ALAN BARNES QUARTET AT JAZZLAND
If you have not yet tried Swansea Jazzland then don't miss Thursday 3 November at 8 for 8.30, this I swear will be the real thing - unlike last week's mention of The Cherry Orchard - see much later.
Alan Barnes has been a regular visitor to Swansea for over thirty years or since the young prodigy on alto front lined drummer Tommy Chase's hard bob group. Usually he plays with the Dave Cottle Trio but this time he brings his own all star quartet. How that can be done for £10 (£7 for members) is a mystery, one sure not to be repeated after next years slashing of the financial support for arts outside London.
On the other hand they are more or less guaranteed a full house, a rapt audience and a standing ovation, and the audience in turn an exciting evening of music making by incredibly talented musicians (judged by any standards) of a mixture of styles from slow melodic ballads to fast bop - but always music of a high standard.
These days Alan plays a mixture of reed instruments typically alto and baritone sax, clarinet and bass clarinet - we will see what he brings this time. No jazz lover would argue that he is amongst the very finest British reed players.
Jim Hart is surely the best, perhaps the best ever, British player of the Vibraphone. He too has been an annual visitor to Jazzland and accompanied Gwilym Simcock recently at the Taliesin.
Andy Cleydert on double bass is well known as a sideman for Ronnie Scott, and Stan Tracey - the greatest name in British jazz since the war - who knows how to pick out talented sidemen.
Paul Clavis on drums is a new name to me, but has credits like so many of today's jazzmen ranging from Classical to Pop, from Leonard Bernstein and the London symphony orchestras to many great jazzmen including Stan Sultzman and Alan Barnes, and artists like John Williams, Michel Legrand and Elton John. Seems to have particular interest in the avant guard between classical and jazz music.
Marion Harris 206044 is offering to introduce U3A members to jazz concerts in and beyond Swansea, but come along it's full of friendly oldies like us (sadly like to much of the arts - though there are incredibly talented young teenagers here to carry the jazz torch forward).
SHORT TENNIS
Yet another new group takes off. The first session will be Thursday 4 November at LC2 Leisure Centre at 9.30am for a 10 till 12 court booking. Two courts are booked and more are currently available, and 12 rackets have been bought with funds advanced by the Treasurer sufficient for simultaneous use of three courts.
They will play doubles with each couple as far as possible being one male one female. The first hour session will see a couples rotating after each game, mimicking the rotation of partners which has been an essential ingredient to the social success of the Jive Group. Including of course any couples sitting out. The second hour is intended to play ad-hoc games but always incorporating those sitting out at the end of the game.
The initial charge will be £3 a session with rackets provided, after that a50p levy will be added for use of a club racket thus encouraging keen members to buy their own rackets. Rackets cost £8 upwards to buy in Swansea and should measure 21 inches from top to bottom.
Parking is available at LC2, and LC2 will refund half that paid on entry to those showing the second half of the ticket and saying they are there for the U3A Short Tennis, the first half should of course be displayed on the car dashboard.
It is a vigorous game so Shorts and T-shirt are the best form of clothing, but as in a squash court you must wear non marking trainers. Be sure to dressed ready for play by 9.40am so to select pairs and explain the order of play and the rules.
Good luck sounds great, but I haven't run for years due to joint problems or I would be very keen indeed. When I remember that my mother played badminton at the old leisure centre on her 90th birthday that thought for a competitive sportsman all my life is rather chastening.
YOGA
Two new groups at Hazel Court and both so popular from the outset that we have booked both rooms through to the end of 2011. The only snag is that the Exercise room is really comfortable for only 8 people plus the tutor.
Edna Jones has agreed to run two 1 and1/2 hour classes on Wednesday mornings the first at 9.30 for those who attended her first session last week, the second at 11am for the overflow from last week plus any others. Contact Edna 410649 to book a place or turn up and take a chance on getting in at the second session.
Christine Bryan had one spare place at 10 am on Thursday and given an overflow would run a second class, like Edna. Note classes are weekly except this week Thursday 4 November when the class is CANCELLED because there is a prior booking on the room. (Note this a different date to that given on my Update email, apologies for issuing misinformation.)
The cost will be £2 per session, maybe dropping to £1 if there are two full sessions a day. We are very lucky to be able to get tuition from such good teachers for that sort of price. It is really pleasing for me to find two more such enthusiastic leaders epitomising the U3A spirit. A regular attender should offer to keep a register of those attending and collect the money for their session, the person doing the last session of the day should also pay at the desk for hire of the room. That's the least you can do to help. A small float, say £20, should be built up on each day to ensure the £10 weekly rent can be paid without being out of pocket on thinner weeks.
SPANISH
A conversation class is already running monthly in the library but I suspect that it is full enough for now, but contact Alison Burns if interested.
Keith Barry, an experienced tutor is willing to run a Learn Spanish Class, possibly from the very beginning, if there is sufficient interest. We have six people interested at present in addition to the existing conversation group, twelve would be a more desirable number and so I am requesting anyone else interested to speak either to Keith on 795672 or to me personally on 424702 or via email.
However since Keith has an eye operation booked for 20 November the decision has been made to delay the start of any such class until January 2011, though we might well call an inaugural meeting before that to agree date, time and suitable venues.
As usual it all depends on enthusiastic support.
BRITISH FILM STUDIES
The second monthly meeting will be held at Hazel Court at 2pm on Thursday 4 November. I do not have details of the film yet.
CHESS
Those interested will meet at Hazel Court at 10.30 tomorrow Monday 1 November to decide whether and how to run a successful group. This time for the first time since the start two years ago we have a really enthusiastic group leader, which I have written elsewhere is the key ingredient for getting a successful group. Watch this space.
BEGINNERS WATERCOLOURS
The Group will now be running weekly next year from January (not May) 2011, they will continue meeting when tutor Brenda Sweet is not available including a period with family in Australia. I have been speaking to Val Day about occasional support from her or an experienced member of her group to help give direction to the group's painting.
Brenda tells me she does not see the group long-term as being restricted to watercolours, which is a difficult not easy technique, though it will for a while remain our least skilled class.
I went there last Thursday and was very pleasantly surprised by the feeling of bonhomie in the room, this is clearly a group who enjoy each others company.
GARDENING
Also on Thursday this group had their first meeting under their new management committee which went off smoothly. Pat West, who also does her bit for Armchair Travel, talked about the flowers of Iceland.
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
Guest Speaker Alan Edwards will talk with Power Point slides about his 'Transit along the Panama Canal', this Friday. This will be in the usual venue of Sketty Park Evangelical Church just south of Hazel Court starting at 2.30 pm on Friday 5 November.
Brian Davies 520927 has given notice of his intention to finish as convenor of this group at the end of this U3A year in September. Please volunteer to take over, well not all at once!!!!
INTERNET for BEGINNERS
I have now circulated by email the 40 who expressed an interest either via the Questionnaire I issued a few months ago, or on Open Day, with a view to starting Tuesday afternoon 9 November. A disappointing number have replied so far and many of those suggesting I have pitched the syllabus too low for them. Incidentally we would certainly include shopping over the Internet. Perhaps the ones who really need it are silent for lack of basic ability. Anyone else interested please contact me ASAP on 424702 or via email, ideal as envisaged for those who have just purchased a first computer or laptop.
I am often asked for advice on which laptop to buy and will not be drawn. They should however have WiFi for easy connection to the Internet outside your own house. You will also need to factor in the monthly hire of Broadband at home. If you have a library nearby that could obviate the purchase of a computer or broadband.
Those with Broadband who which to avail themselves of free video phone calls all over the world by a free piece of software called Skype should also ensure a new laptop has a camera and microphone. Both can easily be added as separate devices to a desk top computer.
All three WiFi, camera and microphone are standard fittings on many modern laptops.
The other cost to factor in is the annual cost of Anti virus protection, typically Norton, and in spite of the cost it will be worthwhile as it could well save you expensive software repair costs. No-one should work on the Internet without such protection it's asking for trouble. A Firewall, the other essential software protection is built into modern Windows systems. I and many others use free software for these purposes but I wouldn't advise anyone going down this free software route for protection until they feel comfortable with their know-how and ability.
After that it is largely a question of size and weight and price. No need to go to the expensive end of the market in terms of speed GHz of the processor, memory capacity GB of RAM or Disc, or a separate video card unless you are intent in playing the latest fast moving video games. If still in doubt why not look at the appropriate Which Magazine, they used to keep copies in the old Reference Library
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Not that I recommended anyone to go, I just said I was going to the Taliesin on Friday. It was disappointing for a landmark classical play, so much so that immediately it ended a tall brown suited gentleman (if that's the word) stood up and walked without even allowing others in the row time to stand up - treading on Joan's toes on the way out!
