– Our regular humourist😁 and local botanist🌲🌼 Peter Gateley talked to us about ‘Autumn Colours in our Countryside’.   Refreshments and a quiz followed.

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Our final visit of 2018 was again to the WWT reserve at Martin Mere where, as always, we were treated to excellent views of a wide range of bird species many of them at close range.

Eleven members of the group attended on this occasion and a total of 50 species were recorded.

We noted the considerable variation in leg and bill colouration amongst the many Ruff visible at close range from the main ‘Discovery’ hide.

We also saw examples of rivalry between members of the same species, particularly among the Black-tailed Godwits.

Click ‘Continue reading’ for the full list of 50 species seen:

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The session:

Continued Sir Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte DArthur”

1/.  This was finished in 1469 or 1470 and was printed by Caxton in 1485 (the first of our sources to make it into print).  The setting of the tale is fifteenth century, and Arthur is portrayed very much as a fifteenth century figure.

2/.  Malory lived at the time of the Wars of the Roses and he was greatly concerned about the damage that civil unrest was doing to England, and the danger, as he saw it, that the entire country was about to collapse in ruin.  He portrayed Arthur as the strong king who came to the rescue when the country stood in similar peril in the past; and as the sort of king that England needed in his own time.

3/.  According to Malory, Arthur fought a long and bitter civil war before he could secure the crown and the kingdom, but then Malory tells us that this security did not last.  According to the Cistercian monks, in their reworking of the Arthurian material (the Vulgate Cycle) Arthur’s glory faded because of sexual sin.  According to Malory, Arthur’s court was destroyed because of infighting and treachery amongst his own knights – Malory’s message to his readers being that England is in the same danger now; and if civil unrest could destroy the mighty King Arthur, it will certainly do the same to us.

4/.  Malory used most of the source materials that we have looked at so far, but then he added a lot of extra details and embellishments of his own.  In fact, most of the elements that are associated with the Arthurian legends actually made it into print courtesy of Thomas Malory.  So we have the sword that Arthur draws from the anvil, to prove that he is the rightful heir to the throne; the magical Otherworld sword Excalibur that is given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake; Arthur’s court at Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table; and Arthur’s act of incest with his half-sister Morgause that results in the birth of Mordred who is destined to destroy both Arthur and his kingdom.

The session:

1/.  Completed looking at Chretien de Troyes French Romances (Romance is an old version of the French language).  He produced five Arthurian Romances.  He was influenced by the earlier writers and stories and was under aristocratic patronage rather than working in an ecclesiastical environment so could write a different type of book and add his own details.

He was the first to link Queen Guinevere and Lancelot.  The storytelling in ‘Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart’ employs the rules of courtly love with the female being revered and the male disdained, gallantry, within a deeply Christian context.  It starts with some deep flattery to Marie de Champagne his patron.  The story covers the abduction of Guinevere and other members of the Camelot Court by Meleagant.  Lancelot who is Guinevere’s champion sets off to rescue her.  Along the way he is subject to many trials, temptations and tribulations.  Not all goes well and he suffers conflict and soul searching which at times is at odds with his courtly love ideals.  He hesitates to get into the cart as it is a very low status means of transport linked to the crusades and to losers but he should only have been thinking about Guinevere.  There are suggestions of the other world.

2/.  ‘Vulgate Cycle’ was written just under 100 years after Chretien works.  It is a reworking of the French Romances by Cistercian monks sometime between 1230 and 1250.  The church had wealth and political power and had their own agenda; they rejected the questionable values of courtly love.  They used the Arthurian stories as a vehicle to promote an alternative more Christian/spiritual way of living.  The stories were transposed from the 6^th century to the Middle Ages.  Guinevere is used to show the perfidious nature of women, they are sexual, fickle, betraying, and bad tempered; Lancelot is shown as wracked with grief and remorse.  As a result of Guinevere’s behaviour and the failings of Lancelot Arthur’s glory fades.

3/.  Le Morte DArthur, Sir Thomas Malory c1469/1470.  This book was Caxton Press printed so had a much larger potential readership.  There is a mystery as to the real identity of Malory he may have been a noble man who went off the rails and wrote the works in prison.  He may have been a professional gentleman soldier who was a prisoner of war but there is no evidence he was ever knighted so he would not have been a Sir.  Malory read Chretien and the Vulgate cycle and he also knew Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work and the others.  He then added in his own bias and influences.  Malory lived in the time of the War of the Roses and was afraid the country was going to collapse.  Arthur was a strong and resolute king whose power and glory did not last due to unrest within his court.

