Editors Welcome

Welcome to the fourth issue of “Stay Safe Sale U3A” and it’s a bumper one!

Don’t forget that all issues are on the Sale U3A website via a link from the Welcome page.

On the 22nd of April, six U3A committee members cracked the technology to have an online ZOOM conference call. It

was more of a get-together to prove the link than an actual committee meeting; I even got to see one of Colin

Ashton’s fish bowls in the background! So I hope you are all trying this method of communication.

Thinking of two articles in the last issue, I took my own advice and spent some time observing the sky looking for

those elusive Lyrids meteors a few weeks ago but no luck. However, I did hear an owl hoot. Now I know that I don’t

live far from Teresa Jarkowska, so I speculated she was out at night doing her owl impressions!

Don’t be shy - please send your stories, poems or letters for our next issue - to brians.books@yahoo.com

Brian Feast - editor

Articles in this issue:

“Streets Ahead” Manchester’s street festivals of the 1990’s Part 1 – Brian Feast

A cryptic crossword from Jose Anderson

Ian Hamilton provides the answers to his last quiz

“Hot, Cross, Bunnies” – a poem from Heather Bradshaw

THE RAT – a traditional Nepalese tale – Brian Feast

Ian Hamilton sets you a picture puzzle with a twist

The insomniacs guide to May’s night sky – Brian Feast

Covid19 Advice

Coming soon:

A Rough Guide to World Music – Brian Feast

The TV Quiz Book from 1958 – Brian Feast

“Streets Ahead” Manchester’s street festivals of the 1990’s Part 2 – Brian Feast

STREETS AHEAD - Manchester’s street festivals of the 1990’s - Part 1

Twenty-five years ago last week saw the start of a

month of free street theatre and world music in

Manchester that repeated annually until the year 2000.

Acts from all around the world came to Manchester to

entertain and I for one wrote off all weekends every

May to enjoy the spectacle. Although central

Manchester was the heart of the festival, every

weekend acts would also turn up in places such as

Rochdale, Stockport, Bury, Altrincham and Sale. In fact,

over the years all of the town centres in Greater

Manchester had a chance to enjoy Streets Ahead.

These were the days before digital cameras but I did

take photos but some of the acts were captured in a

book called “Playing with Fire” (left) which I have along

with all the programmes.

Each year would start with a grand parade of acts

through central Manchester and end with another

amazing parade on the evening of the last May bank

holiday Monday. There were enormous displays in St.

Anne’s Square, Castlefield Arena, Albert Square, in fact

anywhere!

If you did not have the chance to enjoy the fun then in this article I hope to bring you a flavour of the events.

I took this photo in the open area at the Dukes 92 bar in

Castlefield. Is it a lady selling neatly arranged vegetables? No,

it is not – it is a French act called Les Zanimos with

“dresseuse de legumes”.

Imagine the muppets with animated singing and dancing fruit

and vegetables, comedy carrots, onions with halitosis,

yodelling mushrooms and slugs!

Les Zanimos regularly returned each year to provide

entertainment for children of all ages including me!

Sadly, I have no photos of one of the largest spectacles that took place in Albert Square one evening after dark. The

square was full of people ready to see the bottom of the ocean! The heads of the crowd were like pebbles on the

seabed and the open space above our heads full of imaginary water. In came streamers on poles like seaweed,

followed by many small fish (well perhaps each six feet long). Above us, shoals of these fish swam and swirled

around the whole square in and out of the seaweed. As we enjoyed the scene, the tension rose as much larger fish

arrived from all directions and chased away the smaller ones. Calm returned as the large fish ruled the ocean but

soon in came sharks as long as 30 feet and in turn they chased away the bigger fish. The performance was amazing

but not yet over as in came a huge whale perhaps over twice as big as the sharks (it was huge) and chased them

away. I think that all the small fish returned and swam harmoniously with the whale. Were you there?

One photo in the book of an Albert Square event is of Transe

Express from France performing Art Celeste. Again, the square is

full of people and a huge crane towers over the clock tower of

Manchester Town Hall. Into the square comes a band of

drummers, lyra-glockenspiels and acrobats. Now imagine one of

those musical mobiles that hangs over a baby’s cot; this is about to

happen on a grand scale in Albert Square as the gigantic mobile,

now complete with the musicians and acrobats is lifted high into

the air to perform alongside lights and finally fireworks.

Such was the spectacle of Streets Ahead!

A strange “moose” teases the police

Much of the street theatre was on a small

scale, you were never certain what you

might find when you turned a street corner.

There were men dressed as nuns asking for

cigarettes and trying to “befriend” you. A

couple dressed in safari outfits and pith

helmets who wanted to chat to you while

they rode around on a large camel. But then

the camel wasn’t real, they were on stilts!

Even the police were not immune from

teasing from street performers and

obviously enjoyed every moment. People

away from the city centre could be visited by

“the Alien Tourists” shown here on the

Langley Estate in Middleton.

In Part 2, I will write about the risqué

“Display All“, Manchester’s own Street

Theatre group Avanti Display with “The

Spurting Man” the music and parades and

much more.

