November’s meeting unfortunately had to be cancelled due to the snow, we have rebooked the speaker to come to us in April next year.
There is no meeting in December or January, the next meeting will be February, with a talk on a Spring garden.
Enjoy your planning for the new year of gardening.
Anne
Ghost Walk
It was a dark and murky evening as 12 NSGOM travelled by tram into Nottingham for our Ghost Walk. Leaving the tram in the Market Square we walked down to the Trip to Jerusalem where our guide, Simon, was waiting for us.
We walked up to the Statue of Robin Hood and then the castle entrance where we learnt something of the history of the site. It was then on to Friar Lane and Maid Marion Way for further stories.
Eventually crossing over the road to the Salutation where we went down into one of the caves below the pub itself. Here we heard some gruesome tales of ghostly happenings and public executions and of bodies being hung drawn and quartered in times long gone.
A further walk down towards the former Radio Tent building and St Nicholas church followed as we finally found ourselves in the upstairs bar at the Trip hearing about the various curses cast on the pub and some of the consequences which followed.
Finishing for 8.30 we travelled back by tram where some members enjoyed a chip supper and others opted for a more liquid form of refreshment.!!!!
A very enjoyable trip organised by David Robbins. We meet up again later in November for a Christmas lunch at Ramsdale Park golf club.
Discussion subjects for this month included:
The aging population and individual care plans. RESPECT forms and LPA (health and welfare)
Various explanations and reasons for ensuring that these are in place ready for any eventualities as we all get older. The RESPECT form is an important statement that conveys our wishes in such cases as DNR (do not resuscitate). The LPA should be in place where the individual may not be able to make their own decisions through illness. This gives an elected person the power to make decisions on their behalf. Costs were discussed.
Should ethnic minorities be called majority instead of minority.
It was felt that this is a play on words and that ‘all people are people’.
Should we bring the mammoth back?
Difficult question as this could work with flora and fauna but not practical for many creatures. We are the caretakers of the world – was one point.
Shall we rebel against the wasted hours spent on automated phone lines
A list was made of where this happens, including, ringing for appointments, services, waiting times on calls and unwanted calls. Little being done to address this situation.
Policeman in London – from recent court case
A discussion centred on the rights and wrongs of arrest and whether a policeman should have his name given before the case has gone to court.
We shared a short film made about our group which will be shown as part of Hucknall u3a Christmas entertainment.
The next meeting is on Monday 25th November at the John Godber.
dis
Our last walk of 2024 started in the centre of Jacksdale, north of our October walk from Brinsley, but still in the Erewash Valley nature reserve. The weather had been much less wet before this walk, so the going was what the horse racing world describes as ‘good to firm’.
After a mostly uphill climb, we crossed the border from Nottinghamshire into Derbyshire near the hamlet of Jubilee, walked under the preserved Midland Railway and had our coffee stop at the reservoir where the ‘Pinxton arm’ canal joined the Cromford canal. The canal as built started in Cromford, where a stretch is preserved and operational, and met the Erewash canal at Langley Mill. Closed to navigation for many years, many stretches have been lost to reeds, but the course is easy to follow, and some of the locks remain partly intact.
We paused to look across to the imposing stone building, which is now converted into apartments, but was built by the Butterley Company for its workers. For anyone who travels to London St. Pancras on the train, it is worth a look upwards at the roof, which was manufactured by the Butterley Company.
We returned to Jacksdale through the nature reserve, where our walk leader had arranged for us to eat our sandwiches in the very accommodating Poachers Ale House.
Thanks to Paul Haigh for stepping in at short notice and leading a very pleasant walk to end the year.
