2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR to MY READERS

Having taken a couple of weeks off over the holidays I feel out of tune as I try to pick up the thread of this blog. Perhaps it's just a reaction from being outplayed by my youngest grandchild, a mere 12 years old, on a Wii guitar. If you know what I am talking about then you're into TV electronic games, if not, you're not missing much.

Christmas was fine with the whole family (13 max) getting together for four communal dinners. Christmas Day, courtesy of daughter Judy, and then for Boxing Day at our house where Joan demonstrated that she has not lost her touch. Jim and family were here from France for their bi-annual visit to spend their unexpectedly valuable euros in our winter sales.

THE AUDACITY OF HOPE by BARACK OBAMA

Since I filled out a wish list on Amazon I got showered with books. If you're into political thinking and in need of an uplift then I can recommend this one. He writes as eloquently as he speaks and details clear comprehensive well thought out liberal views. (At our last book club meeting Jill Govier was questioning the use of Prologue & Epilogue - well he has even got that structure right and there is no need for an Introduction as he promotes himself.) He is truly a breath of fresh air, I suspect the world is going to need outstanding leadership if it is to negotiate 2009 successfully.

One can only hope that he is able to do justice to his aspirations and is not blown off-course by events. But he is not well placed to deal with his first, Gaza, since contrary to his otherwise even handed, new broom, approach to Foreign Affairs he would seem to be obligated to the US lobby for Israel.

Democracy and the US Constitution

I had always associated democracy with our parliamentary tradition but now realise its large scale practical application started in 1787 with The Constitution of the newly born USA. He claims that was the first instance of its application to something larger than the governance of a Greek City. He has written a wonderfully informative chapter about it, as you might expect from someone who taught Constitutional Law at university level, and is clearly in awe to the foresight of the founders and in particular to the powerful architectural structure of James Madison, who went on to be the fourth president. That structure provided the ‘checks and balances’ which have withstood enormous change in a country progressing from one of 13 states on the eastern seaboard and 4 million people, to the USA which is still the most powerful state on earth. It divided power into three branches, Legislative (Two (elected) Houses with separate functions forming Congress), Judicial (Supreme Court) and Executive (President & Cabinet).

But in his words it contained its ‘original sin’, by endorsing slavery and excluding slaves and indigenous Americans from the wide ranging liberties set down in the Bill of Rights. A fault not finally corrected until the 14^th amendment by Abraham Lincoln, the first President to be assassinated.

Faith

I found this a most thought provoking chapter if only because he started off in a family without religion and found his way to Christianity via the Black Church in America, whereas I started off in a very committed Christian family and have ended up a non believer. I am not too happy when he links God to the ‘Big Bang’. However I am totally with his belief, which shines throughout the book, of the imperative to understand, respect and be courteous of anothers thoughtfully held point of view even to the extent of empathising with it.

Odd Bits which Resonated

He contrasts the honour paid at the funeral of Rosa Parks, the coloured woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, with the underclass which is still reality for many black Americans as underlined by their appalling living conditions and treatment exposed by the New Orleans floods.

The bedrock of the Republican Party is now the seemingly bizarre combination of the Evangelical and the Catholic Churches. Almost the last event of my five years in North America was the election of John F Kennedy, the Catholic who broke the religious barrier was a Democrat. The almost universally left wing young Irishmen I knew then are now said to be diehard Republican supporters of George W Bush. Funny old world!

GROUP EVENTS NEWS

CHESS
The year for the new groups will start off with chess on Monday 5 January at 10.00 at Hazel Court. Further members welcome to turn up. Ken Huntley will be providing coaching for all skill levels.

FRENCH CONVERSATION
Is next to meet on Thursday 8 January, 10.00 at Hazel Court.

LEARN ITALIAN & READING 4
Meet Monday 12 January at 10.00 (Italian) and 10.30 (Reading) sharing the Craft Room at Hazel Court. Further members welcome to turn up. the session is just starting.

LEARN JIVE
First meeting will be Wednesday 14 January at 10.30 at the Monkey Cafe with rumour that this will also serve as an audition for appearance in the PANTOMAGORIA that very afternoon.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP
Kick off with an interesting visit to the Jewish Synagogue 10.00 and the Muslim Mosque 11.30 on Tuesday 13 January. Contact Roger Knight (401019) if interested in joining the party.

CALIGRAPHY
Is fully subscribed for two courses which run for 4 consecutive weeks, starting, for Beginners at 10.00 on Tuesday 20 January, and, Improvers on Thursday 22 at 1.30, both at Hazel Court.

LITERATURE
Revived group meets at 2pm on Tuesday 20 January at St Mary's Church Vestry for the final reading with Lawmary Champion of 'An Inspector Calls' by J B Priestley and to choose the books 2009.

WEDNESDAY LECTURES
Start again on 21 January at 2.00 for 2.30 with 'The Pubs of Mumbles by Brian Davies.

CLIMATE CHANGE meet in the Grove immediately after that lecture to discuss 'Energy - The Way Forward'.

TASTE OF series of dinners cooked by Lyn Holt start with the Celtic Fringe at 6.30pm on Friday 23 January. Contact Angela Holt 403238.

After that it's all downhill, I hope!

PERSONAL COMPUTERS

Nick Hill our Treasurer (tel: 369232, email: hill_n_j@hotmail.com) has been investigating discounts which are available to members via U3A Head Office. He forwarded me the following information.

Software. Anyone who is thinking of purchasing software such as Office or Photoshop may find it worthwhile ringing Julie Travers at the U3A central office in Bromley and seeing what they can provide it for, as they get educational rates. The quoted price for Office 2007 Professional recently was £97.03 including 1 licence. Additional licences can be purchased at the same time or later for £55.23. This compares with over £300 for the same package without the educational discount. Obviously these prices could sensibly be checked against others, such as Amazon, if price is important.

