The Wokingham U3A web site

www.wokinghamu3a.org.uk/ now has a members area where we will publish items like committee minutes and lists of equipment holders. To access the members area: see access codes in paper Newsletter.

National U3A Web Site

There is a members area on the National U3A web site from which you can access details of support networks, financial information and some events. Access the members area from the home page www.u3a-info.co.uk/ and create your personal user name and password by clicking on "create member login account"

New Style Diary Pages

With this edition of the newsletter you will find a new style Diary page. This new format avoids displaying several meetings on one diary line. Every meeting in the diary now has its own line and in the correct date sequence.

I hope you like this new format and agree it is an improvement. Any views for further improvement are welcomed.
Ed

Newsletter by email

Some of you have asked if you could receive the newsletter and diary by email. Starting with the next issue we will be trialling this route. If you would like to take part in this trial please send me an email to me no later than 30th March with 'U3A Newsletter by email' in the subject field.

The newsletter and diary pages will be sent to you as pdf files and you will need Adobe to view them.

During the trial you will continue to receive the paper version.
Paul King

Subscriptions 2007

The annual membership subscription will increase to £10.00 from 1st April 2007.

Over the past few years the U3A's outgoings have been slightly higher than our income. We still have a healthy balance and can afford to eat into it a little more but at the same time we need to look towards the future. Wokingham U3A is growing at a phenomenal rate and starting to outgrow its resources. For example less that 20% of the membership can fit into the hall where we hold monthly meetings and AGMs; this is unsatisfactory but if we move to a larger hall the rental will be very much higher than at present.

Looking further than monthly meetings we should be looking at more equipment for groups to use, proper training in equipment (for those who want it) and perhaps an equipment store. I'm sure that there are other things that will help our U3A develop and continue to offer value for money for its members. I have my own pet projects, such as summer schools and study days for our members, and would love to hear ideas from others.
Colin Mitchell Chairman

Membership Renewal

May I please remind all members that their annual subscription is due on April 1st (not the anniversary of your date of joining). The treasurer and I would be most grateful if you could send your cheque for £10 per person, as soon as possible. Please do not send post dated cheques, and write your membership number on the back of your cheque, you will find it on your current membership card.

Please send your payment to:

All new membership cards will arrive with your diary and news letter for May and June, please do not send an SAE, as this causes confusion when working out who needs a reminder with that mailing.

At the end of April, if you have not renewed by then, you will be sent one very polite reminder. After that a list of lapsed members will be sent to all group organisers.
Carole Beswetherick Membership Secretary.

'Starting Family History' Courses

Have you watched the BBC TV series 'Who Do You Think You Are' and thought that you would like to dig into your own ancestry? Have you wondered how and where to start?

Three-week courses explaining how to begin your research were run in January and February and additional courses will be organised if enough members would like to attend.

If you would like more details, please contact Tony Weston

World Music Update

Music appreciation with a difference! This small group of pioneers has been meeting since last summer and we've had some most enjoyable and interesting sessions. A number of people have expressed interest in the group but have not, as yet, come along, so why not give it a go? It doesn't matter if you are unable to contribute examples of music, as some of us have access to considerable resources in the form of recorded music and reference books as well as some video and DVD material and even actual instruments to try out!

Meetings are informal in style - we meet on the 4th Wed pm of the month in members' homes - see diary for programme details.

If you'd like to know more, or come along for a taster, contact Elizabeth Manley

Light Entertainment Group

This group was first formed as the 'Panto' group in 2006 and with many other members created a unique pantomime that ran, and sold out, for three shows at Pinewood Theatre.

Flushed with success the original group members are considering what to do next and have decided to try for a 'Music Hall' at the Pinewood on Thursday 31st January 2008, and Friday and Saturday 1st and 2nd February 2008 in the evenings.

There will be a meeting on Tuesday 6th March at 5 pm at Woosehill upstairs for discussion about who does what. Hilary Taylor has agreed to be 'Stage Director' this time around. Steve Smith has offered to be 'Chairman'. Joan Bulpitt and Hilary are going to be looking at programmes and scripts.

Almost everyone who was involved in the 2006 affair enjoyed the challenge, and the audiences seemed to enjoy the show, so we are hoping that many of you will once again be prepared to go on-stage.

Most of those who played a part last year had never been on stage before so don't be backward in putting your name forward to take part in this year's venture. We will also need those who are willing to be part of the very necessary background work of stage management, costumes, music, lighting, front of house, etc., just as they did such valuable work last year. If you have any particular talent we would like to know of it, and we also invite any groups whose members could put on an act to contact us with any suggestions. Several groups took part last year - singing and tap-dancing to name only two.

