PANTOMIME and other news

HONEY BUN'S PANTOMAGORIA (otherwise known as CINDERELLA)


If you attended the Dolphin 14 Jan you had the dubious pleasure of seeing me dance in a grass skirt whilst petite Lyn Evans dressed as an American Sailor sang,' One Hundred and One Pounds of Fun, that's my little Honey Bun' (that's me folks).

After the show I was distressed to be told I was the least feminine cross dresser ever. Contrast Gerwyn, who lead the Jive troupe as the Dancing Queen, dressed in a transparent black dress and made up to kill, false eye lashes and all. He was so ambiguous that he made me wonder if he really was a lady-boy from Thailand. Well it was South Pacific.

That's only the second time in my life that I have tread the boards, and both times I have been a prancing dumb mute. Fifty years ago or so a pretty young girl decided to perform the dance of the seven veils surrounded by the whole 1st fifteen pack virtually naked as Red Indians waving axes. Now that really was worth the ride.

I would not like to distract from many other fine performances. For instance take that cat Marilyn prancing evocatively around in a skimpy dress and a big red scarf miming Big Spender as though the Credit Crunch had never happened. Or Rosemary dressed as Santa Claus and behaving like a Court Jester, something she would never dare to do in our French Group. Or Lawmary, our one paid up member of Equity, confidently over acting as one the Ugly Sisters, whilst whilst the other was so much more subtle. Malcolm Broome the leader of our Singing for Pleasure Group took a solo, a cut above the rest of us in his suit and white bow tie.

I am almost forgetting the elegant impersonation of the Prince, in jack boots, trying to outdo our Gerwyn in the opposite direction, if you see what I mean.They should get together, they would make a lovely couple!




I simply couldn't believe the sudden change from Mrs. Mop to attractive Cinderella, it's amazing what a few pins can do! Then there was Lynn a Yankee from the American Civil War complete with flag and long white hair tied back like some later-day preacher, or a hippy, trying to flag the play together. Not to forget Roly with the music. Did he deliberately fail to switch off the music so the jive ended with actors and audience drawn in until the stage was positively writhing with ancient bodies?




The trouble with tackling such a theme in my blog is that I have forgotten so many other fine performers who all contributed to a joyous afternoon. Gersom, for instance who sportingly made up the numbers in the jive group at the very last second without the opportunity to rehearse a single step.


Thanks above all to Jill Govier, leader of the Creative Writing Groups responsible for the gags, and our talented iron-fisted producer. It's difficult to over state our thanks for the effort she had put into the production. I am sure she feels it was worth while.



Oh and there was a fine cream tea produced by the Dolphin, so there was something substantial for the £5 ticket as well as humorous relief from the winter blues.

Thanks too to Mary Roberts and Marilyn Croft for the photos.











U3A SUMMER SCHOOLS
I have just learned that although I recently published details I did tell how to make enquiries. You have to approach the U3A National Office in Bromley (The Third Age Trust) by either phone or you can download full details of courses including

Application Forms by Internet.
PHONE 020 8466 6139. If you do so on Tuesday or Thursday ask for Philipa who is the administrator of the Summer School.

INTERNET click on
http:// www.u3a.org.uk
Sign in
Click 'Events' on right hand list
Click 'Summer Schools to get summary page
Click link at bottom of page to either 'Harper Adams' or Royal Agricultural College' to get full syllabus and the opportunity to click on links providing download of Application Forms or Full Details of the syllabus.
.......
( If you haven't done so already you will need to 'Register' with the u3a web site before being able to Sign In. Registering is simply a case of giving them a 'User Name' and a 'Password' and then activating your account by clicking on the link they give in their return email. Signing in opens up the full facilities of the u3a web site. If you want to download the forms you will need to install on your computer the Adobe Reader program for reading documents, this essential program is available via a free download. Simply Google for Adobe Reader, select a site offering downloads and clink and then follow the instructions for a free download.)

POSTING 1 JAN 2009
I realized when preparing this posting that the 1 Jan 09 posting was missing, having been taken off-line for editing and not restored. There were significant additions after the initial posting which are now visible.

CHESS
This group runs at Hazel Court on the 1st and 3rd Monday mornings of the month, it is meeting this Monday 19 January at 10.00am. The regulars cover the entire spectrum from absolute beginners, through people like Joan and I who last played at school to our coach who coaches schools and plays competitively.

We need more members to provide variation. I must say that Joan and I have found it a surprisingly pleasant way to keep the brain active, perhaps it is thanks to the U3A attitude to challenges. It is a board game where the sole chance assist is to win the right to first move, but every game soon takes a different path which ensures continuing interest.

LEARN ITALIAN
This course operates at Hazel Court at 10.00am EVERY MONDAY (including 19 Jan), hence sharing the room charges with Chess and the new Reading Group 4. As with Chess, French, Caligraphy and Jive these new groups are very lucky to have experienced leaders, who are prepared to work for free. Carolina taught adult (DACE) classes at Swansea University for years and makes the her lessons interesting as well as instructive.

