The January Newsletter will be sent out on 1st January. Once again, many thanks to Margaret Whilde for printing off copies for those members not on email and for delivering them on her morning walk. We hope those members who unfortunately had to be alone on Christmas Day still managed to enjoy the day. I managed to persuade my daughter to drive me round Hucknall to do a 23 address card delivery. She refused to get out of the car to ring doorbells in case they were infected so I had to get in and out of the car 23 times; I’ve not had so much exercise in ten months of lockdown! She also made me sanitise my hands every time I got back into the car! Can’t wait for the Nabb Inn to re-open fully so that our Weekenders Coffee Club could have a meet up at long last.
Reading Group
The December set book was Becoming by Michelle Obama which has been reviewed by Goodreads website as follows; In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her — from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it — in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations and whose story inspires us to do the same.
I personally enjoyed the first third which covered her upbringing the most but got a bit bogged down in the rest but still enjoyed the book on the whole.
Lunch Group
I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Christmas lunch in your own homes this year. I am hoping to organise a Christmas Lunch at somewhere very posh for next July! Do you think we will be out of lockdown by then and all vaccinated? Perhaps you could let me have your suggestions as to where we could go. I promise there will be crackers and a Christmas quiz!
Science 2 – December Meeting
Our meeting by Zoom this month was opened up for other members to attend for a talk by Professor Nicola Pitchford of Nottingham University.
Nicola’s theme was about her current research looking at the impact of using educational technology to improve access to primary education. She explained that in some countries where due to trained teacher shortages and a weak economy for many children, especially girls, schooling only lasts about 3 years. This together with a very short school day leads to weak literacy and numeracy skills which limits lifetime opportunities.
The intervention is to provide what are basically mini computer tablets containing only two programmes, literacy and numeracy in the native language for each individual child. They work on this at home and it has a built in small solar panel which recharges the battery since many places have limited mains electrical supplies.
Progress is measurable and the research includes using the same software in some Nottingham Primary Schools as a comparator. Nicola demonstrated some of the evidence that shows the effectiveness of the programme with different groups of children in different countries. Her team then evaluate and quantify the evidence to consider if this programme of intervention can be scaled up and is sustainable for many more children in countries across the world.
Next meeting by Zoom: January 15th, 2021 at 10.am
Where am I? – useful App
With more people out and about at the moment, a useful App to know about is called ‘what3words’. The world has been divided into 3 metre squares, and each square has a unique identifier, using 3 random words. For example, Hucknall Market Place is ‘acted.engage.lowest’.
The App can be downloaded onto your phone, and any location can then be found on the map grid, and also on satellite view. The phone GPS needs to be on, then this location can be given to the 999 service – it is much quicker than trying to read an Ordnance Survey map on top of Kinder Scout, and when not on a road or a known location.
Our walking groups take great care not to get lost, but this would be useful in an emergency, particularly in an area with no particular landmarks.
John Tedstone