Little Egret at Lunt Meadows

Thirteen members of the group, the largest number this year, attended our third visit to this comparatively new LWT site which is still being developed with new viewing screens being added each year.  There are still, however, no facilities or shelter so it was fortunate that it was a lovely sunny morning, probably the best weather for any of our 2018 visits (last year’s planned December visit to Lunt Meadows had to be cancelled at the last minute because of bad weather).  A total of 38 species were recorded.

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Our Autumn 2018 Production

The last production was ‘Staycation’ at the Civic Hall

This is a Musical Comedy written and directed by our very own Gill O’Flaherty.

The Synopsis:  A group of U3A members, who always travel abroad, have decided this year to stay at home – now called a ‘Staycation’.  They use a bus tour company and end up in some great adventures – travelling around Great Britain with song and dance – before returning to their Community Centre in Ormskirk.

Our Spring 2018 Production

Our next production will be an adaptation by John Hardiker of Tony Crimlisk’s highly acclaimed “Up for It”.

At the Civic Hall on the 3rd, 4th and 5th May 2018. commencing 7.30 p.m.

£7 for U3A members up to the 24th April thereafter £8  …Children £5

This is a great musical comedy first shown in 2011 and follows the true story of a  group of pensioners who travel to London to join in a rally in Trafalgar Square. They intended to strip off to protest against pension cuts (sounds familiar). For more information search the Internet for ” Naked Pensioner Protest”.

Our 2017 Production

Some Great pictures from Musical Memories.

“We Got Life ” directed by our very own Gill O’Flaherty at the Civic Hall – May 4th, 5th 2017. Gill’s synopsis for her show is as follows:-

We Got Life is a generic story located internationally, told in song and dance. Beginnings, hope, reality, oppression, despair, dreams, inspiration, protest, revolution, escape, happiness, fulfillment and renewal. We hope that will reflect history as well as present day, expressing our lives, struggles and diversity and yet have the audience experience the sensation of that space between a tear and a smile with some well loved songs that have already touched our lives and a few ones to intrigue. 

A Review from Katie and Shaun Geldart of the Pleasure Folk

As there were five Tuesdays during this October, group visits were planned on both the second and the fifth Tuesday.

Visit to Brockholes on Tuesday 9th October

This was the group’s fifth visit to this Lancashire Wildlife Trust site adjacent to the River Ribble east of Preston.  A large site spread over 250 acres with a unique floating visitor centre and a wide variety of habitats it is always an attractive reserve to visit.  Seven members of the group attended and a total of 25 species were recorded.

Visit to Delamere Forest on Tuesday 30th October

This was our first group outing to Delamere Forest.  Four members of the group met at the Linmere Lodge visitor centre where we were joined by guest leader Peter Twist who lives locally to the forest and his extensive knowledge of the area and experience at identifying bird calls was invaluable.  After lunch Peter Twist took us to nearby Newchurch Common in the hopes of seeing the rare Smew.  Unfortunately the Smew did not show but we did record a number of species which had not been seen at Linmere.  In total 47 species were recorded on this visit.

Click ‘Continue reading’ for the full list of species seen on both these visits:

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The horses at Deandane

From left to right: – Annelie with Ollie a 6 year old cob, a willing learner, Ann with Tommy a 7 year old cob who doesn’t like the rain, Margaret with Joey who has won many rosettes and Di with Socks a 6 year old cob who spends most of his days lying down.

Diane on socks showing how to bend on a circle

Hacking at Croxteth

Margaret on a hack with lovely Badger

Riding at Burrows Lane Farm

Annelie on Fred an 8 year old who his honing his jumping skills.

Annelie says that he has great character

Ann on Stan.

A veteran with his own ideas of what he wants to do but behaving beautifully here

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kehveluvgeivgu

This year’s Summer Social held on 31 August was a sell out evening with great entertainment provided by local guitarist/singer Ken Waters. We quickly forgot our SUMMERTIME BLUES as he had us singing along and dancing to lots of our favourites tunes!

The whole evening was superbly arranged by Val and her subcommittee.

Summer Social entertainment

Despite the very poor weather, we had a great 15^th Birthday Celebration.

Although we couldn’t go ahead with the Ladies Footie Penalty Shoot Out (too wet!), the following groups displayed their wonderful wares – textiles, painting, local history, and digital photography, and we even had the chance to try out mahjong and some chess puzzles. It is amazing how creative people are, in so many different ways.

