MemNewsMar2021

1 of 4  ​ Website:​ ​www.flintshire-u3a.co.uk​ ​ P​ hone:0​ 7546 094927 March 2021   Volume 16 Issue 1 Flintshire u3a Newsletter      Time’s Up For Phil  Flintshire u3a member Phil Edwards is not a man to waste time. In fact when he clocked an old Black  Magic chocolate box full of discarded family watches stashed at the back of a wardrobe he came up with  a novel idea to give them a new lease of life. There were twelve timepieces, the oldest belonging to a  grandfather, another was his dad's and also a variety of ladies watches, two belonged to his children  when they were just learning to  tell the time. Each one was part  of his family's history so each  had a place in Phil's plan to  make a unique heirloom clock  for the kitchen he had refitted in  their Sychdyn home during  lockdown. His wife, Marie, was  delighted with the idea and so  he embarked on 30 hours of  painstaking work. While  dismantling an old white wall  clock that had seen better days  Phil realised he would first have  to chisel off all the numerals and minute marks and then sand down and repaint the surface. That done  he removed all the watch straps and selected which dial should represent each hour and then reset each  one so that the time of each watch-face matched the hour. Everything pivoted on precision as each  minute mark was also delicately replaced with the aid of a steel rule and an ultra fine brush. But then  time literally stood still. The newly replaced hands kept being halted by the different depths of the watch  faces but, as ever undaunted, Phil persisted with his meticulous 'pride in a job well done' mentality, until  he could finally replace the glass cover and his amazing clock was finally complete and ready to go on  the wall.    Phil, 70, a retired Vauxhall car worker and high school design technician, has never been one to twiddle  his thumbs so has already moved onto his next project... constructing raised flower beds for his  daughter's garden in Snowdonia. He is a stalwart of Flintshire u3a being a member of several groups  including the table tennis squad, the walking group and the short mat bowls brigade. He also enjoys  exploring science and social history but his passion will always be walking miles in the countryside and  on the hills and mountains of North Wales, more often than not with his wife Marie at his side. As neither  ever find themselves with much time on their hands that remarkable lockdown clock should help them  keep their busy lives on track for years to come. J​ o Shone​.  A Strange Year  My experience of Fu3a during this strange year relied very much on previously formed friendships and  established networks. Members themselves formed channels of communication both formal and  informal. So from Armchair Travellers quizzes, Flora & Fauna observations and anecdotes, Art  Appreciation painting of the week, Social History’s memory box, Zoom Book Group & Poetry Group & now  general meetings I feel I’ve retained the ideals of learning, support and friendship. Obviously we’ve  missed getting together in person but with a certain resilience we have kept in touch - with learning,  culture, nature, community but above all with each other. So thanks to all those concerned & hopefully  we’ll get together in person sometime this coming year! Maybe I’ll even find more groups to join!   Sue Matthias  1 

2 of 4    Health and Happiness Group  All through the last year, the Health and Happiness Group has met  weekly for a video chat where we share positive thoughts, helping  each other to remain upbeat and generally being there for each  other. We even have two Fu3a members who have moved away  still joining us. We have also set up a WhatsApp chat group where  we post positive sayings and funnies. We all feel as though we  have bonded more through these Covid times and will be friends  forever. J​ ulia Cugley     Chairman’s Report  As we all know it has been very difficult over the last 12 month not having our usual meetings of  Flintshire u3a but the positive part is that many of us have increased our knowledge of I.T. doing online  meetings. The thing to remember is that it is acceptable to get it wrong before you get it right. The  website is being expanded all the time and has a brand new welcome page which hopefully will result in  new members joining us. With every day there are more and more vaccinations being delivered so  hopefully there is a very good chance that we might be able to get back to a new normal in the near  future. My main hope is that we have good weather in spring allowing us to meet in the park again.  The AGM for this year has been suspended until such time as government regulations allow and venues  being available. Tomorrow will be a good day. ​Colin    PS I have just noticed that Steven has learnt how to put a video on the website. Have a look for a good  laugh and cheer up.  