History Group Calendar 2021

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Meeting dates: 3rd Wednesday of the month except July August & December.
Venue for Indoor meetings: Central Methodist Church.
Time: 2.00 pm prompt.

This year, early meetings do depend on the Covid situation, government tiers and vaccines. All dates have been booked.

March 17th 2021 – Attempting to re-schedule this visit at present for later in the year. July, August or November?

April 21st 2021 – Malcolm Darroch is coming to talk about ‘When the Balloon went up’.

May 19th 2021 Friends of Bennerley Viaduct. (Kieran Lee)Coming to talk about this historic monument past and future.

June 16th 2021 Visit to Doddington Hall & Gardens. Leave Hucknall 9.30 am: Leave Doddington 4.00 pm. Return Hucknall 5.30 pm (ish) Cost £20 Price cut to the bone.

July & August 2021 – holidays.

September 15th 2021 – Robert Mee is coming to talk to us on Bradshaws and an early railway Tour. (He says it is the famous railway timetable and a mystery tour.)

October 20th 2021 – Visit to Sharpes Pottery and The Magic Attic. Leave Hucknall 12.15 pm: Leave Sharpes 4.30 pm, Return Hucknall 5.30 pm (ish) Cost £11. I am still awaiting confirmation from the museum and will book a visit elsewhere if there is a problem.

November 17th 2021 – Members Meeting – Christmas theme.

December 15th 2021 No meeting. Close to Xmas.

I will photocopy this list for the ‘first’ meeting we can attend.

History Group

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The History Group always welcomes all U3A members. Our indoor meetings are held at Central Methodist Church on the 3rd Wednesday of the month commencing at 2pm. At present I am not sure when indoor meetings will restart – but – watch this space!

I decided to re- set the visits due in 2020 to 2021 which meant Richard lll WAS set for March 17th 2021 – but I am now discussing with them about re-scheduling it for later in the year. Remember money already paid for the trip is safe in the U3A bank. Please cross fingers, toes and anything else you can that the visits will go ahead. Doddington Hall will be on 16th June. I am still waiting for Sharpes Pottery to reply. I look forward to seeing everyone but in the meantime please take care and stay safe.

I have been catching up with my reading have you? In a recent Local History News from BALH there was an article which intrigued me. (Bear with me while I explain) I don’t know how many members have looked at the VCH (Victoria County History) books in a library. They are lovely red books beloved by local historians covering every county in England and founded in 1899. There is an ongoing project to re-write each county from the earliest times to the present day. People I know volunteer at Nottingham Archives Office researching for this project. I went to a meeting myself but decided that I had enough to do without joining the team and starting something new. As 2019 was the 120th anniversary of the VCH the project organisers decided to send each team of volunteers in every county a red box file with an interesting challenge attached. Could each team fill their box with objects which told the story of their county to fit into an A4 box file? When the boxes were opened they revealed fascinating objects for instance in the Nottinghamshire box was ‘sheet music for Eric Coates Dam Busters March stamped as property of the Boots Orchestra and a glass bottle from Boots the chemist’. Just think – something from Hucknall got into the Notts. box! WOW. I can’t wait until I can visit the archives to see what else was inside the box.

Now here is where you come into the picture. If I gave you an A4 box file and challenged you to include articles and items of what Hucknall meant to you from historic times to the present what would I find when I opened it? Would I be surprised? How many of these imaginary boxes would I get? Perhaps this is a thought for one of our meetings later in the year.

BALH = British Association of Local History – (Hucknall Heritage Society is a member)

T.T.F.N. & God bless from Maureen

Choir Group

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January isn’t usually a cheerful, sunny month, and the one just past was no exception, although it was brightened in our home by tuneful and kind choir members. David celebrated a birthday, and I had arranged a Ring and Sing call for him, so on the day left him to answer the ‘phone when it rang. On being told it was someone from the choir he began to call for me, then stopped. I saw him begin to smile, as presumably they began to sing the greeting, and by the end of the call he was beaming. He was full of praise for the singer, and I was pleased that he had enjoyed it, if a little surprised at the extent of his pleasure.

However, I appreciated how he felt a few days later, when my own birthday occurred. I organize the Ring and Sing requests, so a surprise call couldn’t be arranged for me, instead, I explained my predicament in one of my regular emails to choir members, and invited calls from anyone who would like to Ring and Sing on the day. What a great group our choir is, several members responded, and it was super. Family singalongs always occur and are appreciated, but I couldn’t tell you quite how nice it was to pick up the ‘phone and be surprised by cheerfully sung birthday wishes instead of someone trying to sell me something.

One of the singers gave me her details and a request, so I shall arrange a happy call for her too. I recommend it, I can’t recommend it enough, it is surprisingly cheering and pleasing, and had me smiling all day. Feel free to request a call for someone, or treat yourself. (You would need to know that the recipient wouldn’t mind you divulging their telephone number or birthday) The request form is on the website under ‘Choir’.