There was plenty of opportunity for a cuppa and a piece of birthday cake throughout the afternoon. What a splendid array of cakes we had – some hard decisions had to be taken! A very big thank you to all those who baked or brought a cake to our celebration.

We were also marvellously entertained by some of our performing groups – choir, tap dancing, ukulele, zumba, creative writing, drama, country dancing, recorders and guitars! I think we could all relate to the challenge of buying a cup of coffee so well ‘described’ by our drama group in one of their sketches – the almost overwhelming choice of drink options & variety of payment methods. Anyone, fancy a CAMP coffee – I had forgotten about that post war drink – no, I wouldn’t want to return to that though!

Of course, as well as all the jobs on the day itself, there was a lot of planning and organizing on the run up to such an event. I’m sure you will wish to express your appreciation to all those on the Anniversary Birthday Celebration Working Party who oversaw the event, and also to the Social Committee members who looked after the running of all the refreshments on the day, plus quite a lot of other members too – a VERY BIG THANKYOU to one and all!

Val Bullen

Credits:

The membership of the Anniversary Working Party for 13 Oct event which focused on 15th Birthday,  was as follows:

Val Bullen (MC), Peter Trigwell (MC), Linda Burden (MC), Jane Astles (MC), Bill Evans (ex MC), Megan Tomlinson (MC),  Alayne Trigwell (SC), June Pardy (SC)

MC=Management Committee, SC=Social Committee

Photos by Geoff Roberts and Peter Gateley

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Book Reading Groups

Click on any picture to run a presentation with full-size photos.

Tuesday 1 May Imperial War Museum and a Tour of BBC Studios at Salford Quays

The coach departed from Long Lane at 12.30pm for a ‘self guided’ tour of the Imperial War Museum, followed by a guided Tour around the BBC Studios at Salford Quays. After extensive and comprehensive security checks, we were shown one of BBC Radio 6’s studios followed by the ‘Match of the Day’, ‘Blue Peter’ and ‘BBC Breakfast’ studios. Cost was £22.75.  We returned approx. 7pm.

Saturday 2 June Tour and Tales around the Ribble Valley

Our popular trip is fully booked with a waiting list. If your place is reserved please pay at Horizons and select your lunch menu. Cost: £32.

Departs 9.30 am outside S.&G. Hq. Returns approximately 6pm.

Tuesday 3 July Merseyside Maritime Museum and Afternoon Tea at 30 James Street Hotel

We were treated to two role play performances at M.M.M. Firstly, from Robert Hitchins who was at the wheel of R.M.S Titanic on that fateful night, 15 April 1912. We heard his moving account of the tragedy.

This was followed by Hope Chapin who was a passenger on R.M.S. Carpathia, the small liner that rescued the lifeboat survivors of Titanic from the freezing ocean.  We listened to ‘Hope`s’ narrative of the event.

We strolled to our next appointment, along Strand Street, to Afternoon tea at the former White Star Line Hq., Albion House, now restored as a hotel that pays tribute to its history.  We had a short tour of the hotel including one of the themed suites, followed by Afternoon Tea in the Carpathia Restaurant, overlooking Liverpool’s Historic Waterfront.

Cost £18. We met at M.M.M Albert Dock.

The session:

1/. Completed looking at Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Britain” including:

Arthur’s exploits in Gaul where he killed a giant on Mont St Michel, subdued most of Gaul.

Arthur set off towards Rome but returned home to fight his nephew Mordred who had seized his crown.   Guinevere had broken the vows of her marriage.

He defeated Mordred and his 8,000 strong army in a bitter battle.  Mordred then retreated to Cornwall.

Guinevere gave way to despair and took the vows of a nun.

Arthur’s final battle was at the River Camblan in Cornwall.  Arthur was mortally wounded and carried to the mystical Isle of Avalon.  This happened in 542.  He was succeeded by  his cousin Constantine, son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall.

2/. Other chroniclers of Arthur based on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work.

Robert Wace – was an Anglo-Norman monk who translated Geoffrey’s History into Norman–French, in verse form c1150.  He introduced the idea that Arthur was not dead but would return, added the first written reference to the Round Table and expanded the chivalry and romance side of the tale.  He dedicated it to Eleanor of Acquitaine.

Layamon – a priest living in Worcester took Robert Wace’s work and translated it into Middle English, in the late 1100s.  He added in a boat and two women who take Arthur to Avalon.  He was influenced by his own time when it was brutal in Britain, he left out the chivalry side of the story and increased the violence involved and the number of casualties.

