Croydon U3A Magazine Summer 2019 The Third Age Trust (Operating as the University of the Third Age) Croydon U3A Reg. Charity No. 102946612 Website address www.u3asites.org.uk/croydon . Table of Contents Editorial 1 Chairman’s Message 2 Outing – A Friary and a Rural Museum 2 – 6 General Meeting Talks Open Spaces 6 - 10 Croydon Airport 10 – 11 ‘Change your thoughts and you change your 12 life’ Groups Wildflowers 13 - 14 History of London 3 15 - 17 Learning from a visit to a sewage treatment works - Science and Technology Group 18 - 21 China 21 – 22 Story The Double Act 22 – 23 Six Months in Another World 23 - 29 When Do I Retire? 30 - 32 Climate Change and Travel 32 - 33 Using a Laptop 33 - 34 A Local Derby 34 - 35 Oddments 35 - 36 Cover Picture – The Science and Technology Group on a visit to the Thames Water Sewage Treatment Plant at Long Reach Picture credit – John Smith (more pictures from John with the report on pages 18 - 21) Editorial In a village near Coulsdon there’s a bungalow named Beggars’ Keep. (Note the position of the apostrophe, indicating that more than one beggar lives there.) Of course, it’s a contradiction in terms. A ‘keep’ is a stronghold, capable of being defended. A beggar could hardly aspire to such a place, unless it was in ruins. But the bungalow looks well kept. So one must credit the owner with a sense of humour. Perhaps also with the virtue of modesty, unlike the names of neighbouring bungalows: exotic and flaunting the experience of far flung travel. I’d be happy with the name, Beggars’ Keep. I’m glad that Heather Hardie has treated us to an account of her adventurous six month ‘holiday’ (perhaps ‘expedition’ is more appropriate) in countries of South East Asia. I had thought we would have to publish it in two instalments. But we have room for all of it. So board your plane, fasten your seatbelts and take off into Heather’s Wonderland! David Talbot provides a thought-provoking plea for holidays at home to reduce pollution from air travel. Should we abstain from life-enhancing experiences such as Heather’s in that cause? A conundrum! Thanks to Group Leaders for telling us what their Groups are up to. And to our other contributors. The deadline for the Autumn issue of the Magazine will be Wednesday 9 October. I shall welcome contributions. Gordon Thynne Picture tea garden in Sikkim in the Himalayas – Heather’s wonderland Credit - Subhrajyoti07 (Creative Commons from Wikimedia) 1 Chairman’s Message Dear Members, It’s exam season again, and for years I have been involved with GCSE assessments. It’s pretty hard going to ensure consistency across a huge team of examiners. One of the questions that’s had me thinking is about the Big Bang Theory. I can recite the ‘facts’ but my comprehension of them is a bit elastic. I really have no concept of ‘billions of years’. My SATNAV often tells me to ‘keep on this road for a long time’ and I can cope with that!! Here’s a gem to get your grey cells around, from Professor de Strooper* – if the whole population (of about seven and a half billion) were each hooked up to a computer and working together, that would still be less than one tenth of what’s going on inside the average brain!!!! All this science about the origins of the universe and how the brain works and regenerates itself fascinates me. That’s what is so great about having a little time on our hands – we can explore the world of ideas and theories. People’s ‘bucket lists’ often seem to include places to visit and experiences to be had. Mine is more of a list of things to find out about and try to understand…… Lifelong learning really does rock. Keep the brain busy and do a bit of physical stretching at the same time. Happy retirement and very best wishes to all, Jenny (Chairman) *Director of UK Dementia Research Institute at University College, London, since December 2016 – Editor Outings A Friary and a Rural Museum On Thursday 16 May a full coach of U3A members went to a Friary near Aylsford in Kent. Aylsford Priory, or ‘The Friars’, was founded in 1242 after the arrival of Carmelites from Palestine. Coffee and shortbread (not bread and water) were laid on before we assembled in a medieval hall to hear about the history of the place. 