Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

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Something to celebrate!

Newcastle U3A’s February A.G.M. and meeting afterwards were proud moments for our members.

In December, we were thrilled to have our proposal for a grant accepted by Newcastle Building

Society. The grant was used to update some of our I.T. equipment. However, after the A.G.M., we

were also thrilled to receive a plaque and a present of a hamper from one of the building society’s

directors. He attended the meeting along with one of the building society’s representatives who had

supported us throughout the proposal. The plaque will be proudly displayed and members will share

in the hamper content of coffee, mugs, pens and key rings all with thanks to Newcastle Building

Society.

The picture shows Catherine receiving the

Newcastle Building Society plaque and hamper.

From the right the picture shows Mick Thompson

(Director of Newcastle Building Society), Lucy

Bell (representative from Newcastle Building

Society) and Catherine Stevenson (Newcastle

U3A Chair).

The newly elected committee was photographed

with the hamper and plaque. In the picture (left to

right) are Mave Mundy (Marketing), Sheila Best

(Member), Jane Kinghorn (Minutes Secretary), Janet

Devoy (Business Secretary), Geoff Dunkley

(Speakers’ Panel), Mike Wallace (Treasurer) and

Rita Stalker (Member).

Learn, laugh, live

Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

2

Some of Northumbria U3A’s

Informal Networks

The numbers of members joining some of our

informal networks are increasing. The S.E.

Northumbria Chairs’ and Business Secretaries’

Network as well as the Treasurers’ Network are

seeing more and more members come along.

We share ideas and challenges as well as get to

know what is happening in the regional and

national U3As. If you have an officer role to

play or you know of someone who might be

please try a session.

And our own informal networks

The global pandemic is a difficult time for

everyone but it has also highlighted the

resilience and ingenuity of people in ways of

keeping in touch.

Some very funny items have been included on

social media, we’ve all now heard of Zoom and

perhaps used it ourselves, and families are even

having virtual Zoom dinners with each other.

Our groups are keeping in touch with each other

in a number of ways, including the Newcastle

U3A Facebook page. If you want to be added to

this just email newcastleu3a@hotmail.com.

I suppose one thing it shows is that you can’t

keep the human spirit down.

Notes from the Chair

It’s been a strange year. However, it has led our

U3A in other strong directions by facing the

challenges.

When the committee had to ask members to

cancel meetings, it was concerned about

maintaining communications and about

members’ well-being during the challenging

times ahead.

Learning in a social setting was no longer

available yet we know that lack of brain

stimulation and social isolation, many of us live

alone, are highlighted as the greatest dangers

leading to many older people’s problems. This

reinforced the key role which the U3A takes in

helping to protect its members from depression

and loneliness. New strategies were adopted.

An Action Plan was quickly in place which

included that monthly mailing would continue

and the members’ support team was organized

to contact members regularly and Group

Leaders did likewise. Thank you to so many

members who have stepped in to help in

whatever ways they can.

For mental stimulation and physical activity,

members were led to many areas of learning,

new ways to operate and to continue some form

of social contact e.g. virtual meetings. In doing

these, we learned even more and will continue

to do so!

Many of us found an hour’s walk each day was

a bonus, gardens became havens, neighbours

helped to deliver supplies and conversations

from a distance became the norm! We adapted.

All these reminded me of a well- known poem.

As we found joy in small pleasures - a flower,

bird song and exercising our curiosity to learn

something new, these lines really struck home.

William Henry Davies, ‘Leisure’

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

We took the time and to support each other

which Newcastle U3A does so well and will

continue to do so.

Makes you proud to be a member!

Catherine Stevenson

1 Northumberland

2a Newcastle

2b Gateshead

2c Nth Tyneside

2d Sth Tyneside

2e Sunderland

3 County Durham

4 Darlington

5 Hartlepool

6 Stockton

7 Redcar and

Cleveland

8 Middlesbrough

Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

3

Janet joined Newcastle U3A

in 2012, her aim principally

being to seek company with

others sharing her interests.

As so often happens, she soon

found herself leading the

‘Good Read’ book group.

Although trained as a

scientist, Janet’s interest in literature was down

to her English teacher at school, whom she

describes as ‘inspirational’.

Janet is a native of Edinburgh, where she

attended James Gillespie's School, the school

attended by Muriel Spark. She thinks that ‘The

Prime of Miss Jean

Brodie’, may well

have been based on

that school. Of her

younger life she

particularly

remembers frequent

visits to the repertory theatre with her mother.

From school she went on to the Veterinary

School at Edinburgh University and then to the

London School of Tropical Medicine, intending

to go to work in Africa.

