November 2016
4
Officer Contact NumbersChairman: David Seward t: 384631Vice
Chair: TBASecretary: Jo Earlt: 532024Treasurer: Ian MacDonald t:
[email protected]
Editor: Colin Mills t: 208598Email:
[email protected] Leaders and other contributors -
Please Note: All Copy to the editor by 25th of the preceding month
please.(N.B. I cannot guarantee inclusion of copy sub-mitted after
this date - but exceptions may bemade wherever possible for groups
meeting inthe fourth week of the month)
The Newsletter is published at the start of eachmonth. Disabled
members: Contact Peter Watson 384509
N.B. Phone numbers without dialling codes are for the 01579
area.
Speakers at the nextfew Meetings:� DecemberChristmas Lunch�
JanuaryJanet Cowlard on The Royal Family.
Callington Newsletter
Wild in the Tamar� Table TennisWe meet once every 4 weeks on a
urs-day evening at the upper schoolroom ofCallington Methodist
Church at 7 pm.Dates are on the U3A website. All arewelcome and we
are all enthusiastic andplay covers all abilities from
beginnersupwards. Why not come and give it atry. All equipment is
provided. A chargeis made to cover the cost of hiring
theroom.Contact Ray Geatches 350638
� Walking Group 1Contact: Ann Martin
� Walking Group 22 Sept 20thWalking group two had a last
minutedecision walk today. Aer parkingat Tokenbury
Corner we decided towalk towards the village of Crows Nestbut found
ourselves going up the inclinetowards Caradon transmitter so
decidedto keep going and all eight of us madeit right to the
base of the transmitter, afirst for most of us, and the views
fromthere were spectacular. e weather wasextremely kind to us with
a downpourjust before we started and another whenwere sat warm and
cosy inTrevallicks tea room.
Contact: Lucy Thomas 350018
The speaker this month for the Callington U3A wasDr David Price
a retired psychiatrist. He gave us avery interesting talk on the
wildlife of the Tamar Valley.
When walking his dogs, he always took a camera, he wasvery soon
caught up in the beautiful wildlife of the TamarValley. Following
the river Tamar (the name is said tomean Great Water, or the
prehistoric river word meaningDark Flowing). He follows it from
Endsleigh down toMilton Abbot through Horsebridge, Luckett,
Latchly,to Gunnislake, Morwelham, Cotehele and Calstock.
Dr Price has taken some beautiful photographs of
thisstretch of the valley with different habitats
throughoutthe seasons. Pictures of glowing sunlight, gleaming
frost,kingfishers, insects and butterflies, all in different
states
of fluttering, mating, feeding, and sunbathing. Wildflowers were
also a theme with lovely pictures of rarebeauties including
Columbine, Purple Toothwort, BirdsNest Orchids, Eyebright, also
fungi like Dryads Saddle,Fly Agaric and Stink Horn.
e butterflies Dr Price had photographed were remark-able, Red
Admirals, Comma, Brimstone, Heath Fritil-laries, Silver Wash
Fritillaries, Marbled White and lotsmore. With fascinating facts
about hoverflies, wasps, hor-nets, dragon flies, and other insects,
some apparentlyhave 3 small eyes on the top of their heads that
detectlight which help them to pitch and roll, the
aeronauticalindustry are looking at this for the use in drones etc.
Healso talked about the mining 'Finger Posts' along his
SW Regional Conference at Threthorne Manorree of us attended the
SW Regional Conference on ursday20th October, together with about40
representatives of other SWU3As. Aer opening remarks fromDiana
Holsworth, the SW Re-gional Trustee, Samantha Mauger,the new CEO of
the ird AgeTrust, presented updates from U3ANational Office. She
talked abouther background and, in particular,about issues being
discussed within
the National Executive Council (NEC). ese included a survey for
U3Ason how, in the future, the NEC should be made up and how U3As
wouldlike to pass their views and ideas to the NEC.Ken Faulkner, a
member of Paignton U3A, then gave a talk on aspects ofWW1, in
particular the work of women in munitions manufacture. Aerlunch,
Francis Beckett, the editor of ird Age Matters magazine, gave
apresentation on how best to present information for publication
both inthe magazine and in local media. Finally there was a lively
discussion onthe format and location of future Regional
Conferences. Overall this wasa most useful, interesting day, not
least for the interaction with other U3As.
Above & Left: Walkers Group 2 at Lydford Gorge
Below: Walking Group 1 enjoying a break at theGribben, Fowey
estuary.
Chairman David Seward & SamMauger, the new CEOof the
National office
route, saying that, some say, that Launceston became'Lanson'
because they could not fit the full name on theposts.