Having said that my first reaction was to want to go home and read the text, though that was not to hand and the urge has now passed. I could hardly have a better example of why Swansea is not in the same league as Bristol - those disappointed would surely have loved the production at the Bristol Old Vic last December of Uncle Vanya (another great play of Chekhov) from Andrew Hilton the director in the same city of the three month 'Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory' season from 10 February to the 30 April. Next year he is starting with a season of 'Richard 2nd' and finishing with 'The Comedy of Errors'. A month later I think than last year perhaps a reflection of the disruption caused by snow and ice, which we then as now intend to miss. One can easily take in a matinee in Bristol travelling either by train or by National Express.
www.sattf.org.uk
Bristol Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory website
or phone 0117 902 0344
Nevertheless the uniqueness and quirky nature of this production caused Joan and I to keep on reflecting on why they had chosen this and that route.
First the easy one. Did the back projection of video on the backcloth of the stage help? As far as I am concerned most often it was a distraction which took my eye off the actors although there were times especially when the video was a live close up of the individual actor when it did work. Most importantly it was a distraction at the start when I was trying to identify the key individuals, who was returning from Paris in the case of Lyubov herself and her 17 year old daughter only was it clear, which of the upper class had been left behind, who were the servants. That I was never certain of the roles being played just shows how badly the production worked for me.
Why were so many faces in white as though it was mime not live theatre, I never understood. Why did her brother or butler (played by the same actor carrying a skeleton on his back? Why did the adopted aristocratic daughter Varya wear wings unless cynically it was because she wanted to advertise her suitability for future casting as the spirit Ariel in Shakespeare's Tempest. Varya (Teifi Emerald) impressed me as a very talented performer both acting and for her voiced sound effects, maybe her hip-hop early on were telling me 'while the cat's away the mice do play' and party.
Why did Varya and Dunyasha wear exaggerated ballet skirts? It was unfortunate that the wealthy man Lopakhin was played by a woman, as Joan, but not me, adapted because she was wearing trousers. In fact the gender identity was confusing me throughout.
It was also unfortunate that the complimentary program told us nothing of the Directors Ideas, the truncation of a four act play into a single act, some of the problems posed as I have mentioned. A paragraph or two might have clarified a lot.
Just one last thought, Chekhov apparently viewed the play as a farce though every director, including the first, has treated it as a tragedy
However the overriding lessons are two fold, the vital importance of the text - that is why plays written as plays are so much more satisfactory than adaptations of say a novel; and yet again the personal reminder that I need to familiarise myself with a classic play before attending, not wait to try and sort it out afterwards!
NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE
Jill Govier has come up with a very interesting piece of information, namely that the National Theatre in London are now filming several of their productions with the objective of as far as possible reproducing the experience on film of being in their theatre.
Cineworld in Mary Anne Street Cardiff, an easy walk from the station with plenty of parking nearby, are preparing to show these films. Those so far scheduled are
HAMLET on 9 December
FELA on 13th January 2011
FRANKENSTEIN on 17 March
CHERRY ORCHARD so far without a date
ntlive.com
for details of the National Theatre scheme
www.cineworld.co.uk/films/3759
for details of the Cardiff cinema program or 02920 667718
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
SIZE MATTERS?
In today's U3A magazine I find that we were above double the average size (325) at around 750 members and still we are trying to expand, the need for expansion was queried by just one questioner at the Convenors Meeting. But it is relevant, luckily for the third year of my tenure we are still finding new members who want to found new groups. Thus this year we have witnessed the formation of an enthusiastic fifth Book Reading Group which for the moment is being nursed by Cecily Hughes and Dorothy Little, a Beginners Bridge Group in Mumbles led by last years Chairman Bob Hughes with no less than 24 at their first meeting last week, British Film Studies suggested and created by Anthea Symonds launched the day after the first Wednesday Lecture, and Yoga groups 1 and 2 at Hazel Court for the first time on Wednesday and Thursday Mornings led by Edna Jones and Christine Bryan respectively and a small Spanish Conversation class meeting monthly at the Library.
Only Bob Hughes's Bridge and Yoga 1 led by Edna Jones come from established members, the rest are newcomers. That in many ways is sufficient justification in itself for the expansion, but how many will go on to become the long serving Convenors of the past, the likes of Barbara Brimstone of Local History, Margaret Hammond of Politics & Citizenship and Research, Margaret Winter of History, Margaret Massey of Gardening, (funny to think my sister is another Margaret) and Marjorie Vanston of Welsh. (I'm bound to have missed someone and hold my hands up in advance of the storm!).
We of the more recent joiners often with family scattered across the globe have got used to extended and frequent holiday travel, that's a trend particularly obvious in yours truly who is off shortly for the second warm winter in a row in India. My spoilt new generation will need enthusiastic stand-byes to plug the gaps or Swansea U3A will have difficulty getting anywhere near the continuity of the past.
Being purely parochial Any Volunteers for a spell doing the Slides for Wednesday Lectures should please approach me, remembering the vital part they play in feeding up to date information to the web-site and the Group Newsletters. Traditionally the Wednesday Lectures formed the sole point of formal and informal communication between members. As we grow larger aided by advances in technology we are a very different animal today.
Rosemary Brangwyn 202029 has taken over from founder Gerwyn Thomas as the convenor of Members on Their Own (MOTO) and although with numerous potential new members from the Open Day she would like to handle it as a single unit for the present.
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
To Brian Davies who with Mary will celebrate their Golden Wedding this year, Congratulations and Welcome to the club. He who has run the Armchair Travel smoothly for several years but has indicated to me that he will not continue after September 2011 and that we will need a new venue (possibly near-by Hazel Court?) which was always a private arrangement. He was distressed that his church hall has been subjected to severe vandalism recently - not by U3A members I hasten to add. How nice it is to get such timely advance notice so I hope the group will themselves elect a successor - but if there is someone with a burning desire then please come forward to Brian or me. Enthusiasm and energy are the key ingredients of the job for I doubt Brian has ever been short of group members willing to share their photographs and memories. Come to think of it I am down for South India on 3 December, but I have passed that one to Joan! It's only fair they she should have the task of deciding which 50 of the 1000 or so photographs to fashion the narrative around - we only have one camera these days; and it is her's!
Their next meeting on Friday 5 November is titled Transit Panama Canal by ? Edwards. In passing I note that on April Fool's Day Sue Johnson is down for Antarctic Adventure.
Talking of Sue some of you from the French and Travel Groups may not realise that her husband Steve has at last had the heart bypass operation (and artificial valve) he so badly needed. When we saw him in Singleton about 10 days ago he looked on the way to a good recovery and is probably now convalescing with his son across the other side of the country. I am sure we all wish him well. Ill though he was even then he did his bit for us being the first to rescue a failing French Group, a task now carried seamlessly by Beryl Edney, Jean and Gilly Jordan.
YOGA
Last week saw the very first meetings of these new groups and I went to them both. It was my first session with Edna Jones who is a fully qualified teacher of Yoga, there were 10 of us which was near to capacity for the Exercise Room. All I can say is that they are both very good and both use routines well suited to our age group. Edna was better in watching critically and correcting her group and offered to stop touching anyone who objected - which no-one did, and even took her trousers off so we might better see the positions required!
Christine on Thursday had phoned around to get maximum attendance, including two teenagers!, because she was being assessed during that session. There were 13 of us luxuriating in the much larger downstairs room, a few beside me had been to both sessions. Christine has built up a good following a summer in which she took the last Tai Chi slot of Friday morning for Yoga. Yoga on Wednesday, Yoga on Thursday, or Tai Chi on Friday that's the choice you have, I can personally vouch for the fact that all are fabulous, all are morning classes and all are in Hazel Court.
CHANGES to LAWMARY'S CLASSES
Both have changed venue compared with the original summary of Group Activities which will have accompanied your membership card.
CARDS for FUN is now at the Dragon Hotel on the second and fourth Tuesdays and starts at 11am
LITERATURE is now in the Newton Village Hall on the first and third Tuesdays at 2pm.
WELSH
Tuesday 10am has moved away from St Mary's Church Vestry to a downstairs cafe room in Starvin' Jacks, where they get not only a free room but half price coffee.
JIVE
Still in the Monkey Cafe but now starting at the slightly later time of 11am to oblige their wonderful staff who now have to work late the preceding night. They too get the venue free of charge but with a professional sound system and a wooden dance floor upstairs thrown in. Their standard white coffee is excellent value for money.
BEGINNERS WATERCOLOURS
Due to an earlier problem with room availability they had no where to go from January to the end of April 2011. This room time slot has now been released by Hazel Court so it is up to the group itself to fashion a way to continue and hopefully one of our painters to come forward to help guide whilst Brenda Sweet is on a lengthy visit to visit family and travel in Australia. Like me she is aiming to escape to sunnier climes during the worst of our winter.
Brenda Sweet takes her first ever Watercolour Class
BEGINNERS BRIDGE
With just one meeting (Thursdays at 10am) under their belt they seem well set under Bob Hughes 363875 and a tutor from the Mumbles Bridge Club. The existing Bridge group has long been full so this new group offers a renewed outlet for the many who seem keen to learn this game.
A NEW CAREER IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL for ME
Leaving Politics aside the Politics and Citizenship group had a discussion about Alternative Technology led expertly by Roger Knight. Not surprisingly he focussed the discussion on the Generation of Electricity which is the nub of the problem.