Adroddiad y Cadeirydd  Fel y gwyddom i gyd mae wedi bod yn anodd iawn dros y 12 mis diwethaf i beidio â chael ein cyfarfodydd  arferol yn Sir y Fflint u3a ond y rhan gadarnhaol yw bod llawer ohonom wedi cynyddu ein gwybodaeth am  I.T. cynnal cyfarfodydd ar-lein. Y peth i'w gofio yw ei bod yn dderbyniol ei gael yn anghywir cyn i chi ei  gael yn iawn. Mae'r wefan yn cael ei hehangu trwy'r amser ac mae ganddi dudalen groeso newydd sbon a  fydd, gobeithio, yn arwain at aelodau newydd yn ymuno â ni. Gyda phob dydd mae mwy a mwy o  frechiadau yn cael eu danfon felly gobeithio bod siawns dda iawn y gallem fynd yn ôl i normal newydd yn  y dyfodol agos. Fy mhrif obaith yw y cawn dywydd da yn y gwanwyn gan ganiatáu inni gwrdd yn y parc  eto. Mae'r CCB ar gyfer eleni wedi'i atal hyd nes y bydd rheoliadau'r llywodraeth yn caniatáu a lleoliadau  ar gael. Bydd yfory yn ddiwrnod da. ​Colin ​ T​ ranslated by Google      PS Rwyf newydd sylwi bod Steven wedi dysgu sut i roi fideo ar y wefan. Edrychwch am chwerthin da a  bloeddiwch i fyny.    Mosaics    On our travels on holidays we were always on the lookout for mosaics. I  have always admired the beauty of mosaics and the skill and patience of  these artisans to produce them. They are mostly Roman one’s from two  thousand years ago. The peacock pictured is my first attempt at this  medium, in this case made from pieces of hand cut glass glued on a  backing board and the gaps filled with cement based grout. They are not  supposed to to be viewed close up but from a distance. I’m quite pleased  with the result but I will not be doing another one because the work is so  fine and the pieces so small I could not wear gloves so lots of cuts and  blood spilled maybe a ceramic not glass next time.I’ve got my doubts this  will be around in two millennia though! ​John Hughes  2 

3 of 4  Working Lives  Howard White:​ I qualified as a Planner (after a geography degree), and worked initially in Norfolk. In 1976 I moved  to Sheffield and worked for the Peak District National Park. I worked first on Countryside Management Plans (e.g.  for Upper Derwent Valley, Monsal Trail). I later specialised into Minerals  Planning – surprisingly one of the largest limestone quarries in the UK is  in the Peak, near Buxton! In 1996 I moved to Mold and became Minerals  Planning Officer for Flintshire. I took voluntary early retirement in 2001,  and became a self-employed consultant. I then started a second  “career” as a leader of hill walking and cross-country skiing holidays  until 2018 - initially in Norway or the Alps, later in Spain and elsewhere in  Europe.  Janet White:​ ​After leaving school I had various administrative jobs in  Sheffield, finishing in one of the companies making steel rolling mills. I  took a degree with the Open University (over 8 years!). After redundancy,  I obtained a job in Sheffield (Further Education) College, later becoming P.A. to the Principal. I moved to Mold with  Howard in 1996 and got a job as a P.A. for a Consultant Paediatrician at Wrexham Maelor Hospital. After going  down to job-share, I moved to Mold Community Hospital.  We were both members of Chester U3A, and became founder members of Flintshire U3A in 2002(?). Janet did a  stint as Secretary, Howard started the Friday Walking Group and Janet the Tuesday Group, and later the first  Reading Group.  Quiz Night Group M​ eeting in the usual venue, the Grosvenor Hall in Mold, has not been possible for some time  and is unlikely in the near future so Quiz Night Group moved online with the scheduled event on Friday 20th  November 2020. Participants were encouraging in their support of this arrangement and we shall continue to meet  online while the current restrictions are in force. Our second quiz on 18th December had a Christmas theme and  was a jolly occasion providing some much needed light hearted fun in these difficult times. Members provided their  own refreshments during the interval. We use Google MEET because there is no 40 minute limit which might prove  distracting in the middle of a round. With their invitation to MEET on the third Friday of the month, all members of  the Quiz Night Group receive a “Table Round” quiz to peruse prior to the event. Answers are circulated afterwards  via email. New members are welcome. Either login to the website and use the “apply to join” button on the Group’s  page or contact the co-ordinators. There are no prizes, our aim is to have a fun evening.  [email protected]  Social History Group ​Thankfully, after nearly a year in lock down, there appears to be glimmers of hope about a  return to what we remember as being somewhat near normal. The feedback I have been receiving over the period is  how much members have missed the activities and involvement of the  Fu3a groups. From the Social History spectrum, I have tried to keep the  membership updated by means of a regular \"Memories Box\" as I prefer  to call it. According to comments, etc., they have been well received  and looked forward to. The majority of the subjects discussed in the  correspondence are related to local topics, which I trust that many will  have learnt a bit more regarding the social and historical aspects of our  small county from the articles. It is envisaged that after lock down,  several of the featured locations and sites can be visited by members  from our group, maybe in liaison with our walking friends from the  rambling group/other sections. A return visit to Plas Teg is high on the  list, together again with a return visit to the old ministry works at  Rhydymwyn is hopefully on the cards. A slightly more energetic trek  around Gwysaney Hall and Estate is another possibility for the more  nimble in our ranks - I may delegate that one !!! Our venue at Ewloe  Social Club has been a matter of speculation of late, but as I write, a  new club and development of the car park is simply that - speculation !!!  