We had thought that if enough people were interested we could get a package with several licences, thus spreading the cost. However, only one person has so far shown interest.

Anyone in the U3A can talk to Julie directly - you do not have to go through the Committee or use formal paperwork. The telephone number is 020 8466 6139.

Dell Hardware. Dell give significant discounts for bulk purchases, ranging from 5% up to £499, 10% for £500 - £1000, 15% for £1000 - £2000, and 20% over £2000. This info was given to the last Wednesday meeting at the Grove. To get the discounts, once you know what you want, the contact is Linda Kavanagh at Dell, tel no: 0844 4445254, email linda_kavanagh@dell.com

(NB linda_ kavanagh)

Once again, anyone interested can apply directly to Linda, you do not go need to go through the Committee.

So far only 4 people have shown an interest. In view of the fact that people will need to be specific about what they want when ordering, and sort out how to pay, it is suggested that those interested be put in touch with each other so that thay can sort things out amongst themselves. Nick Hill as Treasurer is willing to take names and put people in touch BUT will take no part in the specification or ordering - interested parties will need to sort out their own financing, it will not be done through the Committee none of whom can take responsibility for what you order, pay for, or get!

DELL OUTLET (www.dell.co.uk/outlet)
I used this avenue twice last year (one laptop, one desk top) to buy refurbished/returned computers (in effect unused and in new condition) at discount prices plus a special offer - often free delivery and/or say £50 further off. Prices and offers are subject to continual change so you need to watch the site in order to find the real bargains, as I write there are no special offers. You don't need to be restricted to the Home systems in both occasions I bought from the cheap end business Vostro line. Note the desk top computers are usually sold separately, ie without monitors.

Dell is a respected brand and a popular way to buy but your search should never be restricted to this company, especially in the current sales climate.

Groups and National Courses

LEARN ITALIAN
Another class is out of the blocks, seven members made the inaugural meeting. The majority who turned up wanted to learn the language from the beginning, but all seemed keen and able students. Carolina spoke in short expressions in Italian from the outset and concentrated in this first lesson on the correct pronunciation of, the pure vowel sounds of Italian, which give the language such a unique musical sound, the pronunciations of 'c', and way of emphasising double consonants. She used a large but simple map of Italy to introduce the seas, regions and major cities. Then onto the subject pronouns and the verb essere. Quite sufficient to maintain the interest of the few who studied and forgot Italian years ago.

The group decided they were on the whole happy with weekly classes at 10.00 until 11.30am, the same as for French, and with Monday mornings, the attraction of this slot being the sharing of room hire costs with other small groups. The room dividers were used to separate the room into two parts, and although I was initially concerned in reality once both groups settled down there was absolutely no interference. The next class was set for 10am on Monday 12 January 2009 and should be weekly thereafter.

Several others expressed interest in Italian on my lists and it is hoped that some will join in the New Year, because just a few more would be desirable and secure the future of another group.

READING 4
On this occasion they shared the Craft Room with Italian for a very successful second meeting. They attracted a few new faces, including our first Hazel Court resident U3A member Betty Leigh. I was delighted to see her there because she had earlier tried out the French class but found the level too high. ( I tried to convince her that Italian would suit her down to the ground!!). It seems as with Jive, French and MOTO that pleasant enthusiastic groups grow organically as the news spreads. For the next meeting on Monday 12 January it was agreed that every member come prepared to talk about their own choice of detective novel.

CHESS
A picture is worth a thousand words, but both are mine!

The next meeting of this group will be 10am Monday 15 December, Ken Huntley has agreed to attend and teach. I would like to record the flair shown by Maxy in organising this group and how enjoyable, instructive and challenging he made the sessions for a large ability range, from complete beginners to good club players. Spoilt unfortunately by one outburst when we went overtime on our room hire. For reasons not related to the Chess Group, or this incident, he has been suspended from membership of Swansea U3A.

LITERATURE
I intend to sit in on their class next Tuesday 16 December at 2pm which is very conveniently sited in the city centre at St Mary's Vestry. Lawmary Champion will be conducting the final reading of An Inspector Calls by J B Priestly. Why don't a few others come along and give this once failing class a new look and boost, and join in the choice of next years books.

LEARN JIVE
This group will start again at 10.30 on Wednesday 14 January 2009 at the Monkey Cafe, (Pantomagoria in the afternoon). I appointed or is it anointed Gerwyn The Group Leader of the Year for making such a success of the group we thought was beyond the agility of our members.

MOTO
Following their latest meeting at the Brunswick they have identified several events of probable interest to members including film shows of
Brideshead Revisited at the Vue at 11.00 for 11.30 on 11 December
Bad Santa in the Civic Centre Library at 6.00 on 12 December
Boy in Striped Pyjamas at the Vue 11.00 for 11.30 on 18 December
Gerwyn will contact members before making a block booking for 'Curry and Carols' at the King Arthur Reynolston at 6.00 on 21 December

MONTHLY SOCIAL
Audrey Standish is suggesting an afternoon Tea Dance (my phrase). Those interested should in the first place contact her at 297358. The Community Hall at Hazel Court is a possible venue but the group would have to cover a hire charge for the room of £25.

CLIMATE CHANGE
Mike Wiseman sent me a note saying that no less than the UN had requested that the U3A (which is of course an international organisation started in France) get involved in promoting the discussion of the issues of Climate Change and Sustainability.

Wales U3As are taking a lead and have already formed several groups to look at the problems facing the planet. He identifies Fuel and Fresh Water as being the two most pressing issues for us by 2012 (frighteningly close). The next meeting of the Swansea Group will therefore consider the problems of ENERGY - THE WAY FORWARD at their next meeting. All are welcome at that meeting which will be held following the Wednesday Lecture on 21 January 2009.