Things didn’t quite turn out like that and after a

few temporary jobs, in 1974 she found herself

in Newcastle working for the Ministry of

Agriculture. This is where she stayed for the

next 30 years. During her time with the

Ministry she saw a number of farming crises,

including the Foot & Mouth Disease epidemic

of 2001, when she had the challenging job of

visiting farms to ensure suspect animals were

slaughtered humanely. Another crisis was the

problem with ‘Mad Cow’ disease or BSE

(Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy).

When Janet started working in Newcastle, she

says it was quite unusual for a woman vet to be

dealing with farm animals. The work did

however allow some scope for research and her

particular interest was in diseases affecting

sheep including scrapie and copper deficiency

in collaboration with Newcastle University.

A further piece of work, which was of popular

interest, was an investigation into the sudden

mass deaths in 1995 of a large number of

Newcastle’s kittiwake population. Fortunately

this turned out to be a one-off episode and was

put down to the birds consuming algal toxins

while out at sea.

Returning to her U3A activities, in addition to

leading the ‘Good Read’ group, Janet is also a

member of the General History group (where

she was able to talk knowledgably about the

lead poisoning of cattle & sheep in the

Pennines), the Poetry group, the Quiz team and

the Quantum Physics group (which she finds

baffling but fun).

Finally, for the last two years she has also been

a member of the U3A committee and recently

took over editorship of the monthly Newsletter.

With thanks to Robert Weiner

Newcastle U3A Profile Series Number 35

Janet Devoy

Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

4

Thoughts for when we meet again

Don't be afraid to……

First: don't be afraid to join a

group dealing with a subject

you know little or nothing

about. The idea for you is to

learn not necessarily to show

off your knowledge. Have a

word with the Group Contact if in real doubt.

And don't be afraid to say, "I really don't know

anything about eg Georgian Poetry, but I think

I'll find it interesting/get the hang of it."

Similarly, don't be afraid to

say "I'm sorry I don't quite

understand”, for instance,

what we have to do for next

time, or what medieval means.

Next: don't be afraid to

volunteer to do things

you've never done

before. You can Meet

and Greet with no

qualifications at all!

Pouring tea is easily

mastered by both men

and women! Perhaps

start small and work up to committee

member….yes, even you.

Don't be afraid to say, "Exactly what will I have

to do?” Honest ignorance is better than pretend

expertise.

Don't be afraid to volunteer for something you

think might be hard, but you would like to do it.

I don't, however, recommend saying, "I'll be

treasurer" if you have no experience!

Be realistic and be aware how what you do know

can be transformed into what is needed.

Finally: don't be afraid to say, "I'm sorry but this

just isn't working for me," and either ask for more

help or try another area of U3A.

Marjorie De’Ath

Birthday Honours

In February Betty

Schofield, a long-time

member of Newcastle

U3A, celebrated her 100th

birthday with some of the

Duplicate Bridge Group

at the Royal British

Legion.

We wish Betty a very belated Happy Birthday

on behalf of the whole of Newcastle U3A.

Reaching 100 is quite a milestone: I remember an

uncle’s 100th birthday some years ago when I was

surprised to be offered a selection of 100th

birthday cards in Fenwick. I thought they might

have one, possibly two, but there were quite a

few to choose from.

It’s interesting seeing the statistics from around

the world on those who reach this great age. It

appears that Japan has the largest number of

centenarians and India has the least. On 9th March

2019 Kane Tanaka, from Japan, was recognised

by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest

living person at 117.

However, the oldest person whose age was

verified came from France. Jeanne Calment was

born in February 1875 and died in August 1997

so she reached an incredible 122. She reportedly

ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful

appearance for her age to a diet rich in olive oil

and she claimed J'ai jamais été malade, jamais,

jamais (I have never been ill, never ever).

Ed (KS)

This Photo by

Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

5

Professor Tournesol Health and wellbeing - a scientific approach

We are bombarded with confusing and

contradictory health advice. One trustworthy

source is the "TV doctor" Dr Michael Mosley

with his 9th series of "Trust Me I'm a Doctor".

Episodes typically have 5 short items which have

been scientifically researched, each personally

testing a new theory or treatment or working with

selected volunteer patients. Here are example

cases from Episode 1.

Case 1 : how much exercise do we need? 10,000

steps per day or 5 x 30 minute brisk walks per

week? Blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood fat

were measured and a questionnaire asked about

mood to assess any mental wellbeing

improvements. It turns out that both exercises

were highly beneficial but that brisk walks are

better and much easier to achieve for most

people: 2.5 hours per week instead of 14 hours.

So, carry on walking ... briskly.

Case 2: A new cure for acrophobia (fear of

heights) using Virtual Reality? Research

confirms that 2 hours wearing a VR headset can

reduce fear by up to 2/3. Patients start with 'easy'

tasks such as standing on a balcony then to more

scary tasks like crossing a rope bridge high over

a gorge. All these are only images projected on

to the small TV screen of the headset. This

gradual acclimatisation is how conventional

phobia therapy works but VR is much cheaper,

more flexible, and safer because it does not need

real situations and heights. Potentially other

phobias could also be treated using VR.