No experience necessary - can't remember lines? - so what! maybe you could mime or do a sand-dance? Don't forget the meeting on Tuesday 6th March at 5 pm at Woosehill upstairs.

Please contact me, Pauline Riocreux

Copy date for the next issue is
Friday 30th March

Change of Venue

"Improvers' Bridge" has renamed itself as "Bridge for All" and with effect from 13th March is changing its venue to St Sebastian's Hall.

Earth Sciences Group

This group does not just study Earth and Rocks, but covers most aspects of the Solar System and sometimes beyond!

In March we have an outside speaker to give a well illustrated down to earth talk on Bricks in the UK, their manufacture, history and use. This is a fascinating talk on an ancient and valuable product.

In April we go from the material to the ethereal, two talks, a 'Personal View of Time' and 'Why do most objects in the Universe spin?' All meetings are at the Woosehill Community Hall on the 1st Thursday of the month at 2.15 pm
Peter Fenton

Summer Softie Paddlers

Would you like to join a bunch of softies who only paddle in the summer ?

We finished the 2006 season with a 3 hour round trip to the Bull at Sonning, with enough time to appreciate a grass snake swimming across the river in front of us, and half time in the Bull for a pint, to prevent dehydration, obviously.

In 2006 we had only one seriously rainy day, which was actually quite refreshing (see our brave but soggy on the day Mohinder Mann for details), and generally had warm, sunny, summer days, requiring floppy hats and sun glasses. Nobody capsized, but the option to jump in the river to cool off was an option, for which you'd have to be mad.... or our cross-Thames swimming champion, Elizabeth Manley.

Dates arranged for 2007 are :-

Sessions cost £6 cash or cheque to the centre (which does not accept credit cards) for the one and a half hour sessions, and include equipment, buoyancy jackets, supervision and changing facilities. The venue is on the River Thames at the Wokingham Waterside Centre, Thames Valley Park Drive, Earley, www.wokinghamwatersidecentre.com , where the A329M ends and curves into the Thames Valley Business Park.

For your own safety, avoid clothes which waterlog quickly such as jeans, and heavy boots. Shorts, T-shirts and plimsolls would be a good choice.

For more details and to get an idea of numbers, please contact Paul Brooks

If you know of any member who is ill please inform
Janice Mitchell on 0118 978 2824 so that she can contact them.

Other Group News

Looking at the Diary for Jan-Feb you may have noticed that many of the recently formed groups are now 'up and running' regularly. Thanks to the convenors and leaders who have made this possible. In some cases, such as German 2 this has eliminated waiting lists and Recorders for Absolute Beginners has made it possible for those with no previous skills to have a go. Penny Raven would welcome some more participants at her Scrapbooking. Ring Penny to find out what this entails. Mohinder Mann has some places at her Comparative Religions group, so similarly get in touch.

The very popular and successful Bridge for Beginners group presently meets once a fortnight. I have had several requests for another group on the alternate week and after consultation with Patsy Thornton this seems a distinct possibility but would not be run by Patsy and Ted. However, watch this space. We're working on it.

Another request was for me to try and restart Out and About which started up a couple of years ago but did not succeed at that time. If anyone is interested please ring me and I'll try to organise a meeting and see if we can breathe new life into this again.

Yet another request (which I've had previously) was for a Wine Appreciation group. Possibly the main obstacle would be cost but if there are others who are interested let me know. I have a friend who is a Master of Wine (not in U3A). I could try and persuade him to give an opening talk!

I am standing down as Group Co-ordinator in March so I would like to say what a pleasure it has been to get to know so many of you and express my gratitude for all your co-operation and goodwill.

Thank you.
Phyll Smith Groups Co-ordinator

Photo Feedback

Do you like to have some photos in the newsletter? In the last issue there were 8 photos, in this issue there are none. I'd love your feedback to know whether it is worthwhile searching out and including photos.

Please tell me your views.
Paul King

Memories

You will remember that last year I invited people to submit articles for the newsletter. I am pleased to say that in this issue we have two articles, one on D-day experiences by Ray Stagles, and one on a humorous note by Steve Smith. I hope you enjoy them. Please consider if you can produce an article for the next issue of the newsletter.
Ed

A Day to remember - Monday, June 5th, 1944

PJX 579696. That was me, officially, in 1944. A Leading Radar Mechanic in the Fleet Air Arm, who had volunteered for the Navy because he disliked aircraft. So it goes.