It is a subject that will be monitored closely and, I am sure, everyone  will agree with me - what a first class amenity together with adequate  car parking the Ewloe club provides. I'm sure I speak for the majority of  the membership in saying that we \"can't wait to meet up again\" and  enjoy the banter/camaraderie with like minded folk that we so enjoyed  before this lockdown. Here are two of the historic houses featured in the newsletters, Gwysaney Hall and Plas Teg,  we hope to visit in the future! ​Brian Bennett - Fu3a Social History Group Coordinator  3 

4 of 4  Te Araroa Trail, New Zealand Feb/Mar 2020    In Feb 2020 my plan was to join my daughter,  Aliss hiking 1300km on the South Island of  New Zealand on the 3000km Te Araroa Trail,  meeting her at Lake Tekapo, approximately  halfway along the South Island route. I would  be hiking 630km, carrying a 14kg backpack  containing up to 10 days supply of food,  clothes and camping gear, in an estimated  5-6 weeks. This became the most extreme  adventure of my life; with Aliss’s heroic  perseverance and constant encouragement  to climb huge mountains, traverse breath-taking vertical drop scree slopes, wade across vast fast-flowing rivers,  clamber over huge boulders and fallen trees and sleep in a tent invaded by swarms of sandflies and mice.     Highs: Being with Aliss, trekking and camping in the wild remote mountains and forests, achieving feats I wouldn’t  have dreamed possible, breaking/breaching so many comfort zones, the daily routine of breaking camp, walking all  day, pitching tent, dinner and bed, the generosity of Kiwis and other TA hikers, the birdlife, flora and fauna in the  forests and finally raising £1530 for Breast Cancer Now.    Lows: Daily wet feet, mice, rats and sandflies, and not completing the trail. G​ ail Curtis  Online Open Meeting 21st January 2021  Then And Now  About thirty plus souls braved the eccentrics of the  I have been a member of the Flintshire u3a for nearly 20  electronic wizardry to  years and have freely given time to all but one of the  attend our online open  committee offices. As there are an ample number of  meeting. The subject  members to follow in my footsteps I decided to devote a  was on Great British  lot of my time, in lockdown, to other projects.  Eccentrics and Rogues  by Paul Robbins. From    Edward Hyde 3rd Earl of  I was born in Braintree in Essex in 1939. In 1995 the  Clarendon (pic) to a  local \"rag\" produced a 67 page book of the town \"Then  more recent gentleman,  and Now\". What I have done is update that book covering  Spike Milligan. A very  my first 40 years of my life from 1939 to 1979 with a  entertaining morning. I  further update covering 2021 following later this year,  didn’t know that we  lockdowns permitting. Currently I have produced 23  British had such  pages with just short of 9000 words. I have agreed with  characters in our past.  the Curator of the Braintree Museum to meet asap in    order that a public display can be presented within the    museum together with some 50+ photographs to  support the updates. Future generations will then have  I have taken the liberty to reprint a couple of comments  an opportunity of understanding how life changed over  from our members who attended:   at least one century.       Really enjoyed this talk and it was good to hear you and  The other activity is the forthcoming Census which is  your wife stifling laughter in the background after the  somewhat different to those of the past which we are all  soundtrack was restored. - E J  aware of and I am hoping that the results of my labours  will assist those charged with the planning of the future,    which I will not be part of, but which I sincerely trust will  Many thanks for arranging today's talk, very interesting  be Covid 19 free.  and funny. We remember well when Spike Milligan  received that award and made that famous comment    about Prince Charles. A classic moment. - J K  At this time my next project is to be determined but there  will be one.​ K​ en Archer    The Committee intends to hold further Online Open    Meetings on 18th March and 15th April. Make a note in  your diary! P​ eter Hartnell - Speaker Coordinator    This edition of the newsletter was edited by Martin Hampstead, Helen Lloyd, and Muriel Vernon. The email address  to send your articles is ​[email protected]    4