Chretien de Troyes – based in Troyes at the Court of Marie de Champagne (daughter of Eleanor of Acquitaine) and her husband Henri who were his patrons.  He used Geoffrey of Monmouth and Robert Wace as source material along with other French, Breton and Welsh sources.  He was not part of the clergy.  He expanded the chivalry and romance side of the story.  Romances appeared in 12^th Century and were popular with the French nobility.  These were translated in dozens of languages.  He introduced ‘courtly love’ which involved exquisite beauty, morals, nobility, with women worshipped as a goddess by their lovers, platonic in its ideal form, the hero having to show his worth to an outwardly disdainful woman.  The ideal did not always prevail in the stories or reality.

These translations made the story of Arthur accessible to more people as Geoffrey’s work was originally in Latin.  Books were very expensive and were not available to all levels of society.

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English Medieval Cathedrals, from the Wash to the River Severn

Norwich Cathedral

Peterborough Cathedral

Ely Cathedral

Dee and the Digital Keyboard Group 🎹gave us a full afternoon’s entertainment with some information about how the instruments work, lots of wonderful music🎵🎶🎼 and a music quiz.  The session was well attended and great fun.  We had home baked cakes for a special treat

The session covered:

Continued looking at Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Britain”.

It was only in the Middle Ages that the story of Arthur started to take off.

Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the “History of the Kings of Britain” c 1136.  He was a well read clergyman.  He would have been familiar with early sources and welsh folklore and poetry.  He wrote it as an interesting read with added colour.  The west is Britons, the east was colonised by the Saxons amongst others.

The time at which it was written would have had an influence.  For example the references to the combat style and jousting were relevant to 12th Century not the time Arthur is supposed to have lived.

Arthur was a Christian waging war on pagan Saxons, which reflects Geoffrey of Monmouth’s beliefs.  There were massive Saxon casualties, in the many thousands.  No evidence of such huge losses has been found.

One of the old sources he used was Nennius’s battle list for Arthur.  This list was covered in our March session.  He changed the order of battles, combined and added to it.  Perhaps he had other sources for which we no longer have a record or made things up.

He reports military campaigns involving thousands of men, travelling great distances.  In one case an army 183,000 going to Gaul.  He conquered Iceland and Norway.

The result is a rollicking tale reminiscent of the Celtic warrior hero.

Nine members of the group attended our latest visit to this Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve when a total of 29 species was recorded.

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Denise presented us with some ‘Galton and Simpson Playhouse’ film comedies on this Bank Holiday weekend, a throwback to the 1970s that had everyone laughing 🤣.     Pop corn 🍿and Ice cream🍦 were of course served for the authentic Cinema Experience.

An Excellent Presentation on Southport Hesketh Park Observatory was given to us by Edmund Moynihan.  Followed of Course by Refreshments then a few rounds of  Lucky Dip Bingo

There will be a meeting of the Handbell Ringing Group on Monday 3rd September at 1.45 pm in the Scout & Guide  HQ. This is to discuss the future of the group due to lack of new members. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.
More information about the group can be found on its Website Group Page.

The session covered:

Making a start on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Britain”.

In writing his book, Geoffrey used most of the early Welsh sources that we have also covered, plus Welsh folklore and legends that were current in his own time, plus the Classical writers for his Roman history, plus his own imagination.  He produced a very entertaining mixture of probable history at one end of the scale, through myths and legends, to pure fantasy at the other.  He wanted to tell the story of the history of Britain from a British (i.e. Celtic or Welsh) point of view, so the Saxons get a very bad press throughout.

He starts with the first inhabitants of Britain (a race of giants) and then brings in Brutus, the grandson of Prince Aeneas of Troy, who kills off the giants and takes control of the land.  Brutus is followed by a series of British kings who are all portrayed as great personalities, with Arthur as the greatest of them all.

Geoffrey is the first writer to link Merlin with the Arthurian material, and he also introduces Uther Pendragon and Igerna as Arthur’s parents, and Arthur’s conception at Tintagel.  It is thought that Geoffrey may have found the story of Uther and Igerna in a Cornish legend that has now been lost, but the Tintagel connection would seem to have been his own invention.

According to Geoffrey, Arthur began his campaigns against the Saxons as the King of the Britons and sole commander of the British army.  His first objective was to attack the Saxons in York, to seize loot from them, with which he could reward his own men.  He was entitled to do this because he had a rightful claim to the kingship of the whole island of Britain and all that it contained.