Case 3: Group therapy sessions to replace 10

minute individual interviews at your GP? No,

but they might be introduced as a useful follow

up after the usual 1-to-1 initial diagnosis with

your doctor. It would be voluntary, and trials

showed that a group of 6 patients with similar

diabetes problems sharing a 90 minute in-depth

discussion session with a specialist had major

benefits in terms of understanding their illness

and treatments, and provided group support.

So, Prof Tournesol says, be a TV couch potato

for just 1 hour between your walks to watch

and learn with Michael.

Food & Drink

I have long been interested

in this subject, not just

because eating and

drinking can be so

enjoyable, but because it

also tells us a lot about

ourselves and human ingenuity.

We have to eat and drink to stay alive. Similarly

a car won’t run without some sort of fuel. So

eating and drinking could have developed into

nothing more than heading into some sort of

‘garage of food’ to consume whatever basics are

necessary to keep us going. Whilst there are

aspects of that in our lives sometimes – wolfing

down a sandwich ‘on the hoof’ – for most people

these are the exception not the rule. We have

converted a basic necessity of life into one of its

greatest pleasures and, frequently, the centre

piece of any celebration.

Why and how have we

done this? Let’s take

the why first. I think it

probably happened

because we are social

beings, we also need

to keep warm, and so

perhaps the concept of

eating together, and cooking, developed out of

this. It’s easy to imagine our ancient ancestors

leaving some meat close to the fire by accident

and finding it not only tastes better that way but

is easier to eat, but then we come to the how.

Going from simply heating food to working out

how to make bread, or chocolate, or how mixing

ingredients together can make a wonderful sauce,

is a significant step. The food available now is

often created by highly complex means. Moving

on to drink it’s easy to imagine, long ago, some

grapes being left, naturally fermenting and

creating some sort of (pretty disgusting) wine but

how did anyone work out what you needed to do

to make beer?

I’d love to hear from others who also have an

interest in this subject – perhaps we could start a

regular column.

Kate Scott

Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

6

A visit to Shipley Art Gallery

Several of our members visited the Shipley Art

Gallery in Gateshead and learned about the

founding of the gallery and how it all came about.

It opened in 1917 with 504 paintings bequeathed

by local solicitor Joseph Shipley. Within a

decade, a neoclassical gallery had been built and

the collection now includes nearly 800 paintings

and other works on paper, decorative art and

contemporary crafts. What stood out in Shipley’s

bequest were the Dutch and Flemish paintings

represented by artists such as Hans Schäufelein

and Abraham Janssens and the Shipley now has

one of the best 16th and 17th centuries Dutch and

Flemish painting collections in the U.K.

Additionally a man called William Wales who

owned Saltwell Towers situated in nearby

Saltwell Park was passionate about art and many

of the paintings owned by the gallery were

donated by him.

We were given a tour of the archives by the

Assistant Keeper of Art, Niall Hodson, who

selected paintings for us to discuss. Niall also

showed us many other objets d'art owned by the

gallery which, sadly, along with hundreds of

paintings, they do not have the space to display.

Our visit culminated with an extremely

knowledgeable talk delivered by our own Chair,

Catherine, about an original painting on display -

"Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet".

The artist, Jacopo Robusti, is perhaps better

known as Tintoretto, meaning "Little Dyer".

There are many 18th and 19th centuries works

now in the gallery.

It was a most enjoyable and informative morning

- well worth the visit. Thank you to all involved.

Eileen Smith

Une Amie Francaise

Betty Holmes experience of working as a nanny

in Paris in 1967-8 which she wrote in French.

Je garde toujours un bon souvenir d’une amitié que

j’ai nouee a Paris en 1967. J’etais aide-familiale

chez Madame Boulet, journaliste et divorcee. Elle

demeurait a Montparnasse dans un gratte-ciel avec

son fils Olivier. Je le gardais et Juliette sa toute

petite cousine aussi.

Un jour je suis tombee sur Marie-Paule dans le

vestibule.Elle faisait le même travail dans

l’appartement en face. Au fur et a mesure nous

sortions régulièrement avec les gosses – elle avec

le landau et moi avec une poussette jumelle.Mon

amie deposait Guillaume, age de trois ans et

Valerie, la cadette a la maternelle gratuite dans une

ecole publique. A l’epoque elles n’existaient pas

ainsi en Angleterre.Notre route quotidienne,

d’habitude aux Jardins du Luxembourg, passait

par des chantiers bruyants. On modernisait le

14ieme quartier et chaque jour encore de caractere

et des petits magasins dans les ruelles

disparaissaient.

