History Group

by WebmasterHistory GroupPosted on Comments are Disabled

The History Group always welcomes all U3A members especially new ones. Our indoor meeting place is Central Methodist Church: time 2pm – 4pm ish – on the third Wednesday of the month. Meetings are now in the Church Room which has proved much better for those members who have hearing problems. We have had some problems with visual images and sound but with help from Graham Daft of Central Methodist Church and special thanks to our member Greg they seem to have been overcome.

The next meeting is January 18th, 2023 at Central when Peter Armour is coming to give a presentation on Derbyshire its Character and Characters. I look forward to seeing you then.

Did you know that the school on Beardall Street is 150 years old on 13th January 2023? To celebrate this special anniversary Sue Knight and myself of Hucknall Heritage Society are putting on a display of images on the exhibition wall in Hucknall Library for the whole of January.

I close by wishing a Happy New Year to all members.

Maureen

Meetings and Visits 2023
January 18th 2023
Peter Amour, a new speaker to our group, is coming to talk about Derbyshire its Character & Characters.
February 15th 2023
Bob Massey who most of us have seen before will tell us about the History of our post office and our postal service.
March 15th 2023
Tony Waldron, another new person to us, explaining the History of Stained Glass and how its done.
April 19th 2023
A visit to Bassetlaw Museum at Retford where there is a Pilgrims Gallery Display. No café but Weatherspoons next door. Leave Hucknall 11am – leave Retford 4pm Cost of visit £10
May 17th 2023
Mike Kelley, someone else who is new to us, telling us about The Fall of Saxon England. Christmas Day 1065 – Christmas Day 1066. The most traumatic year in English History
June 21st 2023
Visit to Ashby de la Zouch Museum where there is a Dolly Shepherd Display. Do you remember the talk we had about the lady parachutist? Plus visit to Ashby Castle if possible – still checking this one. Leave Hucknall 11am – leave Ashby 4pm. Cost of visit £10

July and August 2023 – Holidays

September 20th 2023
Robert Mee, whom we have enjoyed listening to before, will talk about Nottinghamshire Castles. He says – Eleven sites and more besides
October 18th 2023
Potteries Museum & Art Gallery Staffordshire Hoard on display. Leave Hucknall 10.30am – leave Stoke 4pm. Cost of visit £12.50
November 15th 2023
Michael Cooke, is another of our previous speakers, who usually tells us European history, this time I think it might be around England.

December 21st No meeting – too close to Christmas

Real Ale Group

by WebmasterReal Ale GroupPosted on Comments are Disabled

Thursday 22nd December – visit to Squires Musters, Micro Pub, Annesley Woodhouse.
Meeting at Hucknall bus stop on Torkard Way/Titchfield Street, eleven of us caught the Three’s A bus at 6.55pm to Forest Road Annesley, making full use of our bus passes.

We arrived at Squires Musters to find a quite small micro pub, being fairly well attended by the locals and surprisingly a further trio from Hucknall. After some time standing, we eventually found seating and proceeded to enjoy the various ales on offer, all at a very reasonable price of £3.20p a pint. Having been previously forewarned of our visit the landlady kindly provided us with a variety of cheeses and crackers to sample, which was greatly appreciated by all.

We caught the bus back at 9.45pm (thankful that the bus was still running and on time) and just had time for a last pint at our local Wetherspoons before being picked up by our various modes of transport.

An excellent way to end a very active year, and my own personal thanks to all members of The Real Ale Group for their good and entertaining company and some extremely interesting discussions.

See you all in 2023.
Melvyn

Message from the Chair

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A very warm welcome to 2023, how the time passes and the years flash by.

Our next monthly meeting is on Wednesday, 11th January, and I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible, please ensure that you enter the building from the car park rear entrance and book in at the desk.

As always please try to remember to wear your name badges so that folks (especially new members) know who you are, if a group leader or committee member, again pleased wear your ID so that others know who they are talking to. Our committee members should all be wearing a lanyard with their name and function shown.

Please remember to either silence or turn off your mobile phones. We are reserving some front row seats for those who have a hearing problem, please use them if you need to.

Well, another Christmas has passed and we must now welcome a new year, 2023, it didn’t seem possible that we could imagine seeing in 2023 when we were young. I really hope that Christmas was a joyous occasion for all of you, with visits to and from family members and shared gifts and meals to think about during the coming cold months. I do of course know that for some it is a time if sadness and recollections of happier times.

I was so thankful when the mid December freezing weather ended and we returned to the relatively warmer 5 degrees, who would have thought we would welcome back the rain and slightly warmer climes.