The session covered:

A number of theories which support the argument that an historical Arthur did exist.

We looked at seven of them

1/. John Morris/Leslie Alcock

Arthur was a late C5th/early C6th Romano British war leader from the Celtic Gododdin people who fought  the Picts and Scots in the north and later moved south west to fight the Saxons.

2/. Graham Phillips/Martin Keatman  ref ‘King Arthur: The True Story’, 1992

Arthur was the grandson of the Gododdin Chieftan Cunedda.  He migrated from the north sometime in the C5th and had his HQ at the old Roman town of Wroxeter.  Arthur being a nickname meaning bear.

3/. Fran & Geoff Doel and Terry Lloyd ref ‘Worlds of Arthur’, 1999

Arthur was associated with the Kingdom of Dumnonia in the south west.

4/. Geoffrey Ashe

He was a Romano British war leader originally called Riothamus

This Arthur took an army from Britain into Gaul to fight the Visigoths on the behalf of Rome.

5/. Alistair Moffat ref: ‘Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms’, 1999

Arthur was a Gododdin war leader based in the north who fought the Picts, Scots, Angles, Saxons and the British kingdom of Strathclyde, had a one off battle in the south at Badon and the battle of Camlann was located at the western end of Hadrian’s wall.

6/. C S Littleton & L Malcor ref : ‘From Scythia to Camelot’, 1994

Arthur’s name was Lucius Artorius Castus a Roman general who is recorded as commanding a troop of Sarmatian mercenaries.  These were from the Russian Steppe Lands, north of the Black Sea.  This theory has the dates as much earlier than the others at around 175 AD.

7/. Howard Reid ref: ‘Arthur the Dragon King’, 2001

Arthur was a king of the Alan peoples who originated from the Eurasian Steppes (Scythia).  Mid C5th he moved his people to Armorica (Brittany) where he fought rebellious Celtic tribes on the behalf of Rome.  The C5th ‘Life of Germanus’ records a meeting between Eothar and the Bishop Germanus.

We also looked at what it would mean if he was not real and was always a mythological figure.  He may have started as a god/warrior hero and been given a human persona.  This has happened before as we have seen in the Celtic Warrior hero tradition.

The story of Arthur as well as being popular in Britain also exists in Northern France, Germany and Continental Europe.  He appears in Grail Myths.  Where might the myth have come from?  Possible European connections are shown in theories 4, 6 and 7.  For example Arthur is in the myths and legends of the Alan people.  In Scythian legends Nart Saga Tales there is a mythical figure called Batraz.  His mother was a frog by day and beautiful woman by night, he grew at a phenomenal rate, he had a magic sword, killed a giant, had a chalice of truth.  Wounded in his final battle he cast his sword into the sea and the legend is that he is not gone.

Further Reading

There is a lot of information available on the internet by using simple searches on the writers’ names or the topic.  Some books are still in print others are available second hand.

References:-

John Morris ‘The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650’,

Leslie Alcock ‘Arthur’s Britain: History and Archaeology A.D. 367-634’

Graham Phillips/Martin Keatman ‘King Arthur: The True Story’, 1992

Fran & Geoff Doel and Terry Lloyd ref ‘Worlds of Arthur’, 1999

Geoffrey Ashe ‘The Discovery of King Arthur’

Alistair Moffat ‘Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms’, 1999

C S Littleton& L Malcor ‘From Scythia to Camelot’, 1994

Howard Reid ‘Arthur the Dragon King’, 2001

The session covered:

The continuation of our search for references to King Arthur in the early Welsh source material.

In the Welsh battle poem “Y Gododdin”( attributed to the poet Aneirin and composed sometime in the early 600s) it is said of one Gododdin warrior that ” He glutted black ravens on the walls of the fort/ Although he was not Arthur”.

In the “Elegy of Gereint” (author unknown) that describes the Battle of Llongborth, we have “At Llongborth I saw Arthur, an emperor commanding the battle”.

We have no way of knowing if these one line references to Arthur were there in the original C7th versions of the poems, or if they were added in later copies, when Arthur had become a well-known figure in folklore.

In the “Spoils of Annwyn”, the poet Taliesin (late C6th) gives us a tale of Arthur and his companions conducting a raid on Annwyn, the Realm of the Dead in the Otherworld, to steal the Cauldron of Plenty (cf Cuchulainn who does much the same thing).  This is Arthur in the context of Celtic warrior hero mythology, rather than telling us anything about Arthur as a possible historical figure.

