer, Harold Stabler, joined their company. Until then, the family had always designed their own tableware. Harold was commissioned to design a new range of tea and coffee tableware, but unfortunately his more elaborate designs had to be shelved due to the outbreak of WW2. After the war his designs were considered to be too costly and were abandoned.
The company continued to expand after the war with a huge increase in exports, in particular to hospitals, hotels and other catering outlets. In 1955 a new design consultant, Robert Welch, was appointed. The Campden range was his first major project and his four-section toast rack won ‘Design of the Year’ award from the Council of Industrial Design. This was a hugely successful period for the Old Hall business. The company was awarded the contract to supply the 42,500 ton luxury ocean liner ‘Oriana’ with all its stainless steel tableware. By the late 60s, the company was employing 500 people. Two more prestigious awards had been gained; one for a set of 22 matching dishes in 1962 and the other for the Alveston range of cutlery, in 1965.
Later developments included a takeover by Prestige and finally by Oneida. The factory closed down in 1984, but fascination with the Wiggins’s innovative range of products in the first half of the 20th century has not waned.
Jon Read started his collection with a tea strainer. A good friend with a teashop in Wales once asked him if he would search out some more stainless steel for his shop. During this quest, Jon tried the factory in Norwich which had recently closed down. Next, he placed an advert in a Walsall paper. He received many responses with offers of stainless steel tableware, including one from Nigel Wiggin, great grandson of the now famous Staffordshire blacksmith James Thomas Wiggin. This encounter became a lifelong friendship. Together, Jon and Nigel started the Old Hall club and by 1998 they had over 200 members.
Jon showed us his own fascinating personal collection which includes, a stirrup for an army horse, a tureen, a hammered tea pot with a ‘stay cool’ handle, a finger held toast rack, and a collapsible cake stand. Jon and his wife are indeed avid collectors. Daphne has collected over 300 sugar casters, and a variety of typewriters. It was obvious, from the number of questions raised at the end of this intriguing talk that many of us have fond memories of the stainless steel era. We were left with two tips, firstly, to use a Chantry knife sharpener, but perhaps not on the bread knife, and secondly to beware the corrosive effects of salt and sweaty hands!
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 5th February 2015, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church, when the guest speaker will be Anne May who will give a talk called, ‘Fans-tastic – the History of Fans’.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
‘Edith Cavell – a British Heroine’ Richard Mann
Our December talk was one of many given by the Lowestoft Illustrated Talks Company, who are currently raising money for the Leprosy Society.
Richard kept us absorbed in his story of the challenges that Edith Cavell faced during the First World War. Her story is particularly poignant since she was brought up so close to Norwich and is now buried in the cathedral cemetery.
Edith (born 1865) was the daughter of a curate, Fred Cavell, who settled in Swardeston, married Louisa Warming and had four children, three daughters and a son. Edith was a caring and compassionate child and helped look after her brother and sisters. They often visited Fred’s brother, a lawyer from Saxmundham, where Edith became very close to her cousin, Edward.
She was taught at home, learned to draw and paint and generally, was compliant, although she was caught smoking (aged 16) and was then sent (1881) to Norwich High School, a walking distance of four and a half miles! She became a pupil teacher in Peterborough under the stern direction of a Miss Gibson. She stayed until she was 21 and then went home to help her mother. After this she became a governess in Essex until she decided to go to Brussels, again as governess. By this time, Edith used a small legacy to travel to the continent. She had visited Austria and Bavaria, and was very impressed with a free hospital run by a Dr Wolfenberg. When her father became ill, Edith returned home to help nurse him and perhaps this was the time when she considered becoming a nurse.
At this time, nurses carried out almost exclusively domestic chores. Medical work was outside their domain and training was virtually non-existent. Edith chose to go to London and worked in the Fountains Fever hospital in Tooting. This was a free hospital and was occupied by many old and mentally ill patients. As luck would have it, the matron, Miss Eva Luckes, did believe in medical training and accepted Edith for nursing training at the Royal London Hospital. Edith was a devout Christian who treasured her copy of the bible as well as a copy of Thomas a Kempis’s ‘Imitation of Christ’. Edith was often seen praying quietly beside dying patients. In 1897 Edith went to help in a hospital in Kent where there was an outbreak of typhoid. Edith completed her training in 1891 and became night matron in a Poor Law Institution in St Pancras. She then became a much loved assistant matron in Shoreditch and was known for her compassion, for example, using her meagre earnings to pay for a day out on the coast for a dying 5 year old child.