The first problem arises from the fact that there is no known efficient way to store electricity.
Because of that the instantaneous generation of electricity has to meet the demand. Demand for electricity is something we change every time we switch a kettle on or off, or the cooker, or the lights, or the central heating, and in huge amounts every time electricity intensive industrial production fluctuates, such as the rolling of another of coil of steel strip. Though major system problems are caused at the time household changes in demand are synchronised, for instance when all over the country the kettles are switched on during an advertising break in a popular program such as East Enders.
Stop to think now about the new problems that much of the modern green generation brings.
Older solar panels produced hot water to help with your tap water but the future lies with solar cells which produce electricity, the rate of generation is completely independent of electricity demand for instance as it depends on the sun, luckily we do need more electricity during the day than the night, but what about those dark cold summer evenings.
Windmill generators depend on the strength of the wind, again with no correlation with demand.
Straight tidal flow generation depends on the speed of the tide which varies throughout the state of the tide with periods of slack water on approach to high and low tide as well as the phase of the moon which leads to Spring (large) and Neap (small) tides. Though these changes are very variable and very significant they can be predicted by mathematical models and some degree of evening out can be incorporated by the use of dams strong enough to store water above the tide line as is the norm with hydro-electric generation, though that is minimal in the UK compared with say Canada and Russia which in the fifties were in a competition to build ever larger stations.
As a young man I worked as a commissioning engineer for Westinghouse at Chute des Passes, the world's first million horse power hydro station in the wilds of Quebec, built to feed electricity to Alcan's aluminium smelters in nearby Chicoutimi. But we knew it was just a question of time as the Russians were working on the world's first million kw station, 34% bigger. Canada then was almost entirely served by hydro-electric generation, except in the prairies, but fast but running out of potentially big hydro sites and so were fast overtaking the UK in development of techniques of atomic power at their new research establishment at Chalk River.
But the cost of producing electricity is a vital consideration. For instance Nuclear Power stations are very expensive to construct but once built are a very cheap source of electricity, for that reason they are usually run flat out day and night thus producing the so called base load below which demand never falls. You can say the same about all the green power, in that case the energy comes for free thanks to the sun and the moon, in which case they would take price precedence even over nuclear.
Thermal coal fired stations are much cheaper to build but coal is a more expensive than nuclear fuel, so the coal stations were traditionally were used to fluctuate with demand. Both are used in the UK to produce high pressure and temperature super heated steam and produce electricity via Steam turbines. But although steam turbines can be used to fluctuate one reaches a time at which there are either too any or too few turbines running to match the demand. But massive steam turbines expand by a matter of inches when they come into service, they have to heated up gradually before spinning to do otherwise would be to write off expensive precision built turbine wheels with small gaps. Gas turbines come into their since they can change power rapidly, think of the rapid increase in thrust required on take off of a jet aircraft.
So for today's automatic control system design engineer there is an interesting problem, how to match generation to demand minute by minute and to do so at the lowest incremental cost by using the cheapest mix of the quite different generators available. A global network would help to share the energy produced solar generators whose output depends on the sun, but surely we have all seen a little too much of globalisation!
The First All Digital VDU Control Desk in the UK?
Reheat Furnaces, Hot Mill rebuild circa 1980's
Underlying Dual Ferranti Process Control Computers circa mid 1980's with 100% of software written at port Talbot including real time multi tasking Operating System. Two identical 2 Mhz computers each with 5 MB removable cartridge discs and a central cubicle for changeover of 32 serial communication lines plus at the top four racks of digital electronics each controlling one VDU on the desk.
PALESTINE
What an interesting lecture last week by a speaker who had first hand experience of what it is like to be a Palestinian living in the West Bank. Of course it was a biased view, it could hardly be otherwise, but how vividly she portrayed the situation.
I have for a long time been unable to see a satisfactory end based on a Two State Solution because simply looking at the map suggests there is no viable second state. But the rift is so deep now that it is difficult to imagine the re-orientation of mindsets needed on both sides for a One State Solution. A Zionist and many like minded fundamentalist Christians, such as my own wonderful parents and my sister, feel the Jews have a divine right to the land. Those whose thinking is based on natural law will feel the land was taken from the Palestinians. The fact that they are Muslim and do not believe in Christ is barely relevant - they have a very wide body of support across the globe and the denominations - neither does it help to see the settlement as compensation for the atrocities of the holocaust, the Palestinians weren't responsible for that.
CUTS
The Tories have delivered the solution for which they gained the upper hand in the last election, cut hard and as fast as possible to get the interest payments under control and in the going try to simplify and place the accent on individual initiative. The Liberals were courageous to ensure a stable government even where it meant swallowing their words, they had no alternative, one hopes they don't reap a whirlwind at the next election.
Was it brave or was it foolhardy to try such a simplistic solution at a time when we are staring down the barrel of recession? Many concede it is risky but for my money I think it will be a disaster - and that from someone who normally believes the glass is half full. It may have worked previously in Canada at a quite different point in the economic cycle in a resource rich, food rich, country, but here and now - I hope I'm proved wrong.
A lot of today's debate is about fairness. Flat rates and simplified benefits will inevitably lead to winners and losers (though there won't be many absolute winners in this climate). Is it fair to the poor? - it's hard to see how it can benefit help those on benefits. Is it fair to women?- it looks as though they will be losers. Is it fair to poor children? Well they will get priority schooling, but how will that help their parents balance the slashes in the short term.
To my mind the section most at risk are the young the school leavers, for with each redundancy a job will be eliminated, so there will be less opportunities for anyone to join the the workforce. In a de-industrialised society where are meaningful apprenticeships to come from, where are the skilled mentors they were shelved a couple of decades ago. My eldest granddaughter was on the latest version of the Swansea University student paper with headlines emphasising that only the brightest Bio-Chemistry students will get the final years education to best fit them for a career. Twenty years ago when my eldest son left Birmingham University with a good degree in Chemical Engineering only to find the industry was laying off working engineers en-route to the collapse of another manufacturing industry in this country. Twenty five years on it will be another lost generation, one and almost two of our brood was a casualty. Will it be the same poor hand for our grandchildren - I fear so.
ARTS
At the Philharmonia concert recently we were told that even with a full house the Swansea Music Festival would lose £14,000 on this event alone, but that next year they expected to have to suffer cuts in funding from both the Arts Council and the Local Authority. All such events will be in jeopardy go to Jazzland while it is still pre-eminent, see lunchtime theatre before the Dylan Thomas Centre closes. At Jazzland tonight Simon Allen sax and Martin Shaw, professor of jazz trumpet at the Birmingham Conservatoire, will be playing with the Dave Cottle trio, £10 entrance and £7 for members.
Next week 3 November should be the BEST evening of the year from The Alan Barnes Quartet. An annual visitor to Jazzland who has also appeared with his own Sherlock Holmes Suite at the Taliesin. And so it goes on until Christmas. Now is the time to join up with MARION HARRIS 206044 and her outings to support local live jazz. It's non stop top quality jazz until Christmas with Tim Kliphuis Trio (a sort of latter day Stephan Grappelli, with Gary Philips on guitar who briefly shared his childhood with our kids in the Steel Company flats in Bridgend) at the Taliesin on Sunday 31 October, The Tina May Quartet on Friday 19 November and Jazz Jamaica on 4 December, the last two of which I definitely intend to visit as I do this Friday's wonderful play by Chekhov, 'The Cherry Orchard', which Joan and I last saw in London decades ago.
Only Bob Hughes's Bridge and Yoga 1 led by Edna Jones come from established members, the rest are newcomers. That in many ways is sufficient justification in itself for the expansion, but how many will go on to become the long serving Convenors of the past, the likes of Barbara Brimstone of Local History, Margaret Hammond of Politics & Citizenship and Research, Margaret Winter of History, Margaret Massey of Gardening, (funny to think my sister is another Margaret) and Marjorie Vanston of Welsh. (I'm bound to have missed someone and hold my hands up in advance of the storm!).
We of the more recent joiners often with family scattered across the globe have got used to extended and frequent holiday travel, that's a trend particularly obvious in yours truly who is off shortly for the second warm winter in a row in India. My spoilt new generation will need enthusiastic stand-byes to plug the gaps or Swansea U3A will have difficulty getting anywhere near the continuity of the past.
Being purely parochial Any Volunteers for a spell doing the Slides for Wednesday Lectures should please approach me, remembering the vital part they play in feeding up to date information to the web-site and the Group Newsletters. Traditionally the Wednesday Lectures formed the sole point of formal and informal communication between members. As we grow larger aided by advances in technology we are a very different animal today.
Rosemary Brangwyn 202029 has taken over from founder Gerwyn Thomas as the convenor of Members on Their Own (MOTO) and although with numerous potential new members from the Open Day she would like to handle it as a single unit for the present.