We had a splendid day at Penrhyn Castle, a National Trust venue in Bangor with gardens, a nature walk, a railway museum and a stylish interior.

After the castle visit, we stopped off for a 2-course meal on the return journey, which was appreciated by everyone.

Photographs by Bill Fitzpatrick.

Penrhyn Castle

Penrhyn Castle

Penrhyn Castle

Penrhyn Castle

Sara Norburn from Edge Hill University has sent us the following request for volunteers to take part in her interesting Research Study: Continue reading →

Our very own Bill Evans entertained us with a Picture Quiz and a variety of Comedy clips and videos.  Refreshments as always.

A great Guitar Singalong  followed by refreshments and a quiz.

Because of the Moorland fires that had been burning in the Rivington area the planned visit to Rivington Moor Country Park was cancelled and the group revisited the Sankey Valley, a site we had first visited in June last year.

Eight members of the group attended on this occasion and a total of 31 species were recorded.

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Four members of the group attended on this occasion when we again had the benefit of being guided by guest leader Peter Twist.  On this occasion a total of 50 species were recorded.

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Nine members of the group attended this visit.  This was the group’s third visit to this site, but the first time we have been there during the breeding season.  The highlight of the visit was seeing the Dippers which have eluded us on our previous visits.

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A message from Val Bullen, the Social Subcommittee Chairperson at the time of the 15th Anniversary Celebration in May 2018:

This beautiful Anniversary Quilt was originally created by our Textiles & Quilting groups for our 10^th Birthday celebration back in 2013.  It is worked in our U3A colours of yellow & blue and we were very proud to display it at our recent Anniversary Celebration.

Click or tap on either image to view full-size.

Great day out at Lichfield

        with the Occasional Tours group. 

Organised by Cathleen Barnes.

Photos  by Bill Fitzpatrick.

Chancellor Law fountain

Lichfield Cathedral

Museum Gardens, Lichfield

The Tudor Tearooms, Lichfield

Click or tap on any picture to start the slideshow!

Topic 1  – Lakes & Tarns – Click an image for slideshow

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Tuesday 6 February:   Liverpool Revisited in Film and in Conversation

From a small fishing inlet to Capital of Culture in 2008, Liverpool has been home, a place of employment, a cultural and shopping venue and more, for many of our members.  All members are welcome to the meeting to discover/rediscover more about the pool that became the City of Liverpool.

Tuesday 6 March:   Poverty and the Workhouses in South-West Lancashire – 2.15pm

Vivian Mumford  joins us to present her research.

Tuesday 3 April:   It’s World Cup Football Year – Kick Off  – 2.15pm

Hear how Lancashire played a major role in the development of football and how local people have been involved in the game. Second half – `The Voice of Anfield` – stadium announcer George Sephton will talk about some of his memorable times with Liverpool Football Club.

There will be ‘Spot the Ball’ and other easy football related competitions plus pies, prizes and pots of tea and coffee.

Oyez – find out about the indoor and outdoor activities of the very popular Local History group

22 April:   Peter Gateley gave us a very interesting talk about Local Buildings which was followed by a couple of frantic rounds of a  Beetle Drive

A Lively Debate was Chaired by Mia Faza – ‘The Police Should Carry Firearms’

The session covered:

looking at the early Welsh “Saints’ Lives” that were written by monks at Llancarfan in Glamorgan, in the C12th (although the saints in question lived c500AD), so again a large time difference between when the events happened and when they were actually put in a written record.  Arthur is mentioned in the Lives of St Cadoc, St Carranog, St Gildas and St Illtud, in largely unflattering terms, and in encounters in which the saint gets the better of the pagan and unruly warrior.  This may have been subject to bias on the behalf of the recorders.

discussions that these various sources contain some references that could place Arthur in an actual historical context.  However, there is also lots of obviously mythological material that reflects the fact that by the late C12th, Arthur was a very well-known figure in Welsh folklore. So again, possible historical references overlaid by folklore and mythology.  We are really no closer to answering the question “Was Arthur ever an actual historical figure?”

Ten members of the group attended this visit to one of our regular sites.  Heavy rain for much of the morning meant we stayed in the main hide for more than half the visit.  Highlight of this part of the visit was the sighting of a Spoonbill.

After the rain cleared some of us moved on to Nel’s hide for the rest of the visit.  Here we had our first sighting’s of the year of Swallows and Sand Martins.

