BULLETIN Sedgefield & District July 22, 2020 Well here we are, another couple of weeks nearer normality. It was wonderful for those of us who can now form a ‘bubble’ to be able to get close to our loved ones again. I don't know who was more excited, the grandchildren or myself, to be able to indulge in the very much missed cuddles and hugs. On the flip side, of course, has been the distress and anxiety caused by the anarchic few who over-reacted to the BLM issue and proved that recent months have not resulted in, as hoped, tolerance, open-mindedness and respect for our fellow men. We have a couple of items to tell you about re U3A Amendments and apologies from matters in the next few weeks. last issue. Following the success of our inaugural Covid meeting 1. when over 40 of you joined us to listen to Peter’s fasci- Recipe ingredients list should read nating talk on to Infinity and Beyond, our next General 150g skinless salmon ie approx. 1 Meeting will be on Friday, 3rd July at 2pm, again via salmon fillet. Zoom. Ray Manning will be encouraging us all to ‘Eat wisely, 2. National Trust property visits. Not Eat Well’. In his previous life, Ray was a lecturer at all properties are open, and all Durham University and its Stockton campus where he houses are still closed. It is best to ran the Biological Sciences and Medicine programmes. check online before setting off as He really knows his stuff and we look forward to him many sites have introduced an ad- sharing it with us then. vanced booking system to help man- If you know of anyone, who is perhaps no longer a mem- age visitor numbers and to keep to ber or a friend or neighbour who would like to join us for safe, social distancing. Tickets are this session, please forward their e-mail details to released every Friday for the fol- Maxine who will add them to our invitation. lowing week. It seems that if you We’re really pleased to tell you that we are the only haven’t booked and don't arrive at group in our area - from Saltburn to Wooler - to have your designated time, you will be held a general meeting in the current situation or to turned away. have so many of our members continue to meet (online) and keep their groups moving forward. Carole Morgan and Carol Bell will be hosting a Picnic Lunch in the grounds of Ceddesfeld Hall on July 16th at 12.30pm. Hopefully it will be a warm and sunny day. Members are requested to bring their own food and drink and a chair or picnic rug to sit on. We will, of However, more gardens and parks course, practice social distancing and follow any up- are due to open every week and dated advice - currently to keep to no-more-than-6-in- more tickets are gradually being re- a-group. Please note that there will be no toilet facilities leased for those places already as both Ceddesfeld Hall and the Squash Club are closed open. Keep checking! until further notice. Alison and Ray Manning have sent in some thoughts and comments on the Wit and Wisdom of vari- ous famous authors, poets and writers. Given our age demographic here are a few anecdotes about forgetfulness : John Drew, a comic stage actor, once shaved off his large, impressive moustache, dramatically changing his appearance. Soon after, he met Max Beerbohm, the famous English satirist, whom he failed to remember. Beerbohm, on the other hand, remembered Drew. “Mr Drew”, he said “I’m afraid you don’t recog- nise me without your moustache!” Now, the writer G.K. Chesterton was very absent-minded and was devoted to his mother. After he became engaged, he wrote a long letter to her to share the happy news. Having finished the letter, he turned around, only to remember that she was sitting in the same room as him. On October, 1944, Dylan Thomas failed to appear at the wedding of his friend, Vernon Watkins in London, where Dylan Thomas was due to be his Best Man. After the ceremony, Watkins received an envelope from Thomas containing two letters. The first letter apologised for having forgotten the name of the church – and the second letter apologised for having forgotten to post the first letter! The famous conductor Sir Thomas Beecham once met a very distinguished looking lady in a hotel. She looked familiar but he couldn’t remember her name. He vaguely remembered that she had a brother, so asked about the health of her brother and whether he was still working at the same job? Oh, he’s very well”, said Princess Mary ….and he’s still King George VI” In 1984, the members of the Oxford Library Club for Retired Professional People were really looking forward to hearing their next guest speaker on the subject of “Old Age, Absent- Mindedness and Keeping Fit”. Unfortunately, the speaker forgot to turn up ! (This reminds me of the time Ray was due to give a talk on Diet and Health to the Wellbeing Group but had to cancel as he was unwell!!) John Campbell, an absent-minded Scottish writer in the 18th Century, was in a bookstore one day. He became very engrossed in a particular book, decided to buy it and took it home. After he had read it half-way through, he realised that he had written it! William Cecil, Bishop of Exeter, was travelling by train one day, on his way to a ceremony. When the Ticket Inspector arrived, he couldn’t find his ticket. “That’s alright, my Lord”, said the sympathetic Inspector, “We know who you are” “That’s all very well”, replied the Bishop – “but without my ticket, how do I know where I’m going?” Sir Isaac Newton’s maid once found the great man in the kitchen, standing in front of a pot of boil- ing water. Baffled, he looked at the pot, which contained his watch, and next at his hand, which contained an egg. and haven’t we all been there, done that? . Now, which famous wit gave us these quotes? Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars A good friend will always stab you in the front Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilisation in between. Oscar Wilde Memories, stirred by recent events, prompt Chris Balfour to write : Over forty years ago my then husband was given the opportunity to go and work in Nigeria, building new roads and bridges in Jos state in the middle of the country. Early in September he set off, carrying my sewing machine as hand luggage. As you do! Six weeks later, unwilling to let him have such an adventure on his own, the children and I had packed our bags and followed him out there. Never having flown before, my first task was to make my way through Heathrow with an over- loaded luggage trolley and two over-excited young children, then aged 4 and 7. They remember me as being confident and sure about what we were doing/where we were going but all I remember was how anxious and worried I was about getting on the right plane! We landed in Kano at 6o’clock in the morning and John met us at the foot of the aircraft steps. My first impression of Nigeria was the intense heat, even at that hour, and the pervasive smell of sew- ers and Shelltox (fly-spray). I do wish someone had better warned me about mosquitos: we had started taking our anti-malarial medication and had had all our required injections, but I wasn’t aware that either I or my daughter would react so intensively to being bitten. That first evening we’d gone out for dinner with some of our new colleagues and I was wearing a long skirt - under which i was bitten 37 times!; overnight Jac was bitten on her eyelid which swelled up to close her eye. We visited the local Company doctor who promptly sent us to the local hospital where we were given injections of antihistamine. Not the arrival I had hoped for. After the weekend, we travelled down country to our new home where we were introduced to our new ‘staff’. In the current climate, I’m a bit reluctant to admit to that, but they were all paid at the agreed rate and all lived with their families in purpose built units next to our camp. As John was the Consultant on the job, we had our own bungalow in its own grounds attached to the Con- tractor’s camp - where there were two other families with young children. I had a ’houseboy’ who helped me in the house and we had a driver and two ’guards’. One for the day , and one for night- time, they sat by the gates and stopped any passers- by from coming onto our grounds. Jos State is on a raised plateau in the middle of Nigeria and has a com- paratively temperate climate to the rest of the coun- try. It is there, therefore, that many Christian mis- sionaries based their attempts to educate and con- vert local people.