OPEN DAY 2011
This is the very first time since retiring from the committee this spring that I have found the space to relax from dealing with a huge backlog at home. How pleasant it was to be able to go around late in the day chatting on the various tables. We the U3A activists are a friendly lively lot. Rather than concerns about support and organisation for the day I was able simply to reflect on what a good impression the event must have given to a newcomer.
I am told it was another success in attracting new members for now we have well over 50 groups to offer with increased diversity. Too late in the day to catch the throng at its height I remembered the camera in my pocket and recorded the closing moments.
Anthea enthuses to Gillian about her British Film Studies
Joy and Hon Sec Angela at the membership table
FEEDING A GROWING WORLD POPULATION
I take it that's the theme of the lecture this Wednesday 26 October by agriculturist Ian Howie with whom we made contact last year on the outing to Llangorse Sailing Club. His title speaks of a world population headed from today's 7 billion towards the 9 billion predicted by the UN for 2050. But the front page of today's Guardian talks of a revised estimate for 2100 perhaps as high as 16 billion. These are frightening figures especially when you take into account the potential demand for meat production and fuel as the world's populous poor countries, like India, Indonesia, and China, who will surely aspire to 'Western' standards of living.
It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.
Judy asks, Anyone for Short Tennis?
RISKS in BANKING
Asked to lead the Politics and Citizenship group's or last session on the current proposals for 'Ring Fencing Retail Banking' in 2019, I opted instead to investigate the risks in across the banking/financial services sector.
Within days the urgency was underlined by the news of the third major 'rogue trader' event in recent history had threatened the huge Swiss bank UBS. Kweku Adoboli had lost the massive sum of 2.3billion euros in what is termed Delta Trading, trading high volumes for low price differences in order to make money for the bank and its clients. Jerome Kerviel had lost 4.9billion euros for the French Bank Societe General in 2008. With sums of this order think of UK pounds as being equal to euros - it makes little difference, but do note we are talking of billions not millions.
To put these figures into some sort of perspective think back to the exploits of Nick Leeson in 1995 who lost £827million (under 1 billion) but that caused the failure of the UK's oldest Investment bank Barings, which ceased to exist.
I am tempted to think non of these three were criminals exceeding their authorisation but rather that their seniors had turned a blind eye to their risk taking because hitherto since they were making lots of money for the bank and the funds owned by clients like us. There is much talk of the failures of government sponsored supervision, but these look like failures of the internal bank supervision.
Lord Turner head of the Financial Services Authority, the regulator created by the last Labour Government in 2000, frequently talks of much banking as being of no value to society. Frequent trading for small differences just to make money seems to fall into that category. The fact 70% of our GNP is now accounted for by financial services indicates how successful and dominant that sector has become for London and the UK and why we are so reluctant to follow practices which could damage our position in banking. Hence the current reluctance to consider a Tobin tax on each trading transaction as proposed by major European countries but opposed by the financial service interests of The UK and the USA as ways of throwing away our competitive position. I read recent description of the Tobin tax as being a way of 'throwing sand in the wheels' of pointless trading - putting a break on the heart of the problem sounds much more appropriate to me than talk of ring fencing in 2019.
The Dragon on Swansea U3A Open Day
More Open Day
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
Ever thought of over wintering and touring in India for £38 a day for two all in, comfortable beds and eating especially well - of tasty Indian vegetarian food and freshly caught sea fish. Then come and hear about Joan and Brian's experiences last winter in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Goa. See what South India offers, down stairs in Hazel Court Friday 4 November at 2.15pm.
STEVE JOHNSON'S 80th
He invited us to his birthday celebration with the family in Norton House just last Saturday. It was such a happy gathering and Steve looked well again and very smart in his Royal Engineers blazer (sorry Steve but I forgot the camera or I'd do the honours).