Just February to get through now, then it’s Spring! Spring! Spring! (Oh, the barnyard is busy …)The bulbs are shooting and growing fast, it won’t be long before we can sing all the lovely Spring songs. Continue to take care everyone, the vaccine doesn’t provide immunity, it only gives us some protection from Covid, stay in good health, then hopefully we’ll see each other at our u3a meetings at some time in the future.

Cheers, Christine.

And Finally…..

by WebmasterGeneral News/EventsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Working parents want kids to go back to school because school closures directly impacts them.
Teachers don’t want schools to open because covid spreading round their school directly impacts them.
NHS staff want a full lockdown because sick Covid patients directly impacts them.
Business owners want to carry on as normal because lockdown directly impacts them.
People with physical health problems want everyone to stay socially distant because catching Covid could kill them.
People with mental health problems want people to spend time with because isolation could kill them.
Some can’t wait for a vaccine because they believe it will bring back some normality.
Some are terrified of a vaccine because they believe it could harm them.
We are all going through this but none of us are going through the same thing. Some face crippling financial challenges, others face heart break.
We don’t all have to agree with what is best because what’s best for us won’t be best for everyone. We don’t have to understand what others are going through. But we do need to stick together and keep loving each other no matter our differences.
We need to be mindful when some things go the way we want it to, it could be terrible news to another person. We need to be kind.
Author Emma Jane

Pub Quiz

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It has been nearly a year (March 9th) since the Pub Quiz Group last met; doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? (Not!) Thanks once again to David Rose who keeps us supplied with excellent quizzes on line. Here’s your Pub Quiz for February after the answers to last month’s Quiz:

SECTION ONE – Name the profession from the description given.
1. Someone who designs dance moves. Choreographer
2. He makes and fits shoes for horses. Farrier (A Blacksmith only makes shoes, does NOT fit them)
3. A medical professional who collects and tests blood. Phlebotomist
4. A professional wine waiter. Sommelier
5. Front of house at a restaurant. Maitre D’
6. A head chef’s second in command. Sous chef
7. A brain surgeon. Neurologist

SECTION TWO – ENTERTAINMENT
8. Which stage musical tells the story of an Argentinian dictator’s wife? Evita
9. Who sang with UB40 for their 1985 hit, ‘I Got You Babe’? Chrissie Hinds
10. Which horror film used Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ as its theme? Exorcist
11. Who played the title role in the 50s/60s TV show, ‘Dr Kildare’? Richard Chamberlain
12. Who was the Prince of Denmark? Hamlet
13. What was the name of the spaceship in Blakes 7? Liberator

SECTION THREE – TRIVIA
14. What is the children’s game, Noughts and Crosses, called in the USA? Tic Tac Toe
15. What two names are given to a group of swans on the ground, beginning with B?
(A ballet is swans in flight) Bevy or Bank
16. Which of the sciences is regarded as the oldest? Astronomy
17. Born on 5 May 1818, who was known as the father of communism? Karl Marx
18. Which word can go after PUPPY and before LETTER to make new words? LOVE
19. Which animal’s English name means earthpig in Afrikaans? Aardvark
20. Name of chalk rocks situated in the Solent, off the Isle of Wight? The Needles
21. Which book features a pub called ‘The Admiral Benbow’? Treasure Island
22. Which year did Jesse Owens become the first black athlete to win 4 Olympic gold medals! 1936
23. The Whitsunday Islands are located off the coast of which country? Australia
24. Which artist’s studio was known as the Factory? Andy Warhol
25. What is the lightest of all the elements and has the atomic number 1? Hydrogen

FEBRUARY QUIZ

SECTION ONE – FOOD & DRINK
1. Cinnamon comes from which part of the tree?
2. A White Lady cocktail consists of which main alcohol ingredient?
3. Brassica Rapa is the Latin name for which vegetable?
4. In Japan what type of drink is Matcha?
5. What flavour is the liqueur Triple Sec?
6. What is another term for Vitamin C?
7. Plaintain is the cooking variety of which fruit?

SECTION TWO – ANIMAL KINGDOM
8. Macaws, long tailed colourful parrots, consist of how many species?
9. Traditionally Mozzarella cheese was made from which animal’s milk?
10. Sharing its name with a percussion instrument, which relative of the antelope, native to Africa, has white vertical stripes on its body?
11. The French clothing company “Lacoste” features which type of animal in its logo?
12. The Roadrunner is a member of which bird family?
13. The world’s largest frog and beetle are both name after which biblical character?

SECTION THREE – GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
14. How many stars feature on the flag of New Zealand?
15. What is the most fractured human bone?
16. What is the most famous university of Paris?
17. What animal is on the golden Flemish flag?
18. What is the name of the Indian holy river?
19. What is the Kabbalah?
20. What is the meaning of the Arab word Habibi?
21. What does the abbreviation GPS mean?
22. What is the most spoken language in the world?
23. What does the abbreviation SMS mean?
24. What is another word for wall painting or mural?