I had a very 'cushy number', a 9 to 5 job, living in comfortable civvy billets in Walkford, on the South coast; collected by lorry on weekdays, with a dozen or so other men, and transported to the Fleet Air Arm airfield at Mudeford, just east of Christchurch, where a few Ansons, a small 'prop' aeroplane, were being fitted out as prototype training aircraft for navigators - the lines behind the lines behind the lines.

In the Spring of 1944 our 'ship's company' was joined by an American squadron of Avenger fighter-bombers, which flew off, two at a time, with increasing frequency, to make completely unchallenged sorties over France.

In addition to our 9 to 5 days we all had an occasional overnight fire-watching duty, when a couple of us would sleep in campbeds in a hut on the camp. One had to report for duty just before sunset. In June, 1944, on double summer time, this somewhile after 10 p.m. Monday, June 5th, was a fine day. Having had a pleasant evening meal with my hosts, Mr, and Mrs. Hudson, in my billet in Walkford, I decided to go for a walk before cycling down to Mudeford to report for my overnight duty. I decided to go to one of my favourite spots: the cliffs at Barton-on-Sea. From there you could see the western tip of the Isle of Wight, with the famous white slivers of rock, the Needles, to the west. And along the coast, to the east, past Milford-on-Sea, lay the entry to the Solent.

That evening there was more to see: an unending, slow-moving line of ships, landing craft, tank-landing craft, and support vessels sailing steadily out of the Solent, past the Needles, and then turning due south. South! Not east, to Calais, but south - to Normandy!

No sound reached me. No one else was on the cliff watching this awesome procession.

I must have stayed for half an hour or more. When I turned away to return to Walkford there was still no end to the line of craft coming out of the Solent, and away on the horizon it was pushing further and further south.

Overnight, at the camp, my sleep was frequently disturbed by the sound of aircraft roaring overhead. At 6 am I turned on the radio. I knew what was coming. Today is D-day. Allied forces have landed in Normandy!
Ray Stagles

Stage lighting; an amazing discovery at the Pinewood Theatre

During the upgrade of lighting generally and installation of the thyristor controlled stage lighting, Gordon Riley and I noticed that maybe lighting systems and main light "sources" were behaving differently than we traditionally believed. We have been so startled by what we have found that we involved Frank (SEC)who has been pivotal in getting a grant from Southern Electric to fund some ground breaking research into "light" as we know it. Gordon and I have been involved in extraordinary tests that have started to turn conventional light theory upside down.

For years, we have believed that lamps emit light, but we are starting to realise that they actually suck away dark. We are now starting to call them Dark Suckers. Our dark sucker theory and the existence of dark suckers proves that dark has mass and is heavier than light. For example, look at the dark sucker where you are and you will see that there is much less dark around the sucker than elsewhere. The larger the dark sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark away. Football stadia dark suckers are an example compared to your living room.

Like most things, dark suckers don't last forever and once full of dark, can no longer suck..This is shown by the dark patch in a full sucker.

A candle is an early form of dark sucker. A new candle has a white wick but as soon as it is lit, turns black showing the dark being sucked in. If you put a pencil or stick next to a lit candle, it too will go black where it gets in the way of the black being sucked to the wick.

We have portable light suckers. They are not as good as mains powered suckers and have to use a BATTERY (black absorbing twisted terroid eradicating red yttrium). When the red yttrium is full, we install a new "battery".

We have found too, that dark has mass. We noticed that when dark is sucked into a dark sucker, the friction causes heat to be generated and we learn nor to touch them. Dark has a greater mass than light. If you swim below the surface of water, you see quite a lot of light. As you go deeper, you will notice there is less light (or darker) and when you reach a good depth, it is completely dark. This is because dark sinks and light floats. This is why it is called "light".

We have also found that dark is faster than light. When you stand in a lit room and open the door to a cupboard and gradually open the door, the space slowly lights up, but you can't see the dark leaving because it is so fast.

Stage spotlights and searchlights are specially designed only to remove the dark in front of the dark sucker and not generally around it.. They do this with a glass LENS(light exaggerating narrow stream) which accelerates the dark into the sucker.

Certain types of tube dark suckers flicker when they are nearly full, giving you the chance to change them before they stop sucking. Other tubes have the effect of removing the light from your skin which turns brown. This can be quite dangerous and the tubes are called "ultra violent".

Gordon, Frank and I are continuing our research (Our Chairman calls it "Working in the Dark"), bless her, and although at times it is perplexing, generally we make light of it. There is more, but enough for now .
Steve Smith

Sixty Years Ago

March. 3rd. Borrowed flowered georgette frock from Gis for Ladies Night. Talk on atomic energy tonight. Would to God it could be developed for the good of humanity.

