February 2020 Web site: u3asites.org.uk/sgu3a

Bridgette Browne Chairman

Welcome to the New Year - 2020 indeed! I hope everyone has recovered from Christmas and other celebrations. Unfortunately, I seem to have nothing but bills to pay at the moment so I feel particularly grumpy. But the first meeting of the year was excellent - even though I was a guinea pig! And we have many more to look forward to. The U3A has a National Day celebration on 3rd June, so we're looking to do something locally to celebrate and encourage people to join our U3A; ideas are very welcome. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.

I look forward to seeing you over the coming months at meetings and group activities.

IN TOUCH Bi-monthly newsletter of the Shaftesbury and Gillingham U3A

SPEAKER PROGRAM

6 February 2020 - Malcolm Wells

"So Far So Good" - Stories from Buckingham Palace A light hearted and fast moving presentation covering stories from behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace and state occasions. Experiences of serving in a mobile hospital in the Gulf War and his time as a national speaker at Canine Partners. 5 March 2020 - Philip Browne "A Freezing Horror” - The wreck of the Halsewell -1786 One of the most dramatic shipwreck disasters on an English shore. Describing the terrible events that shocked the nation when a huge East India Company ship was wrecked on the Purbeck coast. On board were the Captain's teenage daughters, his nieces and several other young ladies bound for India in search of rich husbands. They and the Captain were drowned despite the dramatic rescue of some of the crew. The speaker will bring some of his books to sell after the talk. 2 April 2020 - Keith Hooper published biographer of Charles Dickens 7 May 2020 - Bob Kelley "Shaftesbury” a victim of the Industrial Revolution" 4 June 2020 - Brian Freeland "The View From The Wings" The stage manager's view. 2 July 2020 - Susan Brattin “Horrible History of Scotland”

DAY TRIPS GROUP

The following Trips have been/are being arranged for the coming year:

April 16th Killerton House (NT members free admission )followed by Exeter Old & New tour with Redcoat guide. Cost £17.00. Our journey takes us through 2,000 years of history, from the ancient City Wall to the modern Princesshay development, before taking the gentle climb up to the Northernhay Gardens, and we finish our tour at the Guildhall.

May 11th Garden Group Annual Day Trip visit Exbury Gardens, Cost £23.00 Details at the main meeting and our garden events. phone 01747 830422 or con-tact on the web site. This event is open to all U3A members.

June 17th Mottisfont House and Garden (NT mem-bers free admission) followed by visit to Sea City Museum in Southampton

July To be arranged

September 8th to 12th Cornwall We will visit the Marble Factory in Bovey Tracey, Lanhydrock House (NT members free entrance), Bodmin and Wenford steam railway, Eden Project, St Austell, St Ives and other Cornish villages. We shall be staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Bodmin, evening meal, room and breakfast. Cost £426, single room supplement £60 per person. Please contact Steve Hale at halerysm@gmail.com or 01747 834466 for further information. October 14th Buckfastleigh

November Historic City of Winchester.

INTERNATIONAL HISTORY 1 & 2

One of the obvious problems facing a U3A group, especially in small towns where libraries have limited resources, is the availability of study materials. Fortunately there are many relevant videos available on You Tube, and the number continues to increase. So at every meeting it is possible for the group to spend the first of its (at least) two hours watching a lecture or documentary or seminar – or, often, a combination of these – before engaging in informed discussion. Using this approach (and with some additional material sent out in advance by email) the original group has been able to gain a fuller understanding of a wide range of topics, beginning with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and continuing for nearly a year with Middle Eastern history since 1914, followed, in 2014, by seven sessions on the origins, diplomacy and aftermath of World War I. We then turned our attention to East Asia, focusing mainly on modern Japan and twentieth-century China, but also devoting some sessions to Korean history, before switching to the Cold War, where we had the advantage of being able to access through the internet the extensive collection of scholarly papers and original documents assembled by the Woodrow Wilson Centre for its Cold War International History Project. In 2016, in the run-up to the EU referendum, we turned aside for four sessions to examine Britain’s relations with Europe since World War II; and since then we have looked at the Ottoman empire and modern Turkey, Saudi Arabia, political Islam, the origins of Islam, the early caliphates, the Mongol conquests, and, for the last year, the history of Russia. The second group, which was formed in 2018, is following along the same lines We do not foresee running out of topics for a long time to come.