Nick Hill, our Treasurer, joined last week and he advises me to also publicise the BBC language practice sites. They offer help with French, German, Spanish and Italian. I know several people who follow the Spanish program in addition to going to Night School. For Italian he likes the feel of their offering called Italian Steps

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian

Again we would like more members. When we find good leaders they deserve support. Without it the Swansea U3A will ossify, the tutors and I will be discouraged.

INTERNET
The hoped for facility for accessing the Internet in the Craft Room at Hazel Court has not so far materialised. However I am inviting to my home at short notice people who expressed an interest but, when signing the form, had no Internet access at their own home. The idea is to show how powerful and simple it is to get really significant benefits from this new technology with the objective of helping them to decide whether to buy a computer and get broadband service.

Obviously this exploratory meeting is not for readers of this blog, but if you know another member who would be interested get them to phone me on 424702. The first meeting, and perhaps the only one of its type, will be at my home in Mayals 2pm this Monday 19 January, where I have Wireless Internet.

CALIGRAPHY
The four week beginners class starts at 10.00am on Tuesday 20 January at Hazel Court. The four week Improvers class starts at 1.30pm on Thursday 22 January. Both classes run for just four successive weeks.

I am very pleased to say both classes are fully subscribed. They will be expertly led by Maureen Thomas who did the much praised Caligraphy on display in Dylan Thomas's house.

LITERATURE
On Tuesday 20 January at 2.00pm this group meets for the first time this year in St Mary's Church Priory, at which Lawmary will complete a reading of 'The Inspector Calls by J B Priestly. I shall be attending as part of my intention to visit groups to better understand how they operate and how they could be supported. If interested come along and help shape this years program.

JIVE
This group meets weekly on Wednesdays at 10am upstairs in the Monkey Cafe. Many have a simple lunch there before proceeding to the University for the afternoon lecture. Come along and try.

TAI CHI, Wednesday Lecture and Climate Change
Mike Hart will talk briefly about his proposals for this class at 2.15pm in the university's Grove theatre before the Wednesday lecture which is The Pubs of Mumbles by Brian Davies. After the lecture the Climate Change group will be meeting to discuss Energy The Way Forward - see also the article by Mike Wiseman in your U3A magazine Sources.

FRENCH CONVERSATION
This group meets every Thursday at 10am in Hazel Court. If interested phone Jan Phillips on 411476.

TASTE OF - CELTIC FRINGE
The first of Lyn Holt's 'Taste-Of' evening meals is at 6.30pm on Friday 23 January. Entry is by ticket only and all have been sold for this month's event. If you want a ticket for next month to sample his cooking and enjoy a social evening then phone Angela Holt on 403238.

OPEN DAY AT DOLPHIN HOTEL, 8 October 2008

GUIDE TO USE OF INTERNET and BLOG and Having Fun

Chairman Bob it was who persuaded me to use the prominent About Me section on the first page to give some instructions instead. Sorry about the layout but Google only provide a single linear paragraph - hence all the ....... You got here so now jump on the ARCHIVE link to INTRODUCTION - START HERE and as a reward you will get a Noddy but more complete guide - with the instructions in some sort of background context.

OPEN DAY

As usual it was a great success. Pat tells me we signed up 45 new members. But as always it's quality not size that matters. As Group Coordinator I felt a bit of a supernumerary so I decided to act as convener for two groups with problems, Recorders and French, as well as to try and publicise this blog.

FRENCH
Steve Johnson and his wife were my very first contacts, they were standing back glancing at the laptops of me and Anthony Hughes (Digital Media for Fun) so I went over.

'Do you know anything about NTL?
'Well it so happens that as one of their early customers I do.'

In return I enticed Steve to view the blog and asked if they played Recorders (No) or were interested in the French Group. He speaks good French whispered his wife. It turned out he had lived in Paris for 30 years. 'Would you be interested in leading our French group?' A smile and firm handshake later and he was deep in conversation with Jan Phillips.

Several others expressed an interest in French including an old dinghy sailing friend from Mumbles Yacht Club, Eddie Ramsden, who was awarded the MBE for his work as Swansea's Environment Officer. He is still heavily into sailing with the RYA and has good friends in France and so wants to improve his fluency in the language. So do I, for my eldest son married a Mademoiselle and lives in France - we really shouldn't be content to converse entirely in English. Years ago we spoke English to their kids and they responded in French (as every baby, and no secondary school kid, knows listening comes before talking). Now it's so easy since they all are fully bilingual. Jim passed all his 'O' levels except French. Now he's fluent - makes you sick, doesn't it. Steve had a word for it which I have forgotten - something to do with dormir; I got the drift.

RECORDERS
I made no progress on Recorders. Does no one want to start learning an instrument?

eMAILS
In between time I made my way around the Group Conveners whenever their tables were free. By subterfuge I got their email addresses, thus disproving the theory that they would not release them. Only a few don't have access to a computer with the Internet, though it's available to all in for example the library.

