Monday 19th February 2024. Today was a departure from our normal session, hosted by Yogi and attended by 22.

This was a Group Planning Session, in which Yogi aimed to elicit the views of the membership on the way forward for the Group. He organised us into a large circle, then, by way of preamble illuminated the ethos of the group by noting interesting events in history that occurred on this date (22nd February) and which point up his theme-is history about change? He mentioned several events, such as the birth of Anne of Cleeves in 1515, Lef Walenska’s momentous formation of Solidarity in 1980, Elephant Appreciation Day and Business Women’s day, not to mention, which he didn’t, the attempted (failed!) invasion, by the French, of Fishguard in 1797. The next step was to divide us into pairs. Yogi wanted us to appreciate the importance of sociability in the group, a feature which many of us Group Leaders find so important in our own groups. Our task was to introduce ourselves to each other. We were to explore each other’s lifestyle and tastes. Then we regrouped into 4’s, and the members of each pair shared with the other pair information they had each gathered about their partner. These activities point up the necessity of good listening and remembering skill, identifying the strengths and weakness of others rather than of ourselves. This activity is so important in good conversation to avoid it becoming a monologue. The main event followed, which as to explore what the members wanted from the Group to help shape the programme for 2025 and beyond. This is a summary of Yogi’s findings with some post-meeting addenda:

1 There must be academic content, not just enjoyment.

2 More visits out, but do we self-drive or hire buses?

3 Most speakers should use a microphone so all can hear clearly. There is a large proportion of the membership who have some hearing impairment, and a large group presents acoustic problems for those with gentle voices. A headset should therefore be purchased to enable hands free operation, perhaps to be shared with Gardening and Science and Technology groups. Perhaps some guidance in projection and technique could be offered to presenters: this is a skill that does not come naturally.

4 More should be made of our local historic facilities such as Ashby Museum, Measham Museum, Ashby Workhouse, Ivanhoe Baths, local churches etc. The group is too big to visit small buildings, but it would be possible to for sub-groups to visit them in leisure time and produce presentations to the whole group for 2-3 sessions. Such a scheme should take account of the fact that not everyone can attend all of a specific series, so thought could be given to making each module self-consistent but linked to the others.

The Leicester museums should also be visited.

5 Costs of visits should not exceed £25.00. 6 The balance between out-house and in-house speakers is about right.

7 One of the sessions per year should be for social ‘basic fun’, party-time, perhaps non- summer.

8 We must be doing things roughly right because attendance numbers are steady and rising. This is my most reassuring conclusion.

Thursday 25th January 2024. 'A Family Portrait and a Cruel Fate' by Lynda Kovach

For our opening session this year we had a record breaking 58 to listen to one of our own, Lynda Kovach, present a story of privation, loss, and emigration in the 19th Century.

This was about the lives of her great, great grandmother’s brother-in-law and his family from Meltham, Yorkshire.

John and Anne had eight children between 1826 and 1839 in an era when life was hard and life expectancy low. After the Napoleonic Wars economic depression across Europe made life even harder. Despite continuing efforts to improve life in factories and education, things were desperate with social disturbance rife. Corn (or Meal) riots, ‘Plugger’ and other riots and the activities of the Chartists all show just how desperate the population was getting. Starvation was becoming common, and emigration frequently resorted to, leaving homes and villages deserted.

John left home and journeyed to America from Liverpool, unusually keeping a diary of his travels.

He described life on board ship which was at best difficult and at worst horrific during the storms they encountered. He eventually arrived in Ohio, where he intended his family to join him.

Anne duly set out in 1844, leaving five-year-old Nathan behind with her parents to ensure some education for him.

They arrived in New Orleans and set forth up the great Mississippi by riverboat. But sadly, this was to end in disaster. In an event recorded in the US papers, the riverboat they were traveling on, the ‘Persian’ became involved in one of the all too frequent races, and her boiler blew. Anne was badly burnt, but all seven of her children died.

John walked from Burlington, Ohio, to Napoleon, Arkansas to meet Anne. They set up as farmers and had two more children, and in 1853 received a letter from their last surviving child in England, Noah (now 14). The letter, although not well written to our standards at least showed he had had an education of sorts. It said he was going to come to them by himself. It seems he had become a troublesome youth at home and just wanted to get away. He sailed to St. Louis, intending to take a riverboat upstream. But he never arrived. It seems that he may have been lost overboard en-route, although the full facts were never elicited.