Next, Edith became district nurse in Manchester and, aged 42, she was recommended to a well-known surgeon, Dr Antoine Depage, to help set up a training institute for nurses in Belgium. This was her next challenge and she quickly found out that there was a huge amount to do to establish the clinic and the teaching school. In 1910, the Belgium government set up a register for trained nurses and by 1912, sixty nurses had completed their training.
The outbreak of war had a huge impact on the clinic. In August 1914, the Germans crossed the Belgium border. Edith, who was in England at the time, hurried back to help in the clinic. She devoted her last year to nursing wounded soldiers in the clinic that was now used as a Red Cross hospital. Her care and compassion extended to soldiers of all nationalities and thus, even though it was strictly forbidden, she began to treat injured English soldiers as well as French and German. This began when she hid two British soldiers in the clinic for two weeks. After this she was asked to join an underground group to help other soldiers escape to neutral territory. Edith hid almost 200 allied men at the Berkendael Institute, whilst they were waiting for Philippe Baucq, an architect, to organise guides to take them across the borders. Tragically, they were discovered, betrayed by a Frenchman, Gaston Quien and Edith was arrested, along with Philip Baucq.
Edith was locked up in Cell 23 in St Gilles Prison. She was kept for 9 weeks in solitary confinement and interrogated repeatedly. Her trial began on 8th October 1915 and the defence lawyers failed to save her from a guilty verdict. On 11th October, Edith learned that she would be executed the following morning at 6 am despite the last minute intervention of the Spanish and American ambassadors.
The execution, by eight soldiers, of Edith and Philip Baucq, himself a father, was particularly horrifying as Edith was, probably deliberately, shot in the face, an act of deliberate mutilation by one of the firing squad. There was an outraged reaction and many posters and postcards were published accusing the Germans of murder, assassination and bestiality. She was buried with a wooden cross, next to St Gilles Prison.
After the armistice, Edith’s body was exhumed and brought to Westminster. There were crowds in Dover, Westminster and in Norwich, where the funeral cortège finally arrived. Edith is buried outside Norwich Cathedral and has memorials in Swardeston (a stained glass window in the church), Norwich, Westminster and Brussels (including her prison cell) as well as in Canada, where a mountain has been named after her. Edith saved many lives and the allies from the First World War will never forget her courage. Before she was shot she calmly declared, ”I have seen death so many times, it is not strange or painful to me.”
To find out more about Edith Cavell you might like to look up: http://historysheroes.e2bn.org/hero/timeline/86 for a more detailed chronology of her life and work.
Report written by Diss U3A Publicity Secretary and Newsletter Editor - Georgina Livingstone [email protected]
“This window was given by many friends and admirers to commemorate the devoted life and tragic death of Edith Louisa Cavell, Head of the First Training School for Nurses in Belgium, who was born and brought up in this parish, of which her father was Vicar from 1863 to 1909, and who died for her Country on October 12th, 1915, aged 49 years, being shot by order of a German Court Martial in Brussels, for having rendered help to fugitive British, French, and Belgian Soldiers. The Artist who designed the window, and the Craftsmen who made it, gave their services as their contribution to this Memorial, A.D. 1917"
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 8th January 2015, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church. Please note, this meeting is one week later than usual due to January 1st being a public bank holiday and New Year’s Day.
The guest speaker will be Jon Read who will give a talk called, ‘Steel Yourself – the story of Old Hall stainless steel tableware’.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Brussels, Europe - What’s it all about? Who is making the laws in Europe?
The guest speaker at the November meeting was Elizabeth Sweeney, who gave a very informative lecture on the history, purpose and organization of the European Union.
This talk was well timed, with a general election due next May and a great deal of discussion about the merits and shortcomings of the EU.
Elizabeth Sweeney is an experienced civil servant who has given many talks on this subject, including one in Witney, David Cameron’s constituency.
Elizabeth referred to the difficult relationship that has always existed between Britain and Europe. In the 1960s Churchill was opposed to our joining the ‘Coal and Steel Community’. Moreover, de Gaulle didn’t want us to join when this developed into the Common Market. There are many negative myths that have been disseminated about the European Union, such as cows having to wear nappies because of the high levels of nitrates in our water! Elizabeth’s presentation focused on the facts, figures and detailed graphs. One positive example is the over 80 million euros given by the European Union for Cancer Research in the UK. Without this contribution we would be lagging behind many other countries in vital medical research.
