West Wolds U3A

All Occasions Ceramics are running a one-day event where you can paint your Village Scene in your chosen colours and have a life-long decoration.

The item is approx 12 inches across.

Sunday 1st December at 10am £35 to include a Turkey and trimmings lunch.

Please contact Sharon Rupp ASAP to confirm your limited place.

sharonrupp@hotmail.com
01673-857390
07803 694889

We have been contacted by Jackie Barnett, Business Secretary of Louth U3A offering places  for members of the West Wolds U3A to join a 4 day North Wales Explorer coach trip they are planning in September 2020, see itinerary below. There will be a pick up from Tesco’s bus stop at Market Rasen if there is interest.

• £436pp half board based on 2 people sharing with all entry fees and driver gratuity covered EXCEPT for the final day optional Great Orme tram ride – for 25+ guests travelling
• £416pp half board etc (as above) – for 30+ guests travelling.
• PLUS £24pp PER STAY single room supplement where appropriate

A £50 non-refundable deposit is required immediately to secure the booking (required by the hotel). If any West Wolds members are interested, they should contact me via any of the following methods for the necessary forms:

• by email: Labarnett56@gmail.co, or
• by phone: 01507 313141

She needs expressions of interest fairly quickly.

She can be contacted by phone – 01507 313141 or by email: Labarnett56@gmail.com

North Wales Explorer – Itinerary U3A

Get your diaries out and be sure to make a note of the following shows for which we have reserved tickets over the coming months:

Louth Riverhead Theatre:

Thursday 21 November:  Strictly Movie Musicals

Tuesday 10 December:   Steptoe & Son  (sorry – all tickets now sold)

Wednesday 12 February:  Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Wednesday 11 March:  The Thrill of Love (story of Ruth Ellis)

Wednesday 08 April:  The Government Inspector

Thursday 14 May:   Oliver

Hull New Theatre (travel by coach):

Tuesday 07 January:  Coppelia (Russian State Ballet of Siberia)

Thursday 16 January:  We Will Rock You (story of Queen)  (Matinee)

November tbc:  Les Miserables

Look out for Booking Forms on the Visits table at General Meeetings.

Today, the 22nd October, a merry band of 3 Mile walkers set off from the Market Place car park in Tattershall led by Roger Thwaites and with one or two minor queries managed to enjoy the the countryside around Tattershall and Coningsby along the River Bain and through Coningsby town, with a stop at a coffee shop half way around to replenish our energy.

Roger even arranged a flypast by a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain flight as we walked back down the other side of the River Bain. We then were meant to retire to the White Bull pub for lunch, but they were so slow in taking our orders for drinks and food, that we decided to move on to the Crowders Garden Centre at Horncastle where the service was much faster, and everyone enjoyed their repast.

All in all a very good walk, thank you to Roger for organising it.

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On 11th October, a meeting of U3A volunteers including Group Convenors, Greeters, Catering, other volunteers and members of the committee was held at the New Life Church building in Serpentine Street to thank the volunteers for all the efforts they put in throughout the year and to reinforce the ideas of group etiquette, the ethos of the U3A being ‘By the Members for the Members’.

We were pleasantly surprised how good the New Life Building is, and how it might be used in the event that the Festival Hall has to be closed for refurbishment in the future.

Many thanks go to the Committee members and other volunteers for the hard work in providing tea, coffee and delicious cakes which everybody enjoyed. As can be seen from the accompanying pictures the afternoon also provided an opportunity for the volunteers to get together with others that they may not see that often.

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West Wolds U3A Statement of Accounts

is available by clicking here…

Please remember that we are a charity and as such must act appropriately in all financial matters. If you have any questions regarding the financial statement please address them to Shelley Franklin in writing (email) prior to the meeting.

Stephen McCarthy

Chairman, West Wolds U3A

Sally Henshaw, the current secretary of the Richard III Society retold the amazing story behind the discovery of Richard III’s remains beneath a council car park in Leicester. For hundreds of years, the exact whereabouts of his grave thwarted academics however, extensive research and the use of cutting-edge technology eventually led a very loyal band of enthusiasts headed up by Philippa Langley to locate his lost burial site.