March 5th. Bitterly cold; snow lying thick in the roads. Jim cleared our garden path and front paving. Felt very sorry, for little Johnny Bull (the sweep ) pushing his bike through the snow. Drew out £3 to go to the Ideal Home Exhibition tomorrow, but the weather is so awful that unless there is a great change, we shan't go.

March 6th. Thick deep snow over the paths and roads. A slide of snow is hanging over our roof like another roof waiting to fall . Looking from our bedroom window a line of icicles are hanging like lustres. We didn't go to the Exhibition this morning - the weather was too grim.

March 8th. Very dull and terribly cold. Miss Rule and I went to The Ideal Home Exhibition; wonderful show. I bought a blue mohair rug for the sitting room, a Betterwear bath brush and a baby Hoover vacuum cleaner - seemed a lot of money to spend, but they're all things we need, and if the Government can literally waste money at the rate it is doing, I don't see why I shouldn't spend it for greater efficiency in the home.

March 13th. Much milder. The car came at 5.45 pm Ronnie, Winnie, Pops, George and Jim and I went together to the Ladies Night at the Park Hotel, Hanwell. We had a very happy evening, not up to pre-war standards, but very friendly and sociable. The cat's-eyes in the road fascinated me on the way home, which we reached at 12.25 am

March_ 27th. Dreary and drizzly. Jim saw me off by the 10.45 am from Paddington to Bath. Tom was waiting for me at the barrier when I got there and took me to Dorchester Lodge in his car, which, as usual, had something wrong with it. Tom doesn't look at all well, but this may be because he is having injections prior to flying to Malta on April 8th. Bath Abbey is a gracious building and it seemed that more of the relatives of the candidates were making the most of the opportunity to sit in exalted places. Fred (her sister Frederica. R. ) and I sat in the choir stalls. Margaret looked serious as she came up to the Bishop, but very sweet and appealing. Tom sat in the nave, and after the service we all met up again and went home in the car.

March 28th. Caught the 4.35 pm train from Bath and when I got to Paddington Jim was waiting on the platform.

April 8th. Tom flew to Gibraltar today en route to Malta.
Rosemary Goldschmied

Caring for old trees in Wokingham District

The Dinton Pastures Lecture Hall was filled to capacity on January 10th for the official launch of a new environmental organisation - the Wokingham District Veteran Tree Association. Barbara Stagles chaired the meeting and Councillor Angus Ross, Chairman of Wokingham District Council, formally launched the new Association and assured it of his personal support.

The aims of the Association are to make sure that the whereabouts of all the veteran and significant trees in the District are known and to do what is possible to ensure that these old trees are properly protected and managed. The Association is also concerned to make people more generally aware of the ecological importance of veteran trees and their significance in local history of the towns and parishes of the District.

One of the Association's immediate concerns is to support the compilation of an accurate record of veteran and other significant trees throughout the Wokingham District. This enterprise began last year in Wokingham Town, where already well over 300 such trees have been mapped. These records assist the work of the Wokingham District Council Countryside Service and Tree Protection Officers and also contribute to regional and national data bases on key features of our countryside.

Volunteers are needed to help record veteran trees, and Saturday morning training courses have been arranged. The first training session was fully subscribed but there are still a few vacancies for the training session to be held at Swallowfield Parish Hall on March 10th. Other training sessions are likely to be held in future. Applications for training should be made to wvt@btcv.org.uk or to Wokingham District Veteran Tree Project, BTCV, 12 Bridge St. Caversham, Reading RG4 8AA tel. 0118 9784013

The Association's committee, which has representatives from right across the District, is also planning other events for this current year. Membership of the Association is free and members of U3A are welcome to join. Anyone wanting further information should contact the Secretary at 6 Salisbury Close, Wokingham RG41 4AJ.
Barbara Stagles

The April Meeting

Human Cloning:

The Science Behind The Headlines

Nina Brooke

It is probably the case that most of you know only a little about human cloning - what you have seen as headlines or read in a newspaper. At this monthly meeting you will have the opportunity to find out a great deal more from Nina Brooke who is a lecturer in the Public Engagement with Science in the Department of Continuing Education at Reading University. Nina is very well qualified to demystify the fascinating topic of cloning for us having lectured at both Oxford and Reading Universities on this and related topics and having genetics as one of her research interests.

Tuesday 17th April 2007

St Paul's Parish Rooms

at 2.00 pm