A cryptic crossword from Jose Anderson

Ian Hamilton provides the answers to his quiz in Issue 3

Question Answer

1 26 = L of the A 26 = Letters of the Alphabet

2 100 = P in a P 100 = Pence in a Pound

3 7 = W of the W 7 = Wonders of the World

4 4 = S of the Y 4 = Seasons of the Year

5 1001 = A N 1001 = Arabian Nights

6 13 = B D 13 = Bakers Dozen

7 54 = C in a D (with J ) 54 = Cards in a Deck ( with Jokers)

8 366 = D in a L Y 366 = Days in a Leap Year

9 12 = S of the Z 12 = Signs of the Zodiac

10 88 = P K 88 = Piano Keys

11 1953 = C Y 1953 = Coronation Year

12 18 = H on a G C 18 = Holes on a Golf Course

13 1215 = D of the M C 1215 = Date of the Magna Carta

14 90 = D in R A 90 = Degrees in a Right Angle

15 6 = W of H the E 6 = Wives of Henry the Eighth

16 200 = P for P G in M 200 = Pounds for Passing Go in Monopoly

17 7 = S of a F P P 7 = Sides of a Fifty Pence Piece

18 16 = S S and N B K 16 = Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed

19 7 = D (in S W) 7 = Dwarfs (in Snow White)

20 24 = H in a D 24 = Hours in a Day

21 1 = W on a U 1 = Wheels on a Unicycle

22 24 = H from T 24 = Hours from Tulsa

23 57 = H V 57 = Heinz Varieties

24 1066 = B of H 1066 = Battle of Hastings

25 7 = C in a R 7 = Colours in a Rainbow

26 2 = W in a F 2 = Weeks in a Fortnight

27 3 = S of a T 3 = Sides of a Triangle

28 24 = B B (B in a P) 24 = Black Birds ( Baked in a Pie)

29 9 = L of a C 9 = Lives of a Cat

30 20000 = L U the S 20000 = Leagues Under the Sea

“Hot, Cross, Bunnies” – a poem from Heather Bradshaw

This wasn’t the Easter we wanted,

This wasn’t the Easter we’d hoped.

But thanks to this damn blasted virus

What’s important now is to cope.

For us no Easter Egg hunting,

No choccy to munch on at all,

No sign of any festive bunting,

No vases of flowers in the hall.

BUT

We oldies are fighters you know,

We won’t be knocked down till we’re dead.

When life gives us lemons, we spit ‘em all out,

And pretend they’re pale oranges instead.

So what if my hair grows too long,

I’ll tie it all back, like a hippie.

So what if the gym’s not an option,

I’ll climb up the stairs extra nippy.

I’ll tackle that room that needs tidying,

I’ll start that mammoth jigsaw,

That jumper with a sleeve that needs knitting,

And the garden that’s just an eyesore.

I’ll shift all the papers that need filing,

And start that book I intended to read.

As long as I don’t hit the bottle,

That’s a habit I really don’t need.

For exercise and air – there’s the garden;

Dig for Victory is back into fashion.

Watering, weeding, hoeing for fun,

I’m sowing veg seeds with a passion.

I’ll start on that cupboard tomorrow,

I’m much too busy today.

I must just check the back of my eyelids,

Cos the sun’s out in the garden today.

I’ll listen to the birds sing now and then.

They have Spring, new life to celebrate,

So I’ll look forward too with enthusiasm,

And start Christmas crafts before it’s too late.

THE RAT – a traditional Nepalese tale

The spoof story of Margaret Loftus’s Exotic Rats is still being talked about a month on! It reminded me that 2020 is

also the Chinese year of the rat! So, here is another ratty tale for you to enjoy.

If you attended my two talks on Friday afternoons entitled “From Delhi to Kathmandu by Road, Rail and River”, you

would have seen that one place I visited was Pokhara in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal. Pokhara is a major

trekking centre, as the Annapurna Range is only 15 miles away.

Phewa Lake and the Annapurna Range at Pokhara

Trekking means tourists and tourists mean shops! If you have read my articles in the first two issues then you know I

like books. In one shop, I bought a small cookbook of traditional Nepalese dishes. In another I bought two small

paperbacks entitled “An Encounter with the Yeti” and “Folk Tales from Nepal” both by Kesar Lall who wrote many

books on the folklore and customs of Nepal.

I’m not obsessed by rats but I thought that this was a lovely simple tale from the Folk Tales book to celebrate the

Year of the Rat.

By the power of OCR (Optical Character Recognition), I have reproduced the story below in its original wording.

THE RAT

There was once a rat, who thought that he must have none other than the king's daughter for his wife. So he went to

the king and proposed to wed the princess. Said the rat to the king, “You are the greatest one on earth.”

The king however, said “Not me. The sun is mightier than I am.”

So the rat went to the sun and said, “You are mightier than the king. Please give me your daughter in wedding.”

“But the cloud is more powerful than me,” said the sun.

The rat went to the cloud and said to him “Please give me your daughter. You are mightier than the sun.”

