August 2020 Vitality! Official newsletter of the Syston and District U3A CHARITY No 1180152 FROM OUR CHAIRMAN Another month has passed since I last wrote to you and whilst I’m pleased to report that Birstall and Thurmaston are out of lockdown, it would appear that we still cannot go on holiday. I do hope none of you from Birstall or Thurmaston had a holiday booked and have been turned round at the airport, because that would really be a double whammy. I realise that not many of our groups are running a present and I do hope we can see an end so that we can get back to some semi business as usual. Our coordinators have written out to all the group leaders to establish which groups may be running and how they have overcome the current problems. Once we get all this information, we may be able to provide guidelines on how to proceed for groups considering starting up again. Of course, the major problems will be that of venues. You may be able to consider impromptu meetings in your gardens, if the weather forecast promises good weather for the for coming days. I realise this would mean deviating from your planned meeting dates, but it might be the only way we can meet and socially distance. Whilst writing this piece I received the latest advice from The Third Trust and share it here to keep you fully posted. Latest Covid-19 guidance for U3As July 29 2020 Introduction There has been further clarity around the implications of different rules and guidance recently introduced to the Covid-19 measures for the different nations and islands in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Island of Great Britain which are summarized in the table below for your convenience. Further detail is added below for each nation. When should you stay at home? You should not leave your home to take part in U3A activity if government advice means that you should stay at home or if you or anyone in your household has symptoms of Coronavirus. The government advises If you or someone in your household or your support bubble is showing coronavirus symptoms, everyone in your support bubble should stay home. If you or a member of your support bubble is contacted as part of the test and trace programme, the individual contacted should stay at home. If that individual becomes symptomatic, everyone in the support bubble must then isolate. This is critical to staying safe and saving lives. It is advisable that any U3A group activities that are taking place ~ 1 ~ at this time should keep a log of those participating for track and trace purposes should the need arise and you would need to advise members that this information would be shared with the NHS Track and Trace team in that event. The above was ‘cut & paste’ from a 10-page document and I have shortened it to convey the essential information. If anyone requires more detailed information i.e. where there is reference to a sub note (e.g. 1.3 below). Please contact me, or the Secretary, for the full document. Stay safe WE WANT TO LET YOU KNOW “Phishing” email The Third Age Trust has circulated the following message regarding a “phishing” email which has been sent to U3A members in another region. Their message reads: “We are aware of a phishing email which appears to have been distributed among U3A contacts. The email will appear to have been sent by someone (in the U3A). It contains a blue box with the word 'Preview' in it and wants you to click on it. DO NOT OPEN OR CLICK ON IT. If you have received it and opened it, please let us know so we can help you sort this out. Please email [email protected] or call one of our team on 0208 466 6139 Our staff team will note your details and help you accordingly. The email should be deleted from your inbox and from your deleted folder and you should change your password. Thank you Third Age Trust”. It’s highly unlikely that you would receive an email like this but – as requested by the National Office - we are alerting you to this incident, and to the dangers posed by such activities. The number of attempted scams and “phishing” messages has increased over the past 4 months and it’s important to be vigilant and protect one another. ~ 2 ~ Message from Group Coordinators We have recently contacted all Group Organisers asking for any updates re their Interest Groups. It is great to read and see photos in Vitality of the various activities that are currently taking place. Several Organisers have told us that they are running their groups electronically, others are keeping in touch via e mail and several are trying to plan how they might re start their groups in the near future. Together with the Committee, we are working to follow Government and U3A guidelines to ensure everyone is kept safe and covered by our insurance when re starting groups. We sincerely hope that time is not too far away! We know your Group Organisers will keep in touch with you and we'd like to thank them for their innovative ideas! Just a few points to help clarify some queries that have arisen: 1. If you take part in any activity with a group (in person or electronically) then you must be a fully paid up member for 2020-21 (£15). 2. The reduced fee in October and January only applies to new members. 3. The Committee have agreed to consider membership fees for 2021-22 when we know when we can fully reopen. Hopefully, we may be able to restart some groups fairly soon! In the meantime, look after yourselves and enjoy any Summer that is left! Our very best wishes Sheila and Janet GROUP NEWS In these lock-down times, some of our groups are still managing to function, despite not being able to meet fully face to face. Here’s a roundup of what’s been happening. U3A SUPPORT GROUP Having made contact with those members who are not on email we are continuing to check in on them. However, the group is not just there for that purpose. Those of us on email, social media, and the like, may welcome to chance to speak with someone other than immediate family and friends. We can provide that opportunity. Although the lockdown is easing for some, there will be those who are wary of venturing out. The change in guidance now allows some of those living alone to link up with another household, if you fall into this category, do not have anyone nearby to link up with, but would like to do so, please let me know. With a little luck we can put people in touch with each other and help lighten the lockdown further. If you would like to be put in touch with one of our volunteers, or would like to link up with another household, just drop me an email: [email protected] or call me on 0116 2609012. ~ 3 ~ BRITISH HISTORY Our topics moved into the 1950’s, an era that is well within the living memory of many members of the U3A. Those who volunteered to carry out research chose subjects that were connected with wars and rebellion that followed in the wake of World War II, the exception to this covered a controversial area for the period in the Wolfenden report. The Korean War. Hardly had the world got used to a world without war or at least on the scale of WW2, when yet another war broke out involving many nations. The origins of the Korean War lay in a fractured relationship entirely dominated by Japan. It was part of the Japanese empire from 1910 until Japan was defeated in 1945 in WW2. The USSR and the USA failed to agree on any unification of Korea and in 1948 the country was split into two along the 38th parallel by the UN, each with its own government. The south of Korea became a military administration by the USA under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur. In the North, the USSR backed a Stalinist regime under their client Kim Il-sung and created the North Korean Peoples' Army. The mix was set for war which flared up between Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), several countries being dragged into the fray on one side or the other. After three years of bloody warfare nothing was gained by either side and each side accepted the armistice drawn up by the UN. The Mau Mau Rebellions in Kenya have been the subject of review on television, so even those of us who are too young to remember the original events may have some knowledge of them. Mau Mau was an underground movement aimed at the recovery of land the indigenous peoples deemed as theirs, and at the expulsion of the Europeans. Although the Mau Mau were defeated, it can be argued that the rebellions paved the way for eventual independence in 1963. The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the tripartite aggression in the Arab world and Sinai War in Israel, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had just nationalised the canal.