At 11.00 on 12 January 2009 the Geology Network have a lecture by Dr Danny McCarroll in the Joint Lecture Theatre of the Natural History Building (more or less opposite the Grove) and it is entitled Climate Change:Using the Past to Predict the Future

NATIONAL COURSES
We are doing well at setting up new groups requiring tutors, French, Italian, Jive and Chess all fall into that category, but always the restriction is to find people in Swansea U3A with the skill, confidence and enthusiasm to take the lead. We are fortunate to have been able to make so many departures in a single half year, to add to existing Groups with similar requirements like Digital Media, Literature and Bridge.

I have just started to look more carefully at the list of U3A Summer Schools which are operated at Cirencester and Telford, and must say I am tempted to sign on for Cuentos en espanol (Spanish Stories) at Cirencester. Every member will have received notification of these courses in the issue of Sources which accompanied the last U3A Magazine, but, like me, I guess many didn't pay much them much attention at the time. I am also told that the few people from Swansea who have attended such events found the experience really enjoyable. You only have to glance quickly at the course titles to realise that such events are a real strength of the national organisation and would be difficult to organise at the local level. In addition full-board with 3 nights accommodation and tuition at £299 looks good value.

Harper Adams University College Summer School Newport. Telford

Monday 20 July to Thursday 23 July 2009.

COURSES

Architecture – Old Town, New Town. Tutor: Wilson Briscoe

Art History - Five artists to make a point. Tutor: Philip Hutton

Crime & Punishment. Tutor: Ursula Steiger

Digital image editing. Tutor: Chris Powell

France – la belle France. Tutor: Joyce Gibson

Garden History – near & far. Tutor: Jillian Wallace

Geology – the geology of south Shropshire. Tutor: Isabel Markham

Industrial Heritage – water, wind & the industrial revolution. Tutor: Colin Mitchell

Literature – ways of telling a story: Great Expectation & Mr Pip. Tutor: Mary MacGregor

Philosophy – introduction to philosophy. Tutor: Meg Shaw

Writing – the play’s the thing. Tutor: Maggie Smith

The Royal Agricultural College Summer School Cirencester

Monday 24 to Thursday 27 August 2009

COURSES

Architecture & Topography living on stone – the Cotswold inheritance. Tutor: James Thompson

Art History – 20^th century art, part 4 1975-2000. Tutor: Audrey Loraine

Christianity in England: From Roman times to the Viking invasions. Tutor: Bette Butler

Cinema History – a brief history of British film. Tutor: Alan Coulson

History – Jesus: From Jewish teacher to Christian divinity. Tutor: Ralph Blumenau

Literature – poets with many voices – Dramatic monologues from Browning to Eliot. Tutor: Michael Goldman

Music Appreciation – the music of Bela Bartok. Tutor: John Busbridge

Painting & Drawing. Tutor: Michael Gardner

Shakespeare: on the page and in performance. Tutor: Jonathan Rogers

Spanish – short stories in Spanish (Cuentos en espanol). Tutor: Silvia Sussman

QUIZ plus groups

QUIZ
Why don't we have one more often? That comment alone showed how much the event is liked. Not everyone was there for the mulled wine. I remember writing at the very beginning of this blog that the U3A wasn't really a university because there is no formal tuition and no exams. Wrong, the quiz is nothing but an hour long written exam of the most exacting sort. Very valid questions which I can't answer, something called Palindromes and yet a third mystical section called Dingbats. I need tuition.

However I now know how to win. Go and sit at the biggest table with a maestro called Colin Thomas calling the shots and wishing he had stuck to his guns and chosen Sudan as the biggest country in Africa. There was a debate about whether the answer was Congo, but a later look at an atlas showed that country and Algeria were simply Sudan's nearest rivals.

I contributed just one answer, which gives me a personal mark of 2%, hardly anything to blog about, except that there weren't many who have worked outside in a Eskimo parka and snow shoes at 40 below (commissioning on what was then the world's biggest hydro-electric station station at one million horsepower, with the Russians poised to improve on that by 30% to one thousand MW) . That sort of experience is imprinted in the memory, and by the way the temperature scale can be Centigrade, Celsius or Fahrenheit it makes no difference - but it's bloody cold. Take your gloves off and your finger will adhere to metal as if by super glue, pull it off and leave the skin behind - it would be painful and bleed if the finger wasn't frozen! In that weather it is safer to stick to fishing through a hole in the ice with a brazier and a bottle of Scotch.

A well loved event but nothing like as successful in finding new group interests than the Open Day or the New Members coffee morning. Nevertheless this has been a very successful year for the creation of new groups. Define the unit group size as being a group of around 12 meeting once per month then at the start of the year there were 32 groups with a score of around 60 units. The new groups French, Modern Jive, MOTO, Reading 4, and Chess 2 add about 15 units or 25%.

The Italian Group is having its first meeting to explore the way ahead on Monday 8 December at 10am in Hazel Court. The idea behind the choice of Monday morning is the intention to share the room at Hazel Court with Reading 4 (second Monday) and with Chess (first and third Mondays). The Craft Room can be partitioned into two rooms - we will have to see how that works in practice, but clearly it keeps the hire cost within bounds for smaller groups.

Cards for Fun
Late news Lawmary says they are holding their first meeting in the Taliesin at 1.00 just before the Wednesday lecture 3 December. Anyone else interested make themselves known to her Joy Gillard, Joan Norley or Ann Twomey.

Cecily Hughes thinks there may be sufficient call for a fifth Reading group in the New Year. Clearly we have to get at least an initial meeting on Internet Skills to assess requirements, in the interim Digital Media Group are trying out Hazel Court on Friday 12 December.
Harold Williams 232207 wondered if there was any interest in forming an Archaeology Group. Anyone interested should contact him and report back if there is sufficient interest and someone prepared to lead such a group.

Some interest has been shown in forming a cycling group. Anyone interested should in the first place contact Lawrence Hopes on 362113, regardless of level of difficulty in the first instance. Given sufficient interest we can always organise around differences in interest.