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
To Brian Davies who with Mary will celebrate their Golden Wedding this year, Congratulations and Welcome to the club. He who has run the Armchair Travel smoothly for several years but has indicated to me that he will not continue after September 2011 and that we will need a new venue (possibly near-by Hazel Court?) which was always a private arrangement. He was distressed that his church hall has been subjected to severe vandalism recently - not by U3A members I hasten to add. How nice it is to get such timely advance notice so I hope the group will themselves elect a successor - but if there is someone with a burning desire then please come forward to Brian or me. Enthusiasm and energy are the key ingredients of the job for I doubt Brian has ever been short of group members willing to share their photographs and memories. Come to think of it I am down for South India on 3 December, but I have passed that one to Joan! It's only fair they she should have the task of deciding which 50 of the 1000 or so photographs to fashion the narrative around - we only have one camera these days; and it is her's!
Their next meeting on Friday 5 November is titled Transit Panama Canal by ? Edwards. In passing I note that on April Fool's Day Sue Johnson is down for Antarctic Adventure.
Talking of Sue some of you from the French and Travel Groups may not realise that her husband Steve has at last had the heart bypass operation (and artificial valve) he so badly needed. When we saw him in Singleton about 10 days ago he looked on the way to a good recovery and is probably now convalescing with his son across the other side of the country. I am sure we all wish him well. Ill though he was even then he did his bit for us being the first to rescue a failing French Group, a task now carried seamlessly by Beryl Edney, Jean and Gilly Jordan.
YOGA
Last week saw the very first meetings of these new groups and I went to them both. It was my first session with Edna Jones who is a fully qualified teacher of Yoga, there were 10 of us which was near to capacity for the Exercise Room. All I can say is that they are both very good and both use routines well suited to our age group. Edna was better in watching critically and correcting her group and offered to stop touching anyone who objected - which no-one did, and even took her trousers off so we might better see the positions required!
Christine on Thursday had phoned around to get maximum attendance, including two teenagers!, because she was being assessed during that session. There were 13 of us luxuriating in the much larger downstairs room, a few beside me had been to both sessions. Christine has built up a good following a summer in which she took the last Tai Chi slot of Friday morning for Yoga. Yoga on Wednesday, Yoga on Thursday, or Tai Chi on Friday that's the choice you have, I can personally vouch for the fact that all are fabulous, all are morning classes and all are in Hazel Court.
CHANGES to LAWMARY'S CLASSES
Both have changed venue compared with the original summary of Group Activities which will have accompanied your membership card.
CARDS for FUN is now at the Dragon Hotel on the second and fourth Tuesdays and starts at 11am
LITERATURE is now in the Newton Village Hall on the first and third Tuesdays at 2pm.
WELSH
Tuesday 10am has moved away from St Mary's Church Vestry to a downstairs cafe room in Starvin' Jacks, where they get not only a free room but half price coffee.
JIVE
Still in the Monkey Cafe but now starting at the slightly later time of 11am to oblige their wonderful staff who now have to work late the preceding night. They too get the venue free of charge but with a professional sound system and a wooden dance floor upstairs thrown in. Their standard white coffee is excellent value for money.
BEGINNERS WATERCOLOURS
Due to an earlier problem with room availability they had no where to go from January to the end of April 2011. This room time slot has now been released by Hazel Court so it is up to the group itself to fashion a way to continue and hopefully one of our painters to come forward to help guide whilst Brenda Sweet is on a lengthy visit to visit family and travel in Australia. Like me she is aiming to escape to sunnier climes during the worst of our winter.
BEGINNERS BRIDGE
With just one meeting (Thursdays at 10am) under their belt they seem well set under Bob Hughes 363875 and a tutor from the Mumbles Bridge Club. The existing Bridge group has long been full so this new group offers a renewed outlet for the many who seem keen to learn this game.
A NEW CAREER IN AUTOMATIC CONTROL for ME
Leaving Politics aside the Politics and Citizenship group had a discussion about Alternative Technology led expertly by Roger Knight. Not surprisingly he focussed the discussion on the Generation of Electricity which is the nub of the problem.
The first problem arises from the fact that there is no known efficient way to store electricity.
Because of that the instantaneous generation of electricity has to meet the demand. Demand for electricity is something we change every time we switch a kettle on or off, or the cooker, or the lights, or the central heating, and in huge amounts every time electricity intensive industrial production fluctuates, such as the rolling of another of coil of steel strip. Though major system problems are caused at the time household changes in demand are synchronised, for instance when all over the country the kettles are switched on during an advertising break in a popular program such as East Enders.
Stop to think now about the new problems that much of the modern green generation brings.
Older solar panels produced hot water to help with your tap water but the future lies with solar cells which produce electricity, the rate of generation is completely independent of electricity demand for instance as it depends on the sun, luckily we do need more electricity during the day than the night, but what about those dark cold summer evenings.
Windmill generators depend on the strength of the wind, again with no correlation with demand.
Straight tidal flow generation depends on the speed of the tide which varies throughout the state of the tide with periods of slack water on approach to high and low tide as well as the phase of the moon which leads to Spring (large) and Neap (small) tides. Though these changes are very variable and very significant they can be predicted by mathematical models and some degree of evening out can be incorporated by the use of dams strong enough to store water above the tide line as is the norm with hydro-electric generation, though that is minimal in the UK compared with say Canada and Russia which in the fifties were in a competition to build ever larger stations.
As a young man I worked as a commissioning engineer for Westinghouse at Chute des Passes, the world's first million horse power hydro station in the wilds of Quebec, built to feed electricity to Alcan's aluminium smelters in nearby Chicoutimi. But we knew it was just a question of time as the Russians were working on the world's first million kw station, 34% bigger. Canada then was almost entirely served by hydro-electric generation, except in the prairies, but fast but running out of potentially big hydro sites and so were fast overtaking the UK in development of techniques of atomic power at their new research establishment at Chalk River.
But the cost of producing electricity is a vital consideration. For instance Nuclear Power stations are very expensive to construct but once built are a very cheap source of electricity, for that reason they are usually run flat out day and night thus producing the so called base load below which demand never falls. You can say the same about all the green power, in that case the energy comes for free thanks to the sun and the moon, in which case they would take price precedence even over nuclear.
Thermal coal fired stations are much cheaper to build but coal is a more expensive than nuclear fuel, so the coal stations were traditionally were used to fluctuate with demand. Both are used in the UK to produce high pressure and temperature super heated steam and produce electricity via Steam turbines. But although steam turbines can be used to fluctuate one reaches a time at which there are either too any or too few turbines running to match the demand. But massive steam turbines expand by a matter of inches when they come into service, they have to heated up gradually before spinning to do otherwise would be to write off expensive precision built turbine wheels with small gaps. Gas turbines come into their since they can change power rapidly, think of the rapid increase in thrust required on take off of a jet aircraft.
So for today's automatic control system design engineer there is an interesting problem, how to match generation to demand minute by minute and to do so at the lowest incremental cost by using the cheapest mix of the quite different generators available. A global network would help to share the energy produced solar generators whose output depends on the sun, but surely we have all seen a little too much of globalisation!
Reheat Furnaces, Hot Mill rebuild circa 1980's
PALESTINE
What an interesting lecture last week by a speaker who had first hand experience of what it is like to be a Palestinian living in the West Bank. Of course it was a biased view, it could hardly be otherwise, but how vividly she portrayed the situation.
I have for a long time been unable to see a satisfactory end based on a Two State Solution because simply looking at the map suggests there is no viable second state. But the rift is so deep now that it is difficult to imagine the re-orientation of mindsets needed on both sides for a One State Solution. A Zionist and many like minded fundamentalist Christians, such as my own wonderful parents and my sister, feel the Jews have a divine right to the land. Those whose thinking is based on natural law will feel the land was taken from the Palestinians. The fact that they are Muslim and do not believe in Christ is barely relevant - they have a very wide body of support across the globe and the denominations - neither does it help to see the settlement as compensation for the atrocities of the holocaust, the Palestinians weren't responsible for that.
CUTS
The Tories have delivered the solution for which they gained the upper hand in the last election, cut hard and as fast as possible to get the interest payments under control and in the going try to simplify and place the accent on individual initiative. The Liberals were courageous to ensure a stable government even where it meant swallowing their words, they had no alternative, one hopes they don't reap a whirlwind at the next election.
Was it brave or was it foolhardy to try such a simplistic solution at a time when we are staring down the barrel of recession? Many concede it is risky but for my money I think it will be a disaster - and that from someone who normally believes the glass is half full. It may have worked previously in Canada at a quite different point in the economic cycle in a resource rich, food rich, country, but here and now - I hope I'm proved wrong.
A lot of today's debate is about fairness. Flat rates and simplified benefits will inevitably lead to winners and losers (though there won't be many absolute winners in this climate). Is it fair to the poor? - it's hard to see how it can benefit help those on benefits. Is it fair to women?- it looks as though they will be losers. Is it fair to poor children? Well they will get priority schooling, but how will that help their parents balance the slashes in the short term.
