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No 66 Autumn 2017 Edinburgh U3A Clarion

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CCllaarriioonn Autumn 2017 No 66 Contact :[email protected]

The Clarion is the Edinburgh U3A magazine and is published bi-annually with contributions from individual members and groups. The Bulletin is published monthly on line and contains updates on forthcoming events and group news.

Leslie Dickenson

In this Issue:

Letter from your chair

Behind the scenes:- Current Committee.

How diverse is our membership?

Developing projects with Napier University Degree Show

Visiting the RLS collection at Napier

Volunteering as a “simulated patient”

Open Meetings A Land Girl’sTale

Inspirational lives. Clarion interviews: Richard Bull

Groups Geology group’s visit to Iceland

Winter Walking Group on the John Buchan Way

Scottish Authors Group visit to the James Hogg Centre

Bird Group Visit the Ardgaty Red Kites

Photography Groups visit to Calton Hill.

Miscellany

Lunches In

Brief

Crossword

Editor’s Note


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Letter from your Chair

Welcome to the Autumn 2017 edition of

the Clarion.

At the last AGM in June, two committee

members stepped down without replacements

at the time. Since then volunteers have come

forward to take up their posts.

Many thanks to Siobhan Coward who was the

Groups Coordinator looking after the quarter of

our groups with initials A to C. We are pleased

to welcome Doreen Barr to this post. With the

increase in members and groups, we now need

a fifth Groups Coordinator - anyone?

Thanks too to Janet Grimwade who has been

answering queries from potential and new

members, organising meetings to welcome

them and manning a desk at the Open Meetings

to help. We are grateful to Sheila Harvey for

taking over this job.

Sheila Smith served as Secretary for many

years which was much appreciated. Kathy

Wrench will take this up shortly.

I am sure you will join me in thanking Michael

Hutchings who has been regularly and

successfully producing the Bulletin for many

years. It is not an easy job to cope with the

constant additions and changes to notices

about proposed and new groups along with all

the other information being fed to him. Thanks

to David Baird who has taken on this important

task for our organisation.

You will have seen the list of Open Meeting

talks on your new membership card. Thanks to

Jean Napier who has run a small committee

organising this for many years and has now

handed the team over to Cathy Balfour who

has published the talks for this session.

Pat Thomas has been instrumental in running

the coach trip Visits for many years. The

amount of work she did is reflected in her

replacement being a whole team including

Maureen Dalrymple, Ann Kerrigan, Tom

Caskie, Stuart Baillie-Strong, Irene Lavery,

Isobel Miller, Yvonne Michelson and David

Richardson.

Pat also ran the monthly Lunch Club. The team

who now do this, led by Patricia Baillie-Strong,

can be seen on page 17.

Trishia Allan has kindly taken on the

Volunteers group, including the organising of

the team for teas at the Open Meeting.

Thanks to Membership Secretary Ann Ryan for

processing the 1700 members who renewed

recently, and to Sally Ann Urry who printed

and stuck that number of address labels and

stamps on envelopes, as well as transparent

labels on Membership Cards. Then to the team

of 12 who packed the Groups Booklet,

Membership Cards, etc. in those envelopes.

And of course we appreciate the major work of

Maggie Gilvray for producing this Clarion along

with her team of Fiona Smith and Norma

Emm. Thanks too to all those who contributed

articles!

Bruce Cowan


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Behind the scenes

Current committee

Chair: Bruce Cowan

Vice Chair & Group Coordinator 2 (Groups D-I ): Ann Keating

Vice Chair & Group Coordinator 4 (Groups R-Z): Dianne Savage

Treasurer: Hugh Young

Secretary: Kathy Wrench

Membership: Ann Ryan

Group Coordinator 1 (Groups A-C) : Doreen Barr

Group Coordinator 3 (Groups J-Q): Joanna Morris

New Members: Sheila Harvey

External Communications: Tony Trewavas

Internal Communications: Vacant

Technical Support: Andrew Robertson.

Webmaster: Chris Newman

Others behind the scenes

Assistant Membership: Sally Ann Urry

Group Information: Lachlan Paterson

Open Meetings Speakers: Cathy Balfour

Bulletin: David Baird Volunteers:

Trishia Allan Assistant

Webmaster: Jean Knox

Assistant External Comms: Patrick Leach

MS Access Support: Sonia Duffy

Clarion Editor: Maggie Gilvray

Do we all live in the leafy inner suburbs?

Well, yes, a lot of us do!

Is this a problem?

TAM Summer 2017 included an article on a Newcastle

University study on why Hartlepool U3A, like many

others, doesn’t fully reflect the social make up of the

area as a whole. As our membership here in

Edinburgh rises to the 2000 mark, we thought it would

be interesting to look at where these members live as

a proxy for “social make up”. The map below shows

concentrations of members in the postcodes 3, 4 and

12 to the north of the city centre and 10 and 16 in the

south with very few in EH 12 & 14 post code areas.

This is not unexpected, but should we consider how

we might increase our social diversity?

Distribution of Edinburgh U3A households within the City, by

postcode

NOTE: Postcode boundaries are taken from Data zone boundaries 2011 and licensed under Open Government Licence. Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/)”. Some post code boundaries may have changed

This is not to forget that the strength of our U3A, like

others, lies in the U3A community - a supportive and

non judgemental community of generally older people

who have “seen it all.” From new hips to

bereavement, the trials of downsizing and relocating,

there is always someone to share the ups and downs

of life!

MG

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Developing projects with Napier University

Earlier this summer, members of Edinburgh

U3A - Bruce Cowan (Edinburgh U3A chair),

Ann Keating, Anthony Trewavas, Peter

Edwards, met with Professor Iain Mcintosh

and Gary Seath, Napier Community and

Partnership Officer, to discuss areas for future

co-operation. Iain McIntosh is Dean of the

School of Engineering & the Built Environment

at Edinburgh Napier University and has long

been interested in strengthening mutually

beneficial partnerships with a wide range of

Organisations.

