August 2009

I did intend to take a break from the blog until September however there are several events I would like to publicise as well as try out the email addresses of the latest to join Swansea U3A . So welcome if you are seeing this blog for the first time.

Joan and I took a six week holiday travelling around Bali and Lombok (Indonesian islands). Some of you followed the Blog as it was being written around each of the ten locations in which we stayed. I have now edited that Blog, added around a hundred photographs, and since that diary is complete I have copy/pasted each posting and reissued them so that they appear in chronological order. Anyone interested can access the blog at the very slightly different address below.

http://rgoldbali.blogspot.com (the 'r' merely indicating the revised order)

It might well be of interest to someone contemplating a holiday in Bali or Lombok, and be of especial benefit to anyone contemplating independent travel.











Balinese Dance at Ubud


















Guests at a Hindu Wedding












Crossing the Wallace Line between Bali and Lombok












Landfall Gili Trawangan, Lombok

















Grupuk, fishing village Lombok






CHANGING POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Normally an avid reader of a daily broadsheet, I make a point of cutting off from world affairs on holiday and immersing myself in new surroundings. How the world had changed in six weeks, yet as always plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose applied. Decades ago management speak in the USA was 'What is Good for General Motors is Good for America' and as a naive young man I found that hard to doubt of the world's most powerful industrialist. Recently GM collapsed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the rump is now largely nationalised by not one but two countries, USA and Canada, a giant who like the banks could not be allowed to fail.

As for UK news I was amazed to find that MP's expenses were still the big story. How about talking millions instead of thousands of pounds and getting after Investment Bankers instead, they make their money from the volatility of stock markets (up or down) and boy have they created a bonanza for those that survived, a monumental collapse followed by a (too?) rapid recovery since March. Without government bale outs across the world they would all have collapsed and taken the rest of us with them.

Are newly soaring banking profits a candidate for a new windfall tax? No, that would be wholly counter productive whilst we are helping the banks to recover, but how about a windfall tax to the extent of the aggregate of salaries and bonuses paid above say £250,000 per person? Perhaps that would stop the rot, and make them change. Some action has been needed for the last two decades to stop the remorseless rise in salary differentials between finance ant the rest of society. Have the politicians, with both main parties so unthinkingly supporting a free market in financial rewards, begun to learn that action is needed now in order to restore trust, and to re-balance our economy?

SKYDIVE for ACTION for CHILDREN
Rita Read-Jones wrote to me a month or so ago to tell me she was doing a parachute jump (skydive) at Swansea airport on 22 August 2009 for the charity 'Action For Children'. Advertised as the Intrepid Granny she is looking for sponsorship from U3A members and others. I for one was very pleased to contribute to this project - rather her than me. Please contact her on 510806 or mobile 07789 153008 after 17 August, and please sponsor this gutsy woman's jump for a very good cause. Donations can be sent direct to her, or via a website of which we have both lost the full details.

MOTO (Members On Their Own)
Next up was Gerwyn Thomas, the leader of the Modern Jive and MOTO (Members On Their Own) groups. Rita is an enthusiastic member of both groups. Moto's latest venture was a day's walk from the Mountain Centre in the Brecon Beacons National Park. It was organised under the auspices of Age Concern instructor Glen Little who hails from Cardiff. There were two walks, one short and one several kms, but both were preceded and finished by exercises under Glen's direction. Gerwyn said he was pleasantly surprised to find himself without stiffness the following day after the longer walk, which he ascribed to Glen's Warm Up and Warm Down exercises. There will be further walks from the same venue starting at 10.30 on 15 August 2009, for further details contact Glen on the Monday to Friday daytime number of 02920 431555.

MODERN JIVE
Gerwyn also told me that Modern Jive was starting up again at 10.30 in the Monkey Cafe on Wednesday mornings from 2 September. From personal experience I can tell you there is no easier way of starting involvement in U3A group Activities. Only last week Val Day was telling me that she had three more participants for her Painting Group as a direct consequence of her attendance at the Jive Group. The hard core belong to a variety of other Groups. Jive is an particularly easy entrance into the MOTO Group, because of a big overlap in membership. If jive is not your cup of tea you can make contact during the coffee break downstairs in the Monkey Cafe, around about 11.30am to midday.