We were asked to consider the influence of the media on our views especially following the huge increase in the use of social media such as Twitter.
So what does the European Union do? Examples are:
Air travel – an open sky policy Food labelling and braille on medicines Employment rights, holidays and paternity leave Protection of our environment – recycling, wildlife habitats International trade investment
Different areas of influence are:
o customs and rules (such as fishing policies) o protection of health o industry o culture o tourism o education
One important example is ‘Erasmus’, a university scheme enabling students within the EU to spend up to one year studying in another EU university without incurring additional costs.
The criteria for joining the European Union are: no death penalty, a fully functioning parliamentary system and a market economy that can compete worldwide. Also, all existing EU countries must agree. We joined the European Union in 1973 when Ted Heath was Prime Minister. There are now 28 nation members, 10 joined in 2004 and most recently Romania and Bulgaria joined. Turkey is still negotiating.
The highest level within the EU structure is the European Council. This consists of all heads of government. At the next level we have the European Commission – the bureaucrats and civil servants, then the Council of Ministers, such as Theresa May and finally the European Parliament, with 73 MEPs from Britain. In order to become an MEP you need to be at least 18 years old, not a problem for U3A members! The use of proportional representation enables smaller parties to gain a foothold. Hence, there are now 3 ‘Green’ MEPs. Our region has 7 MEPs (most of whom members of Diss U3A were able to name).
One question raised was why do we need to spend 10 million euros per session (every 3 months) in Strasbourg? Elizabeth told us that the MEPs get the blame for this, but it is only the heads of government who can change it.
The next European Union election will be in June 2019. Perhaps after this talk Diss U3A members will help to increase the current voting turnout from its meagre 35%!
Report written by Diss U3A Publicity Secretary and Newsletter Editor - Georgina Livingstone
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 4th December, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church.
This will be followed by Christmas Lunch at the Park Hotel.
The guest speaker will be Richard Mann who will give a talk called, ‘Edith Cavell, a British heroine’.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
The guest speaker at the October meeting was Elizabeth Gowing, who gave a talk called ‘Edith and I - on the trail of an Edwardian Traveller in Kosovo’.
Edith Durham (1863 – 1944) was the eldest of nine children. Her father was a well- known London surgeon. Edith trained as an artist at the Royal Academy of Arts, but when her father died she took on the responsibility of looking after her sick mother and all the younger children. This proved to be exhausting and led to a breakdown. Her doctor recommended a trip abroad to recuperate. This was the start of her travels and adventures around Eastern Europe, starting along the Dalmatian coast. Edith particularly loved Albania and for two months a year, when she was able to leave the family, she worked, painted and wrote as well as collecting folk art. Her artifacts can be seen in the British Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.
In 2006 Elizabeth Gowing moved to Kosovo with her partner Rob, who had been offered a job by the Ministry of Defence. They travelled there via Vienna, Slovenia and Croatia. We learned how Kosovo emerged as an independent country after several bloody and destructive wars. In Kosovo, 90% of the population speaks Albanian and most of the rest speak Serbian. Elizabeth discovered that Edith Durham had made a huge impact on the Albanians, collecting money to supply medicines such as quinine, during the first Balkan War. Many descendants claim they owe their existence to the help she gave to their ancestors. Elizabeth discovered how challenging it would have been for a woman to be accepted in Albania. A famous saying from Albania was that ‘Woman is a sack to be well used.’ Elizabeth’s first book on Kosovo, ‘Travels in Blood and Honey’, is about her experiences as a first time beekeeper and the many friends she made through her interest in apiculture. She subsequently wrote ‘Edith and I’ as a result of her fascination with Edith’s life. Edith has streets named after her in Kosovo and she is the first woman on a Kosovan stamp. Nonetheless, her increasingly anti-Serb views earned her a reputation, in some circles, as a difficult and eccentric woman.
Since Elizabeth and Rob settled in Kosovo, eight years ago, Elizabeth has set up a charity - ‘The Ideas Partnership’, to support the education of ethnic minority groups, in particular the Romas. Money raised has been used to send Roma children to school and to train their mothers, formerly street beggars and social outcasts, to use sewing machines and contribute to Kosovo’s growing textile industry. Kosovo is a tiny country (about the size of Devon) yet full of intriguing history and culture. Elizabeth Gowing’s talk gave us a fascinating insight into the life of the lady dubbed by Albanians as ‘the Queen of the Highlanders’.