Marie-Paule m’ invitait souvent chez elle. Nous

prenions le train en Picardie. Comme membre

d’une famille nombreuse (neuf enfants) ma

compagne avait droit a une remise importante pour

le billet.A St. Quentin son père nous faisait monter

dans son Citroen 2CV. En arriere la bagnole

cabossee avait les sieges de toile, donc les

passagers bougeaient sans cesse! Au hameau La

Ferte-Chevresis, la petite propriete louee par les

Quignon, une maison traditionelle sans etage, se

tenait dans un grand jardin potager.Papa travaillait

comme ouvrier ;Marie-Paule et sa sœur versaient

la plupart de leur paie dans ses mains. La vieille

maison manquait une salle de bains, mais le salon

etait reserve aux visiteurs et a la baignoire de zinc.

La chambre au rez-de-chaussee était celle des

parents et du bebe. Les autres devaient monter une

echelle aux matelas dans le grenier. Chaque enfant

avait sa tache. On mangeait bien aux nombreuses

fetes, mais frugalement autrement.

Samedi soir nous deux assistions a un bal

champetre avec une bande de camarades. On

dansait jusqu’a l’aube. Nous passions les journees

a flaner, visiter les cafes, faire du leche-vitrines ou

du canotage au lac. Je voudrais bien retrouver

Marie-Paule et nous aurions beaucoup de choses a

nous dire apres une demi-siecle !

Newcastle U3A Reporter, 5 Pink Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 5DW

7

A summary of a few previous pandemics

430 B.C.: Athens

The earliest recorded pandemic happened

during the Peloponnesian War. After the

disease passed through Libya, Ethiopia and

Egypt, it crossed the Athenian walls as the

Spartans laid siege. As much as two-thirds

of the population died. The disease,

suspected to have been typhoid fever,

weakened the Athenians significantly and

was a significant factor in their defeat by

the Spartans.

1918: Spanish Flu

The avian-borne flu that resulted in 50

million deaths worldwide was first

observed in Europe, the United States and

parts of Asia before swiftly spreading

around the world. Wire service reports of a

flu outbreak in Madrid in the spring of 1918

led to the pandemic being called the

“Spanish flu.” The flu threat disappeared in

summer 1919 when most of the infected had

either developed immunities or died.

2003: SARS

First identified in 2003, Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome is believed to have

possibly started with bats, spread to cats

and then to humans in China, followed by

26 other countries, infecting 8,096 people,

with 774 deaths. SARS was seen by global

health professionals as a wake-up call to

improve outbreak responses, and lessons

from the pandemic were used to keep

diseases like H1N1, Ebola and Zika under

control.

Our magazine provides an opportunity fondly to

remember some of our members who have died

and who will be sadly missed. In their different

ways they reflect the diversity of U3A and we are

very grateful for their contribution to us.

Laura Mullen : Laura was a lovely lady, a regular

member of the Poetry group for many years and

attended the monthly meetings as well as being

involved in the Esoterics, Tin Pin Bowling and

Philosophy groups. She lived life to the full and

had an open mind and a way of looking at things

in an original way. A number of us attended

Laura’s funeral in December.

Michelle Hetherington : Although not a member

of Newcastle U3A Michelle was well known to a

number of us as she ran the PNE office which

oversees the Old Post Office. She was helpful

and sympathetic to the needs to our organisation

and we were shocked by her sudden, early, death.

A number of Newcastle U3A members attended

her funeral in January.

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914

1. The Wynward Passage separates Cuba from which country?

2. What is the only London Underground station that shares its name with a football club?

3. What were the concerts the organisers of 1985’s Live Aid event arranged 20 years later called?

4. The author James Herriot was born in which North East city?

5. In a non-leap year which day is the midpoint of the year?

6. In which decade was national service abolished in the UK?

7. Ljubljana is the capital of which European country?

8. Betty Joan Perske was the real name of which late US film star?

9. Which term is used for the legal process by which a will is proved to be authentic?

10. How many miles of shoreline does Kielder Water have – 22, 27 or 32?

11. The slow loris is a primate found on which continent?

12. Margaretha Geertruida Zelie was the real name of which figure associated with the First World

War?

13. Where in the body is the sartorius muscle?

14. Joseph Priestley was a British chemist credited with discovering what in 1774?

15. Which North East athlete was known as the ‘Jarrow Arrow’ during his career?

16. Which English city lies in the confluence of the River Don and its tributaries?

17. Which dramatist’s plays included Pygmalion and Mrs Warren’s Profession?

18. In the Anglo-Saxon period what was Newcastle known as?

19. Which religion associated with Japan has many deities in the form of spirits, souls, and forces

of nature?

20. In which year did the first ship pass through the Panama Canal - 1904, 1914 or 1924?

With thanks to Jane Kinghorn and the quiz group

Quiz Group Quiz!