On the following pages we look at ways that

U3A Edinburgh members (individuals and

groups) are already undertaking or are

planning activities involving Napier University.

Degree Show

Napier degree show showcased the creative

talent of new and emerging designers,

photographers, film makers, publishers,

journalists, creative writers and actors.

On a warm sunny May 25th, Group leaders and

others were invited to visit the degree show. At

a time when compassion often seems thin on

the ground, we were particularly impressed by

the enthusiasm, commitment and skill of the

young designers from the Product Design

course who looked at ways of “Making life

Better.”

Their final year project encompassed ways of

recycling car tyres, transforming egg shells into

tableware, creating play products for young

children with limited space to play and a

prototype for a waterproof sleeping mat

incorporating pockets to keep belongings safe

inspired by the designer volunteering at a

refugee camp on the Greek island of Chios.

Other students had designed products to help

arthritic fingers grasp pens or paint brushes

and a “wobble board” to strengthen core

muscles for those with back pain.

Right: Norma tries out the “Artists Aid” designed by Ruairidh Gough

Fourth year Callum Hunter designed a

“Therapy chair” which replicates riding motion

to provide home therapy for children on the

autism spectrum. He said: “As part of my

research, I visited an equine therapy centre

and saw first-hand the positive benefits that this

brought in helping calm and relax children

whilst they ride. However, I was also aware of

the challenges that are faced by families when

travelling to the centres so I came up with the

idea of designing a chair that brings most, if not

all, the benefits of the therapy closer to home.”

Norma Emm, MG

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Visiting the RLS collection

RLS was “Jiggered”!

When the members of Edinburgh U3A (see

page 4) met representatives of Napier

University in early summer, one of the Napier

team noted that we had a Scottish Authors

Group, and suggested the group may like to

visit the recently gifted collection which

included early editions of works by Robert

Louis Stevenson, as well as Arthur Conan

Doyle and Oscar Wilde. Yes, we would! We

had started as a Robert Louis Stevenson

Group and have read many works together,

have visited many locations associated with

him, have continued to reserve our November

meeting to discuss his work and attend the RLS

Day events around his 13 November birthday.

Gary Seath arranged for us to visit the

Merchiston Campus in June. We were met by

Professor Linda Dryden, of the Centre for

Literature and Writing (CLAW), who took us to

the room housing the collection and introduced

us to Duncan Milne, one of the researchers

involved in its care. Professor Dryden

explained how the donation of the collection to

Napier by the Ernest and Joyce Mehew Estate

had come about, and how Ernest Mehew had

amassed it over 50 years.

Duncan had selected some volumes to focus

on and told us about how he and a colleague

had unpacked this vast collection – taking care

not to lose any informal bookmarks or other

seemingly insignificant scraps which had

provided an interesting seam of information.

One early edition bore a coffee ring, an

expensive coaster? A small packet contained

postage stamp sized items, called tin types.

The Napier Photography Department assisted

with developing these to reveal never before

seen photographs of RLS, taken in Australia.

We were particularly touched by a letter,

handwritten by RLS to his friend William

Henley, explaining he was ill once more and

would have to go South, as he was “jiggered.”

This one-word final sentence demonstrated

that even when ill and writing in haste he wrote

with elegance.

The collection contains first editions of all of his

well-known and many of his lesser-known

works. The exception is Treasure Island, but

they do have an early edition which we were

able to examine. We all found at least one

volume to engage us and share with each

other. We had touched on ‘the monstrous

villas’ in Picturesque Notes when studying that

text (RLS had not liked the newly built houses

on the south side of Edinburgh!). We enjoyed

the old drawings, and a hand-drawn version of

a game RLS had devised for his step-son.

Even while Professor Dryden and Duncan were

still speaking, members of the group began to

first look at the cabinets, then crane their necks

nearer and finally walk right over, unable to

stay away from this unbelievable collection any

longer.

We were delighted to learn that it would be

possible to revisit the collection – in fact, any of

the public may book to consult the collection on

Mondays or Tuesdays by contacting Duncan

Milne [email protected].

As this arrangement between Napier and U3A

is for mutual benefit, it is not immediately clear

what a group like ours can contribute, but we

are happy to consider possibilities. Meanwhile,

we thank the Centre for sharing the collection,

for trusting us to handle the books - without

gloves! - their hospitality and their participation

in the joint venture.

Sheila Smith

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Volunteering in the Simulation and

Clinical Skills Centre

By profession, Iain McIntosh of Edinburgh

Napier University (see page 4) is a nurse,

with a background in intensive care nursing

and an interest in care in later life. It is

particularly appropriate therefore, that one

of the potential areas of co-operation with

Edinburgh U3A is volunteering to be a

“simulated patient” for nursing students.

Helen Paton describes her experiences.

When I moved back to Edinburgh four years

ago I decided that I wanted to find a

volunteering opportunity which might use some

of my skills, not be too tying as we wanted to

travel, and be in the world of education. I was

also interested in giving back to the NHS as my

family has benefitted and continues to benefit

from this amazing organisation. I searched on

the Volunteering in Edinburgh website and

spotted a request for volunteers to become

simulated patients for student nurses at Napier

University. I attended an information session in

November 2013 and since then I have

volunteered on average once a month usually

for half a day in both teaching and exam

sessions.

The Simulation and Clinical Skills Centre is part

of the Department of Health and Social Care on

the Sighthill Campus. It is a suite of rooms

which includes a variety of teaching spaces,

very realistic wards, scrub rooms and a

simulated home environment. Nursing and

Midwifery Students spend time in the centre for

classes, seminars and assessments. As well as

the sort of equipment that would be in a real

ward, there are mannequins which breathe,

bleed and blink and respond to treatment just

like a real patient.

At various points during the academic year the

volunteers receive an email detailing the

sessions for which simulated patients are

required. We then reply with the dates that suit

us and shortly thereafter we receive

confirmation of the sessions for which we have

been chosen. Parking on site can be arranged.