To find out more, please visit www.elizabethgowing.com
Report written by Diss U3A Publicity Secretary and Newsletter Editor - Georgina Livingstone [email protected]
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 6th November, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church.
The guest speaker will be Elizabeth Sweeney who will give a talk called, ‘Brussels, Europe - What’s it all about? Who is making the laws in Europe?’
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
The Lost City of Dunwich
The guest speaker at the September meeting was Mark Mitchels, who returned to Diss U3A to give a talk on ‘The Lost City of Dunwich’.
‘No-one can stand on the cliffs of Dunwich and not wonder about the city which is now more than a mile out below the North Sea. At the time of the Domesday Book, Dunwich was spoken of as the tenth largest city in England. Since it began to crumble and fall into the waves, the Lost City has engrossed both historians and visitors.’ - From www.markmitchels.com/Dunwich
In a fascinating recount of the rise and fall of Dunwich as a prime seaport, Mark Mitchels described the size and influence of this city, using photographs and maps. (See below taken from research at Southampton University)
We learned that Dunwich was used by the Romans as a port. By 500 AD a shingle spit began moving southwards towards Dunwich, giving birth to the large Dunwich harbour. Later, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings used the area for trade and defence, recognizing its anchorage potential. The population of around 3000 was greater than Norwich or Ipswich, thus enticing the Normans to build on the city’s power as seaport. A parish boundary was drawn to the west to take in all the anchorage area and exclude the farming communities to the west. This was possibly their greatest mistake, as the city might have survived what was to follow, had its inhabitants not so arrogantly alienated their neighbours.
By 1225 there were probably 5000 people living in the city and many churches. Henry VIII kept two royal ships in the harbor, whilst Richard and Alice FitzJohn built Greyfriars monastery. Dunwich flourished. People flocked to the central market to buy herring, wool and other imported luxuries. However, on 23rd March 1226, a huge storm flooded the town, destroying all its sea defences. Greyfriars was abandoned and the storm blocked the harbour entrance (whilst unblocking the northern entrance at Walberswick.) It took 3 years for the residents to unblock their harbour and re-block the northern entrance! 200 houses were lost in this storm. There is evidence of piracy in the port – 10 men were hanged in Ipswich. Bad luck was followed by worse luck – another huge storm (1300) affecting half the city. The harbour entrance closed up at least twice a year so traders, unsurprisingly, shifted their allegiance to Ipswich. In 1328 another storm completely blocked the harbour entrance and the area (now known as Dingle Marshes) subsequently ‘gunged up’. The town gradually declined as over 400 more houses collapsed into the sea. The population dwindled to 600 whilst Edward III deprived Dunwich of its right to have a city mayor. The city was doomed….
In 1570, chronicles recount how another massive storm left Dunwich residents in ‘utter dismay’. By 1677 the water had flooded over the market place. By 1702 St Peter’s church had been stripped of its lead before it tumbled over the cliff. By 1755, All Saints was the only surviving church. Dunwich was now a tiny fishing hamlet. Smuggling along the beach enticed poets and artists (such as J M Turner to flock to Dunwich and feed their imaginations on the lost city.
In 1830 St James’s Church was built beside the leper hospital. Ironically, the hospital remains survive as it had been deliberately built on the western outskirts of the once flourishing city. In 1919 the tower or All Saints Church collapsed in to the sea.
The remains of Dunwich are what we can see today, including a sprinkling of Edwardian and Victorian houses and a small, fascinating museum which shows the trail of decline and destruction in this once prestigious city. The popular fish and chip café has been a recent, welcome addition.
Mark Mitchel’s lecture convinced us that ‘Pride does indeed come before a Fall and still the North Sea advances, grasping the retreating land’ www.markmitchels.com/Dunwich.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 2nd October, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church, at which the guest speaker will be Elizabeth Gowing who will give a talk called ‘Edith and I - On the trail of an Edwardian Traveller in Kosovo’.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Forensic Science in Hong Kong
The guest speaker at the August meeting was Brian Heard, who gave a talk on life with the police in Hong Kong. This talk followed a previous talk on ‘Forensics in Scotland Yard’.