Promotions
Last posting I said I would promote Mumbles Movies run in Ostreme Hall by Lawrence Hopes, under the auspices of Mumbles development Trust. He has now sent me details of the imminent showings.

Friday 19 December doors open at 7.15 for 'Mama Mia'
Saturday 20 December at 2.30pm repeat of 'Mama Mia'
Price in advance £4, at door £4.40

Wednesday Lecture 'Coloured Light – the Art of Stained Glass,

by Alun Adams

as reviewed by Virginia Jones

Alun Adams was a civil servant for many years but decided to change course and did a BA programme and later an MA in glass. He now works at the Swansea Institute and among other things lectures on the history of stained glass.

Stained glass has a track record covering over 1000 years but in order to fully appreciate the history of glass one has to consider social and political history as well as the history of materials. Mr. Adams’ particular interest is stained glass after 1900, that is after William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement. One cannot mention the revival of Arts and Crafts in glass without mentioning the great Christopher Whall who was not only a fine artist but also an inspirational teacher. One of his pupils was Karl Parsons, who Mr. Adams greatly admires and forms the subject of this talk.

Karl Parsons considered himself a ‘designer in coloured light’. He believed that the first thing one needed to do was draw and he was indeed a very fine artist. He loved rich, exuberant colours and used pigment, acid etching and plating to achieve the effects he wanted.

We are fortunate in Wales to have examples of his work in churches in Tenby, Pyle and Porthcawl. At one time, of course, stained glass windows were the Bible for the common people. Parsons understood this and the importance of the symbols of Christianity in the design of Church windows. In 1924 he travelled to Chartres and was impressed not only by the symbols and iconography but also by the ageing of the glass that he saw, in particular the effect of 500 years of weathering. When he returned to this country he wanted to simulate this ageing process and if one looks at the window at Pyle Church depicting the story of the Good Samaritan one can see that he did indeed achieve this process.

Perhaps the greatest window that he made anywhere is in All Saints Church in Porthcawl. It is a war memorial and very detailed. Unfortunately, a part of this window cannot be seen as the wall of the vestry behind the altar obscures it. However, the detail is amazing and shows Parsons’ understanding of art, of glass and of light.

It also reinforces the view that stained glass is an Art not just a craft.

Mr. Adams, through this talk, demonstrated that stained glass is not a dying art but does need people of vision to take it to new heights. It is capable of transforming space and creating something inside a building that is changing all the time just as light shifts during the seasons and the day.

This introduction to a master artist such as Karl Parsons and to the artistic medium of stained glass was both interesting and illuminating (in more ways than one!) The speaker captured the imagination of the audience and translated his obvious enthusiasm in a way that was both entertaining and memorable.

New Members Coffee Morning

Thank Heaven for New Members
St David's Priory was buzzing on Friday 14 November, well that was my clear impression. Maybe that's my reward for being personally involved this year now world travelling has had to be postponed, but I suspect an independent observer would have had a similar impression. It is heartening to feel the vitality and energy that is flowing out of our age group in the U3A. We are truly part of the Jive Generation, it's rumoured that Gerwyn is swatting up on jitterbug for next year!

Members are showing lots of interest in joining group activities and Hazel Court is well liked by those who have been to classes there. We hope to get sufficient support for Chess to continue on the 1st and 3rd Monday Mornings of a month. The principles of successful competition in a multiple ability group on a handicapping basis were tried today and looked promising. Tuition is available for those wanting to learn, and Maxy played four of us at once to point the way ahead.

Reading Group 4 already looks well supported and therefore safe for the 2nd Monday morning. French Conversation is showing signs of nearing the point where a second group will be needed to complement that on Every Thursday Morning from October to Easter.

Perhaps the most satisfying thing of all was the suggestion of new group topics, first
Italian. Quite by accident I bumped into my old Italian teacher from decades ago at DACE. Carolina Rosati-Jones had not heard of the U3A but is now joining. She has already joined the French course because her son lives in France, and as a successful competition writer wants to join a Creative Writing Group. But from the outset she offered to teach an Italian Group. So for the first time I publicised Italian at the coffee morning and ended up with four signatures - very encouraging. Already enough to pass on to Carolina, but given a few more we could begin to think of a new group at Hazel Court, a venue which would suit her well since she lives nearby.

Then Lawrence Hopes, ( tel 362113 hopes123@tiscali.co.uk )who runs the DVD cinema shows in Ostreme Hall Mumbles, suggested no less than three appealing topics non of which he felt competent to run but offered to assist in each case. Please contact Lawrence to record your potential interest.
1. Cycling needs little explanation but has an obvious attraction similar to walking, but a far more efficient use of energy. Wasn't the wheel one of the great inventions of antiquity! Lawrence foresaw off the road activity, meeting at say Afan Argoed for say an 8-10 mile ride.
2. Playing Guitar (his special interest is in classical guitar, though he also plays electric guitar) He said a simple £25 acoustic guitar is adequate for starters - though he was hoping that we have a more accomplished musician prepared to lead a new group. Keith Roberts plays in the Mumbles Concert Band. There are musicians about perhaps we can find the right mix to form a new group, it doesn't have to be recorders.
3. Photography. Again a widespread interest. I can't help but recall that only last week Mike Wiseman revealed his hand whilst introducing the speaker at the Wednesday lecture. I too must admit to having documented my travels with photographs which now clothe my walls and never fail to bring back wonderful memories, so I confess to an interest in a journalistic style of photography. That's three already and there must be others.


Transport. Keith Roberts (205678 keith.roberts3@sky.com ) spent a lifetime in the electric vehicle industry. He has also rebuilt many vehicles (World War 2 vintage as a hobby. Are there other like minded members out there?

