Editors Welcome

Welcome to the fifth issue of “Stay Safe Sale U3A” - now only available directly from our website.

The Sale U3A committee met again on a ZOOM video call and has agreed to pay for a full ZOOM licence. All the

Group Leaders have been contacted to offer this ZOOM facility for online group meetings while we still stay in

lockdown. Obviously, you need a smart phone, laptop or desktop computer to use this but I’m sure it will help

groups get back together safely.

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

you might like to tell others how you celebrated the 75th

anniversary of VE day!

Brian Feast - editor

Articles in this issue:

Message from the Chair

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

The solution to Jose Anderson’s cryptic crossword

Bexie’s Holiday Tails – PART 2

Ian Hamilton gives the answers to his picture puzzle

Victory in Europe 75 – street partying at a distance – Brian Feast

Ian Hamilton tests your knowledge of Film and TV

What colour is your elephant?

Covid19 Advice

Coming soon:

The story of “Letters from Egypt” written by Florence Nightingale – Brian Feast

A Rough Guide to World Music

The TV Quiz Book from 1958 – Brian Feast

“Tippi – My book of Africa” written by 10 year old Tippi Degré

Stay SafeStay SafeStay SafeStay Safe

15th

May 2020

Issue 5

Message from the Chair

As we enter yet another week of lockdown for us, I know you will be wondering

how we can resume any of our normal U3A’s activities. We do not anticipate

opening before September. Even this is in doubt, as it could be January before we

resume normal activities including Friday afternoon meetings. Thanks to those

Group Leaders and Groups who are continuing to have virtual meetings through

ZOOM. As we cannot proceed with Friday’s meetings this is perhaps an opportunity

to join a new group or even set up a new group if you feel you can. You don’t have

to be an expert and the national U3A offer advice for many subjects.

As a Committee, we have frequent ZOOM meetings and we are trying to come up

with ways to continue to involve people. We welcome any ideas from our

members. It may be something that has been done before elsewhere.

The Committee has purchased an ongoing ZOOM licence for Sale U3A; to this end, Brian Feast is managing the

exercise. Within the next week Practical Philosophy, Italian, Spanish (post beginners), French and Recorder groups

will be benefiting from our licence and without the 40-minute limit!

We are also considering using ZOOM to provide an alternative to our missing Friday afternoon meetings by providing

online presentations. We are also looking at recording presentations and making them available on YouTube.

We will continue to produce the “Stay Safe Sale U3A” newsletter that is now published via our website. Please do

send in contributions to keep this valuable newsletter entertaining and informing us all.

Talking to a member on the phone the other day, I was surprised that she knew nothing about the newsletter, so if

you are talking to other members on the phone ask them if they know about it. Not everyone has a computer or a

smartphone but I am sure we do not have all of the member’s emails addresses, so again ask other members if they

have supplied theirs as it helps us to keep in touch with you all.

Finally keep safe. Although people are being encouraged to go back to work the danger from Coronavirus is still

there. It is hard not seeing people at the moment, but you need to keep well. Keep your sense of humour and if

you can exercise as it’s good to be out in the fresh air so make the most of it. Keep in touch with your friends and

family.

Judith Lloyd

Warning – email scam 14th

May

Good morning Brian.

I’ve received an email this morning saying our TV licence is due to expire...we pay by direct debit. Thus we think it’s a

scam: it’s the second time we’ve received this. Just thought you could notify the rest of the U3A

All the best.

Gwyn Robson

Note - I have not seen this on Trafford iCAN Alert but who knows! Brian

STREETS AHEAD - Manchester’s street festivals of the 1990’s - Part 2 - Brian Feast

One of the funniest and risqué events was called “Display All” which ran in 1997

and 1998, where with the help of a French group called Cacahuete, local

performers took over 34 shop windows in Deansgate, Market Street and more.

The idea was to parody the shop or a person such as a John Major lookalike

selling the Big Issue.

Each performer had a card telling you what

they were doing. Here we have a man

dressed as a chef in a restaurant window

cooking eggs. His card says “2 Egg Butties on

Brown – TO GO”. For most of his act, he is

facing the street dressed in a chef’s outfit

demonstrating how to fry eggs. It is only

when he turns his back on the street

audience that the joke is apparent. I did say

it was risqué!

There was a princess complete with tiara

playing a grand piano but occasionally

stopping to pick her nose in Forsyth's music

shop in Deansgate and an apparently naked

lady lying asleep in a shop window but

covered modestly with fruit and vegetables!