To my mind the section most at risk are the young the school leavers, for with each redundancy a job will be eliminated, so there will be less opportunities for anyone to join the the workforce. In a de-industrialised society where are meaningful apprenticeships to come from, where are the skilled mentors they were shelved a couple of decades ago. My eldest granddaughter was on the latest version of the Swansea University student paper with headlines emphasising that only the brightest Bio-Chemistry students will get the final years education to best fit them for a career. Twenty years ago when my eldest son left Birmingham University with a good degree in Chemical Engineering only to find the industry was laying off working engineers en-route to the collapse of another manufacturing industry in this country. Twenty five years on it will be another lost generation, one and almost two of our brood was a casualty. Will it be the same poor hand for our grandchildren - I fear so.
ARTS
At the Philharmonia concert recently we were told that even with a full house the Swansea Music Festival would lose £14,000 on this event alone, but that next year they expected to have to suffer cuts in funding from both the Arts Council and the Local Authority. All such events will be in jeopardy go to Jazzland while it is still pre-eminent, see lunchtime theatre before the Dylan Thomas Centre closes. At Jazzland tonight Simon Allen sax and Martin Shaw, professor of jazz trumpet at the Birmingham Conservatoire, will be playing with the Dave Cottle trio, £10 entrance and £7 for members.
Next week 3 November should be the BEST evening of the year from The Alan Barnes Quartet. An annual visitor to Jazzland who has also appeared with his own Sherlock Holmes Suite at the Taliesin. And so it goes on until Christmas. Now is the time to join up with MARION HARRIS 206044 and her outings to support local live jazz. It's non stop top quality jazz until Christmas with Tim Kliphuis Trio (a sort of latter day Stephan Grappelli, with Gary Philips on guitar who briefly shared his childhood with our kids in the Steel Company flats in Bridgend) at the Taliesin on Sunday 31 October, The Tina May Quartet on Friday 19 November and Jazz Jamaica on 4 December, the last two of which I definitely intend to visit as I do this Friday's wonderful play by Chekhov, 'The Cherry Orchard', which Joan and I last saw in London decades ago.
Friday, 15 October 2010
BACK AGAIN for the NEW U3A YEAR
All photographs scattered throughout this posting were taken by Joan on Open Day except the one Joan would rather forget.
Brian and Mary
Pat and Esther at the Membership Table
Joy and Margaret with Marilyn and Virginian (publicity)
THANKS for YOUR SUPPORT
I am delighted to find that so many of the U3A value the blog and find it interesting to read. At least I now know who my readers are, and because they had to reply. I am the only member who has a comprehensive U3A email address book and it is now divided into those who have authorised me personally to use their address and those who for various reasons have not so replied. Thanks especially for the the many who added a special word of appreciation.
As we move towards the Internet age I would add a particular word of praise for committee member Adrian Crowley who has enthusiastically handled single-handed the update and extension of the website in the past months, a major work load and an unsung role. Whenever someone wants to promote his/her ideas for a new group I point them to the Adrian and the website and in recent months have used it as a vehicle for establishing support for such ideas. So long as the website is updated as well as it is today it will always be more comprehensive than the blog. For example Adrian is now working on maps/directions to each of the sites used by Swansea U3A groups to flesh out list of venues I recently created.
You can always reach the website rapidly by Googling 'Swansea U3A'. You cannot do a similar search for Brian's Blog as the link is private, most blogs are in the public domain and can be found by Googling - hence the reason for providing the private link on the Alert emails. If anyone objects to my use of their contact details (phone number or email address) then I will try to eliminate future publication of such information.
I have always been most interested in promoting new or struggling groups, giving a taste of the way individual groups operate, expressing personal interest in the wider Swansea community (especially as related to the arts) and current affairs on which, like the rest of you, I have a view.
It was clear soon after the original request that the Blog was well liked, but as last summer I took a break, at first giving priority to my time consuming garden and most recently because Joan and I have been engaged in our usual slow travel by local buses, this time in Turkey for late August and all of September. As usual I wrote a travel blog (in fact I started blogging as an alternative to the hand written records we always kept during our travels). When I find time to, edit the awful spelling (there are two versions of the letter i in the Turkish alphabet one with a dot and the other without which plays havoc with my limited keyboard skills), reverse the order so that the first posting is first and not last and add photographs. Only then will I give you the link address to my Turkey blog which you can follow or ignore as you wish.
The more impatient of you have sent through duplicate requests for the U3A blog. I hope I don't disappoint you now.
BRANCHING OUT
Faced with the fact that in the past year Swansea U3A, though continuing to grow, had been subject to a 20% turnover in membership it was clear we were not offering enough to keep many of the newer recruits. One result has been the attempt to increase the scope of our groups.
My main reservations are twofold, firstly the amount of effort it takes to get sufficient members to join groups in which they are expected to think, some examples from my first two years being language classes in French and Literature and more recently in Italian, though each is moving towards better days, though Chess is still on the starting blocks.
The second reservation is the difficulty of finding members prepared to invest the commitment and leadership needed to run any Group. This organisation is about Shared Learning and I added two words to the recent poster for Open Day to make this clear. Leading a group is rewarding once over the initial hump and you will always get help from group members if asked, I encourage you to try.
NEW GROUPS
This year has seen a burst of potential new leaders coming through to give it a whirl, and most of them look like winners to me. so here are some.
KEEP PHYSICALLY FIT
Wednesday Yoga
Edna Jones, a qualified teacher of Yoga, is to start regular sessions on Wednesdays at 10.30 in the Exercise Room at Hazel Court, Starting next Wednesday 20 October. This room is already booked for 7 sessions up to December and these will be continued if there is sufficient support. I intend as usual to go to their first meeting, I hope that I am not as usual the 'token male'.
Thursday Yoga
Christine Bryan only needs a few more sessions as teacher to finish her training. She started her class in place of the third Tai Chi session on Friday's. I attended as the 'token male' until I went on holiday and can vouch for the excellent way she ran these sessions which were well supported. Those who came to Open Day may have seen a short demonstration by a few of us, which unfortunately went largely un-noticed because of the loud bubble of conversation in the Dragon at the peak time chosen. Her sessions will also be at Hazel Court in the Exercise Room starting at 10.30 every Thursday.
Choose your day Yoga 10.30 Wednesday, Yoga 10.30 Thursday, or Tai Chi at 9am 10.30 and 12 midday on Fridays all at Hazel Court. Think about Jive now starting at the slightly later time of 11am Wednesdays at the Monkey Cafe (my favourite group) or the Walking group which walks alternate Thursdays (next 21 October) in order to develop a good appetite for a pub lunch! Or Geology a South Wales and Severnside U3A Network function which during the warmer months includes rambling in some of the most magnificent parts of South Wales, their next meet is 10.30 Monday 8 November at Grid ref on OS sheet 171, SN186/704 which is near Penarth (contact their secretary Yyvonne Thomas on 01554 832337 and she will email their poster).
As a member of Swansea U3A you have no reason not to keep fit.
The number of requests on Open Day for Walking means we could be looking for another Group Leader to lead another group - how about the alternate alternate Thursdays (if you see what I mean) so we have walking every Thursday morning.
On that subject I will refer you to an article in the Guardian 14 October headlined 'Why walking nine miles a day could save you from dementia' based on research since 1995 which even showed such walkers had larger brains as well as less sign of dementia.
The Jive Group show off
Tess & the other Brian, back views of David and Joan
Brian & Joy go for a Pretzel
In the Dragon Ken dances with wife (Julia)
Tutor Pam shows my old panto partner Rita how it's done
Tess & the other Brian at it again
MORE NEW GROUPS
I digress as usual so back to the point.
SPANISH
New member Alison Burns 290260 approached me with ideas to start a Spanish Conversation class. With help from the website she now has started a group of four who meet around once a month in the Library for informal practice.
Prospective new member Keith Barry 795672 approached me with respect to helping tutor a Spanish Language class. It turns out that he has taught Spanish Italian and French for 25 years and wants to keep his hand in , as it were. I have thus provided both Alison and him with copies of the interest list of 11 members collected on Open Day so if you put your name on that list either or both may contact you by phone. Regardless of Open Day anyone interested should contact one or the other.
Thus there is a prospect of two different groups with Keith offering to teach Spanish from scratch and Alison interested in forming a Conversation Group of people who already have a command of the language. The current French group has split into two similar parts (using the ability to physically divide the Craft Room at Hazel Court into two halves).
Book Group 5
We went into Open Day knowing that the existing four Book Reading groups were full but determined to start a fifth, though such an attempt failed last year. Anyone else interested is invited to the Exercise Room at Hazel Court for 10.30 on Monday 18 October for an inaugural meeting. Please just come or contact Cecily Hughes 363875.
British Film Studies
New member Anthea Symonds 206479 has already started a new group which meets in the large ground floor conference room at Hazel Court on the first Thursday of each month. Her first session attracted 14 and the numbers are expected to grow rapidly for what I expect to be a very successful group. Although a new member she has already delivered interesting, entertaining, lectures to us in the Grove Theatre, Swansea University on Thursdays so is very much a known quantity. I would stress that she shows only extracts of DVD of a selected film but that she leads discussion.
Thanks to her for handling the arrangements herself including the booking of the Room. The next session will be 2pm 4 November, there is plenty of capacity in the room so just turn up and try.