A good morning’s bird watching despite the rain.

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This was our second visit to this locked reserve.  On this occasion we were guided by volunteer warden Phil Dell.  Five members of the group attended on this occasion with four of us going to nearby Tatton Park for lunch afterwards.

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Health & Safety at Aughton & Ormskirk U3A

The Management Committee requested that a Working Party be established to review the venues used by our U3A groups to ensure, as far as reasonably possible, the safety of U3A members. The Working Party, consisting of 5 experienced and committed U3A members, met to review existing policies and the consolidated findings formed a report to the Management Committee which was presented at their January 2018 meeting.  This report was accepted and adopted.

The main recommendations were:

• premises should be inspected before a venue is selected for an activity to confirm safety and suitability. All premises in use (with certain exceptions) should be inspected regularly and a Premises Checklist has been devised to facilitate this. The Working Party is in the process of reviewing premises and the records will be made available to the appropriate Group Leaders;
• the Health and Safety Policy that has been prepared should be made available to all members;
• the amendments to the Group Leaders Handbook that have been suggested should be implemented.

As you will appreciate this work is on-going and there is still more work to do.

Work is currently underway to review the activities undertaken by our members.

In the meantime our thanks go to the members of the Working Party for their work.

Enquiries

For any enquiries about Health and Safety as it relates to Aughton & Ormskirk U3A, please email healthsafety@aughton-ormskirk-u3a.co.uk

Related Documents

Report to the Management Committee January 2018

See the Forms webpage for a link to the Accident / Serious Incident Report Form.

The session covered:

A summary of the previous session where we discussed the suggestion he was a British or Romano leader from the north.  There was not a lot of evidence for his existence, no mention of him in the 540’s documents by Gildas nor by the Venerable Bede in 730ish.  The earliest mention is 800-900 AD (around 400 years later than he is thought to have existed) in the British Miscellany – the Welsh Annals mention Arthur being the victor at the battle of Badon 518 AD and his final defeat at the Battle of Camlann in 539 AD.

Nennius wrote in Latin circa 800 AD.  He compiled data and did not try to interpret it, just to collect it.  As a result there is often more than one account of things and we do not need to worry about his bias.  This gives us a lot of data.  In Nennius’s the ‘History of the Britons’ he covers a lot of the information discussed in the previous session.  He refers to Arthur as Dux Bellorum, a war leader not a king, that could have been why Gildas did not include him in his reporting as he was only a warrior.  Nennius says it as a fact and lists 12 battles in which Arthur took part and won.  He treats him as an historical figure but also as a folklore hero.

The written evidence is still not there and it is thought likely that Nennius found his information for the battles in an old Welsh poem of which there is no remaining evidence.  If this is true there is a theory that Arthur was alive when it was created which would place it prior to his defeat at the Battle of Camlann which is not mentioned.

We looked at the 12 battles referring to information from ‘Arthur’s Britain’ Penguin, London 1971 by, Leslie Alcock who tried to reconstruct the campaign.  The possible sites for the battles were greatly geographically spread which would have meant a lot of travel and did not make military sense and there were time order issues.  There was no consensus on locations and for the first eleven battles the evidence is speculative.  There seems to be very little if any residual evidence for Arthur’s battles.  There is more evidence for the twelfth battle The Battle of Badon.  The Battle of Badon is likely to be in the south given it took place between the Britons and Saxons but this still had five possible locations.

The final battle at Camlann is not mentioned by Nennius but this is covered in the Welsh Annals.  There is considerable debate over the location of Camlann.

Next month we shall consider some slightly later documents written in Latin then onto the mythology of Arthur.

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Pennington Flash, one of our regular sites, never fails to provide a good morning’s bird watching even when, as on this occasion, the weather was less than ideal.  Nine members of the group attended our first outing of 2018 and a total of 40 species were recorded.

Highlights on this occasion included:

• The large number of Goosander
• 15 long-tailed tits on the bird feeders
• Water Rail
• Willow Tit

Click ‘Continue reading’ for the full list of species seen:

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The session covered:

The historical context and where he would fit in to what is known of the people, social and political structures and the geographical location of people and tribes of the time.

There are no surviving early written references to Arthur at a time when the Romans and others kept good records.

When looking at historical records it is important to consider what influences there may be on the writer and their interpretation of events.

There are myths and legends of King Arthur and his followers in Europe as well as Britain.

