Once again members of the group were out and about collecting litter from our area and in total gathered 27 bags of it in September, all of which was disposed of in the correct manner.
On 18th September an informal meeting of the group was held in Byron’s Rest on Baker Street and one topic agreed upon was that we should have a group litter pick. Therefore if anyone in Hucknall & District u3a knows of an area that needs our attention please feel free to contact me as per the contact form below and we will be happy to litter pick it for you.
On Friday 22nd September 17 ladies of the Growing Old Disgracefully group ventured forth on our planned adventure.
We caught the tram from Hucknall Station (at a suitable time not to be called the ‘Twirlies’) and travelled south to the stop at University Boulevard (well most of us did, some of us disembarked a stop sooner, to have their own adventure). However, this did not matter as our destination was located in the middle of these two stops. Our destination was the Nottingham Croquet Club, which has become our annual pilgrimage for 3 years, where we take part in Croquet with lots of fresh air, sport and fun.
For over a week prior to our outing, there had been so much rain that we thought we would have to cancel our excursion due to water laying on the lawns, but the afternoon before, the sun came out and miraculously dried the lawns enough for us to play. The weather continued to be good to us as we played.
We started by meeting our volunteer coaches in the Pavilion and we were placed into teams to play Golf Croquet and then we separated over the 3 lawns that we had booked. Having played Croquet before we revisited the rules and the technique of swinging the mallet, only to find Golf Croquet was totally different.
We were told that we would be playing a ‘knockout game’ in order to have 2 winners (a team) by the end of play. We started to play. This is when it really became interesting and competitive. By the time we reached semi-finals, members were thwacking the balls instead of gently hitting them, lining up their mallets and having their team members show them the right way to hit the balls and taking divots out of the grass with the force of their strokes.
The overall winners were Marilyn Gretton and Kim Haddaway
WAY TO GO GIRLS!
Obviously, we will be repeating this pilgrimage again next year.
The National Trust group returned to Cheshire for their September visit to one of the largest estates in the National Trust portfolio. Travelling through the Peak District we arrived safely at 10.45am. The weather forecast was for rain later in the day so many members visited the outdoor attractions first and left the tour of the House and other indoor activities for later in the day.
There were regular tours of the gardens, the mill and the estate led by very enthusiastic and well informed guides.
The estate itself was vast and had some lovely walks and grounds which were home to over one hundred and fifty deer.
The weather forecast proved to be correct with the rain arriving later in the day. This proved the ideal time to visit the cafe or restaurant for lunch and then on to Dunham Massey house itself.
Spread over three floors and staffed by lots of volunteers we learnt a lot about the many rooms on show. Originally a seventeenth century family home the National Trust acquired the house as recently as 1976.
As usual we left at 4.00pm for home and arrived back in Hucknall for 6.00pm.
Next month’s visit to Charlecote Park in Warwickshire is already full.
On September 20th our visit was to the Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum
Before our guided tour we met in Parker’s Yard Cafe named after the Parker family who owned and ran one of the earliest frame knitting workshops that once employed 100 workers.
It was an interesting visit which included a link to Hucknall with a working machine made for J Buck and sons who had factories on Derbyshire Lane and Titchfield Street.
NSGrumpy, Roy Brown, is seen working the machine, a nostalgic reminder of his first job on leaving school in 1958.
Our next activity is a guided visit of Newstead Abbey on October 24th
At the September meeting we welcomed Isabel (Izzy) Ely a postgraduate researcher at the Nottingham University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Centre ofMetabolism, Ageing & Physiology (COMAP).
This is part of theAcademic Unit of Injury, Recovery & Inflammation SciencesSchool of Medicine who are based at Royal Derby Hospital.
She outlined the current research into the effect of ageing on our muscular system. Generally as we get older we exercise less and invariably eat less protein.
These factors can lead to muscular atrophy (wasting) and her research is looking at the effect of an amino acid supplement in reversing and slowing down this process with a focus on the older generation.
Next Meeting – Friday October 20th 10.00am to 11.45 am
Part 1: ‘The Greening of the Nottinghamshire Coalfields’ by David Vincent
From his own personal and professional involvement David will explain why and how this came about.
Part 2: An introduction to the science and development of photography – DR