Short Tennis
Well known jiver and sailor Judy Jones 410484 is doing what I will hereafter call 'An Anthea' and simply set up stall at Open Day on the Jive stand, unbeknown to me at first, but collected 31 names, more than anyone else? A self starting enthusiasm to be copied please. I think her intention is to run such a group at the Leisure Centre.
Another way of keeping fit as is Bowls at the West Cross Community Centre on Mondays at 1.30 or Tuesday at 10am.
Chess Group
I had assumed that Chess had died the death when along comes Prospective New Member Harry Lewis 584297 and offers to run a Chess Group. I have given him contact details for previous members of the group so expect an invite to an inaugural meeting in the Excercise Room at Hazel Court on Monday 1 November at 10.30. Anyone else interested should contact Harry or just turn up at that first meeting.
Bridge for Beginners
Another doing 'An Anthea' is last years chairman Bob Hughes 363875, he set up stall at Open Day with four men playing Bridge and collected names. His intention is a group which will meet at the Mumbles Bridge Club where free tuition will be provided initially at least.
Bridge like Chess or Scrabble is for either sex and is surely at least as good a method of keeping a healthy brain than walking.
MORE IDEAS
To judge from the response at Open Day we need to find someone willing to lead another Wine Group (even red wine is said to be good for the health - what next!!)
Michael talks to the converted
Also another Walking Group
David and Eileen wonder how they will cope with demand
And as always yet another Painting Group for beginners.
Val explains how it's done
Another Prospective? Member Keith Bicknell 641648 had three suggestions, Maths at various levels from arithmetic (apparently Pembrokeshire do this), Furniture Restoration, and Discussion follow ups to the Wednesday Lectures.
I am suggesting Keith use the website to gauge interest in these ideas.
CONVENORS' MEETING
This was held the morning before the first Wednesday Lecture. Anthony Hughes, our acting chairman, decided on the idea of getting the convenors to divide into groups, discuss issues and appoint chairmen to present their findings to the meeting. Thus a number of issues were raised which will be referred back to your main committee.
Two in particular remain in my mind. First was the very pertinent observation that the committee was represented by three males, Anthony Hughes (our Vice-Chairman, Michael Edmonds (our deputy Vice Chairman, Yours Truly in front an assembly of convenors who were overwhelmingly female. I think I speak for us all when I say that we are not particularly sexist (any longer!!) and when we ask for people to Share the Load we would be delighted if more women put themselves forward. Why don't you put your name forward on the nomination papers for the next AGM - I will gladly give way. The days when we were all shrinking violets is surely well in the past.
Second was that it was difficult to get anyone from a Group to leave and set up a second group of the same type and therefore the committee should be involved, as long as that doesn't mean just me alone that's OK by me. But I think the real solution is for members to take the the initiative and respond to the needs of the organisation in a way illustrated several times in this posting. Luckily we seem to get a regular intake of new members willing to take up the challenges, but far too many members are just in this organisation for the ride. The U3A is a COOPERATIVE after all, maybe Tories would call it an excellent representation of The BIG SOCIETY. At heart they are very similar concepts.
INTERNET
I am very conscious of the fact that this is the second year I have suggested a short course to help members to get started with their PCs computers. From the enquiry I put out by questionnaire in the early summer it would seem I have about 30 takers and even more encouragingly about 10 prepared to help with the teaching. I will turn my thoughts to getting started in November, but first an email to establish who could bring their own laptop to such a session that will help determine the location we are seeking.
My long time view is that PCs are far too complicated, they try to be everything to everybody and as a result are far too big (gigabytes etc when we used to produce very fast, complex mathematical model solutions to real time control of a steel rolling mill with a few a million times less kilobytes). There is simply far too much to go wrong, and correcting faults in the system is a big problem and therefore often a big expense for the beginner, especially those who let young grandchildren loose on their machines!
I guess to start many people only need to access the Internet for email, U3A websites and to make free video phone calls via Skype, and like the member who phoned to say she had been ill and would have liked to order her shopping from a supermarket by Internet.
I have some sympathy with people who don't want to join the modern world and get into computers as I feel the same about mobile phones having spent my life escaping the phone for fear that I would be called out to work yet again. So I refuse to carry one so I can be in contact all the time. But I do wonder if modern mobile phones with Internet access aren't a simpler solution, though I know from the survey that those who have computers as well as such phones find them too expensive to use for Internet access.
Anyone with suggestions should leave a Comment on this blog, access is available to anyone but is a little tedious since you have to navigate past a an annoying funny letter test devised by Google. If you do leave a comment then please append your real name to the message, since otherwise they are simply anonymous messages since I have never had to place restrictions on this facility and that is how I would like to leave it.
JAZZ
Marion Harris (another who unfortunately steers away from computers) should contact the website to gauge support for her ideas attempt to get members together to visit live Jazz performances in Swansea. Any readers of this blog will be well aware of my promotion of Jazz in Swansea (particularly Jazzland in Uplands which is one of the very top venues in the UK for Modern Jazz (post bob invented by Charlie Parker and others in the 1940's, but now including a classical music bent as well), but there are other venues including the Swansea Jazz Society in Mumbles which is oriented to traditional (pre-1940) jazz, Taliesin, Sunday lunches at the Swansea Rugby Club, and how about The Tourists in a Noah's Yard wine bar in Uplands - a band of incredibly talented Swansea teenagers. Marion is a far more regular attender than me at jazz concerts of both types plus various jazz festivals around the UK, Thelma Bell is another regular at Jazzland.
JAZZLAND PROGRAM
I haven't been for a couple of months but it's really hotting up now Wednesday 27 October Simon Allen & Martin Shaw are in Swansea to give a day long workshop but at 8.30 will be performing with the Dave Cottle Trio.
Wednesday 3 November at 8.30 my favourite saxophone player Alan Barnes with his own quartet. Some time ago some of you may have heard him at the Taliesin with his sextet, complete with narrator, and his then new suite Sherlock Holmes. An annual visitor to Jazzland who has often been the anchor at the Jazzland Christmas Party but not this year, for that is to be Dave Cottle's 'Power of Gower' on December15 (ticket only).
Wednesday 17 November Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble who has also appeared earlier at the Taliesin but with a different group, and makes annual appearances at Jazzland.
THEATRE in SWANSEA
Again readers will know my enthusiasm for high quality live theatre a love which was ingrained in me a Rugby Mad Philistine by my Irish friends in Canada in the late 1950's (but it was one my few English friends (a Gordie) who converted me to Socialism. For theatre we had to go to New York City, or to the the Stratford Ontario Shakespeare festival started in 1953 in tents but by the time I visited in 1957 it had transferred to a purpose built theatre led by that superb director Tyrone Guthrie with actors like Siobhan McKenna.
At that time Toronto and Ontario were wastelands as far as theatre went. Opera, as I explained to someone yesterday at The Grand, there was a yearly visit by the Metropolitan Opera to the Maple Leaf Ice Hockey Stadium, better described as a steel barn. I'm afraid that's how I largely think about Swansea today - not in the same league as Bristol or even the Theatre Royal in Bath.
For years there has been a sprinkling of good theatre at the Taliesin, though when we arrived in 1967 that was more or less restricted to the excellent Christmas productions of the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre, which survive to this day. I now see some glimmers of hope here, which I was slow to pick up.
Margaret, Joy and Joan take a break
SHAKESPEARE
Joan and I attended a 'Discovering Shakespeare Workshop' led by Peter Richards, the director of the Fluellen Theatre, on Macbeth in a Sunday session at The Dylan Thomas Centre, running from 10am to 4pm. Pay £10 at the theatre door (ncxt to the bar) not the main desk. It was a very interesting day, listening and discussing with Peter (to our relief not involving the audience in an acting except the occasional volunteer).
We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will return for the final two scheduled workshops, Sunday 14 November Henry Fifth and Sunday 5 December on Twelfth Night, neither of which we know as well as Macbeth. As part of his workshop he used an excellent young actor (introduced as Hugh I think) who will play Hamlet in his Fluellen Theatre Company production in the Arts Wing of the Grand Theatre on Tuesday 9 November to Friday 12 November at 7.15 with a single matinee at 2pm on Thursday 11 November. Many believe Hamlet is Shakespeare's greatest play, Peter described it as being largely about three father-son relationships. It should be well worth a visit for £8.50 or £6.50 for concessions.
Joan on the basis of a Radio 4 program had booked us into a Fluellen Theatre production of The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco (known for his work on theatre of the Absurd) at 1pm on 9 October, also held in The Dylan Thomas Centre. After dashing from the Arts Wing of The Grand, where the kind lady behind the deserted bar kindly redirected us across town, we were well entertained by Peter, his wife and a talented young actress used comedy to highlight the difficulty in coming to terms with abstract concepts like arithmetic. The pupil so annoyed her teacher that she became the 39th victim to be murdered that day.
One lesson is to check your tickets more carefully than I did on that day, these days the tickets whether for The Grand, The Brangwyn Hall, or The Dylan Thomas Centre all look the same, checking the date and the time is no longer enough!!!