“I am not that powerful,” said the cloud, “The wind pushes me around, he is stronger than me.”

So the rat went to the wind and said to him, “Please let me marry your daughter.” “No, I am not as strong as you

think,” said the wind,

“Howsoever hard I blow I cannot take the grass away with me. The grass is therefore more powerful than me.”

The rat went to the grass and asked for his daughter's hand.

However, the grass said, “The rat burrows beneath me, chews at my roots and kills me. I cannot stop him. The rat is

more powerful than me.”

The rat was now convinced more than ever that there was none greater on earth than a rat. So he married a rat.

The End

Ian Hamilton sets you a picture puzzle with a twist

In this picture there are 27 figures of speech, can you find them? The answers will be in the next issue.

The insomniacs guide to May’s night sky

With British Summer Time and living in a city,

the night sky can be a challenge without

binoculars or a telescope! A frosty winter’s

night sky or a view from a designated dark sky

site (such as Kielder Forest) is a wonder to

behold. However, there is still much to see from

your back garden!

Easy to find in May and for the coming months

is the “summer triangle” of three bright stars

comprising of VEGA in the constellation of the

Lyre, DENEB in Cygnus the Swan and ALTAIR in

Aquila the Eagle. From the chart (right), you can

see that the Milky Way runs right through the

triangle. So when the triangle is well above the

horizon, gather up your garden chair and small

binoculars and be amazed at the richness of the starts in this area – our Milky Way galaxy.

The word planet is derived from the Greek for Wanderer. The ancients were skilled in astronomy for navigation and

had turned the patterns of the fixed stars in the sky into the constellations but the planets confused them, as they

appear to move backwards and forwards in the night sky.

The two planets between the Earth and the Sun are Mercury and Venus and appear to move much faster than the

outer planets. Venus still stands out in the evening sky, setting 4 hours after sunset on the 1st of May but just 30

minutes on the 31st of May. Mercury will be close to Venus on the 21st and 22nd of May.

Mars, Saturn and Jupiter are still all in a row an hour or so before dawn! Jupiter is still the brightest of the three but

Mars is a lot brighter than a month ago.

Another meteor shower (the Eta Aquariids) peaks on the 5th of May in the hours before dawn but sadly a near full

moon will make them difficult to see unless an odd bright one beats the moonshine. What makes this shower

interesting is that the source of the meteor shower is Halley’s Comet. Every year the Earth crosses the orbital path of

Halley’s Comet in late April and May, so bits and pieces from this comet light up the night as Eta Aquariid meteors.

A very big asteroid passed relatively close to Earth on the morning of the 29th April. It was Asteroid (52768) 1998

OR2, it passed at a safe distance at some 4 million miles, or about 16 times the Earth-moon distance. It is the biggest

asteroid to fly by Earth this year (that we know about so far)! According to current estimates, it’s probably a bit over

a mile wide and mostly spherical.

The one that wiped out most of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago has been estimated at 6-9 miles wide. You never

know what’s out there!

If you have any questions about the night sky then send an email to brians.books@yahoo.com and I will put an

answer in the next magazine.

COVID-19 Advice

Trafford Community Response

Five community hubs have been set up to support people through the COVID-19 outbreak.

The centres are available to those living in the area who are self-isolating or vulnerable.

They have been set up and coordinated by Trafford Council, Trafford Housing Trust, Thrive, Trafford Stronger

Communities Board and other local community groups who were already helping to support local residents when

social distancing measures were first put in place.

Their exact location in Altrincham, Gorse Hill, Partington, Sale and Urmston will be given to residents who need

support or those volunteering to assist when they call the dedicated helpline 0300 3309073 and select option 4

for Trafford. Opening hours are 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.

If you need help with anything such as:

Food shopping, getting fuel (if you are on a pre-paid meter), getting essential medication, looking after pets or need

someone to talk to - then get in touch.

Trusted Websites

Websites that can be trusted to give you accurate information about Coronavirus are the BBC News website, NHS,

U3A and Trafford Council, Please do not rely on Social Media.

Keeping in Touch

We all have the technology to talk to other people – our phones, whether they are landlines or mobiles. I am sure

that many of you have friends and family around the world and already use computer technology to talk and see

your contacts. Here is a reminder of how to use these systems to have a chat with your group members or just a few

friends together.

If you have a smartphone (iPhone, Android or Windows) or a Tablet, Laptop or Desktop computer (with webcam and

microphone) then you can have a video call with one or many people at the same time.

Some of the free software available include Skype, Zoom, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger. You can find out

more from our main U3A website by going to the “Keep in Touch links” web page.

Joe Fogg who helps with our own “Computer and Tech Workshop” group emailed with details about Zoom, which is

easy to use and free, although if you have a group video call the free version limits you to 40 minutes duration.

Just imagine all of the Guitar Group or a language group getting together on Zoom for a meeting! You have nothing

to lose and it will help to break the self-isolation.

To help you out, Joe’s documents are on the Sale U3A website on the “Coronavirus Newsletters” page.

www.u3asites.org.uk/sale