Literature
A very pleasant surprise at last Wednesday's lecture was Equity Card Carrying Lawmary Champion who said she would be delighted to read to the Literature Group. Not as delighted as they will be, at a new injection of life! Why don't the rest of you also help to revitalise what seems to me to be a very worthwhile group? Their new book is 'The Inspector Calls' by J B Priestly. It seems nicely differentiated from the other reading groups. Are George and Judith Davies and Collette Robinson who expressed interest on Open Day going to give it a go?

Finally along comes Lawmary again saying she would like to organise a group playing Cards for Pleasure. She was advocating a game I had never heard of called Hearts Contract, which is a game of skill rather than luck. Quite a small group would be viable if run in the other half of the Craft Room coincident with say Chess. She, like me, hates the thought of serious card games like Bridge. My dislike goes back to 1956 when in order to save £10 on the cost of crossing the Atlantic (which then was usually done by Blue Riband liners). I paid up for a ten day crossing on the Arosa Kulm, a corpse carrier from North Africa in the 39-45 war.(Several years later Joan paid the full £60 and crossed in five days of luxury with Cunard.) I found I was the fourth English speaking graduate on that boat, the other three were bridge fanatics and there was nothing else to do so we played non-stop. I had never played before (nor have I played since!!). So there I was marooned, the indispensable football vital to complete the quartet. My pair always lost and I was always at fault. Psychologically scarred for life I would have liked nothing more than to have to have met them again on the Rugby field and see how they would stand up, tackling was always the bit I liked best. Even now the thought makes me salivate.

DIY Lunch Parties - cook food, bring recipes, and share skills.
Val Lawton suggested that about twenty people could meet in her home. She is stuck between wanting desperately to get started and the knowledge that she will have time out for a hip operation in the early spring. If however there is sufficient interest and if there was someone keen enough to take over whilst she is hors de combat then there could be sense in an imminent start. There would seem to be no start up costs and therefore few obstacles.

Internet Skills
I now have twelve names on my list expressing interest in the Internet. Very early on in trying to popularise my blogging I realised that many people with new computers were having great difficulty in doing the simple tasks associated with productive use of the Internet. Nothing technical is planned, although the history of the Internet might well make an interesting topic for a later session. As with Digital Media for Fun it would be a question of 'tell us what you want to do and we will show you how to we would go about it'. A series of tasks might include email, searching for appropriate web sites via a search engine like Google, the Internet as an encyclopedia, as a newspaper, for shopping, for advice on health matters; to compare suppliers of fuel, savings, mortgages, cars, cameras; to find what have houses sold for in your neighbourhood, to use for Internet banking, share dealing, research into family history. The possibilities are endless, but the Internet skills required are similar hence a few weeks should suffice to get people up and running. Above all it's a case of building up the self confidence to experiment and hence start self learning.

There is already sufficient demand so we shall be looking to start something early in the new year at Hazel Court, where unlike the Vivian Hall in Blackpill we can have Internet access. It will be ideal for those who have recently got home Internet because consolidating lessons by experimentation on your own is the best way to build up your skills. And even better for those who have laptops with wireless Internet because they will be able to bring them to Hazel Court.

WEDNESDAY LECTURES and Interest Lists
I get members to sign lists before leaving the Grove Theatre, and this is where ideas for new groups germinate. If you don't go to the Grove but do receive this blog the you can email me or the preferably to the individuals named in these blogs.

Promotions
In a recent posting I promoted the Jazz Concert by Gwilym Simcock, Stan Sulzman and Jim Hart 7.30 next Sunday 23 November at the Taliesin, but without making it clear that tickets would have to be purchased from the Taliesin Booking Office. Cecily Hughes is promoting good classical music concerts, (the tickets for which also have to be purchased independently) with her Concert Goers group.
Keith Roberts ( tel 204678, keith.roberts3@sky.com ) tells me that the Swansea Concert Band with guests P A Big Band are giving their annual concert at the Taliesin at 7.30 on Friday 12th December, tickets at £5 for OAP's can be purchased through him.

If one of us is enthusiastic about a forthcoming public local event then the probability is that it will appeal to others. So let's share our passions.
I also intend to get details of the Mumbles Movies Film shows from Lawrence Hopes. He is also suggesting that the U3A could consider its own cinema club with costs of around £65/film for a 10 film year, probably mainly winter afternoons. plus hire of a suitable room.

One Day in 'The Life of Brian'

5 November 2008, Barack Obama President Elect of USA
It's apt that today is named after Guy Fawkes who saw only one way to defeat the government of the day. It takes me back so vividly to early August 1957. I had just turned 22 when I set out on my first summer holiday from employment at Canadian Westinghouse. Many friends, mainly Irish from the engineering school of University College Dublin, who had emigrated en masse because there were no jobs in their own country, had chosen to spend the time in canoes and tents in Algonquin National Park. But Dave Robinson, a laid-back public school boy from Oxford who played trombone like Jimmy Edwards, had the idea that we would drive someone else's car across the USA and Joe Killian a particularly tall and dour Irishman asked to come with us. Dave had written to an organisation called the Detroit Drive Away, a body shopping organisation which supplied individuals willing to deliver cars to all parts of the USA, and volunteered our precious two weeks annual holiday for a trip to the West coast. Three days into our summer holiday we were still waiting for a car, virtually certain we had blown it. Then the offer, take a brand new Pink Cadillac to Indianapolis, like the one just delivered to Elvis Presley. We set off with only a few months driving experience between us. At the first street corner I slammed on the brakes and we all ended up on the windscreen from our front bench seat, our first experience of power brakes. (I've a difficult task for Anthony Hughes, Photoshop Guru, to unravel my only record of the event, a double exposure of me at the wheel of that Cadillac.)

Part of the saga meant we would make our own way from Indianapolis to Memphis where we would pick up a second car to drive Route 66 to Fresno, near San Fransisco.
Dave and Joe opted to travel to Memphis by train, but I, maverick already, decided to hitch hike and agreed to meet them in two days time at Memphis railway station. The first day remains etched in my mind like no other. I had a number of lifts that day, the first I remember was so normal, a farmer proud of his British stock was on his way to a day at the races and took me right to the gates of Ellis Park.