OPERA
There were several U3A members at last nights superb production of Fidelio by the Welsh National in The Grand. It was the first time Joan and I had seen Fidelio which is often dismissed as lovely music but poor opera, since it was Beethoven's only work in this genre, in fact when I was first learning about grand opera in the 50's my bible was Ernest Newman's 'Great Operas'. Fidelio does not even rate inclusion alongside the thirty 'proper' operas, but neither I now notice does Wagner. Add to which the speaker at the pre performance session seemed to disprove of the lack of acting, since the director had chosen only to use only dramatic patterns of the singers walking around the stage, ie as it would have been presented at the time it was written.
The music and the singing were indeed lovely but I was also very impressed by the directness and simplicity of the staging. For me that reinforced my view that minimalist theatre in the right hands is most powerful, that too much scenery distracts rather than enhances the role of the players, as does much of the 'ham' acting of singers in opera. Opera is a musical event above and beyond all.
But the one memory everyone there that night will hold for ever is the magnificent joyful choral singing of the prisoners released into the light from their underground jail on the very day that that the Chilean miners were rescued from their underground tomb. I guess every one of the chorus and everyone of the audience were drawing the same link. The Welsh National Opera Company has long been known for the quality of its chorus, but never more so than that night.
THANKS for YOUR SUPPORT
I am delighted to find that so many of the U3A value the blog and find it interesting to read. At least I now know who my readers are, and because they had to reply. I am the only member who has a comprehensive U3A email address book and it is now divided into those who have authorised me personally to use their address and those who for various reasons have not so replied. Thanks especially for the the many who added a special word of appreciation.
As we move towards the Internet age I would add a particular word of praise for committee member Adrian Crowley who has enthusiastically handled single-handed the update and extension of the website in the past months, a major work load and an unsung role. Whenever someone wants to promote his/her ideas for a new group I point them to the Adrian and the website and in recent months have used it as a vehicle for establishing support for such ideas. So long as the website is updated as well as it is today it will always be more comprehensive than the blog. For example Adrian is now working on maps/directions to each of the sites used by Swansea U3A groups to flesh out list of venues I recently created.
You can always reach the website rapidly by Googling 'Swansea U3A'. You cannot do a similar search for Brian's Blog as the link is private, most blogs are in the public domain and can be found by Googling - hence the reason for providing the private link on the Alert emails. If anyone objects to my use of their contact details (phone number or email address) then I will try to eliminate future publication of such information.
I have always been most interested in promoting new or struggling groups, giving a taste of the way individual groups operate, expressing personal interest in the wider Swansea community (especially as related to the arts) and current affairs on which, like the rest of you, I have a view.
It was clear soon after the original request that the Blog was well liked, but as last summer I took a break, at first giving priority to my time consuming garden and most recently because Joan and I have been engaged in our usual slow travel by local buses, this time in Turkey for late August and all of September. As usual I wrote a travel blog (in fact I started blogging as an alternative to the hand written records we always kept during our travels). When I find time to, edit the awful spelling (there are two versions of the letter i in the Turkish alphabet one with a dot and the other without which plays havoc with my limited keyboard skills), reverse the order so that the first posting is first and not last and add photographs. Only then will I give you the link address to my Turkey blog which you can follow or ignore as you wish.
The more impatient of you have sent through duplicate requests for the U3A blog. I hope I don't disappoint you now.
BRANCHING OUT
Faced with the fact that in the past year Swansea U3A, though continuing to grow, had been subject to a 20% turnover in membership it was clear we were not offering enough to keep many of the newer recruits. One result has been the attempt to increase the scope of our groups.
My main reservations are twofold, firstly the amount of effort it takes to get sufficient members to join groups in which they are expected to think, some examples from my first two years being language classes in French and Literature and more recently in Italian, though each is moving towards better days, though Chess is still on the starting blocks.
The second reservation is the difficulty of finding members prepared to invest the commitment and leadership needed to run any Group. This organisation is about Shared Learning and I added two words to the recent poster for Open Day to make this clear. Leading a group is rewarding once over the initial hump and you will always get help from group members if asked, I encourage you to try.
NEW GROUPS
This year has seen a burst of potential new leaders coming through to give it a whirl, and most of them look like winners to me. so here are some.
KEEP PHYSICALLY FIT
Wednesday Yoga
Edna Jones, a qualified teacher of Yoga, is to start regular sessions on Wednesdays at 10.30 in the Exercise Room at Hazel Court, Starting next Wednesday 20 October. This room is already booked for 7 sessions up to December and these will be continued if there is sufficient support. I intend as usual to go to their first meeting, I hope that I am not as usual the 'token male'.
Thursday Yoga
Christine Bryan only needs a few more sessions as teacher to finish her training. She started her class in place of the third Tai Chi session on Friday's. I attended as the 'token male' until I went on holiday and can vouch for the excellent way she ran these sessions which were well supported. Those who came to Open Day may have seen a short demonstration by a few of us, which unfortunately went largely un-noticed because of the loud bubble of conversation in the Dragon at the peak time chosen. Her sessions will also be at Hazel Court in the Exercise Room starting at 10.30 every Thursday.
Choose your day Yoga 10.30 Wednesday, Yoga 10.30 Thursday, or Tai Chi at 9am 10.30 and 12 midday on Fridays all at Hazel Court. Think about Jive now starting at the slightly later time of 11am Wednesdays at the Monkey Cafe (my favourite group) or the Walking group which walks alternate Thursdays (next 21 October) in order to develop a good appetite for a pub lunch! Or Geology a South Wales and Severnside U3A Network function which during the warmer months includes rambling in some of the most magnificent parts of South Wales, their next meet is 10.30 Monday 8 November at Grid ref on OS sheet 171, SN186/704 which is near Penarth (contact their secretary Yyvonne Thomas on 01554 832337 and she will email their poster).
As a member of Swansea U3A you have no reason not to keep fit.
The number of requests on Open Day for Walking means we could be looking for another Group Leader to lead another group - how about the alternate alternate Thursdays (if you see what I mean) so we have walking every Thursday morning.
On that subject I will refer you to an article in the Guardian 14 October headlined 'Why walking nine miles a day could save you from dementia' based on research since 1995 which even showed such walkers had larger brains as well as less sign of dementia.
The Jive Group show off
MORE NEW GROUPS
I digress as usual so back to the point.
SPANISH
New member Alison Burns 290260 approached me with ideas to start a Spanish Conversation class. With help from the website she now has started a group of four who meet around once a month in the Library for informal practice.
Prospective new member Keith Barry 795672 approached me with respect to helping tutor a Spanish Language class. It turns out that he has taught Spanish Italian and French for 25 years and wants to keep his hand in , as it were. I have thus provided both Alison and him with copies of the interest list of 11 members collected on Open Day so if you put your name on that list either or both may contact you by phone. Regardless of Open Day anyone interested should contact one or the other.
Thus there is a prospect of two different groups with Keith offering to teach Spanish from scratch and Alison interested in forming a Conversation Group of people who already have a command of the language. The current French group has split into two similar parts (using the ability to physically divide the Craft Room at Hazel Court into two halves).
Book Group 5
We went into Open Day knowing that the existing four Book Reading groups were full but determined to start a fifth, though such an attempt failed last year. Anyone else interested is invited to the Exercise Room at Hazel Court for 10.30 on Monday 18 October for an inaugural meeting. Please just come or contact Cecily Hughes 363875.
British Film Studies
New member Anthea Symonds 206479 has already started a new group which meets in the large ground floor conference room at Hazel Court on the first Thursday of each month. Her first session attracted 14 and the numbers are expected to grow rapidly for what I expect to be a very successful group. Although a new member she has already delivered interesting, entertaining, lectures to us in the Grove Theatre, Swansea University on Thursdays so is very much a known quantity. I would stress that she shows only extracts of DVD of a selected film but that she leads discussion.
Thanks to her for handling the arrangements herself including the booking of the Room. The next session will be 2pm 4 November, there is plenty of capacity in the room so just turn up and try.
Short Tennis
Well known jiver and sailor Judy Jones 410484 is doing what I will hereafter call 'An Anthea' and simply set up stall at Open Day on the Jive stand, unbeknown to me at first, but collected 31 names, more than anyone else? A self starting enthusiasm to be copied please. I think her intention is to run such a group at the Leisure Centre.
Another way of keeping fit as is Bowls at the West Cross Community Centre on Mondays at 1.30 or Tuesday at 10am.
Chess Group
I had assumed that Chess had died the death when along comes Prospective New Member Harry Lewis 584297 and offers to run a Chess Group. I have given him contact details for previous members of the group so expect an invite to an inaugural meeting in the Excercise Room at Hazel Court on Monday 1 November at 10.30. Anyone else interested should contact Harry or just turn up at that first meeting.
Bridge for Beginners
Another doing 'An Anthea' is last years chairman Bob Hughes 363875, he set up stall at Open Day with four men playing Bridge and collected names. His intention is a group which will meet at the Mumbles Bridge Club where free tuition will be provided initially at least.
Bridge like Chess or Scrabble is for either sex and is surely at least as good a method of keeping a healthy brain than walking.