2 Many other Carmelite priories were founded in England and Wales. (Friars differed from monks in that they were not isolated from the surrounding community, but went out preaching and teaching.) In 1538, after the dissolution of the monasteries, the Priory was granted to Sir Thomas Wyatt of nearby Allington Castle. After various changes of ownership, Sir John Banks, a naval supplier, bought it in the 17th century and turned it into a fine mansion. Samuel Pepys, himself a navy man, was a visitor, and commented: ‘I was mighty pleased with the sight of it’. In 1949 the house was put up for sale and the Carmelite order was able to buy back their ‘motherhouse’. Father Malachy, the first Prior, conceived the idea of an open-air shrine. Adrian Gilbert Scott, one of the famous family of architects, designed this and neighbouring chapels. They stand in a semi-circle, raised up above a piazza. It gives the impression of an amphitheatre for a congregation of pilgrims. As well as a notable architect, talented artists embellished the shrine and chapels, notably Adam Kossowski* who designed and made ceramic illustrations of biblical themes. At the rear of the piazza is an ancient tree, a False Acacia (or Robinia). Its massive girth bears out the reputed age of over 500 years. Beyond it is a homely duck pond. We were fortunate in being able to appreciate the lovely grounds and gardens in fine weather. We came not as pilgrims but as ordinary sightseers. But something of the dedication and devotion that had gone into the making of the place couldn’t help but impress. It must be a remarkable experience to be one of a party of enthusiastic pilgrims. Picture - 500 year old Robinia (Gordon Thynne) 3 Aylesford Priory the Great Courtyard (top) and the Shrine (bottom) Picture credits – Ian Capper Creative Commons from geography.org.uk 4 Aylesford Priory the Relic Chapel (top) and Cuxton Chapel at 'Kent Life' (bottom) Picture credits – Gordon Thynne 5 From there we travelled in the trusty Banstead coach down more lanes to the Heritage Farm Park, ‘Kent Life’. Animals, a Playbarn and a Train make it an attraction for children. For us sedate adults there were re-creations of cottages and public buildings and … well, the Train. Amongst the reconstructed buildings described to us by a pleasant and knowledgeable guide were a row of cottages, furnished as though in the 1940’s, with an Anderson shelter in the garden; a ‘tin’ chapel from Cuxton which had done sterling service as a place of worship from 1897 to the 1950s; and huts provided as accommodation for hop-pickers (a whole family in what was no more than a hovel). Hops are still grown there, and the oast houses are the last ‘working’ ones in the country. The train took us up the hill where we were treated to (self-service) tea, coffee and cakes in the former village hall of Ulcombe (built 1895 and still with its corrugated iron roof). For the less able and more lazy, the train took us down again, to board the coach for home. The Travel Team’s efforts had been much appreciated. Gordon Thynne *Adam Kossowski, Polish artist noted for his works for the Catholic Church in England, where he arrived in 1943 as a refugee from USSR labour camps. Reports from General Meetings Open Spaces On 8 May Cora Pfarre, the City of London Corporation’s Conservation Ranger for the South London Commons told the General Meeting about the work of the Corporation’s Open Spaces and Heritage Department in the management of the Croydon and West Wickham Commons. Farthing Downs is a scheduled ancient monument, with its Iron Age lynchets, traces of an ancient farming system, and Iron Age burials. There have been some half-dozen excavations, starting in the early 1900s. In those days finds were often taken home as curios by antiquarians, unfortunately losing their context and now probably lost. 6 Signpost on Farthing Downs Credit Des Blenkinsopp (Creative Commons from geography.org.uk) Anti-aircraft ditches were dug across the Downs during World War II. Although filled in, they still appear as white lines on aerial photographs and as undulations in the road. Together with New Hill, which the Corporation bought in 2003, Farthing Downs comprise 95 hectares of chalk grassland habitat. This is now quite rare as 80% of such grasslands have been lost since the 1940s. Left ungrazed while national resources went into post-war reconstruction, much of the Downs reverted back to scrub, losing the specific chalk grassland species. Cora told the meeting that it is now possible to find 20 - 30 plant species in a single square metre. Maintaining this biodiversity involves having a breeding herd of Sussex red cattle, and volunteers pulling out yellow ragwort. 7 The ragwort is important as a good source for nectar feeders, but left to seed it would crowd out other plants and be a hazard to livestock as it is poisonous for horses, sheep and cattle which may eat it later in the summer.