Richard Sims — Group Leader

GROUP NEWS

TABLE TENNIS

The Table Tennis group meets weekly on Thursday afternoons (during school term-times) at Child Okeford Village Hall. We play table tennis, eat biscuits, drink tea and have a chat whilst getting a little exercise. We cater for a range of abilities, from beginners to competent players (but not league level!). Whatever your level, we are sure you will have some good games, and will improve. The aim is to enjoy the afternoon, which is more important than winning games. A reasonable level of fitness is required. You can come along to see if you like it - the first session is free (and we can lend you a bat), and you can then pay a pro rata rate for the rest of the term. We have space for a few extra members! Chris Stotesbury — Group Leader

What Do They Do?

Continuing the information provided in the last In Touch below are descriptions of another two thriving SGU3A groups. If you have an interest in either — contact the Group Leader and remember details of all groups are on the website and whilst some have a waiting list there is no reason another group on the same subject cannot be started. Additionally we can provide start up finance to cover costs which may be incurred in getting a new group off the ground - just contact Greer Tilbrook.

ARE YOU COMPUTER SAVVY?

A neighbouring U3A has received the following request and passed it to us in case anybody can help:-

Volunteer help needed for North Dorset Scouts on their website. The domain exists but they are very much in need of help in further setting up and perhaps some tuition in how to keep it topped up!? If anyone can help this worthwhile cause please contact jclowe@europe.com

NATURAL HISTORY GROUP

The Natural History Group’s winter programme includes observing birds in our own gardens. We are counting numbers of each species and the foods they take. Some group members feed a variety of purchased foods, others prefer to allow birds to find the natural foods in their gardens such as berries, seeds, invertebrates or fallen fruit. We will meet again in early February to compare our lists and explore some of the questions we are asking:

Are there favourite foods for different species? Are any birds in ill-health or who die? Are cats a problem? Is there a hierarchy of birds when feeding? Are we seeing any nesting behaviour yet? Are there birds we hear about the garden at this time of year, such as owls or fieldfares?

We will also look at the data provided by The British Trust for Ornithology on trends in bird populations and some of the reasons that research has suggested. As always with our winter meetings we will end with a short walk to observe wildlife around us.

We limit our group to 20 members and currently have space for one new member. If anyone is interested then try reading our group entry on the website or chat to Janet Fenton who introduces new members. We meet in a variety of hall venues around Shaftesbury, Gillingham, Mere and Motcombe. We are a friendly and enthusiastic group with beginners and some expertise all learning together.

Marion Hammond

Group Leader

A LITTLE MORE ON SCRABBLE

AND THE SCRABBLE GROUP Scrabble was invented 70 years ago by the out of work American architect of Poughkeepsie, New York, Alfred Mosher Butts, who was made redundant in the Great Depression. He took inspiration from newspaper crosswords to create the game. Scrabble dictionary is always updating and last year added OK, EW and ZE, as well as manspreading as acceptable words. In the U3A group we don't claim to have high aspirations in our games, we play for pleasure, although there is a bit of a competitive element. We are always very proud of our-selves when we manage to find a BINGO (using all 7 letters on our rack and adding 50 points to the score). Our final scores tend to be around 300 to 400. However, the longest possible word ever found (not by our group) is OXYPHENBUTAZONE scoring 1778 points, but there is apparently no record if this having been played yet....if you join us, perhaps you could be the first! Yvonne Hill, Group Leader

Two elderly women were eating

breakfast in a restaurant one

morning. Ethel noticed something

funny about Mabel's ear and she

said, "Mabel, did you know you've got

a suppository in your left ear?"

Mabel answered, "I have? A

suppository?" She pulled it out &

stared at it. Then she said, "Ethel,

I'm glad you told me that, now

whatever did I do with my hearing

aid?"