When Richard was born in Fotheringhay Castle on 2 October 1452, the Wars of the Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster was ongoing as both families laid claim to the throne. Richard’s eventual coronation occurred under a cloud of controversy and was challenged by Henry Tudor who was leader of the Lancastrian cause. While based in Leicester, Richard met Henry at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485 however, despite being a seasoned combatant and with the larger army, Richard was eventually defeated and killed. His naked body was slung over a horse and brought back to Leicester where it was publicly displayed for two days before being given to a group of Franciscan friars for burial. An account in the financial records of Henry VII reveal that he set money aside to pay for an alabaster tomb to be built over Richard’s grave in the Choir of Greyfriars church but, with the dissolution of the monasteries, the building had disappeared along with any clear record of Richard’s grave.

Conflicting reports of his whereabouts continued to circulate including one which declared that Richard’s bones had been tipped into the local river however, in 2011, the council car park was officially identified as the most likely location and in 2012 the area was excavated. As the dig progressed, remnants of stone walls, stained glass and tiles were found thus confirming that they were most likely from a high status building so things were looking positive; then a male skeleton was found. Not only was it correctly orientated east/west, with its head facing the high altar and the hands crossed over the pelvic region but, most importantly, there were clear signs of severe scoliosis of the spine. Unusually however, the grave was not big enough for the body which suggested that it had been dug in haste and without pomp as there was no sign of a coffin or shroud.

Once permission to exhume the body had been given, it was rigorously examined for cause of death and identification and in 2013, the University of Leicester confirmed that the skeleton was beyond reasonable doubt that of King Richard III. This conclusion was based on mitochondrial DNA evidence, soil analysis and dental tests as well as physical characteristics of the skeleton which were highly consistent with contemporary accounts of Richard’s appearance. The bones had been carbon dated to a period from 1455-1540 and were of a man in his late 20s or early 30s. Richard was 32 when he died. His skeleton had suffered 10 injuries, including eight to the skull, two of which would have proved fatal. Taken as a whole, the skeletal evidence provided a highly convincing case for identification as Richard III.

Richard’s death ended the bloody civil war known as the Wars of the Roses; it also marked the end of the Plantagenet dynasty and the beginning of Tudor rule so, it is not surprising that the royal family which defeated him ensured he was remembered as the black-hearted villain who killed the princes in the Tower. For almost 500 years his body lay hidden until it was eventually found in an unglamorous spot near the city’s ring road.

On 25 March 2015, Richard was reburied in Leicester Cathedral. His tombstone is made from Swaledale fossil stone incised with a cross which sits on a plinth made of Kilkenny marble. His remains are contained in a lead-lined coffin inside an outer English oak coffin which is laid in a brick-lined vault below the floor under the plinth and tombstone.

Despite Tuesday 1st October being depressingly wet, windy and a mite chilly, a small but hardy group of us, led by Sharon Rupp, mustered at the Bomber Command Centre on Canwick Hill, above the city. We were given a tour around the site by a most informative guide. The Peace Gardens, with a tree planted for each Lincolnshire bomber station, are now beginning to mature and will be delightful.

The centrepiece, of course, is that unmissable Memorial Spire, a steel structure 102ft high, equalling the wingspan of the Lancaster bomber which was the mainstay of the 27 bomber command stations in Lincolnshire during WW2. In total, over 8000 bombers were lost or destroyed, with almost 58,000 lives lost. Each of those names is recorded on a series of curved steel walls surrounding the Spire.

An eloquent piece of statuary close to the Exhibition Centre carries the plea ‘Recognition. Remembrance. Reconciliation.’

There are three galleries in the exhibition hall, with interactive displays, where you learn what it must have been like for those airmen and women, air and ground crew, much of it based on personal documents, recordings, interviews and photographs stored in their massive archive., and there are some heartwarming stories. For those of us old enough to have at least some memory of the war, the exhibition can hit hard, but this is only another good reason to make the visit.