Over the last four years I have been involved in

1st year and 3rd year exams as well as teaching

sessions. I have been the patient with

dementia on a ward with three seriously unwell

mannequins. While the student nurses are

deciding how to manage the nursing

requirements on the ward and allocate staff, my

role is to get up and wander around and if not

provided with understanding care I become

upset and distressed.

I have been involved in a communication

session where the students practice, with the

support of their colleagues, how to break the

very bad news to a distressed wife that her

husband has had a heart attack and died. I

have had an extremely realistic and unpleasant

looking ulcer applied to my leg by the technical

team, who are experienced medical makeup

artists, and the students decided the

appropriate treatment to administer. There are

sessions where the students practice taking a

patient history while I provide the appropriate

answers from a script for an asthma attack or a

myocardial infarction.

The atmosphere is relaxed and while the

students sometimes take a while to adjust to

the role play involved, by the end of sessions

they often express their appreciation of our

involvement. Some ask why we do it and

whether we have enjoyed ourselves. I very

much enjoy being a simulated patient and

being involved as our future nurses learn how

to provide compassionate, professional

nursing.

Helen Paton

For more information about volunteering as a

simulated patient:

email [email protected]

Website: http://www.napier.ac.uk/about-us/our-

schools/school-of-nursing-midwifery-and-social-

care/simulation-and-clinical-skills-centre

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Open Meetings

A Land Girl’s tale

Mona Kedslie

McLeod was one

of the forgotten

army of the

Second World

War:

The Land Girls.

Earlier this year she came to speak to the U3A

and we have summarised her fascinating talk

for those unable to attend.

When Ann Keating went to meet Mona, she

organised a taxi to transport an elderly lady

from her home to the meeting in Nicolson

Square. Not a bit of it! Out stepped this lady

with erect carriage, strikingly handsome

features and leonine head of pewter-coloured

hair looking 20 years younger than her 94

years! Her story was part of an exhibition in

the National War Museum in Edinburgh in

2010 as a campaign for a memorial to the

women who fed Scotland.

She was born into a privileged and educated

family in Leeds where she grew up surrounded

by people who spoke Russian, German,

French and Polish.

She was 16yrs old when WWII started and

at that time, it was fathers decided what

daughters should do! In 1940 he determined

that his daughter, who was dreaming of an

Oxbridge education, should set her studies

aside and volunteer for the Womens’ Land

Army “as there was a war to be won”

After the war she studied history at Edinburgh

University and is the author of a number of

books including Agents of Change: Scots in

Poland 1800 - 1918, which set the lives of

some of her Polish ancestors in the context of

the turbulent history of Poland under Russian

Rule.

She worked as a Land Girl for 5 years near

Gatehouse of Fleet, on a fairly prosperous

mixed farm growing turnips and oats as fodder

for a herd of 350 dairy cows some of which had

to be hand milked. She emphasised that

being a Land Girl was not all about a “roll in the

hay” as often depicted and nothing like the

romantic memories reflected in the TV series

“Land Girls.” For 5 years she was too tired to

do more than sleep after a day’s work.

She enjoyed working with the animals best

(horses were still used to plough) "They put

me to work in the stable with the horses and I

worked a lot with the shepherd doing things like

dipping and shearing the sheep” ..”All that

hoeing – the most awful job!" – “threshing and

hoisting of bales, muck-spreading, digging

potatoes, horse-warming, and toting hundred-

weight (50kg) bags of turnips and fodder”

On the uniform provided she said "It really was

a disgrace: short-sleeved Aertex blouses, one

green woollen sweater, a hat, a very nice dress

overcoat, which looked super over breeches,

but you couldn't work in it, two pairs of cotton

dungarees, which you wore over cotton

breeches, which were so badly cut that if they

fitted, you couldn't sit down and if they were

comfortable, they looked like balloons. You got

long woollen socks, a cotton coat and a dress

raincoat. No gloves. It was totally inadequate

for working out of doors all winter. I even had

chilblains on my ears! The food was good and plentiful, just as well as

all the hard physical work created a big

appetite. "We ate meat every day, a full cooked

breakfast every morning, a huge lunch and

high tea. The outdoor life was terribly healthy,

despite having to work in all weathers.

It was an isolated existence, she was the only

Land Girl for miles around and was desperately

lonely, no hostel or communal dormitories and

midnight jollities on this farm!

She was paid 10/6 a week for a 60 hr week

plus keep and had one week paid leave plus a

travel warrant to visit her family.

Ann Keating & MG

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Inspirational lives

Norma Emm speaks to Richard Bull about his passion for music and cycling.

Richard's great passions, apart from his family

of course, are music, literature and riding on

two wheels. In fact when a young Richard

answered an advert to share a flat with three

others (all women it turned out) it was his large

classical record collection that caught the eye

of one of them. A few months later Judith and

Richard married, had three sons and they

eventually settled in Edinburgh.

Both Richard's parents were involved in the

arts, his father as a scriptwriter working on

such popular TV series as “Z Cars”, “Dr

Finlay's Case Book” and “Maigret,” while his

mother was a professionally trained pianist.

Richard was born in London, but he and his

mother moved to Brighton when he was six as

his parents had split up. At Brighton College,

Richard continued to develop his love of the

arts in general and music in particular.

However, his mother and teachers decided

that he should take science subjects for his A

Levels instead of Modern Languages as

Richard had planned. This was partly because

his maternal grandfather had been a chemist

who ended up running the Royal Mint in

Thailand!

Richard says that he has been plagued by

extreme anxiety in certain situations so taking

exams proved problematic. This did not

prevent him from studying microbiology at UCL

and eventually gaining a PHD from University

College Dublin. He worked for a number of

well known and not so well known companies

where in addition to his scientific skills, his

ability to speak French, Italian and German

proved useful. While he enjoyed the problem

solving element of his work, Richard admits he

was less keen on the managerial aspects.