Steve you may remember was the person I met on Open Day 2008 when starting my stint as Groups' Coordinator. He, returning to the UK after 30 years in Paris, offered to take over the French Group which was then on the point of failing. He soon had to relinquish that task due to ill health but not before securing the future for an important group. For some considerable time NHS surgeons backed away from taking the risk of the heart operation he needed so desperately but eventually it was successfully done. Having too much exposure to health care in France and NHS Swansea he always has spoken far better of health care in the NHS than that available in France, exactly the reverse of what one expects. I just hope the currently proposed changes will not upset our applecart.
The second person I met in the closing minutes of that day in Open Day in 2008 was Gerwyn Thomas and that led to the immediate formation of the Jive and the MOTO groups. I was well and truly on my way to making a success of expanding the group. Then he too was struck down with heart problems but happily recovered from a near death experience at the Liberty Stadium. Makes me wonder what lies ahead and contemplate on how suddenly good health can be lost.
SWANSEA JAZZLAND
Very recently I learnt that in this year of severe cuts to the Arts Council grants particularly outside London, the grant for this club actually went up. The Arts Council were reported as saying they were to take a fresh look at the allocation of grants with a view prioritising those most deserving. This aligns with the view I expressed on the previous posting that Jazzland was the jewel in Swansea's crown. Coupled with the fact that the theatre I am always recommending, The Tobacco Factory in Bristol, this year received their first ever grant, I feel encouraged in the quality of my advice. The Tobacco Factory stages plays virtually every day of the year with a scope far beyond the February/March Shakespeare season, they have recently opened a second theatre (The Brewery) over the road in another old factory.
Alan Barnes - this coming Wednesday
The quality of the performers seems yet again to be peaking at this time of the year. This Wednesday 26 October the great English reed player Alan Barnes is to play clarinet and saxes with the resident Dave Cottle Trio. If you only come to the club once then make this the night, it is held in St James's Social Club in St James Crescent Uplands, from 8pm if you want a good seat, £10 reduced to £7 for members.
Jure Pukl
Two weeks ago Jure Pukl and his quartet played a superb set. Jure is from Slovenia and a fine young tenor saxophonist who played a high proportion of his own composition. The string bass player Michael Janisch from the USA was exceptional, arguably the finest bassist I have ever heard, far away from the normal timekeeping function into creating exquisite melody. He had a strong understanding with the multi-award winning young British vibraphone player Jim Hart, who has appeared frequently at the club and at the Taliesin with young Welsh eclectic pianist Gwilym Simcock. The drummer too had a very interesting original style.
I came away with a CD 'Purpose Built', recorded in New York mainly of compositions by Michael Janisch played by his own quartet also featuring Jim Hart but a different saxophonist and drummer. I recommend that without hesitation.
Steve Waterman
Last week was equally good as Steve Waterman brought his own quintet to play numbers from his latest CD 'Buddy Bolden Blew It!' It is as fine a statement of the beautiful melodies of 13 Trumpet greats from Louis Armstrong, to modernists like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard. The CD is particularly easy listening, to a degree which reminded me of what Stan Getz did to popularise Jazz via Bossa Nova recordings like The Girl from Ipanema and Desafinado. Since Buddy Bolden, although generally acknowledged as the first jazz great playing from late 1890's, did not leave written music Steve wrote a number for him the for in memory of his normal apparel 'Red Vest Man'.
The average time of the CD tracks is around 6 mins whereas in the club he took twice that time, therefore with a great deal more scope for improvisation. Steve generally plays with a vibrato free bell like tone. He is Professor of Jazz Trumpet at both the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College both in London, and visiting professor at Northern and Welsh schools of music.
Once again it was an all-star band with Alec Dankworth on string bass, Anthony Kerr on vibraphone - rather more direct less intricate than Jim Hart and non the worse for that, Chris Allard on guitar and last but my no means least Dave Barry on drums - the only old-timer on view. A balance of sounds quite a refreshing contrast to the usual trumpet and sax.
This is the very first time since retiring from the committee this spring that I have found the space to relax from dealing with a huge backlog at home. How pleasant it was to be able to go around late in the day chatting on the various tables. We the U3A activists are a friendly lively lot. Rather than concerns about support and organisation for the day I was able simply to reflect on what a good impression the event must have given to a newcomer.