Lynda did have a better end to her story than we might have expected, as she was recently contacted by descendants of Anne and John from America, who came over to meet her and her husband, and visit the memorial to the family in Meltham churchyard. They had with them a packet of letters which had been handed down through the family. What a goldmine!

Lynda held us all spellbound with her amazing, tragic story. But one that showed that, despite tragedy such as we might never want to encounter, John and Anne still managed to make a new life out of the dust and ashes of the old.

Thursday 23rd November 2023. 'Some Mother’s Son' by Sandra Moore.

Today we had 35 members attend to listen to our own Sandra Moore’s talk, entitled ‘Some Mother’s Son’, about some of the soldiers of WWI buried or commemorated in Leicester's Belgrave Cemetery.

She presented it in the form of a slide show, introduced with photos of seaside scenes from around the turn of the 19th century, setting a poignant contrast to her primary subject matter.

In the dress of a poor housewife from that time, the mother of Edward, one of her subjects, she introduced herself as Eliza Millington, and told her stories as one of the women who sent their men off to War and did not get them back.

The slides followed the short lives of a handful of young men, born in the late 19th Century, as they signed up for King and Country. Full of hope and in the sure knowledge they would be home by Christmas, they marched away from their homes and loved ones. All but one was to perish without even engaging in combat.

One was killed in training in a cavalry regiment, before ever even leaving his home county of Leicestershire. Another, after a war in which he never saw the enemy, was drowned one month before Armistice Day, when his ship, returning from Ireland to a waiting welcome Party, was sunk by a U Boat.

The one who fought, a young Major from a well-to-do family, served with distinction through all the worst fighting, yet died in 1919 of complications from a wound. And still many more died years or decades later from wounds or more subtle damage, directly related t their experiences.

‘Eliza’ recounted her stories in a matter of fact but profoundly impressing style, leaving us all with a sense of the futility of that particular War.

It is unsettling to realise that most of us had fathers, uncles, or grandfathers in that War. To the next generation these people will be history in a way they cannot be for us.

Thank you, Eliza.

Thursday 26th October 2023. 'Victorian Christmas' by Danny Wells.

Today, 31 of us were entertained by Danny Wells, a popular presenter of illustrated talks on historical matters, to a fascinating insight into the way the Victorians delt with Christmas.

Who invented Christmas? Midwinter festivals and practices can be traced back into pre-history in most parts of the world, but the version we have today seems to be a mainly Victorian assemblage of pre-Christian practices, Christian overlays, and invented social engineering, with added whimsies borrowed from many other parts of the world.

Before the 19th century, Christmas was a much simpler affair, but by 1849 most of the elements we recognise today were in place. In Roman times the festival of Saturnalia had some elements of gift giving, celebrations of the turning of the year, and the odd practice of role reversal, with slaves treated by their masters and elements of, shall we say, overindulgence. Mediaeval autumn and winter practices, such as Samhain and Hallowe’en, were all related to the rural need to be aware of the changing seasons and their influence on the well-being of the community.

With the coming of greater wealth, Tudor England developed practices which combined these older, rural, observances and thanksgiving celebrations, with displays of wealth and power, and a growing culture of celebrating the past. Part of this was a tendency by the powers that be to encourage the aristocratic and high born to return to their estates as a gesture of solidarity with the common man and to help them celebrate the midwinter rites. Such a move would also serve to consolidate the links between those who ruled and those who were ruled, something no wearer of the Crown ever lost sight of if they valued that crown.

As the 19th century dawned, and the Industrial Revolution gathered momentum, great social changes were on the move. Populations were moving into the towns and cities, and living conditions were degenerating for millions. Writers like Charles Dickens were becoming aware of the rapid descent of whole populations into poverty, and the authorities were beginning to struggle with the ensuing problems. Alongside the growing move to widen mass education to as many as possible, was the increasing attention being paid by religious groups to social conditions.