Traders, warriors, settlers, entertainers etc. moved freely around the west coast of Britain in the time period.  There is an oral tradition of a great warrior hero in the centuries after 500AD which originated in the North of England and down the West Coast 5^th C onwards.  Stories of Arthur and resistance appear 960 onwards, 400 years after he may have lived.

There was a discussion on two written references to Arthur in the British Historical Miscellany Welsh  Annals.  The first was to the Battle of Badon in 518 AD and the second to the strife of Camlann in 539 AD which is a long time period after the battle Badon.  Some sources put the battle of Camlann even later which would mean a very long time frame of 21+ plus years between the two battles.  The Miscellany is probably dated c960-970 AD so is from over 400 years after the events recorded.  The consensus is it at least records an early tradition of a warrior called Arthur at the Battle of Badon.

At the next session we shall look at Nennius and the History of the Britons.

The session covered:

Culchulainn’s links to the supernatural and the gods. Tales of him show his ability to move between one world and another, so showing god-like characteristics.  Some tales show him to be descended from the sun god and there are references in the Phantom Chariot to him sailing west for many days.

The three tales in the session covered some common recurring themes and references as such as birds which feature in Celtic mythology.  Bird migration was explained by them moving to the other world and they are seen as messengers and emissaries for the gods.  Green is the colour of the gods.  Water being the delineation between this world and the supernatural, so tales are based on lakes, trips to islands, the magical properties of fords.

The Wasting Sickness of Cuchulainn, this appears in a manuscript of the book of the Dun Cow from 1100’s which covered a story from oral form from long before it was written down. It takes place at Samhain a magical time of year.  Whilst feasting 2 beautiful birds linked by a red/gold chain sing and all who hear it are lulled to sleep.  Cuchulainn awakes and goes to hunt the birds.  They turn into women who whip him until he is nearly dead and leave.  He stayed in bed for a year and then awoke and told his story and goes back to where he was whipped.  The story goes on to involve Fand, the most beautiful woman in the world and abandoned wife a of Manannan Mac Lir the sea god, who wants Cuchulainn and then does not and the story is finally resolved with a drink of forgetfulness so he and Emer (his wife) can go on again as if nothing had happened.

The Phantom Chariot, a story which involves the other world and enchantment and many of the common themes.  It is an epic tale of a raid on a mysterious island where they encounter all manner of mystical beasts which Cuchulainn overcomes eventually coming home with gold.

The Death of Cuchulainn.  Treachery had to be involved as no one could beat him.  Queen Medb had never forgiven him for the cattle raid and she gathered an army against him.  She brought in the triplet daughters of Calitin.  Calitin was a wizard that Cuchulainn had killed along with his 27 sons before the triplets had been born.  They had been raised as witches

There were signs and portents and the Druids tried to keep Culculainn away.  His horse the Grey of Macha refused to be bridled and cried tears of blood.

Three old women cooking a hound on wooden spits invited Culculainn to eat with them.  He was honour bound to do so despite the hound being his totem animal.  This caused serious damage to his strength and fighting ability with half his body paralysed.  He saw his enemies and asked three druids for the three spears he had with him.  These were Medb’s men and they gave them to him by hurling them at him, fatally wounding him and killing Laegh Mac Riangabra his faithful charioteer.  He died after tying himself to a stone pillar so he could die standing.  With his death the glory of the Red Branch of Ulster passed.

The session covered:

More exploits of the Irish Celtic warrior hero Cuchulainn, the greatest hero the world has ever known.

This session carried on with the story of the Champion’s Portion. After many trials of their strength and courage, Cuchulainn won the contest and claimed the Champion’s Portion.  Consistently, Cuchulainn showed greater strength and courage than the other two warriors, Laoghaire and Conall. However the crucial thing was that he was also an honourable man. He kept his word and stayed to face another giant, when the other two turned tail and ran. That was what made Cuchulainn a true champion.

The recorder group gave us an wonderful  performance and were followed by a great  range of poems read by Pauline Jones, Pete Trigwell and Pat Morton who also wrote her contributions.

In 2017, we had successful trips to a Synagogue,  a Buddhist monastery,  Norton Priory and gardens including the walled garden and travelling onto Jodrell Bank Observatory,  the Hydro Electric mountain, the RAF museum and the famous laburnum arch in Bodnant Gardens.

Our final trip was a fun day at the Dickensian Festival Ulverston,  round­ing off with an evening meal on the homeward journey.

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The Drama group performed Radio Aughton Live to a sell out audience.

A fun filled afternoon of news, sketches and stories.

A big thank you to everyone.

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