Birds were also a feature, including the habitats of acharm
Goldfinches, Goldcrests, Fieldfares, Redwingsalso Nightjars and
Sand Martins, that nest in the miningspoils at Devon Great Consul
but being arsenic laden, itdoes kill some birds. He took a great
picture of the re-flection of a Goldcrest in his kitchen window.
His talkwas an A-Z of wildlife but we only got half way through,we
are hoping he can return to finish the alphabet.
Dr Price takes about 10,000 pictures a year, he shows usthat if
you take the time and look closer at nature, justwhat there is to
see.
Giian Brown
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and incoherent mutterings. It was funnyin a way but we didn’t
laugh at all. How-ever we didn’t take our eyes off of it.Our next
meeting is on Monday 21stNov will be at Michael and Pauline’shouse
at 10am. For more info contactme.Contact: Keith Lane 370713or by
email [email protected].
JOKE OF THE DAYHE’S A TERRIBLE SNOB - HE WON’TRIDE IN THE SAME
CAR AS HISCHAUFFER!
� ItalianContact: Sally Thomas 01822832017
� Jazz Appreciation5 people attended the October Meetingand we
enjoyed music from Bix Beider-becke and Frankie Trumbauer whichwas
recorded in 1928 and included BingCrosby singing (sounding a little
differ-ent to his later crooning!) Count Basiewas popular along
with Fats Waller,Benny Carter and Colman Hawkins.We also heard from
the National YouthOrchestra and Anthony Newly. enext meeting will
be on Wednesday November 9th at Christine’s and will bea member’s
choice. If you are interestedin joining us for an aernoon of jazz,
Contact David Seward 384631
�Music AppreciationContact: Pat Ferguson 384402
� NeedleworkNormally meet on the second ursdayof the month.
Details from Ann Martin
� OperaFor our first outing in our Puccini seasonwe saw ‘La
bohemian’ a film version ofhis opera which tells the story of
fourhard up artist friends struggling in bo-hemian Paris of the
mid-19th centuryand of the love affair between the writerRodolfo
and Mimi his neighbour. ereis much frivolity as the friends
celebrateChristmas but before long the coupleslove is destroyed by
Rodolfo jealousy.ey agree to stay together until Spring
but Mimi becomes gravely ill and in truePuccini style she dies
dramatically. Acolourful and dramatic productionwhich complemented
the beautifulmusic.ere will be no Opera in November asJohn recovers
but we will be returning inDecember same time same place for‘Madam
Butterfly’Opera is the third Tuesday of the monthat 25 Trelawney
RoadContact Carol Dowell 382158
� PhilosophyOur October 27th meeting was on ReneDescartes, the
first Rationalist whose fa-mous quote 'I think, therefore I
am' isstill well known today. He also queriedthe reliability
of our senses. We will alsolooked at philosophy and
forgivenessand whether it is possible toforgive. Our final
meeting for the yearwill be on November 24th. A poll
indi-cated that a quarter of people questionedchose Winnie the Pooh
as the greatestphilosopher. Apparently "Poohisms'have given
generations of children foodfor thought.
Contact: Doreen Johnson [email protected]
� Play ReadingContact Jean Rose 350029
� PoetryContact Pat Ferguson 384402
� Scrabblee group, led by Lesley Cheetham ather home,
meets once a month on aWednesday evening. e actual week
ofthe month will change in some months.Contact Lesley
Cheetham383632
� ScribblersScribblers met and brought Science Fic-tion stories
with them this time. It hadbeen difficult - though not so
difficult aslast month's Western I think we wereagreed! We
had found it hard to put ourfinger on a specific approach to
SciFiand most of us brought along somethingwhich combined it with
horror or fan-
tasy for example. Gill's story was theclosest as she used
the idea of an app ona smart phone to transport a couplethrough a
portal to a parallel universe.Anne's story was also very
scientificallybased using lyposuction to give suste-nance to the
starving babies in Africa...although that also sounded pretty
muchlike a horror story to all of us too!
Next month is much more refined (ormaybe not?) as we tackle
Travel. Look-ing at it from any point of view - as
ajournalist writing for a travel section; arailway fiend travelling
around Europeor the States, a la Michael Portillo; or,just a story
of something interesting thathappened to us whilst travelling that
wethink worth sharing. Shades of BillBryson maybe, who took his
trusty ruck-sack up a mountain only to find he hadtaken out his
waterproofs and not putthem back again...