Then the real experiences began. A man with a death wish, who had just broken up with his girl friend, stopped. His penchants were for speed, overtaking, and particularly for going blind over the top of the endless undulating hills on the wrong side of the road. Thankfully he was stopped by the police before we went head first into another vehicle. We were taken to a small town, where the local judge was dragged in to sit in judgement. He let me go and I went in search of lunch. I remember being amazed by the incredibly slow slow drawl of the southerners, the ugliness of the one-hick town, and the incredible warmth of all the people I met. Probably I was the first foreigner in town that century! It always helps when travelling to be in a vulnerable minority

But the real impact was in the afternoon. I was picked up by a succession of poor white people heading south, one of whom had lost his job in Chicago and was going back to his shack in the Kentucky Hills where he intended to bed in for winter with his wife, ten kids and the chickens - this was August remember! Hard work was not his forte, contrast the 'work hard, play hard' mentality which had been drilled into me for life, during graduate training in Canada. In 1961, back to the UK, I was appalled by the lazy 'I'm all right Jack - I'm in the lifeboat ' mentality inherent in the English workforce of the day. No wonder we were then economically a failing country.

I had about three lifts that afternoon and each driver displayed the same appalling race hatred of the 'niggers'. They were supporters of the Klu Klux Klan, of lynchings, of hangings, their battle cry was 'Nigger don't let the sun come down on you in this town'. The meaning was starkly explained, if you do we will string you up on a tree on the outskirts of town. It gave a whole new depth of understanding to Billy Holiday's heart felt song 'Strange Fruits' - hanging from the trees. Beneath it all was the fear of violation of their women folk by a negro.

The last lift took me into Nashville for the night. He told me, and I still believe him, that there wasn't another coloured man in the south who would have picked me up. But he had seen the world and was on leave from his posting in Japan as an officer with the US Air Force. Brown rather than Black, intelligent, cultured, informative, liberal in his attitude to race. As he drove into Nashville he told me he didn't know the central white sector because Negroes were not welcome there (the blacks in their ghetto and the whites lived in absolute segregation). Nevertheless he went in and dropped me outside a hotel, and bid me farewell. That was the day I met my Obama, streets ahead of anyone else I met that trip.

There is no stronger reason for hitch hiking, than the experiences that are derived from local people you would otherwise never have met, insights you would never have made.

Next day we three met up at he Memphis railway station as planned and picked up the car we were to drive to the West Coast. Not this time a new Cadillac, but a run down Plymouth which had to be taken back to its rightful owner. Non the less Dave first then Brian coaxed it above 100 mph on those straight deserted prairie roads. Just as I made the ton for the first time in my life I glanced in my mirror to realise we were being overtaken by a police car, but he sped past with more urgent matters to attend to than someone doing twice the speed limit.

Encapsulated in our tin of car, quite unlike the intimate contact of hitch-hiking, we were thus out of touch with the vivid differences of culture in the south lands. We stopped in a little town, found a hotel, a few beers, a dinner and retired to bed. A couple of weeks later Little Rock burst onto the world stage. To think we had seen it as a boring sleepy town where nothing ever happened.

On September 2nd 1957 State Governor Faubus ordered the Arkansas Guard to prevent black students from entering the high school. Eventually President Eisenhower sent 1,000 paratroopers and 10,000 National Guardsmen to enforce a ruling made some years earlier by The Supreme Court of America in 1954, the school was finally desegregated and the civil rights movement was born.

Of all the books we have read as a group over the past five years non registered as strongly with me as Harper Lee's, 1960 novel 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. It depicted so well the south I saw that day, that improbable mixture of warmth of the whites and their racial hatred of the 'niggers'.

I was moved when, on tonight's TV Jesse Jackson, one of the few survivors of that struggle, was seen with tears streaming down his face, though I later learned it may have been in part a feeling of envy, and in part guilt at having opposed Obama for not being a true representative of the negro people. It was a very hard and very emotional struggle which cost Martin Luther King his life. So very many black people were experiencing today something they had never imagined possible - and not just in the USA but in Kenya and across the world - nor did I ever think to see it in my lifetime.

10 November 2008 GROUP COSTS
I am told that occasionally people are surprised by the need to contribute towards group expenses. The £12 annual fee for joining the Swansea U3A covers the Wednesday lectures, subscription to the national organisation, and subsidises some of the joint activities like the Quiz and the Pantomime and the start up and equipment costs of new groups. But all groups are expected to be be self financing thereafter, and in particular this means that the groups which meet in public halls have to finance the cost of hire, which is typically £10 to £15 per session. A charge of £1 per session or slightly more is therefore to be expected.

In earlier days when the U3A was much smaller it was common for groups to meet by rotation in member's homes. However, whilst this is still quite suitable at times, with a membership of 600 most groups need to be larger and thus have to be located in church halls or alternatives such as Hazel Court. Hiring Halls in the right locations also helps with bus access from any part of Swansea.

I have added Cecily's map of the streets around Hazel Court and my own research into bus access to the previous posting since its original release last week.

CHESS GROUP
The very first new group off the ground this session. Maxy Maxwell the convener, full of enthusiasm purchased eight M&S chess sets from his own pocket to get the group started. Nine people turned up and all thoroughly enjoyed the experience in the spacious well lit Craft Room at Hazel Court. We need a few more members to ensure sufficient continuity in the months ahead, but are already planning to meet on the First and Third Monday mornings of the month. The second meeting is thus booked for Monday 17 November with the session starting from 10am. Hire of rooms from Hazel Court is from 9 till 12.30, or even 13.00 (or alternatively AFTERNOON FROM from 1.30 till 5pm). Maxy's enthusiasm extends to teaching chess to beginners. Most of us were playing for the first time for decades and I must say Joan and I enjoyed it and found it very relaxing. I don't very often get emails from my wife but she was anxious for me to understand that she is going to beat me next time. To which my response is that I won't again miss the opportunity to take the queen that had put me in check, a move which would have spelt curtains for her! Cunning movers these knights!