Eventually he and his family moved to

Helensburgh and then migrated from west to

east and settled in Edinburgh in 1993.

Richard had always sung in choirs and it was

from a member of the Stewart's Melville Choir

that he learned of Opera Camerata. He

auditioned and got a very small part in the

Magic Flute and found that he absolutely loved

it. A few years later he auditioned again for a

slightly bigger role in the same opera. Richard

describes performing in a opera by Mozart as

one of “life's peaks”! Singing bass in a quartet

as the voices blended was a wonderful, never

to be forgotten experience. Love of opera is

something that Richard shares with U3A

members as he runs a monthly opera

appreciation group.

Richard has been able to link his passion for

music to his love of motor cycling. As a child

he had gone on cycling holidays with his

father. Later as a student exploring Ireland he

found that he was able to cycle 100 miles a

day! It was in Ireland that Richard graduated

to a small motorbike. A few years later he

managed to persuade Judith that the best way

to commute from Reading to Weybridge would

be by motorcycle and bought the first of his 4

BMW bikes. The most recent of these takes

Richard on annual trips to Europe to hear the

music of Richard Strauss. This year he went to

Leipzig where he joined other members of the

Richard Strauss Society to see 3 operas. After

Leipzig he rode on to the Dolomites for a

walking holiday before meeting up with his

family in Gotland. Phew!

This is a very short account of my time talking

to Richard and I have had to omit far too much.

I have had to miss out: his Russian and Thai

ancestors, his love of literature which has been

enhanced by his membership of one of our

play reading groups; his advocacy of yoga: his

volunteering in the Oxfam book shop and

much more. In fact Richard needs to write an

autobiography!

Norma Emm

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Groups

Geology Group’s Iceland Visit

Margaret Roy - The Group overlooking the rift valley near Nesjavellir

In May, 22 people from the Geology Group

visited Iceland. It was a trip of a lifetime for

most although some had been before as

tourists. This experience went well beyond

the tourist trip!

Flying from Glasgow airport, we proceeded to

Reykjavik Youth Hostel where we were met by

Rob Askew, a geology PhD student from the

university in Reykjavik. He had planned a

programme that took us along the south coast

of Iceland visiting hot springs, geysers,

waterfalls and of course lots and lots of lava

flows.

The first day we climbed a local hill overlooking

Reykjavik so we had a panorama of the city

and its environs. It just happened to be the hill

on which the water supply for Reykjavik was

stored in huge tanks. As Iceland is now very

tourist conscious, this was in the process of

being transformed into a museum complete

with cafe – nothing goes to waste on Iceland.

Later, when we visited the little museum which

charts the local effects of that famous recent

eruption of Eyjafjallajökull which disrupted air

traffic all over Europe (but not the east of

Iceland), we found them selling the “cleared-

from- the- roof” black ash to tourists as a

souvenir !

Back at the hostel on our first day, Rob gave

us a detailed lecture on volcanism with

particular reference of course to Iceland.

If you are thinking only of volcanic eruptions,

think now of the complexities of the effects of

volcanic eruptions under glaciers and lava

flows that have since been subject to glacial

erosion! Throughout the trip Rob freely gave

us his expertise and enthusiasm with the vigour

of youth. Maybe a bit too vigorous for one or

two of us who managed to trip through the

rocky lava field, admiring the covering of

mosses, despite the rain, only to fall foul to the

horrendous wind that stopped two of us

reaching the top of the crater – but we did stay

on the ground resisting the urge to fly!

The second day we did the tourist bit around

the “Golden Circle” of geysers and the famous

Gullfoss (foss means waterfall) fed by

Iceland’s second largest glacier, where the

wind did its bit again. We resisted bathing in

hot springs and being geologists, set off for the

power station to see the insulated pipes that

marched across the landscape taking hot water

to Reykjavik. We were told that power it is so

cheap here Icelanders open their windows in

the winter rather than turn down the heating!

Iceland is proud that all its energy comes from

renewable sources of geothermal, hydro and

wind.

At Thingvellir National Park 30 miles east of

Reykjavik, we saw sub-glacial volcanism taking

the form of pillow lavas and hyaloclastite

(formed from glass shards). The Park includes

the ancient seat of the Icelandic Parliament and

along the south coast, we saw extensive open

plains comprised of lava fields of different ages

in different stages of glacial erosion or

colonisation by plants, some of which had been

introduced. There were many “would - be”

botanists amongst us eager to identify the

plants. The lava was covered with huge green

lobes of “Iceland moss”, pretty much the only

thing that grows naturally on the lava. In some

places plants such as “Russian lupins” had

been introduced to cover great swaths of the

bleak landscape.

The plains were traversed by the biggest

braided streams I have ever seen that came

out from the glaciers or as snow melt.

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We learned that the floods exacerbate the

barrenness of these plains - in one century 14

homesteads were washed away and only one

horse survived.

A visit to the vast black lava plains of

Mýrdalssandur, which once covered a vast

icefield, the largest in Europe, allowed us to

see the results of the interaction of glaciers and

volcanoes. Iceland is one of the best places in

the world to see “rootless cones” (pseudo

craters formed when hot lava flows across the

ice, converting it to steam which breaks through

the surface carrying debris). We saw many of

these crater-like features rising as humps

above the level lava plains, as well as radiating

hexagonal columns and ring dykes formed as

the lava cools and collapses creating a circular

pattern of faults or weakness along which

molten rock or magma wells up from below.

‘Katla,’ neighbouring Eyjafjallajökull is one of

the largest volcanoes in Iceland. It is very

active and it is rumoured that when it “goes off”

it has nearby friends that might “sing” in unison

prompting fears of another larger eruption. We

saw Hekla, from the distance, and of course

Eyjafjallajökull.