In amongst all this there was a growing popularity for ghost stories, fairy stories and other non-religious, but unworldly matters. Then, as Victoria’s reign opened, the place of the family came to the fore. Whereas before, children were regarded as little adults, by now they were beginning to be seen as a group requiring their own special attention. Toys and gift giving, Christmas cards, Christmas trees, charity for the poor and less fortunate, absent friends and lonely people, all were swiftly woven into an increasingly colourful and fanciful accretion of features.

The goose was not displaced from its place as the main meal until Victoria introduced the Turkey in 1851. Perhaps the Great Exhibition of 1851 and Prince Albert had a lot to do with opening up English society to many more features. Religious services became less austere, and the singing of carols became acceptable.

Danny went through a cornucopia of features such as Holly and Ivy, Mistletoe, Father Christmas and his origins from all over Europe, different foods, and finally Pantomime. This latter, it seems, is a very British thing, although there seem to be echoes in it of much older European entertainments which have long disappeared.

There was much more in Danny’s talk, but all seem to underline the essential ‘Englishness’ of this, our very own Christmas.

Thank you, Danny: Christmas will never look the same again!

Thursday 28th September 2023. 'Ukraine' by Yogi Godwin

Once more Yogi has given us something think about.

42 turned out to hear him recount the history and social conditions in Ukraine.

First, he covered the historical background of the relationship between Ukraine and the rest of the world. Sitting, as it does, on a great corridor from the Pontic/Caspian Steppes which connects Central Russia to the Great North European Plain, it has been a conduit for migrations and invasions for thousands of years, with the only significant barrier to mass movement being the wide Dnieper River. This very important river divides the country in two and, running from the border of Belarus with Russia in the north, to the Black Sea in the south, must seem like an obvious boundary for Russia to expand to, as it offers an excellent opening to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Russia has always wanted a warm water port of its own.

Then he went on to compare the relative sizes, populations and income of UK, Germany, Ukraine and Russia. We here have around 280 people per square kilometre, whereas Ukraine has about 63 and Russia 9. Russia’s population, of course, is very asymmetrically spread out. Whilst we in Europe have an income per month of something around £3,000 to £4,500 per head, Russia has £700+ and Ukraine just £300+. These have to be related to the standard of living, of course, but are still a stark reminder of the differences, and are reflected in the life expectancy, which is about 81 for Western Europe and 71 for Ukraine and Russia. Interestingly, the four countries of Russia, Moldova, Chechnya and Ukraine share the distinction of being the fourth heaviest alcohol drinkers. A look at the map shows how closely clustered they are one to another.

Historically, the status of Ukraine, socially, politically and in religion has been poised between the east and the west. Generally, though Ukrainians seem overwhelmingly loyal to Ukraine and to be mostly Orthodox in religion.

As Ukraine is very rich in resources and engineering skills, it has been coveted by its neighbours down the millennia. It provides 40% of the world’s grain and has been the powerhouse of engineering for the old USSR.

Historically it has been claimed by one or other of its neighbours (notably, though by Russia) and, like Poland, been subject to political tug-o-wars, which it vigorously resists. Ever since 1917 and the cruel and essentially genocidal behaviour, first of Stalin, then of the Nazis, its sense of national identity has been reinforced. After the disintegration of the USSR, it has been establishing its own character and sense of nationhood, gained by an overwhelming vote for independence in a referendum.

Yogi gave us a fascinating look inside the social culture and mores of the Ukrainian people. Essentially still rural in flavour, despite increasing modernisation and Westernisation, the people are friendly but with a tendency to what we might see as old-fashioned ways towards the status of men and women. Oddly Yorkshire-like with a ‘no-touch’, ‘don’t point/ stare’ style. Very hospitable, to the point where you should go hungry to an invitation! There were many of their practices that Yogi outlined for us, with handicrafts, singing, parties and wedding conventions, which paint a picture of a warm and hospitable people.

But a people who take their freedom and individuality seriously, with a dedicated drive to put a troubled and turbulent history behind them.

Thursday 24th August 2023. 'What I did on my holidays'

This time was different. We had 27 present to listen to nine members’ own accounts of memorable holidays.

The members sat in a semi-circle and each speaker stood, or sat at the laptop, depending on whether they had photos to show.

