WELCOME

Who would have predicted this situation would still be going after 4 weeks? What I have noticed is how resilient everyone has become. We hear every day about the wonderful and deservedly praised front line workers and so we should. My experience is that everyone is a hero, playing their vital part in a frightening battle against an invisible but lethal enemy. This is a message of encouragement to all. Share your words of encouragement or entertainment Remember you can phone and Peter will write your comments for you, send a message or an email.

24 hour service

NEED HELP OR ADVICE? CONTACT PETER

MOB NO 07974573582 peter.crathorne@gmail.com

We all are missing our group of friends chatting together. Join us for a virtual coffee and chat at 11.00 each weekday morning except Thursday and the weekend. Let Peter know you want to join, and he will organize it.

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WHERE ALL THE GOSSIP CAN BE FOUND

EDITION 4 16.04.20

THE THURSDAY NATTER

Following the success this week for those who are able to access Zoom, that is anyone with wi-fi, a laptop or iPad with camera and microphone. You can also join by dialling in on your home phone: put in the code that Peter will give you. There will be another virtual club next Thursday 23th 2020 at 11.00am when there will be a live singsong led by Annie. Peter is geared up to get people on to Zoom over the telephone. It is really easy. Just keep an eye on your emails for the invitation.

RACHEL’S CHALLENGE

Keeping active in Isolation It is really important for us to keep active during isolation and although for many there are nice walks and infinite numbers of online videos to follow, for those with more limited movement or no access to the internet it can be a bit more of a challenge. The following exercises are taken from The British Heart Foundation and are all chair based exercises you can try from home and are suitable for those of you who struggle with standing and walking. Even a small amount of activity can be a tremendous boost to our wellbeing and help you to tone and strengthen. So why not give it a go? You might be surprised at just how good it makes you feel. The six rules of chair-based exercise

1. Always use a strong chair, preferably with armrests and not too soft. When you sit in the chair, your thighs should be parallel with the floor.

2. Keep your arm and leg movements steady, as this will help avoid muscle and joint strain. In the early stages, move your arms or legs one at a time. As you get more skillful, you can combine arm and leg movements in the same exercise. Ten to 12 repetitions per minute are normally enough, but you are the best judge of what you can manage.

3. Warm up and cool down. When you start moving, the blood supply to the heart muscle needs a few minutes to reach optimal flow. Any combination of these exercises can be done gently to warm up or cool down, while you can do them more vigorously for the main part of your exercise session.

4. Don’t exercise too hard. Aim for moderate-intensity exercise, which means you are slightly breathless and perhaps warmer than usual. Some days or weeks may be better than others, so adjust the intensity of the exercise to how you’re feeling.

5. Never hold your breath while exercising. You’d be surprised just how often we forget to breathe when lifting our arms and legs or staying balanced.

6. Keep your arm exercise below head height. This means the heart doesn’t have to pump so hard against gravity and will help to reduce breathlessness.

1. Alternate leg heel digs As one foot moves out to place the heel on the floor, the other foot remains planted on the ground. As the heel is placed on the ground, try to pull your toe towards your shin. 2. Alternate arm across body Raise your right hand diagonally and touch your left shoulder. Return your right hand to the arm of the chair. Repeat motion, this time using your left hand to touch your right shoulder. Only reach as far across as is comfortable for Although the staff are all on Furlough we have a team of volunteers who are popping in each week to keep an eye on the building and make sure everything is ok. It is possibly the tidiest it has ever been: no wool, KitKats or Dominoes in sight! It definitely doesn’t have the same energy though and we are very much

looking forward to getting back to normal when we are allowed. I hope in the meantime you are all keeping well and as active as possible. Rachel.

https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/thehubhenleycommunitycentrecio/

Some of you will be buying more online. If you register with both of these donation sites you automatically raise money for the Hub.

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🎶🎼🎧🎼🎼🎵🎵🎤🍷🎼🎧🎸 Just press the year & listen to your favorite English songs. 1951 to 2015. This is an incredible source of all your favourite songs, both old and new. http://thenostalgiamachine.com When the media is too much. To cheer everyone up

Since the closure of the Hub our weekly income has reduced from £250 - £300 per week to zero. While we are not spending quite as much we do need to raise as much money as we can. This is a no cost to you way of raising funds for the Hub, follow the links above

THIS IS THE FUNDRAISING SECTION.

It’s the simple things that keep us engaged with life. Why not share something of what you are doing? You can do this by phone or on line.

Offering a more creative approach is Margaret – let us know how you get on with this.

Prawn and Tomato Spaghetti.

Olive Oil. Garlic Chile Flakes Tomatoes Prawns Spaghetti. No amounts. Just to your taste Chop tomatoes fry gently with Olive Oil with Garlic Chilli flakes and add the prawns at the last minute. Cook the spaghetti in the normal way and drain, add the tomatoes sauce and prawns. Why not try Cheese and Prawn Fritters Very Thick batter Add cheese and Prawns to your taste; fry until cooked. Serve with chips and salad.