There was such a difference between the

recognisable cone - shapes that we all think of

as volcanoes and the long ridges of volcanism

along the edges of continental plates where

earthquakes continually rumble, some so deep

down that we would not feel them. Iceland is

such a unique place where the North Atlantic

Ridge is rising from the depths, pushing apart

the North American and European continental

plates. At several places you could hop from

“Europe” to “North America” or see America

drifting away on the other side of a deep rift!

There is so much to tell and I doubt all the

readers will be interested in the wealth of

knowledge gained (sic!) on volcanism but two

places really stand out. We went to the

Westman Islands (Vestmannaeyjar) a chain of

islands off the south coast and to Heimar

where we walked through lava where wooden

street signs marked what was once a street

now buried in lava. The museum had many

displays of the eruption in 1973 including one

of the houses showing the destruction.

We saw the videos and learned about the

evacuation of the islanders as lava poured

down to drown their village. Luckily there had

been a storm so the fishing boats were still in

harbour to aid the flight. They herded the

animals into the ice factory but such were their

screams that it was felt more humane to put

them down. There were still toys and personal

belongings strewn in the ‘exhibition’ house. Not

all the animals died - amongst the many

photographs there was one of a woman with

her cat’s head popping out of her coat. Such

destruction! Also in the museum were details

of Surtsey, that rose from the seafloor nearby,

the newest island in the chain and now a site of

scientific observation as plants and even some

animals recolonise.

Another highlight for me was a visit to the coast

and the black sand beach of Reynisfjara.

Warnings of “sneaker” waves drowning tourists

did not put us off exploring the huge cliff face

with caves and hexagonal basalt columns.

Did I mention the horses? - and all that

wonderful wool and woolly jumpers, with caps

and socks and gloves for sale. We were

intrigued to use our credit card to buy a cup of

coffee – the locals use credit cards for almost

all purchases, possibly because of course

Iceland is very expensive - was it 128 Is Kr. to

the pound or had it now changed to 146Is Kr. It

seemed to change daily.

I should also say that we were delighted to

meet Hans Kr Guðmundsson and his wife, from

Reykjavik U3A. We wish them well and thank

them for their wonderful country.

Margaret Roy

Liz - The Group at Hjalparfoss,

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Winter Walking Group “B” Stobo to

Broughton.

“the great wood of Melanudrigill … had flowed in

black waves to the village brink. But I could not

re-create the picture out of glistening asphalted

highway, singing telegraph wires… and manicured

woodlands. It was a point of vantage…in the throat

of the hills, on the march between the sown and the

desert. ..To my right rose the huddle of great hills

which cradle all our rivers.”

From John Buchan’s preface to Witchwood

The John Buchan Way is a 13 mile route

from Peebles to Broughton and celebrates

the extraordinary life of the prolific writer,

author of The 39 Steps and over a hundred

other books, This is only a few miles from

Broughton where John Buchan’s family

lived. As a boy he explored the countryside

around and some of his earliest writings

were inspired by the Borders landscape.

Here is a report from the Winter Walking

Group ”B” who explored the second half of

the Way from Stobo to Broughton in early

Spring 2017.

This is a picturesque and fairly remote walk of

about 7.5 miles, the first 5 miles of which is a

very gradual ascent of about 370m with the

remainder being a more steep descent into

Broughton. For the most part, it is on good

paths and tracks which are liable to be muddy

in places. To get to the start, while is possible

to use the rather infrequent 91 bus which runs

from Biggar to Peebles, I opted to leave a car

at Broughton and transfer everyone to Stobo in

3 cars. Starting from Stobo Village Hall, we were a

group of 11 which was, almost immediately,

nearly reduced to 10 by the actions of an

aggressive tractor driver who clearly felt that

we should not be crossing his field! Disaster

averted, we continued along the banks of the

Tweed to pick up the John Buchan Way near

Stobo Kirk.

From there, the well signposted path leads

gently upwards through farmland then more

open country to the remote and uninhabited

house at Stobo Hopehead where we stopped

for lunch. Shortly after restarting, we reached

the high point of the walk at grid reference NT

124 393 at a height of about 430m where there

is a convenient bench. The photograph,

(below) by Sally Cheseldine, was taken from

this point looking down the valley towards

Broughton. The steep descent from here

quickly brings you back down to Broughton

and, while the majority of the group patronised

the excellent Laurel Bank Tearoom, the drivers

were taken back to Stobo to collect the cars

parked there.

There is a good description of the walk at https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/downloads/ file/1673/john_buchan_way. If you are planning to do this walk yourself, you

should carefully read the introductory remarks

in the leaflet concerning appropriate clothing

and navigation.

Dave Duncan,

Group Leader

12


Scottish Authors Group visits the James Hogg exhibition

James Hogg's monument in the Ettrick valley.

Our small group had a great day out in July,

visiting the James Hogg exhibition in the

Ettrick Valley. We had a lovely day to take in

the wonderful Borders scenery while being

driven in style by Alison Carter in her

campervan. Alison also organised the trip so

thanks Alison. Thanks also to Margaret Roy for

suggesting the visit and to both for their

enthusiasm, inspiring the rest of us to find out

more about Hogg.

The James Hogg exhibition is now housed in

the recently closed Ettrick school, very close to

where Hogg was born. The exhibition was

created by Judy Steel and originally housed at

Aikwood Tower near Selkirk. It then moved for

a time to Bowhill, the home of the Duke of

Buccleuch who was a patron of Hogg. The

exhibition has now ‘come home’ to Ettrick

where Hogg spent a great deal of his life. We

were met by Daphne Jackson who farms

locally, runs holiday lets and in her spare time,

cares for and manages the exhibition,

welcoming visitors from all over the world

during the summer. She opened especially for

us that afternoon and was very helpful and

informative.