Thank you, Sharon, for arranging the visit. The guided tour around the memorial and gardens was really enlightening and though the amount of time spent in the exhibition was up to each of us, there are bound to be some of us returning for a second helping of this absorbing experience

Visitors are welcome to just walk around the grounds, dogs on a lead are also welcome (bowls of water are provided), it’s child-friendly, and the cafe serves excellent coffee. The chocolate-dipped shortbread comes highly recommended.

by Dallas Stubbings

NB All those who paid have had their Annual Pass application submitted (SR)

The Lawn Lincoln Heritage project is a partnership between Stokes Tea and Coffee, The Uni­versity of Lincoln and the University of the 3rd Age to look at historical archives from the Lawn Hospital, formerly known as the Lincoln Lunatic Asylum.
In order to examine these archives, we need your help.
We will be running a series of free workshops to examine the archives and we’re looking for volunteers from local U3A groups to help us re-tell some of the stories of the people who lived and worked at the Lawn from 1822 to 1899.
You don’t need any historical experience to join these workshops, only an interest in learning about the Lawn and in bringing these forgotten stories to a wider audience
If you would be interested taking part in these workshops there is an information session at Stokes Lawn Cafe, The Blue Room, Union Road, Lincoln at LN1 3BU 10 am to midday
Tuesday 8th October 2019, where you can find out more about the project and how to volunteer.
To register for a place, please email: scorbett@lincoln.ac.uk or telephone 01522 886188 for more information.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Yours faithfully
Sylvie Gay
Stokes Tea and Coffee
01522 523548
Sylvie.Gay@stokes-coffee.co.uk

On a lovely but fresh 18th September morning, 31 eager history buffs arrived at Tescos car park at 8.15 am and were greeted by Brian Ward to catch the coach to Elsecar Heritage Site in South Yorkshire. After an easy journey we arrived at the site and were split into two groups, one to take a trip on a diesel-hauled GWR brake van about a mile down the Elsecar Railway track, the other to be shown the Newcomen beam engine in operation, which has been operating since  1795.  The two groups then swapped over so that everyone had both experiences.

We then had time to have lunch in one of the various meal facilities and afterwards look around the workshops on the heritage site, and the retail outlets and antique emporium within the site. This is a fascinating site with lots to do.

We then returned to the coach to be taken the short distance to nearby Wentworth
Woodhouse, the home of the Fitzwilliam family who were responsible for the
development of the village, the coal mine and iron works on the Elsecar site.

We were given an hours’ tour of the extensive gardens, including various monuments and a Camellia House holding some of the first Camellias introduced into Great Britain, and then after a quick tea/coffee break back in the house cafe, and an introductory talk on the history of the house a second tour of about an hour around the house showing the fabulous ceilings and plaster work around the walls and fireplaces, and some of the remaining paintings that were not sold by the various families to pay death duties. The house is encased in masses of scaffolding as the roofs are all being renovated, water damage to some of the ceilings can be seen. The house has only been taken over by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust in the last two years, so a lot of work still needs to be done to restore it to its greatness. The guide was very knowledgeable and gave a very interesting tour.

After completing the house tour at about 5:15 pm it was back on the coach for an easy 90 minute ride home.

Many thanks to Brian for arranging this visit, this is effectively the last one he will host before stepping down as Visits Coordinator at the AGM, so unless someone steps up next year to take over the role, we will not see any more fascinating visits like this. Brian will be sorely missed.

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Booking Arrangements

Friday 13th December, 12 for 12.30pm lunch at Market Rasen Golf Club

This popular and frequently over subscribed event requires us to implement a workable booking system.

Christmas Lunch tickets will be on sale at the October meeting and priority will be given to people paying at the meeting. If you cannot make the meeting you can still buy tickets by printing and completing the menu choices form here…

Please deliver or post the completed menu preferences in a sealed envelope with a cheque for £20 per person (made payable to West Wolds U3A) on or after 10th October to Linda Brighton, 31 King Street, Market Rasen, LN8 3BB. It will not be possible to reserve tickets via email.

Please inform us at the time of booking of any dietary requirements

Should the numbers attending this event generate a surplus income, then this will be placed in our West Wolds U3A Social Account.