The list could go on but my favourite was

the man in a conservative overcoat and

bowler hat outside the Swatch watch shop

(photo below left). He would gather a crowd and then show one side of the

inside of his coat that was covered in watches. Miming all the time, he would entice you to buy one and then he

would do the same with the other side. When he had a large enough crowd he would suddenly fling open his whole

coat to surprise the whole audience, as he had nothing on except a strategically placed Frisbee! I have a photo of

that but the U3A committee censored me!!

On a grander scale, some street theatre had such an impact that it set off car

alarms and building burglar alarms! From Spain came "Pa Boom" (it's in the

name!) with a massive Mascletà display of fireworks. Another year Mossley

Community Arts produced Correfoc (Running with Fire) a tradition from

Catalonia. Dressed as devils and to the sound of drums they danced and

carried huge fireworks that showered everywhere.

Perhaps the most explosive sound had no fireworks at all; it was "Manchester

5000 Samba" with a huge Batucada drum band and dance troop. This event

took place in Albert Square and as they entered from Lloyd Street, the

synchronised drumming was almost deafening.

Each year the finale was a torchlight parade From Albert Square to Castlefield

called "Creatures of the Night" The audience were encouraged to buy flame

torches or whistles* for charity (Christies against Cancer) and walk with the

acts to a grand firework display to end each year's festival.

* I still use my whistle on Thursday nights at 8.00 when we "clap for carers and the NHS"!

Manchester's own Avanti Display have been performing around the world since the late 1980's and they were

regulars each year at Streets Ahead. One of their performances - "The Spurting Man" is one of my favourites. I last

saw them perform this in 2005 outside the Waterside Theatre is Sale!

The silent performance shows the unequal relationship between the famous specialty performer, ‘The Spurting Man’

and his downtrodden assistant and is performed to classical music such as Ravel’s Bolero. The pompous “Spurting

Man” shows his tricks whilst his assistant, dominated and undervalued, is given no credit for the role he plays. The

assistant despises his master. The master ignores the assistant. The bizarre and unequal relationship lays the basis

for hilarious comedy.

Each trick the “Spurting Man” performs culminates in a display of squirting water until, finally crowned and on top of

his pedestal, the grand finale takes place and “The Spurting Man” cascades fountains of water from his body. 200

litres of water in 3 minutes. See it for yourself performed at The Royal National Theatre in 2001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxVM_EprPLc

The 1999 Finale

"Creatures of the Night"

The torchlight parade moving

down Deansgate headed by an

acrobat hanging from a balloon.

Dream Engine - Heliosphere.

And I never got to tell you about

all the World Music stages around

the city!

The solution to Jose Anderson’s cryptic crossword

Bexie’s Holiday Tails – PART 2

I thought you might like to hear about another of holidays!

After the success of my holiday in Suffolk, my minders decided to book another cottage for October 2018 and they

thought they had found one in Farlow, South Shropshire but the location was more residential. There were no

escapades for me this time so my minders had to make sure the next holiday was in a more rural setting.

My minders booked our next two holidays to the same cottage in Hebden Bridge and we went in July and October

2019. Located high up on the Pennines in Wadsworth overlooking Stoodley Pike, both trips had fine weather so that

we enjoyed the spectacular views. This cottage was a converted pigsty and was all on one level!

Large patio doors opened out onto a decked balcony

and I made a beeline straight for it. Pacing up and

down, I was looking for a way down into one of the

fields below, I could have attempted the jump down

into the soft grass but it was too high to get back up.

My minders solved my dilemma by scouting around

and found a large plank that they wedged between

two of the balcony railings. Hey presto, I had my own

ramp! Once I got the hang of it, I used it as my main

entrance in and out of the cottage. It also had a

vantage point for me to observe a ‘mousey thing’

which I could hear scampering about underneath and

my female minder and I spent a few hours staring

through the slats hoping to catch a glimpse of it. I then tried to stalk it by ‘walking the plank’ and settling myself into

the long grass hoping it would come by but it didn’t and eventually I got fed up waiting for it.

Shortly before the ramp was set up, my entrance was in and out

via the front door that was behind the kitchen and living room.