READING GROUP 4
The last new group on the stocks got off to a flying start yesterday with 13 enthusiastic members, all of whom took to Hazel Court as a venue and stayed for coffee, after a two hour planning session, and some liked it so much they already have plans to stay for lunch next time. Cecily was full of enthusiasm, provided everyone with name stickers and got plenty of suggestions for this months books. Like her earlier group they decided to choose by vote two books per month, with the understanding that some will read both, others just one, with no penalty for reading neither.

That group will meet the Second Monday morning of each month at 10.30, thus the next two dates will be 8 December 2008 and 12 January 2009, which incidentally dovetails well with the plans for the Chess Group. It seems certain to be successful and thus bookings have been made for the whole session including July but with a break for April. The books for discussion on 8 December 2008 are 'A Fine Balance' by Rohinton Mistry, and 'The Clothes They Wore on their Backs, by Linda Grant, a Booker prize winner.

MODERN JIVE
This looks like being the surprise new group of the year, the one I thought might be too young in outlook for the U3A. It helps that Gerwyn Thomas is a very enthusiastic leader, as well as a good teacher of dance. We met for the first time last Wednesday morning around 10.30 in the Monkey Cafe, Castle Street, in the centre of Swansea at the back of what was David Evans. They have a proper dance floor upstairs, though I'm told the whole place throbs, upstairs and down, to Salsa on Tuesdays nights.

With the help of a couple of experienced jivers from a previous class, Gerwyn soon had us moving. A few of the taller women volunteered as surrogate men and took the lead, but this group has far greater proportion of men than most U3A groups. I am continually finding more members who want to join and so this too already looks a success from the start. Gerwyn was getting the partners to rotate every few minutes, an excellent idea both to get people to mix but also because it is essential to learn the basics, of this often free form dance, in a universal style. Joan and I learned to jive together way back in university days but I have always found it difficult to find the same rapport with other partners.

All you have to do is turn up and try.

MOTO, Members On Their Own
After a slow start the numbers signing are starting to accelerate. There are significant numbers who are facing life on their own after partners have died or left. Help with building a new life with new companions is what drives Gerwyn and this group. In fact this rather than jive was the group he really wanted to run. I feed him the names as people sign on and he makes email or telephone contact as appropriate. Their first get together was at lunch time last Wednesday after the jive group had finished in the same Monkey Cafe location.

FRENCH CONVERSATION
Fifteen were present at the first meeting of a new group last Thursday at 10am in Hazel Court. It explored the aims of the members for the sessions ahead, in English to ensure clarity of discussion, and in the second half people introduced themselves in French. It seemed to me that there was a good similarity in the standards of spoken French across the group. Thanks are due to Steve Johnson for leading the group but also to ex French Teacher Beryl Edney who by questioning and prompting was able to draw out conversations. There are several people known to be interested who could not make that first meeting so it seems the group will have sufficient support. On this basis I have reserved the room for every Thursday morning until Easter with a break over Christmas/New Year.

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
Almost thirty people attended the first meeting of this established group in the Sketty Parklands Evangelical Church (very close to Hazel Court) to hear Brian Davies, the group's convener, describe a cruise right around the smaller islands of the Caribbean to celebrate his seventieth birthday. He had prepared a DVD of the trip with musical backing, though in many ways the thought provoking spoken introduction was the best part of the presentation. Not only were the gorgeous Caribbean beaches on display but a fantastic range of flowers. He and his wife enjoyed the experience so much that they have already booked to repeat the trip next spring.

POLITICS and CITIZENSHIP
Apologies to the group of around fifteen for dashing in late this afternoon, as always, and taking the convener Margaret Hammond unawares. Gabrielle Suff was about to start introducing the chosen topic "Assisted Suicide?". I decided to visit this group on this occasion because the subject presented so many tricky dilemmas that had a special interest for me.

Gabrielle introduced the subject particularly in relation to the two recent cases, one in which a wife with Multiple Sclerosis wanted a court ruling that her husband would not be prosecuted if he took her to a 'suicide' clinic in Switzerland, after she had lost the ability to travel alone, and another in which the parents of a 23 year old professional Rugby player who had broken his neck had done just that at his request. There were over 100 cases where assisted suicide had been procured outside the UK without legal intervention when such a course would have been clearly illegal within the UK and even considered as murder.

Once thrown out to the floor the discussion broadened to thoughts not just of suicide but of adherence to a person's wish not to be resuscitated from a critical illness. But as I pointed out increasingly peoples last years would be spent with dementia, given continual advances in medicine for other easier conditions, without memory without thought. To me as an atheist such a life is worthless and I would not wish my life to be preserved in such a condition. In direct contrast my mother because of her strong religious belief that 'Life was God's to give and Take Away' would have wanted to continue to the very end. Surely the wishes of the person, which everyone accepted were different, are paramount, and surely few of us would follow suicide or wish to pre-empt death without consideration of others.

For me the real dilemma for lawmakers is to guard against death imposed or withheld by others against our clearly expressed wishes, whether their motives are selfish or evil.

The importance of discussing such matters in advance with close family and friends is clearly a lesson to those, like me, who have so far baulked at the need to broach such subjects.

Next month Larry Owen will lead the discussion on 'Accountability'.

THREE NEW GROUPS IN A WEEK

WALKING
Thanks to Lyn Holt for these two photographs of the walking group at our most famous beauty spot. The most popular question of summer visitors to the National Trust car park at Pennard is 'Am I in the right place for Three Cliffs?' to which the answer is 'not quite' this path leads to Pobbles the adjacent bay. But these walkers obviously know their onions!