Brian is a forensics expert who has written books on firearms and ballistics. He told the group about his experiences in Hong Kong, where, upon arrival, he was given a warrant to arrest and a gun. In temperatures of 35 degrees and 90% humidity Brian either had to wear a heavy overcoat to hide the gun or an ankle holster which caused problems when trying to sit down. We were entertained with many stories and anecdotes about his adventures in Hong Kong, such as the incident with the furious Asian buffalo, ‘like a bulldozer with a shovel’, who had escaped from an abattoir. A 12-bore gun merely stunned the angry buffalo, so Brian had to hurry back to the police station and bring a powerful military rifle that he used to end the drama.
We also heard about the many rat infested boats used to bring in refugees from China’s mainland, the box of 25 grenades found rusting in the back of a car (which Brian successfully blew up with cortex explosive), horse racing gangs, triads robbing shops and a nocturnal visit to a rat and cockroach infested mortuary to identify a criminal recently shot by the police.
A skull, brought back from Hong Kong, was passed round the audience to illustrate how a bullet had entered and exited the head of an illegal immigrant shot by the police.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 4th September, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church, at which the guest speaker will be Mark Mitchels who will give a talk on “The Lost City of Dunwich”
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Facts, Fibs and a Pinch of Salt
The guest speaker at the July meeting was Doreen Reed, who gave an entertaining performance of her humorous stories and poems. Doreen lived in Warwickshire as a child but soon discovered the joys of Norfolk whilst out on weekend cycling trips. She has given many talks to the WI and other organisations and published books and CDs of her poems.
The first poem we heard concerned those hard working worms that live in our compost and munch their way through our rejected vegetable matter. Doreen caused much amusement when she told us how the worm felt as a large head of cauliflower was dropped on its tiny, wriggling body; immediately we were drawn into the world of insects and other tiny creatures.
I’m sure most of the audience will have agreed with Doreen’s thoughts about housework; the image of instant Christmas decorations using spray paint on the cobwebs and an innocent remark about the piles of dust everywhere – well, if people turn to dust after they die then….’someone has died under your bed!’
Many of Doreen’s friends and relatives were eternalized in verse, such as 97 year old Grandpa, who had a lisp and when asked what he’d like for his birthday, replied ‘I would love a thong’; he was very disappointed that no-one sang to him! Another tale concerned the 60 year old who thought it reasonable to swop his 50 year old wife for two 25 year olds.
Many poems used witty puns and misunderstandings, such as the anecdote about pinching peaches; was it to see if they were ripe or just because it saved buying them in the market?
Other stories and poems referred to sawn-off guns, legs sticking (in and) out of coffins (something about the Hokey Cokey); Auntie’s tablets and Monty Don being confused with….the Full Monty, an unexpected treat that thrilled Granny who was soon on the village hall stage, entwined with a stripper and showing off her frilly knickers.
In all, a most enjoyable and frivolous morning for Diss U3A.
To find out more about Doreen Reed’s career, go to http://www.doreenreedpoet.com
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 7th August, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church, when the guest speaker will be Brian Heard, who will follow up last year’s talk on forensics at Scotland Yard with a talk on “Forensic Science in Hong Kong”.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
Frolics, Fervour and Fornication
The guest speaker at the June meeting was Pip Wright, retired primary school teacher, who has published several books and given many talks on local history on subjects ranging from ‘The Dissolution of the Monasteries’ to ‘Exploring Suffolk by Bus Pass’.
Pip Wright is an enthusiastic collector of stories from old newspapers and local records. The talk enjoyed by Diss U3A this month was based on many Suffolk Parish Registers of births, marriages and deaths. By delving into the parish chests and extracting snippets that perhaps shouldn’t have been recorded, he was able to entertain us with a fascinating glimpse into the seedier side of local life. For instance, in Hintlesham, the rector complained that people were negligent about bringing up their children ‘in the faith’ and in Thorpe Morieux the vicar wrote that it was a ‘fruitful year for bastards’.
Parish records show crosses replacing signatures when the person signing was illiterate. Yet Bury Cathedral records identify the feisty Charity Morell, who signed her name with her right foot, ‘having no arms or legs’ (1832). The burial registers in Beccles sometimes showed the cause of death, such as …’drowned in the river’ and ‘childbirth - but the child was not her husband’s’. In Thurston a woman died ‘sliding down the banisters’ at the railway station.