My food was put on the floor at the side of the sofa. I had been

out having a good nosy round and my minders were in the living

room. I charged back in, jumped onto a chair and sat glaring at

‘something’ on the floor. My female minder became aware that

my food was being eaten so she cautiously crept around the sofa

to find another cat busily eating my dinner. It polished the lot off,

walked out and we never saw it again.

Next to the cottage were three pet pigmy goats living in a large pen with access to two fields. They were very

friendly especially when my minders picked big bunches of grass for them. One came over to the fence to have a

sniff, introduce himself, and after some hesitation I began to get brave enough not to shy away.

Originally, the cottage was part of a farm and the owners live in the farmhouse that also houses two stables. The

resident horse lives in the field but is brought into the stable before he goes out with his owner. There was an

enormous din of the horse kicking the stable door to be let out and I was sat on the front doorstep listening to it all

but I didn’t hang around as he was a lot bigger than me.

The owners had a dog called Boris and he was very boisterous and didn’t respond to requests to quieten down.

Boris was tethered on a strong rope lead during the day and his owner took him on walks away from where I was in

the evenings but I did tease him by sitting on the wall knowing he couldn’t get me.

There was so much for me to do on the doorstep of this cottage so my minders decided not to take me out in the car

for our morning walks. Again my afternoons were spent curled up on my blanket in the living room and their

afternoons included trips to Shibden Hall where Gentleman Jack had recently been filmed, Heptonstall to visit Sylvia

Plath’s grave, Hebden Bridge, Keighley, Todmorden and Haworth.

This year we were heading back to South Shropshire where my minders had found another rural cottage but due to

something that they call The Virus, we don’t know whether we will get there or not. If we do, I will keep you

posted of my future exploits!

Ian Hamilton gives the answers to his picture puzzle

1 In a nutshell 15 Big cheese

2 Piece of cake 16 Red herring

3 Cherry on the cake 17 To tie the knot

4 Bald as a coot 18 Put all your eggs in one basket

5 A screw loose 19 Walking on egg shells

6 Stiff upper lip 20 Shadow of your former self

7 Born with a silver spoon in your mouth 21 No room to swing a cat

8 Ear worm 22 The cat's got your tongue

9 Keep your cards close to your chest 23 Kick the bucket

10 Joker in the pack 24 Pull your socks up

11 Ace up your sleeve 25 Cold feet

12 Heart on your sleeve 26 From rags to riches

13 On a silver platter 27 Time flies

14 Spill the beans

Victory in Europe 75 – street partying at a distance – Brian Feast

Did you manage to get out in the glorious sunshine last Friday (8th

May)? Perhaps you were able to celebrate VE75

with your neighbours. Here are some photos from the party that my neighbourhood had and I could even see other

groups meeting further down the road.

If you celebrated in your street then please send in your photos to brians.books@yahoo.com and I will publish them

in the next issue.

Time to fly the flag! Cheers!

Is this the “Last Night of the Proms? He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother

Social Distancing with afternoon tea The newest resident (3 weeks old) meets the neighbours

Voulez-vous une pâtisserie français? Someone was prepared!A

Ian Hamilton tests your knowledge of Film and TV

1 Who was the original host of the TV game show Family Fortunes?

2 Which actress was the elder sister of Joan Fontaine?

3 Which singer starred in a series of spoof spy films featuring the character of Matt Helm?

4 Which family owned 165 Eaton Place, London?

5 In what year was Blue Peter first broadcast?

6 In which Scottish village was the 1990s TV series Hamish Macbeth filmed?

7 Which Tennessee Williams play was turned into a 1959 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Hepburn?

8 What is the title of the makeover series presented by Charlie Dimmock with Harry and David Rich?

9 Who were the original team captains on A Question of Sport?

10 Which song is played at the end of Dr Strangelove after Slim Pickens rides the atomic bomb like a rodeo horse?

11 Who starred as the police officer in the 1973 film The Wicker Man?

12 The crime drama series DCI Banks starred which actor in the title role?

13 In the 1965 film The Family Jewels which actor played seven roles?

14 What was the nickname of Brookside's window cleaner?

15 Which actor starred in the 1957 film Pal Joey?

16 What make and model of car is used as a time machine in the Back to the Future franchise?

17 In the title of the 2018 film what Society was based on Guernsey?

18 Sir Mark Rylance won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role in which 2015 film?

19 Which animated film of 2004 involves a train taking children to meet Santa?

20 In the classic film Casablanca who played Captain Louis Renault?

Print me off and colour me in – it’s a very relaxing exercise!

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