GROUP NEWS
We have lift off less than a month after Open Day. Three, or arguably four, new groups are starting this week, and with luck we will finally pull together another reading group next week, with twenty interested that shouldn't prove impossible given a little good will.

FRENCH CONVERSATION
The first of what is expected to be a weekly meeting will be held in the Craft and Hobbies room of Hazel Court, Sketty Parklands, at 10am Thursday 6 November. Twenty one people have said they will come. There are two major advantages to that particular room, the first being that it divides into two equal halves with a sound proof partition, the second is the facility for computers which opens up the possibility of computer or Internet based courses perhaps in conjunction with more conventional conversation exercises.

LEARN MODERN JIVE
The first of what are expected to be weekly sessions will start on Wednesday 5 November at The Monkey Cafe in Swansea's central square overlooked by the castle. The sessions will start at 10am and can last till 12.30. This location has been chosen by tutor Gerwyn Thomas (817229) in preference to Hazel Court, above all because it is already laid out for dance with a stage on which he can demonstrate the steps in full view of the audience. It is easy to reach by bus from any part of Swansea. He used to teach dance Modern Jive there on Monday nights. It is also the location for Salsa dancing at night, used by others including ALAS (Association Latin American of Swansea) of which I am now a member. There is also a cafe and restaurant.

I say that three new groups are starting but it is arguably four because almost all of those who have signed on for MOTO (Members On Their Own) will be there as well. As I explained earlier, longer term we see these as separate groups but both run by Gerwyn Thomas. Regardless of a persons interest in dancing the Monkey Cafe should prove a good venue for socialising with like minded people on Wednesday mornings.

I feel Wednesday morning is an excellent choice which will allow members to go on to the Wednesday Lecture at the University by bus.

CHESS
This group is starting first, Monday 3 November at 9 till 12.30 at Hazel Court. The credit for this is entirely due to its convener Maxie (George Maxwell) 07733 43 00 57 working on his own bat. He expects 10 to 12 people will turn up for the first session, and has bought the required number of chess sets. Hazel Court will set out the tables and chairs.

JAZZ
Joan and I have just booked for an exciting concert by Neon on 23 November at the Taliesin. Those who follow modern jazz will be well aware of this event, but others may not realise how a good an opportunity it should be to hear jazz at its musical best. It may be worth explaining that the huge divide between traditional jazz as invented in New Orleans and modern jazz occurred with the invention of bebop in the early 40's by such as Charlie Parker (alto sax) and Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet) who took mastery of their instruments onto a new plane. Not to denigrate the musicians such as Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax) and Art Tatum (piano) who developed the idiom during the inter-war years.

Neon is a trio with three outstanding instrumentalists, all, I guess, classically trained at one of our most prestigious music colleges. Gwilym Simcock, Piano, from the Northern School, appeared at Llanrhidian Church in last year's Gower Music festival with an almost classical trio called Acoustic Triangle, and this spring at Jazzlands (Uplands) with a more traditional boppish style. I imagine this group with a vibraphone will be somewhere between the two. Gwilym was nominated for the 2007 BBC Jazz Award as the best instrumentalist. Both he and Jim Hart, vibraphone, were award winners in 2007. They link up with old-stager Stan Sulzmann, a brilliant jazz saxophone player, who also plays flute, and commands a huge variety of styles. He has the reputation of being an outstanding sight reader, but modern jazz is musically complex, often very fast - which takes some listening to - but by the end of the concert you will have acclimatised. It is of course 100% improvised not read.

With concessions tickets cost only £9, cheap for opening your eyes!

EPILEPSY a Wednesday Lecture by Dr Ann Johnston
Review from Virginia Jones, retyped and truncated by the Old Bee (Oldie Backpacker)

Dr Johnston is Clinical Fellow at the Wales Epilepsy Research Network. She took us through a historical perspective from Babylonian times, when this disorder was first documented. No distinction was drawn between sufferers of the Plague and Epilepsy and it is still the source of many other myths. Dr Johnston was keen to dispel these myths, some of which have been kept alive by films and stories.

It was interesting to note that epilepsy does not have a single cause but that 40% are associated with genetics, thus clinicians need to look at family history and interview members, not easy because of the stigma involved.

She works for Professor Mark Rees who formed the research network in 2004 which is currently scheduled to continue till 2010. Epilepsy affects 30,000 people in Wales, and currently about 70 families are being studied who conveniently live near the M4 corridor. It is hoped to identify all the genes involved to help pharmacists to develop better drug therapies. Today in the lucky cases epilepsy is already successfully controlled by drugs, but the unlucky ones form, stigmatised, unemployable generations.

Mike Wiseman pointed out P B H (Peter) May was an epileptic controlled by drugs. He was Captain of England for 41 tests, and one of the best and most elegant of batsmen to play cricket for England post war, alongside another beautiful stylist my hero T W (Tom) Graveney who I first saw playing for Gloucestershire at Bristol when I, on holiday with my grandad, was 11 and he still a teenager. I immediately adopted 'Gravy Browning' for life.

BUSES TO HAZEL COURT
I have looked on the Internet for information about First bus routes to Sketty Parklands and established that the following go past The Spinning Wheel.

A) Route 18 runs from Swansea Quadrant at 40 mins past the hour to Upper Killay

B) Routes 20, 20A, 21, and 21A between them run from the Quadrant at 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 past the hour. (21 goes to Three Crosses once per hour , and the rest to Derlwyn.)

C) Route 37 to Quadrant leaves Oystermouth at 58 mins past the hour

D) Route 82A from Quadrant via University to Hendrefoilan is not listed but exists and runs frequently, though perhaps not to precise schedule.

NB The Spinning Wheel pub is mentioned because it is a key location on the bus routes. It should be possible to get off closer to Hazel Court , for instance at the junction Sketty Park Drive and Heather Crescent.

Street Map by Cecily Hughes

Please check the bus routes in detail, but this information should at least point you in the correct direction