Contact Penny Beech on 01822834756 or 07971 889572
� Singing for Pleasuree Singing for Pleasure group will meeton
14th and 28th Novemberat Calling-ton Methodist Church from 3.30
to5pm.Contact: Rosalind Bunkum383171
� Strollersree strolls so far this month. Our firstone was
close to home at New Bridge.Such a pretty walk but we were sorry
tosee how badly the river bank had beenworn away in places.
On our secondouting we crossed the Tamar andstrolled along the old
Southern Railwayline and admired the view over Tavis-tock from the
viaduct. e followingMonday we ventured even further
afield,catching the bus to Launceston. Ourfirst port of call
was a coffee shop beforemaking our way to the museum wherewe spent
a very interesting time strollingthrough the various
rooms. Some ofthe exhibits we recognised from
ourchildhood which was a bit worrying!As we had stayed longer than
expected,we decided to have a light snack to sus-tain us on the
return journey. Contact: Pauline Husband 350379
� Allotments"We welcome a new member to ourteam. ere are
still two more smallplots available."Contact Ann Martin
� ArtOur planned advertised meeting (3rdNov) was cancelled due
to the hall beingneeded for a funeral...so the next meet-ing will
be on the 17th in the aernoon.We are now discussing special events
forsome meetings next year, eg workshopsand outside meetings
etc....new ideas welcome!
Contact Tony Walpole 01822833082
� Baking
ank you Jane for hosting our Octobermeeting. We may have been
short onnumbers but certainly not on flavour.All manner of fillings
were used includ-ing ham, caramelised onion, cheese,tomatoes and
lamb and only one sweetoffering this month. As usual when webake
for a lunchtime meeting there wasno need for an evening meal !Our
November meeting is on the 9th.is time we are meeting at Mary's at
1030. I hope you all have your recipes forour"Pot luck" session ,
let me know if not.Our group is full at the present but ifyou are
interested in joining please con-tact me and I'l
l put you on our waiting
list.
ContctJenny Wheeley 351662
� Barn DancingContact Wendy Fader on 01822 835985or email
[email protected]
� BookwormsContact Hilary Howarth
[email protected]
� Bridgeere has been a change of leadership
from Roy Burridge to Hilary Davis,who has taken the job of Group
Leaderfor the next 12 months.Hilary's emailaddress is:
[email protected] Hilary Davis 350360
� Computer GroupRecent meetings have been cancelledlargely due
to low numbers.I need togauge the level of interest in the
groupcontinuing.If you wish the group to continue, even ifyou don't
intend coming to the next meet-ing could you email me on
[email protected] next meeting will be on 17th Novem-ber at
10.00 at a members house.Contact Peter Watson 384509
� Crime Fiction Appreciation13 members met at Lucy’s for
October’smeeting. Aer a break of 2 months,there was much to discuss
and manybooks to pass on. Among the new or lessfamiliar authors
were books by KristinaOlsson, Emilly Barr, Mal Peet,
ClareMacKintosh, Kyrii Bonfiglioli, AndrewCartmel and Mick Herron.
Also amongmore familiar authors discussed were CJ Samson, Peter
James, Stella Rimingtonand Donna Leon. Sally provided the teatime
treats of apple cake and carrot cake.e next meeting will be on
ursday24th November. If you are interested injoining us to discuss
or learn more aboutcrime fiction, please contact David Seward
384631
� Family HistoryFamily History at Eileen's 2.30pm MondayNovember
28th.Contact Eileen Sturt 350639
� Flower ArrangingFlower arranging 2pm Sunday December4th
at Eileen's, to arrange table decorationsfor the Christmas
lunch on the 5th.Contact Eileen Sturt 350639
� Food & WineLe Bistrot Pierre in Royal William Yard
was the venue for the Food and WineGroup's recent lunch party.
Twenty eightof us enjoyed an excellent French inspiredmeal at this
trendy, very busy restaurant.ree tasty courses for less than £15 is
anoffer not to be missed, and having read thebrochure about their
equally good valueChristmas menu it seemed a good idea toconsider a
return in the near future. Watchthis space!Contact Maire
Warwick350711
([email protected])
� Game OnOur November meetings are on the13th and 27th, 2 30 at
Lucy's.Please contact me, if you'd like to joinour group.Contact
Jenny Wheeley 351662
� HandbellsContact Maire Warwick 350711
� HistoryContact Josephine King350890
� HumourHumour meeting Monday 17th Octo-ber was held at
Christine’s house.Christine talked about Ronnie Barkerand how his
career developed. Aer thecoffee break Christine showed a CD of“
Futtocks’ End”, a British comedy filmthat was released in 1970 and
producedby Barker. He played the leading part ofthe very lewd
General Futtock. e filmis entirely silent, with a musical score
2 3
G r o u p R e p o r t s
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