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTIONS - THANK YOU Jill and Roger

The Honourable Member for the Hub reports: Dear Hubbers , trust you are all well: regret cannot get to, or report from, the Oracle at Delphos, so you’ll have to be content with this small contribution. A couple of years back I realized how little I knew of my Great, Great Grand-parents, the odd anecdotal about my father’s G-Dad, but nothing of substance, and no continuity. Thinking that I might have (potentially) a group of GGG-children asking the same questions, I set about putting on paper something about my own immediate family that could be of interest, and looked at modern search methods of filling in my own gaps. I guess we all have similar gaps, and modesty, or “who the dickens wants to read this stuff?”, inhibits us putting pen to paper about ourselves: we probably think it is all a bit too self-regarding. There are plenty of books on this searching, but their suggestions can be dated, and TV programmes too raise interest, but I found the Website “My Heritage”, not cheap, but very rich in results. Once you have told them your own bio-details, their software does the rest, and continues to notify you as and when new links come up. It even reminds you of up-coming birthdays of close relatives! The resulting “Tree”, in my own case is huge, goes back to mid 1700s, well before the American War of Independence: but you also get (optional, at your discretion) links to others doing the same thing with the same starting surname, but with definite connections to your tree, i.e. not just relying on the coincidence of the name. I have not attempted to print out the tree, it would need the flight deck of USS Nimitz to get it on, but it is great for browsing and noting the less remote bits. The site is very easy to use, just find it on-line, cough up the cash and see who comes out of the woodwork, you may well be 57th in line to the throne of Armenia ! All best regards, keep safe, looking forward to the chalked end of a cue, Roger Ludovici Ivanovich Yang-fu-ling Bogolyubov Vahamamainatoa Skinner. www.myheritage.com

Here is Maurice Halfpenny ( 91 years old) isolating alone with his beloved plants and dog Trixie. An inspiration to us all.

The library is closed – if you run out of books to read we have over 150 available. Just let Peter know and he will arrange to contact you and choose some titles together over the phone. They will be delivered to your doorstep.

Many are finding using the internet a real help to maintain communications with their family and friends. Perhaps now is the time for those who, in the past, have been reluctant to embark on this adventure to be brave and try to get on board particularly with the video communication. Many have reported that just seeing our loved ones while we talk has been so reassuring. You would be able to look them in the eyes, see for yourself how they are looking. Many happy conversations are taking place. It really is not as diffcult as it may seem. If you want to try, Peter can guide you through the process over the phone. Don’t forget there are many simple courses you could do by joining our ONLINE CENTRE. We now have instant access, no form filling required. The Centre Number is 3456071.

• https://www.learnmyway.com/courses/video-calling • https://www.learnmyway.com/courses/nhs-website-a-how-to-guide/

ENJOY PUZZLES TRY THIS WEBSITE https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/games-puzzles

ABOUT A BOY – LOVE ACTUALLY – NOTTING HILL – THE PIANIST – THE STEPFORD WIVES – WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE – DEAR JOHN – GOSFORD PARK – THE HISTORY BOYS – COACH CARTER – MRS HENDERSON – WALK THE LINE – CAPTAIN CORRELLI’S MANDOLIN. – MOULIN ROUGE – MASTER AND COMMANDER THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD – FINDING YOUR FEET – STAN AND OLLIE – GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN – WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY – THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL – PADDINGTON 2 – PRIDE AND PREJUDICE – COMPLETE SERIES ONE AND TWO OF WAKING THE DEAD – THREE JACK HIGGINS FILMS - THE QUANTUM OF SOLACE - THE VERY BEST OF PETE AND DUD - THE GRADUATE – WAR HORSE - AT THE CROSSROADS HENLEY’S OWN PROFESSIONALLY MADE STORIES FROM ITS LONG HISTORY.

Nature Notes Spring is here and the early migrants have been arriving during March. Sand Martins are already at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust HQ at Brandon Marsh, near Coventry, a great reserve with different habitats attracting many species and a restaurant and shop as a bonus; well worth a visit after Coronavirus has gone. The Trust also runs the small reserve in Brueton Park, Solihull. You may not know that the Trust also owns 500 metres of the now disused Henley railway embankment, accessible from Johnson Place, described as limestone grassland with scrub. Noted particularly for Woolly Thistle, Fairy Flax, Lady's Bedstraw, Cowslip, Hemp-agrimony & Wild Carrot. Butterflies there include Marbled White, Orange Tip and occasionally, Clouded Yellow. Many bird species we see on the golf course have also been recorded. Here is a link and the Trust’s own photograph of the reserve.

You may not be surprised to learn that they say it is "prone to waterlogging and soft in places" You probably have bird nests in your gardens now as our residents mostly beat the migrants and set up house early. We have our first ever Long-tailed tit nest, a wonder of nature. The nest is an elastic ball of moss, spiders' webs, lichen, feathers, and hair that is built by both birds in a bush, hedge or brambles. It may take up to 3 weeks to build and be lined with more than 2000 feathers so they are constantly flying in and out with material. Very close by a pair of Robins are also nest building so we hope they will be friendly neighbours. Our tit boxes have so far disappointingly been ignored but Dunnock, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blackcap and Wren are all paired up and prospecting. The Wrens are particularly vocal, having spent the winter skulking about in the undergrowth they now come out into the open and let rip their extremely loud for size trill. They have a resonant cavity in their syrinx (vocal cord) that amplifies the sound. Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, House Martin and Swallow should all be seen this month and we may be lucky and have some rare passage migrants too. The first Cuckoos are on the way as are Ospreys. Swifts are one of the last to arrive, usually in May together with Hobbies that prey on hirundines, following them from Africa. Derek Healing

ANSWERS TO CROSSWORD 2 ( LAST WEEK’S). HERE IS CROSSWORD 3 - GOOD LUCK.

ANSWERS IN ANY FORM BY TUESDAY NEXT WILL BE ENTERED INTO THE PRIZE OF £5

This week’s winners were Derek and Janet £5 is winging its way to their bank account.