Belstead parish reveals that many collections were made for fire, floods or famine, while in Euston the parson wrote a poem about church v state. Other entries included a recipe for apple pie and how to cure a dog bite. The vicar of Coney Weston (1764) made it clear that he hated his parishioners, describing them as ‘barbaric and inhumane’. In Hawstead parish (1759) there is a record of two ‘joined’ children, ‘joined from the neck down’. Sadly the children were referred to as ‘monsters’, a not uncommon reaction to Siamese twins as we know them today.
One particularly gruesome incident found in the Bury St Edmunds records, is the story of the barrister Arundel Coke who gave a hook to labourer, John Woodburn, so he could kill his brother-in-law in St Mary’s Churchyard. Coke joined in the attack, hacking off the victim’s nose and ear. Alas, he wasn’t quite dead. A famous trial followed after which Coke was hanged and later dissected in Shire Hall in full view of the public.
Great Whelnetham seems to have been a venue for wife swopping and fornication, whereas in Ubbeston, Sarah Edwards did penance in the porch, wearing a white sheet and holding a wand. Her crime…..adultery and fornication.
To find out more about Pip Wright’s talks and books go to www.pipwright.com
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 3rd July, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church. The guest speaker, Doreen Reed, will talk on the subject “Facts, Fibs and a Pinch of Salt”
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
The guest speaker at the May meeting was Alan Wilkinson, Managing Director of the successful East Anglian based WPP Architects, who gave a fascinating illustrated tour of contemporary architecture in Suffolk. As well as being a general practitioner, Alan has been a part time tutor at Oxford Brookes and a part time lecturer at Suffolk College.
Diversity in design was reflected in buildings such as Heron House in Aldeburgh, the interior of Lowestoft College, social housing in Ipswich, the Dune House at Thorpe Ness and the ‘Balancing Barn’ (reminiscent of the bus in ‘The Italian Job’).
Alan explained the principles of modern architecture such as ‘form follows function’, lifestyle, context and environmental impact. One example of green building is Bradfield Woods Visitors’ Centre, a timber framed building with extremely low carbon emissions.
Alan worked for Birkin Haward in 1971 and was inspired by his H design for Ipswich College and the ‘brise soleil’ effect as seen in Rushmere Hall School.
In modern architecture, Alan quotes Vitruvius’s motto: ‘firmitas, utilitas et venustas”, translated as “commodity, firmness and delight”. He believes these are the essential ingredients of modern architectural design. For example, the EACH Hospice in Ipswich is a serene, elegant and non- institutional building, whilst the originality and humour of the ‘Sliding House’ cannot fail to delight.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 5th June, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church. The guest speaker, Pip Wright, will talk on the subject ‘’Frolic, Fervour and Fornication”.
For further information on Diss U3A, please visit the website: www.dissu3a.org.uk
The guest speaker at the April meeting was Peter Maggs, former rock musician turned physicist, who gave an enlightening and well-illustrated talk on ‘The Untold Story” of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
As the ‘untold story’ unfolded, we learned about the challenges of building Brunel’s third ship, the vast Great Eastern steamship, with its dramatic launch attempts in 1857/8. When the winches failed, it was clear that more hydraulic presses were needed; three boilermen were killed when the funnel exploded and Brunel himself suffered a stroke and died the following year. Yet the maiden voyage to New York was a resounding success. The double hull saved her from fateful encounters with rocks and icebergs suffered by ships like the Concordia and the Titanic.
In 1864 the Great Eastern was sold for a mere £2500. After ripping out the passenger seats, she was loaded with telegraph cable which was successfully laid from Kerry to Newfoundland. Another Brunel project, the two-mile-long Wiltshire Box Tunnel (opened 1841) cost the lives of 100 men. There is an anecdote that the Box Tunnel may have been deliberately oriented so that the rising sun shines all the way through it on Brunel's birthday. Brunel was recently voted second greatest hero (after Churchill) in the BBC ‘Hundred Greatest Britons’ poll so it was interesting to hear about some of the lesser known triumphs and tragedies as well as the successes of this remarkable innovator.
The next meeting of Diss U3A will be on Thursday 1st May, commencing at 10.30, at Diss United Reform Church.
The guest speaker, Alan Wilkinson, will talk on the subject ‘Suffolk Architecture Today’.
For further information on Diss U3A please visit the website or telephone 01379 642674.