GEOLOGY, SOUTH WALES NETWORK
The Geology Group which operates across South Wales has an outing on Thursday 3 September at 10.30 meeting in the Car Park of Garn Fawr in Pembrokshire (Grid Ref OS Sheet 157 SM899 388). The topic is The Geology of the Pwll Deri Area of North West Pembrokshire, and is being led by Dr Dyfed Elis-Gruffydd. Bring packed lunch. For further information please contact the Secretary Yvonne Thomas on 01554 832337, or better still email her on
yvonne@lunn-thomas.fsnet.co.uk
,declare your interest and ask her to email the relevant poster.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP
September sees a resurgence of activity in many groups, non less eye catching than The Politics and Civilisation Group on Tuesday 8 September at 2pm in the West Cross Community Centre.
Edwina Hart, Welsh Assembly Member for Gower will be attending. She is Minister for Health and Social Services, topics which interest us all, and is enthusiastic about meeting and discussing the issues of the day with the electorate.
It is also the very last time that Margaret Hammond will be in the Chair, as she is handing over to joint new Convenors, Marian Howells and Marjorie Vanston. Let's give her a good send off. Last time she accused me of under-stating her age in this Blog, though she was the one who miss-led me, I now understand this is her 90th year - and she is still leading the Research Group! They work on archive records at the original Swansea Library. Her age sets us all a challenge. Both of these long standing groups deserve an influx of new members to ensure continuity.

CARDS for PLEASURE
Will meet in the Taliesin at 11am on Tuesday 8 September, and again on the 4th Tues 22 September. Ring Lawmary Champion for details on 299828.

READING LITERATURE
Will be reconvening at St Mary's Church Vestry at 2pm on Tuesday 15 September, thereafter on the 1st as well as the 3rd Tuesday of the month. They will be starting with the play 'A Doll's House' by Ibsen.

TAI CHI
After a months break this group is restarting in the Exercise Room Hazel Court on Fridays from 4 September. As before there will be two 1 hour classes 9.30 to 10.30 and 11.00 till 12 midday. There are currently vacancies in both.


















ITALIAN
Carolina Rosati-Jones will teach next year from 5 October, but she will be in Italy on holiday for 10 days up to 31 September.

FRENCH
Susan Johnson writes to say Steve is now having heart tests in Swansea and hopes to have an catheterising operation later this year. I'm sure we all wish him well. They both offer to help with little tasks to assist the running of the U3A, a splendid gesture.

CHESS
Theo Joannides, a member. writes to invite U3A members to attend the one hour long sessions of the Mumbles 'Chess Mates' club at the Ostreme Hall held on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays starting at 11am. Tuition will be available and as he observes chess has been regarded too long as a boys game and it is time this attitude changed. The charge is £1 per session. He would like to be informed of attendance in advance by email to
theo.joannides@virgin.net

This is an additional option as I intend to continue our sessions at Hazel Court on Mondays. Last year we were 50:50 male:female.

BRECON JAZZ FESTIVAL
This is being in part organised by the Hay Festival, through whom on-line bookings are made for the 7, 8 and 9 August. On each day there is a full programme of very good concerts at £5, £8, £10 and £15. For full details follow the link
http://www.breconjazz.org/index.html
then the link to 'Events & Booking' which leads to the programme listing on the Hay site.
Sorry, I only became aware of this at the last moment from the BBC and apologise for early comments that it was unlikely to go ahead this year, made at the time of promoting the Mumbles Jazz and Blues Festival in May. I was just in time to get tickets for Sunday 9 August to hear Abdulla Ibrahim, a wonderful South African pianist with his trio in the market hall. If you catch this amendment to the posting early enough there is still time for Saturday or Sunday 9 August.

Report from Brecon Monday 10 August
Just the drive up reminded us of how much we had missed in recent years, for though the Gower and Pembokshire coasts are beautiful there is nothing to compare with the Brecon Beacons in South Wales when it comes to walking country. It took us back many years to the time our Sundays were spent on long challenging walks with the Swansea Ramblers and the Gower Society.