James Hogg, known as the Ettrick Shepherd

(1770-1835) was of humble birth and largely

self educated but rose to become a leading

essayist, poet and author. He knew Sir Walter

Scott whom he helped by collecting ballads for

Scott’s Border Minstrelsy and met other

literary figures of the day such as William

Wordsworth and John Galt. Like Burns, he was

a poor farmer but a brilliant writer. Both Burns

and Hogg played the fiddle and collected

songs and tunes. Hogg moved to Edinburgh

and helped to launch Blackwell’s literary

magazine to which he contributed. He enjoyed

notable publishing success in his lifetime. Hogg’s writings fell out of favour but his literary

merit has been recognised in the last 40 years

with several successful stage productions and

reprints of his best known work, ‘The Private

Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified

Sinner’.

We had a good look round the very interesting

exhibition which also included some material

on the Canadian author, Alice Munro who, in

researching her Scottish ancestors, found she

is related to Hogg through his mother’s family,

the Laidlaws. Then we went along the road to

view the roadside monument to Hogg which is

next to the site of the house where he was

born and then onto Ettrick Kirk where Hogg is

buried in the kirkyard. A lovely kirk in a

peaceful setting.

Our afternoon was rounded off with tea and

scones at the Tushielaw Inn in Ettrick Valley

and another very scenic drive home. What a

lovely day we had.

Pauline Cowan

Scottish Authors Group takes tea at Tushielaw Inn. L to R: Margaret Roy, Elisabeth Hutchings, Alison Carter and Sheila Smith

13


Bird Group visit to see Red Kites at Ardgaty It is because of the wing-tagging programme

that a vet in Portugal was able to report in

autumn 2003 that a Central Scotland Kite had

been found near Porto with a fractured wing.

Hilary Maxfield

Photo by Liam McDowell (on earlier visit)

On a rather dull and blustery early spring day

10 members of the Bird Group visited the

Argaty Red Kite Feeding Station near Doune

after a wander along the river and through

the woods around Doune castle.

On our walk along the river, we saw jackdaw,

carrion crow, buzzard, pink-footed geese, wren,

blue tit, great tit, coal tit, tree sparrow, herring

gull, blackbird, song thrush, robin, chaffinch,

goldfinch, pied wagtail, wood pigeon, pheasant,

curlew, heron, mute swan, little grebe, mallard,

goosander, dippers, oystercatcher, kingfisher.

There was much drumming from great spotted

woodpecker, but even with 10 pairs of eyes, we

failed to spot one. The kingfisher gave us a long,

low flypast, showing first brown and then brilliant

blue as the angle changed.

The kites at Argaty were up to expectations with

a spectacular acrobatic display and we spent an

hour in the hide watching 20 birds swooping

down for the scraps of meat put out by the

farmer and being challenged by carrion crows

and a heron, The kites were probably mainly

males, anxious to take food to sitting females, or

young birds, keen on relatively easy food. This

made for a particularly active display.

The farmer explained that in order to identify

individual birds and establish such information

as survival rates, age of first breeding,

movement patterns and composition of breeding

pairs, wing tags are fitted on kites This method

has been used for many years on a variety of

bird species and causes no harm. Wing tags

stay with birds for life, unless they fall off!

The Red Kite Story Red Kites are one of our more recognisable large

birds of prey, look for a flash of rusty red, elegant

wings twisting as they fly and the long forked tail.

As a scavenger that lived in and around growing

medieval towns, kites were valued for the role they

played in keeping waste under control, much like

our unloved gulls do today. They were protected

by Royal Charter for that very reason. But the

kite’s fortunes in Scotland changed when in 1457

James II listed them as vermin. The Victorian era

saw persecution intensify on sporting estates

across the country and with the growing fashions

for taxidermy and egg collecting, Red kites

became extinct in England in 1871. The last

Scottish birds are believed to have been recorded

in Inverness shire in 1879.

Only a few Welsh birds survived the persecution,

Clues to their former presence live on in old place

names, particularly with the old Scots name for the

red kite (the Gled), in names such as Gladhouse

(Lothian), Gledfield (Highland) and Gledsmuir

(Borders).

Things improved markedly in the post-war period

with new protective legislation and the Welsh

population began to recover. In 1989 the first

release programmes began. One was in the

Chiltern Hills just west of London and the other

was on the Black Isle. Red kites are gregarious

and social creatures, and their populations

remained rather localised. Further release

programmes followed to widen the red kite

distribution. In Scotland this happened

successfully in Stirlingshire, Dumfries and

Galloway and Aberdeenshire.

Although Kites are relatively weak flyers and tend

to only make short distance movements, young

and non breeding birds disperse more widely and

can be seen regularly throughout the country.

WingTags:- The left wing tag denotes which population the kite

belongs to:

Central Scotland red kites carry a red wing tag

North Scotland birds carry a blue tag

Dumfries and Galloway kites carry a green tag

The right wing tag colour denotes the year code .

14


Photography

Photography Groups 1 and 2 have

twice yearly outings when they

take photographs together,

inspiring and learning from each

other. In June, Photography 2

went to Calton Hill on a glorious

sunny day. The views from the top

are stunning, and here is a

selection of their pictures.

The photographers are Carina

MacCall, Marthe Matthew and

Leslie Dickinson.

Sonia Duffy

Arthur’s Seat from Calton Hill : Leslie Dickinson

The stunning image on the first page of the Clarion, was also taken by Leslie Dickenson on the same outing.

15


Calton Hill : Carina MacCall

Calton Hill : Marthe Matthew

16


Miscellany

Wot! No Joggers? Dismayed at the lack of response to my offer to

lead a Gentle Jogging group for U3A

Edinburgh I wish to use space in Clarion to lay

out my stall.

Are those people we see from the bus runners

or joggers? Running is the act of moving

forwards on foot, when, for at least one

micro-second of the stride, both feet are in the

air at the same time. Jogging comes within this

definition of running, so it comes down to one’s

interpretation. Mine is that someone

preparing for (or taking part in) an event such

as a race is a runner; someone who is out for

the running equivalent of a stroll is a also a

runner, but in the sub-category of jogger.