GARDEN GROUP

Urgent: I am standing down as Group Leader this Spring, also Pam Robinson as bookings person will finish in September. Therefore we need two more people for the committee to help keep this group alive gardening. Please call me on 01747 830422 if you feel you could take on one of the jobs or become group leader. I have enjoyed my time running this group very much but now need a change and a rest.

February Monday 10th @ RiversMeet, 1 0 for 10.30 Speaker Emily Utgen - Stourhead and all about where the trees and plants arrived from. Cost £4.00

March Monday 9th @ RiversMeet 1 0 for 10.30 Speaker David Usher all about Herbaceous borders, A hands on talk with some DVD help. Cost £4.00.

April Monday 6th please note change of day due to Easter! Visit to Sheila Osborn's garden for the annual Plant Swap. Drinks and cake. West Knoyle, by the church.

May 11th Exbury Gardens See Day Trips panel on page 1.

Group Leader Liz Hide 01747 830422

Remember you can view a copy of this

NEWSLETTER on our web page at:

u3asites.org.uk/sgu3a

Also available on the website are

details of all Groups and Leaders and

past copies of IN TOUCH magazine.

IN TOUCH is published by

Shaftesbury & Gillingham U3A

Registered Charity No. 11078452

Deadline for February issue is

24th January 2020

Please email copy to the EDITOR

billmc239@gmail.com

Or post to Bill McIntyre

65 Linden Park Shaftesbury SP7 8RN

SUPPORT FOR DORSET FARMERS

One area of work that people don’t normally associate with trading standards is animal health and welfare.

A small team of officers are responsible for farm animal welfare and disease control. There is a lot of legislation aimed at licencing the movement of farmed animals with the aim of controlling some of the nasty ‘exotic’ diseases that threaten the farming industry such as foot & mouth, swine fever and avian influenza.

The team is also responsible for ensuring the welfare of the animals whilst on the farm, being transported, or being sold at market. These welfare standards are very simple – the animal should be fed a sufficient diet, have clean water to drink, somewhere dry to lie down and to be treated if they are ill.

The vast majority of farmers easily meet or exceed these standards, but occasionally trading standards come across cases where the farmer is not doing enough. This can sometimes be down to financial difficulties, but more often than not it is because the farmer has mental health problems. Some farmers can become very socially isolated and with a busy farm to run they find it difficult to find the time to go to their doctor or talk with others.

There are some excellent organisations who can offer help and support to farmers who are struggling. One example is a charity called Farm Community Network (FCN). They have a team of volunteers in Dorset, and many are farmers themselves, so they really do understand the problems faced in the farming industry.

If you or someone you know could benefit from talking with a sympathetic person who understands farmers and rural life then call the Farm Community Network on 03000 111999.

BE WARY OF COURIER FRAUD What’s courier fraud? Criminals typically carry out courier fraud by cold calling the victim, purporting to be a police officer or bank official to gain their trust. The fraudsters will then claim there’s an issue with the victim’s bank account or request their assistance with an ongoing bank or police investigation. The ultimate aim of this call is to trick them into handing over money or their bank details. Common techniques used by the fraudsters include telling the victim to withdraw large sums of cash or go and buy high value items. Sometimes they instruct the victim to leave their bank cards in an envelope somewhere safe. In all cases, a ‘courier’ will then come and pick up the cash, expensive item or envelope, on behalf of the police or bank. They will often come to the victim’s home address. Protect yourself Behind all of the clever tricks and ever-changing narratives, there are a few basic recurring elements that are common across many frauds, including courier fraud. Here’s what you need to remember: Your bank or the police will: NEVER call and ask you for your full PIN or full banking password NEVER ask you to withdraw money to hand over to them NEVER ask you to transfer money out of your account It pays to stop and think anytime you receive a request for personal or financial information. Remember, if you feel uncomfortable or unsure about what you’re being asked to do, never hesitate to contact your bank or financial service provider directly, using a number you trust, such as the one listed on your bank statements or on the back of your card. Alternatively, check your actions with a trusted friend or family member and get their advice on whether you should go through with any action relating to your finances. (The very day I inserted this item I transferred a large sum from one account to another by internet banking—within 2 hours I received a fake call—I put the phone down Editor)