As I explained to Majorie Vanston I won't join the modern world either. For instance I stubbornly refuse to have a mobile phone. As one who tried hard to avoid being contactable outside working hours, carrying a phone wherever you go seems crass. But deny yourself access to the Internet and you are turning your back on probably the most powerful resource invented in our lifetime. After all without it you won't be able to read my blog!

MODERN JIVE/SALSA
Practically the last person I met was Gerwyn Thomas. I asked him the usual questions about French and Recorders and he volunteered

'But I AM a teacher of modern jive and salsa'.

Back in the 50's I (Mr Bloggie) used to jive at 100 Oxford Street (London) to the music of Humphrey Lyttleton, Ken Collier, and others. Not too long ago we helped make the floor vibrate and break all the valuable crockery at a Christmas Party in the Glynn Vivian, well it sounded like it! Salsa is wonderful, Latin music and nightly dancing in the streets is one of the things which continually draws me to Latin America. I like doing many activities in company with young people (eg learning Spanish or Mandarin), but a more restrained form of dancing could be interesting, not to say vital given the present state of our creaky joints. 'KEEP FIT FOR FUN WITH SALSA', sounds OK to me? Any Other Takers?

MOTO
But Gerwyn had an even more interesting idea.
'I would like to start an OTO group like they have in Aylesbury'.
'What's that?'.
'I often don't go simply because I dislike going places on my own.'
'Ah, like the MOTO Group in Wokingham' (Members on Their Own). How does it work?'
'Essentially it's a network of people with the same problem.'So MOTO it is (my choice of acronym). I will be amazed if it doesn't fly.


READING GROUP 4?
Elsewhere in the hall a lot more people expressed interest in reading than could be accommodated in the present groups. In addition there are probably still people from last year waiting. So I am thinking about a new group, bigger than can be accommodated in peoples homes. Hazel Court is due to open early November and they have offered us a whole range of rooms at reasonable prices. It sounds like an ideal venue for larger new groups like French and Reading.

DIGITAL MEDIA for FUN
Sharing a table with Anthony Hughes I noted the enthusiastic reception he was getting. He is prepared to run a second class in the afternoon every other Thursday.

I must say, as someone who is horrified at the laborious way computers are taught to adults, that it is invigorating to see someone who approaches it from -
'Tell me what you want to do and I will show you how.'

For decades now the buzzword in designing software is Make its Use INTUITIVE. Grasp that and you can teach yourself merely by prodding around, try this way and that, and, learn by experience - the only way for many of us?. But first you have to get the feel of the way your computer software operates. A Windows PC has a different regime to an Apple but they are both logical. ( I say that arrogantly without the slightest experience with an Apple, but acknowledge that decades ago Macintosh (Apple) showed Microsoft the way with its wonderfully intuitive operating system Lisa).

A typical class on say word processing is so boring, so stereotyped, and so avoids the self learning process. If schools approach learning by teaching just what you need to know to pass the exam and ignoring the context, then that explains some of the problems with our education system. I seem to remember the kids saying in effect, 'dad, cut the crap and for god's sake give us the answer'.

Anthony's idea is to point you in the right direction and free you to experiment. I picked up quite a lot in a few minutes at the end of the last session as four of us put our heads together. He will notice I'm picking up on his phrase 'For Fun' - that is what our U3A is all about. I still think learning is fun, which squares the University of the Third Age (U3A) circle.

LITERATURE for FUN

A few signed to indicate interest even though there was no-one promoting this group. It has apparently separated the roles of leader (expert) from telephone contact (usually the convener does both). With all the interest in the Reading Groups I do wonder if there is not a latent interest in a group reading, but perhaps not studying in so much detail, classic literature (though my reading group and Barbara Ellis's cover a bit of both).

CHESS

I had a good chat to 'I'm Maxie' who was sitting in front of his chess set offering to play passers-by. He was pleased with the response, and, seeking a central venue was another waiting for Hazel Court to open.

CALIGRAPHY

Maureen Thomas is trying to revive this group and looking for support. My wife Joan was a member of the earlier group which had good numeric support but rather lost its way when the leader was away for a few months; Joan wanting more than a social morning lost interest and stopped going. I am sure Maureen will put it on an a more interesting footing. She is starting a trial by meeting in Mumbles for all four weeks in February 2009.

DISCUSSION

In search of emails I stopped by with Roly Govier. I was quite taken by surprise at the group he was running. I had thought it would be esoteric discussions of a philosophic nature, but no it was very down to earth. He is delighted when someone new gets confident enough to take the lead. Each month someone volunteers to lead the discusion at the following meeting, next month it could well be proposed to discuss savings given the Credit Crunch or finding the best supplier of Gas/Electricity (ideas off the top of my head). I almost volunteered to slag off British Gas but Roly said touche, they are entirely banned from his house.

APOLOGIES

If I haven't mentioned your group it's probably because it looked too successful to benefit from my intervention last Wednesday.