Most of the people we see from the bus are

running solo. Their motivation can be calorie-

burning, stress relief, general fitness or simply

to look at our beautiful city. Jogging in a U3A

group offers all these gains, but has other

benefits, such as security, the camaraderie

and the commitment of group membership

which pushes a person to turn up even in bad

weather. We joggers are less interested in

distance or time, more interested in looking

about and chatting. We can change route

half-way through a session, we can happily

stop if we see something to admire, meet a

friend or pick up some litter. If we come to a

steep section we feel no shame in walking up

or down it! If we choose our routes carefully to

take heed of bus and tram routes, we have no

fear of being stranded far from help. Another

important aspect of our route selection is a

place near the end where we can take

“refreshment”.

Join the Gentle Jogging group, take part in a

few runs, and when you look out of a bus

window and see these solo runners weaving

through walkers on the streets of Edinburgh,

you will look more closely at them than before.

You, a Gentle Jogger, will have joined the

huge, happy fellowship of running!

David Syme

Nature Ramblers final

ramble?

Larrie Hayward

On our last Nature Ramble in July, Mary

Hayward accompanied by her grandson, led

four group members on a fascinating walk

around the St Abb’s Head National Nature

Reserve. We were fortunate enough to have

blue skies and sunshine, and enjoyed bird-

spotting from the cliff walk, trying to identify the

many wild flowers and insects along the way,

and puzzling over multiple grassy tussocks

close to the banks of the Mire Loch. These

were later identified by the Reserve Warden as

the result of burrowing by thousands of yellow

meadow ants living about a metre under-

ground in an area undisturbed by cultivation.

Sadly though, this will be the final Nature

Ramble unless someone can be found to

replace Mary and me. We each now have

different commitments and time

considerations. We hope the group will

continue, and would be willing to offer advice

and support to a new leader or leaders if

requested.

Joy Cochrane

Larrie Hayward

17


Lunches 2017 to 2018

Welcome to the Lunch Club. Join us to

sample some of Edinburgh’s varied cuisine in

good company! There is no fixed membership

and everyone is welcome. Please chat to

everyone around you, especially anyone on

their own.

Lunches Venue 2017 and 2018

October 3rd, 4th and 12th.

Papavero, 18 Howe Street (Bus 29, 24) Organiser: Margaret Edwards (667 5624)

November 7th, 8th and 16th

Kweilin, 19-21 Dundas Street. (Bus (Bus 23, 27,)

Organiser: Delma Dewar (555 1879)

Guidelines

Lunch group at the Toby Carvery

December 5th, 6th and 14th

Bombay Bicycle Club, 6-6A Brougham Place (Bus 24) Organiser: Patricia Baillie Strong (556 3872)

February 6th, 7th and 15th Chez Jules, 109 Hanover Street

The time is 12-15 for 12-30pm.

You should pay for your drinks as you

get them.

Payment for the meals varies – the

money is usually taken at the table (if it is

a fixed price menu) or individually at the

till. Keep a note of the cost of your meal

and ANY DRINKS ordered. It is your

choice to give a tip.

Book the next meal at the previous lunch,

at an Open Meeting or by telephone to

the organiser for the month. (See below)

Remember to cancel, even on the

morning of the lunch by telephoning the

organiser.

Recommendations for venues are

appreciated. These should be easy to

reach and able to accommodate 15—20

people.

(Bus 23, 27) Organiser: Constance MacArthur (332 5532)

March 6th, 7th and 15th Bar Napoli, 75 Hanover Street Organiser: Jess Timms (654 2876

PLEASE DON’T TELEPHONE THE

RESTAURANT TO BOOK / CANCEL.

SEE THE BULLETIN AND THE U3A

WEBPAGE FOR ANY CHANGES, FURTHER

DETAILS AND DIRECTIONS

Thanks are due to the committee members

who organise the lunches. They are -

Patricia Baillie Strong (convener), Jenny Di Rollo, Delma Dewar, Margaret Edwards, Judy Mitchelson, Constance McArthur, Jess Timms, Sheila Ross, Pauline Macdonald, Una Coombs and Caroline Cruickshank.

The lunch is always in the first week of

the month except January, including

Tuesday, Wednesday and the following

Thursday.

18


In Brief

On the following pages we highlight just a

few of the many other opportunities for

“Third Agers” within Edinburgh.

Volunteer for research into thinking skills in older people.

Heriot-Watt University are looking for volunteers

who’d be interested in taking up a new activity so

researchers can learn how this might help

maintain thinking skills at later stages in life.

If you’d like to find out more visit website

www.healthyageing.hw.ac.uk or email

[email protected] . Alternatively, write to

them at Dr Alan Gow, Dept. of Psychology ,

Therapeutic yoga class.

Independent of U3A but run by member

Maggie Rouxel who has been taking yoga

classes since qualifying to teach in 2004.

Maggie has an additional qualification

specifically for therapeutic yoga.

Stretch, strengthen, stabilise with the aims of

protecting bone density, building muscle

strength, improving posture and increasing

flexibility and stability. For those with specific

health conditions, advice will be given on asanas

which are particularly beneficial and those to

approach with caution or avoid. Props (blocks,

straps and bolsters) and modifications will be

used as appropriate. There will be breathing

exercises, restorative asanas and relaxation.

Fridays 10.00 to 11.00 a.m. OMH Therapies, 1a

Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh, EH3 7TH. £10

per class / £45 for 5 weeks. Suitable for all levels

of yoga experience, including beginners.

To book email: [email protected]

Website: www.oasisyoga.co.uk

Luminate Luminate, Scotland's creative ageing

organisation, runs a diverse programme of

creative events and activities throughout the

year, including an annual arts festival across

Scotland. The festival brings together older

people and those from across the

generations to celebrate our creativity, share

stories of ageing and explore what growing

older means to all of us. Each year, there

are activities all over Scotland - from art

workshops and dance classes to music

performances and authors' events. You will

find Luminate in theatres, galleries,

community halls, care homes and lunch

clubs, as well as events online that take us to

audiences everywhere.