MORE IDEAS
To judge from the response at Open Day we need to find someone willing to lead another Wine Group (even red wine is said to be good for the health - what next!!)
Also another Walking Group
And as always yet another Painting Group for beginners.
Another Prospective? Member Keith Bicknell 641648 had three suggestions, Maths at various levels from arithmetic (apparently Pembrokeshire do this), Furniture Restoration, and Discussion follow ups to the Wednesday Lectures.
I am suggesting Keith use the website to gauge interest in these ideas.
CONVENORS' MEETING
This was held the morning before the first Wednesday Lecture. Anthony Hughes, our acting chairman, decided on the idea of getting the convenors to divide into groups, discuss issues and appoint chairmen to present their findings to the meeting. Thus a number of issues were raised which will be referred back to your main committee.
Two in particular remain in my mind. First was the very pertinent observation that the committee was represented by three males, Anthony Hughes (our Vice-Chairman, Michael Edmonds (our deputy Vice Chairman, Yours Truly in front an assembly of convenors who were overwhelmingly female. I think I speak for us all when I say that we are not particularly sexist (any longer!!) and when we ask for people to Share the Load we would be delighted if more women put themselves forward. Why don't you put your name forward on the nomination papers for the next AGM - I will gladly give way. The days when we were all shrinking violets is surely well in the past.
Second was that it was difficult to get anyone from a Group to leave and set up a second group of the same type and therefore the committee should be involved, as long as that doesn't mean just me alone that's OK by me. But I think the real solution is for members to take the the initiative and respond to the needs of the organisation in a way illustrated several times in this posting. Luckily we seem to get a regular intake of new members willing to take up the challenges, but far too many members are just in this organisation for the ride. The U3A is a COOPERATIVE after all, maybe Tories would call it an excellent representation of The BIG SOCIETY. At heart they are very similar concepts.
INTERNET
I am very conscious of the fact that this is the second year I have suggested a short course to help members to get started with their PCs computers. From the enquiry I put out by questionnaire in the early summer it would seem I have about 30 takers and even more encouragingly about 10 prepared to help with the teaching. I will turn my thoughts to getting started in November, but first an email to establish who could bring their own laptop to such a session that will help determine the location we are seeking.
My long time view is that PCs are far too complicated, they try to be everything to everybody and as a result are far too big (gigabytes etc when we used to produce very fast, complex mathematical model solutions to real time control of a steel rolling mill with a few a million times less kilobytes). There is simply far too much to go wrong, and correcting faults in the system is a big problem and therefore often a big expense for the beginner, especially those who let young grandchildren loose on their machines!
I guess to start many people only need to access the Internet for email, U3A websites and to make free video phone calls via Skype, and like the member who phoned to say she had been ill and would have liked to order her shopping from a supermarket by Internet.
I have some sympathy with people who don't want to join the modern world and get into computers as I feel the same about mobile phones having spent my life escaping the phone for fear that I would be called out to work yet again. So I refuse to carry one so I can be in contact all the time. But I do wonder if modern mobile phones with Internet access aren't a simpler solution, though I know from the survey that those who have computers as well as such phones find them too expensive to use for Internet access.
Anyone with suggestions should leave a Comment on this blog, access is available to anyone but is a little tedious since you have to navigate past a an annoying funny letter test devised by Google. If you do leave a comment then please append your real name to the message, since otherwise they are simply anonymous messages since I have never had to place restrictions on this facility and that is how I would like to leave it.
JAZZ
Marion Harris (another who unfortunately steers away from computers) should contact the website to gauge support for her ideas attempt to get members together to visit live Jazz performances in Swansea. Any readers of this blog will be well aware of my promotion of Jazz in Swansea (particularly Jazzland in Uplands which is one of the very top venues in the UK for Modern Jazz (post bob invented by Charlie Parker and others in the 1940's, but now including a classical music bent as well), but there are other venues including the Swansea Jazz Society in Mumbles which is oriented to traditional (pre-1940) jazz, Taliesin, Sunday lunches at the Swansea Rugby Club, and how about The Tourists in a Noah's Yard wine bar in Uplands - a band of incredibly talented Swansea teenagers. Marion is a far more regular attender than me at jazz concerts of both types plus various jazz festivals around the UK, Thelma Bell is another regular at Jazzland.
JAZZLAND PROGRAM
I haven't been for a couple of months but it's really hotting up now Wednesday 27 October Simon Allen & Martin Shaw are in Swansea to give a day long workshop but at 8.30 will be performing with the Dave Cottle Trio.
Wednesday 3 November at 8.30 my favourite saxophone player Alan Barnes with his own quartet. Some time ago some of you may have heard him at the Taliesin with his sextet, complete with narrator, and his then new suite Sherlock Holmes. An annual visitor to Jazzland who has often been the anchor at the Jazzland Christmas Party but not this year, for that is to be Dave Cottle's 'Power of Gower' on December15 (ticket only).
Wednesday 17 November Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble who has also appeared earlier at the Taliesin but with a different group, and makes annual appearances at Jazzland.
THEATRE in SWANSEA
Again readers will know my enthusiasm for high quality live theatre a love which was ingrained in me a Rugby Mad Philistine by my Irish friends in Canada in the late 1950's (but it was one my few English friends (a Gordie) who converted me to Socialism. For theatre we had to go to New York City, or to the the Stratford Ontario Shakespeare festival started in 1953 in tents but by the time I visited in 1957 it had transferred to a purpose built theatre led by that superb director Tyrone Guthrie with actors like Siobhan McKenna.
At that time Toronto and Ontario were wastelands as far as theatre went. Opera, as I explained to someone yesterday at The Grand, there was a yearly visit by the Metropolitan Opera to the Maple Leaf Ice Hockey Stadium, better described as a steel barn. I'm afraid that's how I largely think about Swansea today - not in the same league as Bristol or even the Theatre Royal in Bath.
For years there has been a sprinkling of good theatre at the Taliesin, though when we arrived in 1967 that was more or less restricted to the excellent Christmas productions of the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre, which survive to this day. I now see some glimmers of hope here, which I was slow to pick up.
SHAKESPEARE
Joan and I attended a 'Discovering Shakespeare Workshop' led by Peter Richards, the director of the Fluellen Theatre, on Macbeth in a Sunday session at The Dylan Thomas Centre, running from 10am to 4pm. Pay £10 at the theatre door (ncxt to the bar) not the main desk. It was a very interesting day, listening and discussing with Peter (to our relief not involving the audience in an acting except the occasional volunteer).
We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will return for the final two scheduled workshops, Sunday 14 November Henry Fifth and Sunday 5 December on Twelfth Night, neither of which we know as well as Macbeth. As part of his workshop he used an excellent young actor (introduced as Hugh I think) who will play Hamlet in his Fluellen Theatre Company production in the Arts Wing of the Grand Theatre on Tuesday 9 November to Friday 12 November at 7.15 with a single matinee at 2pm on Thursday 11 November. Many believe Hamlet is Shakespeare's greatest play, Peter described it as being largely about three father-son relationships. It should be well worth a visit for £8.50 or £6.50 for concessions.
Joan on the basis of a Radio 4 program had booked us into a Fluellen Theatre production of The Lesson by Eugene Ionesco (known for his work on theatre of the Absurd) at 1pm on 9 October, also held in The Dylan Thomas Centre. After dashing from the Arts Wing of The Grand, where the kind lady behind the deserted bar kindly redirected us across town, we were well entertained by Peter, his wife and a talented young actress used comedy to highlight the difficulty in coming to terms with abstract concepts like arithmetic. The pupil so annoyed her teacher that she became the 39th victim to be murdered that day.
One lesson is to check your tickets more carefully than I did on that day, these days the tickets whether for The Grand, The Brangwyn Hall, or The Dylan Thomas Centre all look the same, checking the date and the time is no longer enough!!!
OPERA
There were several U3A members at last nights superb production of Fidelio by the Welsh National in The Grand. It was the first time Joan and I had seen Fidelio which is often dismissed as lovely music but poor opera, since it was Beethoven's only work in this genre, in fact when I was first learning about grand opera in the 50's my bible was Ernest Newman's 'Great Operas'. Fidelio does not even rate inclusion alongside the thirty 'proper' operas, but neither I now notice does Wagner. Add to which the speaker at the pre performance session seemed to disprove of the lack of acting, since the director had chosen only to use only dramatic patterns of the singers walking around the stage, ie as it would have been presented at the time it was written.
The music and the singing were indeed lovely but I was also very impressed by the directness and simplicity of the staging. For me that reinforced my view that minimalist theatre in the right hands is most powerful, that too much scenery distracts rather than enhances the role of the players, as does much of the 'ham' acting of singers in opera. Opera is a musical event above and beyond all.
But the one memory everyone there that night will hold for ever is the magnificent joyful choral singing of the prisoners released into the light from their underground jail on the very day that that the Chilean miners were rescued from their underground tomb. I guess every one of the chorus and everyone of the audience were drawing the same link. The Welsh National Opera Company has long been known for the quality of its chorus, but never more so than that night.
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