I am told it was another success in attracting new members for now we have well over 50 groups to offer with increased diversity. Too late in the day to catch the throng at its height I remembered the camera in my pocket and recorded the closing moments.
FEEDING A GROWING WORLD POPULATION
I take it that's the theme of the lecture this Wednesday 26 October by agriculturist Ian Howie with whom we made contact last year on the outing to Llangorse Sailing Club. His title speaks of a world population headed from today's 7 billion towards the 9 billion predicted by the UN for 2050. But the front page of today's Guardian talks of a revised estimate for 2100 perhaps as high as 16 billion. These are frightening figures especially when you take into account the potential demand for meat production and fuel as the world's populous poor countries, like India, Indonesia, and China, who will surely aspire to 'Western' standards of living.
It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.
RISKS in BANKING
Asked to lead the Politics and Citizenship group's or last session on the current proposals for 'Ring Fencing Retail Banking' in 2019, I opted instead to investigate the risks in across the banking/financial services sector.
Within days the urgency was underlined by the news of the third major 'rogue trader' event in recent history had threatened the huge Swiss bank UBS. Kweku Adoboli had lost the massive sum of 2.3billion euros in what is termed Delta Trading, trading high volumes for low price differences in order to make money for the bank and its clients. Jerome Kerviel had lost 4.9billion euros for the French Bank Societe General in 2008. With sums of this order think of UK pounds as being equal to euros - it makes little difference, but do note we are talking of billions not millions.
To put these figures into some sort of perspective think back to the exploits of Nick Leeson in 1995 who lost £827million (under 1 billion) but that caused the failure of the UK's oldest Investment bank Barings, which ceased to exist.
I am tempted to think non of these three were criminals exceeding their authorisation but rather that their seniors had turned a blind eye to their risk taking because hitherto since they were making lots of money for the bank and the funds owned by clients like us. There is much talk of the failures of government sponsored supervision, but these look like failures of the internal bank supervision.
Lord Turner head of the Financial Services Authority, the regulator created by the last Labour Government in 2000, frequently talks of much banking as being of no value to society. Frequent trading for small differences just to make money seems to fall into that category. The fact 70% of our GNP is now accounted for by financial services indicates how successful and dominant that sector has become for London and the UK and why we are so reluctant to follow practices which could damage our position in banking. Hence the current reluctance to consider a Tobin tax on each trading transaction as proposed by major European countries but opposed by the financial service interests of The UK and the USA as ways of throwing away our competitive position. I read recent description of the Tobin tax as being a way of 'throwing sand in the wheels' of pointless trading - putting a break on the heart of the problem sounds much more appropriate to me than talk of ring fencing in 2019.
The Dragon on Swansea U3A Open Day
ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
Ever thought of over wintering and touring in India for £38 a day for two all in, comfortable beds and eating especially well - of tasty Indian vegetarian food and freshly caught sea fish. Then come and hear about Joan and Brian's experiences last winter in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Goa. See what South India offers, down stairs in Hazel Court Friday 4 November at 2.15pm.
STEVE JOHNSON'S 80th
He invited us to his birthday celebration with the family in Norton House just last Saturday. It was such a happy gathering and Steve looked well again and very smart in his Royal Engineers blazer (sorry Steve but I forgot the camera or I'd do the honours).
Steve you may remember was the person I met on Open Day 2008 when starting my stint as Groups' Coordinator. He, returning to the UK after 30 years in Paris, offered to take over the French Group which was then on the point of failing. He soon had to relinquish that task due to ill health but not before securing the future for an important group. For some considerable time NHS surgeons backed away from taking the risk of the heart operation he needed so desperately but eventually it was successfully done. Having too much exposure to health care in France and NHS Swansea he always has spoken far better of health care in the NHS than that available in France, exactly the reverse of what one expects. I just hope the currently proposed changes will not upset our applecart.