I would like to offer tremendous thanks to all who were able to donate to the Hucknall Food Bank, we collected the magnificent sum of £320, along with a quite few bags of food, all of which have been gratefully received. This will be a tremendous help as so many more families now have to rely on the food bank for provisions in these difficult times. Many, many thanks to you all.

A great big thank you to our Social Sub Committee for organising our Christmas Social on 4th December along with the String Quartet and the Ukulele Group for their entertainment, it was a really good and enjoyable event. We look forward to 2023 events.

Likewise, many thanks for the film show “The Bishop’s Wife” on the 14th December organised by our own David Rose, with the accompanying sausage rolls, mince pies, cakes, biscuits and drinks supplied as always by Christine and John Berrill.

Also, thanks to Kim and her staff of the John Godber Centre, who look after us very well, we would struggle without their support.

Hoping we will all have an active and fun 2023.

Melvyn Francis, Chair

Pub Quiz

by WebmasterPub Quiz with LunchPosted on Comments are Disabled

The December Pub Quiz was attended by 22 members. The January Pub Quiz will be on the second Monday, 9th January at 12 noon at The Nabb Inn. All are welcome – we can always add another person to a team if you would like to attend but haven’t got a team of your own.

And here are the answers to the December Christmas themed quiz:
H What do the Scots call Christmas? Hogmanay
A What’s the name of the period leading up to Christmas? Advent
P What do we get fed up of sweeping up at Christmas? Pine needles
P Another name for Christmas Pudding? Plum Pudding
Y Where mistletoe grows? Yew tree
C Traditional Christmas songs? Carols
H Another name for frost on the grass? Hoar frost
R And another name for frost hanging from the trees? Rime
I What is the other name for the holly plant? Ilex
S What some of us look forward to on January 1st Sales
T We decorate the tree with this? Tinsel
M Another name for the Three Kings? Magi
A An ingredient for Egg Nog? Advocaat
S Traditional ingredient in the Christmas Pudding? Sixpence
F Where traditionally we hang our stockings? Fireplace
R In which city is eel the traditional Christmas Eve meal? Rome
O Which city always donates a Christmas tree to Britain annually? Oslo
M A subject of one of the 12 Days of Christmas: Maids a milking
S Another name for Christmas angels? Seraphim
A Where we could hang baubles on this Christmas animal? Antlers
N “God Jul” means Merry Christmas in which language? Norwegian
D Another subject of one of the 12 Days of Christmas? Drummers
R First name of author of “The Snowman”? Raymond Briggs
A Who started the custom of “wassailing”? Anglo Saxons

And just to get your brains re-started after the Christmas break, here is your January quiz.
1. How many legs did ‘The Famous Five’ have between them?
2. Which black bearded captain is Tintin’s friend?
3. Which actress played Cleopatra when Rex Harrison played Julias Caesar?
4. What is the surname of the Welsh footballer who was sold to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013 for a record €100 million?
5. Who sits on The Wool Sack in the UK’s House of Lords?
6. Which Richard played Chris Kringle in the 1994 remake of ‘A miracle on 34th St’?
7. The nuclear reactor at Sellafield is in which UK county?
8. What is the highest mountain in Africa?
9. Who painted the ‘Mona Lisa’?
10. Which US city has a baseball team called ‘The Braves’?
11. From which city does radio DJ Alan Partridge come from?
12. Louise Brown, born in 1978, was the first ever what?
13. Disneyland Paris was known as what when it first opened?
14. Who was the last English monarch to die in battle?
15. In what year did Red Rum win its first Grand National?
In which COUNTRY would you find the following famous landmarks:-
16. The Acropolis
17. Potala Palace
18. The Petronas twin towers
19. Brandenburg Gate
20. Angel Falls
21.Statue of Christ the Redeemer
22. Belvedere Palace
23. Angkor Wat
24 Konark Sun Temple (aka The Black Pagoda)
25 Petra

Reading Group

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December’s Reading Group book was “The Silent Patient” by David Johnson which received mixed reviews ranging from “Horrible” to “Excellent”; obviously it’s not always easy to suit everyone’s taste!

We had a Christmas fuddle on Wednesday, 7th December, with mulled wine and lots of excellent food to sample.

The book we shall be reviewing in January is “A Step So Grave” by Catriona McPherson; this writer is reminiscent of Agatha Christie and is a Hucknall Library Crime Café choice. We planned the Reading Group book choices for 2023 which covered many different genre choices; hopefully the Library will be able to source sufficient copies for us; many thanks to James, librarian, for all his help in locating sufficient copies for us each month.