Edition 25 – January 2021 Welcome to the January Edition of our Newsletter Happy New Year - and it’s been a great start of the year for the newsletter because I have received lots of items to put in it! It is full of articles by you, the members! So a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has contributed to this month’s newsletter and please don’t forget to keep sending in your articles. The above photo was taken by Helen Campbell and you can see more of Helen’s fabulous seasonal photos on page 4. One thing you may notice in the newsletter is the U3A logo has now been changed by National Office to u3a. So for our eagle eyed members – it is not a typo! With the wonderful news of the vaccine being rolled out (and I know several members have been lucky enough to have already have received it) we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully it won’t be too long before we can all safely meet up again. Don’t forget our next edition will be published on Thursday 18th February and will hopefully be another bumper one so please remember to send in your contributions by 12th February. Please send any contributions to 1 Karen: [email protected] Music in Our Time Music Inspired By Travelling by Alan Malloy Looking forward to the happy time when we can travel again, I have taken this theme for my music article this month. I hope you find these songs, mostly contemporary, enjoyable and uplifting. Up-Up And Away This song takes me back to my teenage years: happy times for me. The group performing this is The Fifth Dimension. The song was a hit record for this American group in many countries and such was its success, that it was recorded by many other artists including Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Diana Ross and, Nancy Sinatra. Hearing this song makes my spirits soar, I hope it does the same for you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5akEgsZSfhg Ticket To Ride Of course we all remember this song, released by The Beatles in 1965. While the sentiments may not be especially positive, the tune itself is upbeat and happy. The song got to Number 1, the Beatles’ seventh consecutive number 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyNt5zm3U_M Fly Me To The Moon This song was most famously sung by Frank Sinatra and is strongly associated with the Apollo missions to the moon. Sinatra’s recording was released in 1964, although the song was originally written ten years earlier and recorded by several other artists including Johnny Mathis and Peggy Lee. Originally entitled ‘In Other Words’, Peggy Lee persuaded the writer Bart Howard to change its title. Interestingly, the song was taken on cassette to the moon by the crews of both Apollos 10 and 11. (Apollo 11 famously landed on the Moon in July 1969.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQR0bXO_l8 Planes and Boats and Trains This song was written by Burt Bacharach with his lyricist Hal David, and first recorded in 1965. It soon became a hit and was performed by Bacharach himself and also Dionne Warwick in America, and in this country, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Bacharach wrote the song for Gene Pitney, who declined to record it saying “It’s not one of your best.” Dionne Warwick is the singer in this clip, and is to my mind one of the best performers of this wonderful song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwOngoEnVgw Walkin’ Back To Happiness For my final song, I’ve chosen something more environmentally friendly - walking. This song was performed most notably by Helen Shapiro in 1961. It sold over a million copies and was top of the pops in many countries. It is a happy, optimistic song and a perfect way during Lockdown to finish this article on travelling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwGGFo5FDew 2 1 1 Useful Information!! 8 New measures announced by the First Minister last week have come into force: Click & Collect Only retailers selling essential click & collect services - such as clothing, footwear, baby equipment, homeware and books - will be allowed to offer click and collect, with access inside the premises not permitted. Takeaway Customers will no longer be permitted to go inside to collect takeaways. Alcohol Drinking alcohol outdoors in public spaces will now be against the law in all level four areas of Scotland. Stay At Home People must not leave or remain outside the home unless it is for an essential purpose. Work Inside Homes Work is only permitted if it is essential for the maintenance and functioning of the home. Work From Home The law already says that we should only be leaving home to go to work if it is work that cannot be done from home. Coronavirus in Scotland Stopping the spread starts with all of us. You should: wear a face covering avoid crowded places clean hands and surfaces regularly stay 2m away from other people 3 self-isolate and book a test if you have COVID-19 symptoms (new continuous cough, fever or loss of, or change in, sense Helen Campbell has been busy with her camera again! Crab apples in winter light Moniack forest walk Bark, so lovely in wintertime 4 Helen says ‘from my Bishops walk, with Judy. Signs of spring just round the corner as snowdrops about to show, catkins and pussy willow opening on trees and of course the amazing shoreline and sky that we enjoy, so blessed in our surroundings in Easter Ross. 5 “A HIGHLAND LEGACY” by Hamish Mackenzie Our esteemed editor asks whether we have been doing anything during lockdown that might be of interest to other members. In my case I have finally managed to complete and to bring to publication a book that I started writing when, thirteen years ago, I reached three score years and ten:- 6 Hopefully the blurb should give you some idea of whether my book might be of interest:- You can explore the book further with Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature. Should you perchance be minded to risk buying a copy Amazon offers a discount from the retail price of £18.99 - but I would urge you to be generous enough to buy it at the full price from the Tain & District Museum, whose income has suffered during the pandemic and to which I have donated the first print run. They will mail out copies from https://www.tainmuseum.org.uk/a- highland-legacy.asp . 7 John Webster 07/06/1920 - 05/12/2020 On the morning of Tuesday 15th December, it was with great sadness that family and friends gathered together at the St. Duthus New Cemetery in Tain to bid a final farewell to our dear friend John. It was a glorious winter’s day, with bright sun and a cloudless, blue sky, perfect weather for the outdoor funeral service which was led by Rev. Andrew Fothergill. Two hymns were sung, ‘My times are in thy hand’ and ‘Thine be the glory’, which were accompanied by a keyboard. Moving tributes were paid to John by one of his daughters and his oldest grandson, recalling his loving nature, his incredible sense of humour and his indefatigable spirit of adventure. The service ended with ‘Going Home’ (Dvorak’s Theme from the New World Symphony,) played beautifully by a lone piper. John’s obituary was published in The Scottish Times on Wednesday December 30th 2020 and The Scotsman on Friday January 8th 2021. Both are available online and make for truly captivating reading. Our thoughts and prayers are with Pat and family at this sad time. 8 Dear ERAS Friends Thank you for all your messages of love and support after John died. They were a great source of comfort and encouragement. I shall miss him, as I know you will, but we all realized that it was his time to go – I`m pretty sure he`d decided it was too – and his funeral gave us the chance to let him go on his next big adventure with our love and blessing. I was so glad some of you were able to join us at the outdoor service, and only sorry everybody couldn`t come up to the hotel with us afterwards to share some memories. The encouragement and support has been there throughout lockdown as well, and I`m sure everyone has been greatly cheered by and benefitted from the messages, `funnies`, videos, the frequent checking in just to make sure everyone was ok. I know we were. And then there was – and is – the Newsletter …..! I`m so glad that has continued, by popular request. Our membership of U3A has added so much to our lives over the past (five or six?) years and we have (and do) treasure the friendships made. With interesting places to go, fun things to do and learn , and always, friends to meet and chat with – a part John particularly enjoyed – we have had a full, and fairly active, social life which has been a source of much pleasure to both of us. I am especially glad that John was able to be interested, active and engaged right up to his 100th birthday. (Your part in the lockdown celebrations for that occasion will be a lasting memory!) Thank you all for your friendship, to both John and me. I look forward to many more happy times – hopefully some of them, some time in the not too distant future, face to face rather than via a screen.