The second person I met in the closing minutes of that day in Open Day in 2008 was Gerwyn Thomas and that led to the immediate formation of the Jive and the MOTO groups. I was well and truly on my way to making a success of expanding the group. Then he too was struck down with heart problems but happily recovered from a near death experience at the Liberty Stadium. Makes me wonder what lies ahead and contemplate on how suddenly good health can be lost.
SWANSEA JAZZLAND
Very recently I learnt that in this year of severe cuts to the Arts Council grants particularly outside London, the grant for this club actually went up. The Arts Council were reported as saying they were to take a fresh look at the allocation of grants with a view prioritising those most deserving. This aligns with the view I expressed on the previous posting that Jazzland was the jewel in Swansea's crown. Coupled with the fact that the theatre I am always recommending, The Tobacco Factory in Bristol, this year received their first ever grant, I feel encouraged in the quality of my advice. The Tobacco Factory stages plays virtually every day of the year with a scope far beyond the February/March Shakespeare season, they have recently opened a second theatre (The Brewery) over the road in another old factory.
Alan Barnes - this coming Wednesday
The quality of the performers seems yet again to be peaking at this time of the year. This Wednesday 26 October the great English reed player Alan Barnes is to play clarinet and saxes with the resident Dave Cottle Trio. If you only come to the club once then make this the night, it is held in St James's Social Club in St James Crescent Uplands, from 8pm if you want a good seat, £10 reduced to £7 for members.
Jure Pukl
Two weeks ago Jure Pukl and his quartet played a superb set. Jure is from Slovenia and a fine young tenor saxophonist who played a high proportion of his own composition. The string bass player Michael Janisch from the USA was exceptional, arguably the finest bassist I have ever heard, far away from the normal timekeeping function into creating exquisite melody. He had a strong understanding with the multi-award winning young British vibraphone player Jim Hart, who has appeared frequently at the club and at the Taliesin with young Welsh eclectic pianist Gwilym Simcock. The drummer too had a very interesting original style.
I came away with a CD 'Purpose Built', recorded in New York mainly of compositions by Michael Janisch played by his own quartet also featuring Jim Hart but a different saxophonist and drummer. I recommend that without hesitation.
Steve Waterman
Last week was equally good as Steve Waterman brought his own quintet to play numbers from his latest CD 'Buddy Bolden Blew It!' It is as fine a statement of the beautiful melodies of 13 Trumpet greats from Louis Armstrong, to modernists like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard. The CD is particularly easy listening, to a degree which reminded me of what Stan Getz did to popularise Jazz via Bossa Nova recordings like The Girl from Ipanema and Desafinado. Since Buddy Bolden, although generally acknowledged as the first jazz great playing from late 1890's, did not leave written music Steve wrote a number for him the for in memory of his normal apparel 'Red Vest Man'.
The average time of the CD tracks is around 6 mins whereas in the club he took twice that time, therefore with a great deal more scope for improvisation. Steve generally plays with a vibrato free bell like tone. He is Professor of Jazz Trumpet at both the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College both in London, and visiting professor at Northern and Welsh schools of music.
Once again it was an all-star band with Alec Dankworth on string bass, Anthony Kerr on vibraphone - rather more direct less intricate than Jim Hart and non the worse for that, Chris Allard on guitar and last but my no means least Dave Barry on drums - the only old-timer on view. A balance of sounds quite a refreshing contrast to the usual trumpet and sax.
1 comment:
Thankyou Brian:
Always nice to see another great Blog......
Your pix of the Open day
brought back memories of a successful day for Swansea U3A.. I did great business in new recruits for Bridge, and for Armchair Travel, as did Cecily with Pre Concert Talks, and Reading Grpups
Heartiest congratulations to all concerned.
As I said last time, the success of so many U3A events is very gratifying.
The longer term developments which are in place thanks to the enthusiasm of our new Chairman, Committee and Convenors, will I feel sure bear fruit.
Volunteering to be a Convenor (or a helper)is a grand opportunity. Members, old and new, can gain a great deal of fun and satisfaction..... As you, I, and many others, have done.
Bob Hughes
PS As always, I also commend to members Adrian's official U3A website
(www.u3aSwansea.org.uk)
as the additional source of information.
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