The 6th Luminate festival takes place from

the 1st - 31st October 2017. This year,

Edinburgh U3A Art 2 Group, run by Ann

Keating, hopes to join with Napier University

to put on a exhibition of drawings and

paintings.

Friends of Edinburgh Prison This is a charity which helps to support the

families and friends of prisoners by running a

tea bar in the Visits' Room in Edinburgh

Prison. Run completely by volunteers we

serve hot/cold drinks and snacks to visitors

during visiting times. This means that the

Tea Bar is open every afternoon and

weekday evenings so you can appreciate

that we welcome new volunteers. The prison

is on Stenhouse Road and Lothian Buses

Nos 3, 25, 33, run from Princes Street

through Haymarket and past the Prison.

If you would like to learn more about

supporting prisoners' family at what can often

be a very stressful time, please contact U3A

member Ann Marie West at

[email protected]

Crossword Solution Across

Down 1 Equal

5 Age

1 Em 8 SE 2 Mania 10 Be

3 Tea 9 Airy 3 Third 6 Hag 11 Ladle 4 Easy 7 Uni

19


Ageing Well Buddy Swimming

Ever thought you would like to take up

swimming again after a lengthy absence

from the pool perhaps, but lack confidence?

Here is a way of getting back into it!

Ageing Well are delighted to announce the

launch of a new ‘Buddy Swimming’ class at

Drumbrae Leisure Centre. Ageing Well already

run Buddy Swim classes at The Royal

Commonwealth Pool, Leith Victoria Swim

Centre and Glenogle Swim Centre.

“Buddy swimming” is for older adults who would

like to swim but who have either lost their

confidence or perhaps due to ill health, are no

longer able to swim on their own. Ageing Well

volunteers – all of whom are older adults

themselves, will meet participants on pool side

to give the help and care necessary for

participants to enter the water and feel

comfortable while in the pool. Volunteers will

enter the water with participants, supporting and

encouraging them, helping them regain their

confidence while working on improving their

strength, co-ordination and flexibility. After each

session participants are invited to join the

volunteers for a tea/coffee and a chat. Robina

Brown has been swimming with Ageing Well for

many years and is now one of our regular

Volunteers. In Robina’s own words:

“I have been going to the buddy swimming

sessions at Ageing Well, since its conception at

Leith Victoria Swim Centre in 2008. It has been

an amazing journey and a thoroughly enjoyable

experience, both in the water with the

volunteers and the social chat at coffee

afterwards.

In 2015, I had a knee replacement. In the early

stages of my recovery I was unable to swim.

However I was able to enter the water and walk

up and down the pool, this allowed me to get

the exercise I needed to help strengthen my

muscles without the fear of falling and hurting

myself. I was so thankful that the volunteers

were there in the water to support me, always

knowing there was help at hand. Thanks to this

support, I was able to return to work within

weeks of my operation and have now resumed

all my leisure activities. Thank you Ageing

Well”. In January our Ageing Welll volunteers were nominated for the Queens Award for Voluntary Service. The Lord Provost visited our group at Royal Commonwealth Pool to see for himself what is involved in one of our sessions.

If you would like any further information on our

buddy swimming sessions or any other Ageing

Well activity please contact the team on

Tel: 0131 458 2183

email: [email protected]

20


Crossword

1 2 3 4 5

6

7 8

9 10

11

(Solution page 18 )

Editor’s note For this edition we hoped to have lots of reports

of sunny summer visits but perhaps the

weather was against us! Nevertheless we

hope that you will enjoy sharing the varied

experiences of some of our members and

groups. For the next edition, due out in March

2018, we would like to hear from those

members and groups on the theme of “Have

bus pass - will travel” Draft articles should be

submitted by the end of January 2018.

Remember, it’s your magazine and everyone

can have a story to tell - amusing or thought

provoking, factual or imaginative.

Guidance

Articles should be about 225 - 300 words (half A4

page) or 450 – 600 words (full A4 page) or less if

photographs included. Articles should ideally be

produced in Microsoft Word or as a plain text file. If

you use a free compatible program such as

OpenOffice or LibreOffice, please use ‘save as’ and

pick the ‘Word’ or ‘text’ option as the file type.

Please send to [email protected].

Photos

These always enliven any publication. Please send

separately to text or as an attachment. TAM

(Summer 2017) included useful guidance on photos

for inclusion in TAM or on the Website:-

Across

1 (2) Hesitate to say this is a printers measure

3 (3) Everything stops for this

6 (3) With a runt, gives us one of Macbeth’s three

7 (3) See three down

8 (2) London dominated area of England, in short

9 (4) Magical creature loses her femininity to be

come fresh.

11 (5) Do you need this to get out of the soup? Down 1 (5) On a par

2 (5) Obsession hidden by a man I admire

3 (5) (and 5 down and 7 across) You are a member of this abbreviated organisation

4 (4) It’s not difficult to write this word

5 (3) See three down

10 (2) Insert loses energy to exist

Include some people; preferably not too

many and not lined up doing nothing. It’s

better if they are looking cheerful and

interested and please identify who they are,

or at least the key person, if you can!.

Get close to your subject and keep

images simple without too much

extraneous clutter.

High resolution JPEGS or other image files

are preferable for reproduction.

Please do NOT include pictures embedded

in Word Documents.

Make sure photos are in focus!

I am most grateful to the “editorial team” -

Norma Emm and Fiona Smith, for their

continuing support and Joanna Morris for

proof reading. I would also like to thank all

those members who contributed articles and

photographs with particularly thanks to the

photographers who provided the photos on the

front page and pages 14 and 15 of this edition.

Further information on themes and guidance

for the Spring edition will be available in the

Bulletin and on the Website. Contributions

should be sent, preferably by email, to

[email protected] MG

Clarion is produced by The Edinburgh University of the Third

Age, Scottish Charity Number SC020301 and printed by

Dupliquick Ltd, Great King Street, Edinburgh.