As for Brecon Jazz we were directed to the theatre along a river path from the street where we had left our car by a chatty man walking his dog. He said the festival was much quieter than usual, probably due to the last minute arrangements by the Hay Festival, who he hoped would put it on a successful financial footing. We both agreed the first and early festivals were excellent, with the streets full of colour and good nature, but the later festivals, in spite of continuing world class performers, had been spoilt by a drunken element on the streets, and by financial overstretch. The festival stopped in its tracks this year when HSBC withdrew their funding, to be rescued at the last moment by Hay with the support of the UK jazz men.

He was right in saying the streets were quiet, for there was nothing except a few street shows, including a pair of young men who were 'Walking through Great Britain and Singing for their Supper'. Dressed as minstrels might have been years ago, with small camping gear as though to emphasise their low running costs, and singing old folk songs in close harmony, they held the attention of the crowds - and certainly wouldn't have gone hungry that night. A very young violinist and several saxophone players including one entertaining the crowd outside the theatre, who reportedly used to play in one of the big name rock bands (I forget which band and his name, though he obviously is well known in town for his gigs). Gone were the coloured canopies that used to cover the space outside the Wellington Hotel in the town centre, where, at the very first festival twenty odd years ago, we ate wonderful pancakes sold in fours with different fillings including seafood, cheese and tomato, and curry as I recall. Gone were the outdoor venues under coloured canvas, gone too were the Stroller Tickets, though a few pubs kept up the tradition using bands to attract custom, gone thus was the outdoor ambiance but also the unruly element and a visible police presence. The church still sold excellent teas on their lawn, but so many alternate venues had not opened, including one large town house we remember with fondness which sold teas to eat in their back garden.

As for the music it was wholly concerts, the ones attracting large audiences were in the Market Hall, the Theatre where the Studio was in use as well as the main Auditorium, but we didn't go to the Cathedral, which featured for the first time, or to the Castle Hotel. Neither the Guildhall or Christ's College were in use, hardly retrograde steps.

We were determined to hear Abdullah Ibrahim and chose between hurrying on Saturday to hear him playing solo piano and then a concert by Courtney Pine, or to make a leisurely start on Sunday and hear Abdullah with his trio and an unknown quantity called 'Quantic and his Combo Barbaro', whose description in the programme included the misleading adjective psychedelic - which almost put us off. We opted for Sunday and a experienced day of contrast beyond our wildest expectations.

Abdullah and his trio played non-stop for 70 minutes, without verbal introduction and interrupted, seldom and briefly, by applause. More than that the music was incredibly slow, quiet and delicate, very beautiful, relying almost entirely on his original melodic themes as they rippled onto the shore. The programme stated that the aim was 'to explore his musical heritage from Arabic and Moorish roots, township jazz, his work with Ellington and Monk, and the canon of classical piano virtuosity'. There was something about his work, the timing and harmonics, that made it jazz rather than classical for me, but others would argue. Only for a brief period did he sound conventionally jazzy in a musical reference to Theolonius Monk. His accompanists Belden Bullock on double bass and George Gray on percussion (who on occasion made his quiet cymbals shimmer) blended perfectly with the mood. They held a capacity audience (800?) spellbound in the Market Hall - hardly an ideal location for a performance of such finesse.

In spite of the confusion stirred by the programme notes, Combo Barbaro turned out to be Latin American as we had hoped. Apparently they had been formed rapidly for this tour and were playing together for only the second time since arriving in the UK on Friday.

A Peruvian pianist, several Colombians - one on electric bass, Cubans and others based in London made up the band. There were three percussionists, one on bongos, another on a couple of drums and special effects, the third with a complete drum kit produced the Latin feel. Single trumpet and saxophone players added the melody and the jazz. Two singers, the first West Indian born but now from Panama added the 'pop', whilst the second, a little lady from a remote Colombian village in a beautiful voluminous dress, alternately sang and danced, swinging her hips in provocative Latin style.

The band was knitted together by Quantic on guitar and accordion, often with his back to the audience as he directed his band of strangers. He was introduced only as Harrison from the UK who had been living and working in Columbia for three years. Together they belted out loud, up tempo, exciting Latin music, and got rapturous applause at the end from an enthusiastic audience that barely filled the stalls of the theatre. A few had used the empty space in the Dress Circle to dance.

When I mentioned today that our West Indian from Panama with the black skin and long pony tail reminded me of Tom Jones, Joan asked 'was it the leather trousers?' But, no, for me it was his stature and his delivery of songs, albeit with a pronounced Latin rhythm.