We heard some fascinating stories, showing how holidays can be exciting and colourful, despite the limited resources of our childhood. There were childhood trips to Cornwall from Jane Barnett, repeated visits to Guernsey from John D, an enthralling trip to France from Barbara Ball, Colin Woodward’s trip to the Isle of Wight with John H and Margaret (in verse!), Adrian Hickson’s adventures with a baulky J4 Van, and Yogi’s adventures in Russia.

The photos shown were very evocative, bringing back so many memories, whilst some of the stories were hair-raising (especially Yogi’s in Russia!). A veritable feast of memories.

We must hope that there will be many more such for us to explore in the future.

Thursday 27th July 2023. Dr A Featherstone - 'Victorian Melodramas’

Dr Featherstone provided a highly entertaining and informative piece on the Victorian Melodrama. 38 attended to hear her energetic talk on ‘Maidens, Murderers and Monsters.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries it seems that the Melodrama, embedded in a programme of other acts, was almost as popular as Shakespeare. The short, usually three acts, plays were always structured around classical themes in which each stock character (Hero, Heroine, Villain) played out strictly controlled set pieces centred around such themes as ‘Virtue Betrayed’, ‘Injustice Revealed, ‘The Mistake That Cost everything’ and so on, much as the Commedia dell ‘Arte, and ancient Greek Tragedy had explored so well.

It was very important to get the visual background as realistic as possible, and as the century went by some of the sets were marvels of engineering and 3D effects, and even fake fires, complete with real fire engine and horses on stage.

These plays reflected the rapidly changing world around the common people such as advances in technology, medicine, warfare, and the vast population movements from the country into the cities. Latterly the advertising advanced, too, employing techniques borrowed from the new science of photography to produce clever presentations of the subject, such as the transformation scene in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Famous actors and actresses stayed in character throughout their career as the later ‘star’ system was as yet unheard of. Anne showed us several famous actors and the skills that went into their work.

Despite the seemingly plebeian venues, which were the rowdy and crowded Music Halls, the acting was a highly crafted art. Gestures, body language, speech and movement were carefully studied. As each act closed there would be a tableau in which all the actors froze in place for up to a minute, with each actor adopting a pose and expressions which showed the audience exactly what each was thinking and tried to convey all the subtle nuances of that moment.

It was of paramount importance that each character was seen for what they were right from the beginning. The Villain was very obviously ‘Villainous’ in manner, pose, speech and so on from the moment he stepped on stage, usually accompanied by appropriate music, the Hero very ’Heroic’ and the Heroine suitably innocent and wronged. But in all cases GOOD always prevailed in the end; the wronged Maiden was rescued; the falsely imprisoned Hero was found not guilty. And the Villain always, always, got stuffed.

Music was an integral part of this, underlying the character of each actor, and marking the emotional and dramatic movements. The musical accompaniment to the ‘Chase’ ‘Sorrow’ ‘Entrance of the Villain’ and ‘Dying Piteously’ was standardised, as were gestures, facial expressions, and movements. These were highly structured and very professional set pieces.

It seems that these pieces had relatively short ‘runs’, as the audience mostly lived quite locally, and the available audience would all have seen the piece in a short space of time.

Anne used many telling images and publicity drawings to illustrate her points and her own presentation was at times fully as dramatic as her subject!

It seems that the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas at the end of the century were not seen as competition, being attended by more wealthy people. In any case, these were political satires, rather than melodramas, so it was a different market anyway.

Altogether a virtuoso performance by Dr Anne, and very entertaining. We now understand just how much went into these productions and how important a part they played in the lives of the Victorians.

Thursday 22nd June 2023. ‘You’re in the Amy now!’ by Jane Harris

Today, our very own Jane Harris told us of life as an Army child. 27 of us gathered to hear a fascinating tale of travelling all over the world and being involved in many of the events which have framed our modern world.

First, she showed her family tree, showing Army connections back to the early 19th century. Her ancestors were in the military in Bangalore then and thus involved in the heyday of the British Raj. A sibling of one of her direct ancestors was in fact born at sea on HMS Wellington as the family was enroute back to Britain.

With many photos she took us down the years. Her great-grandfather, John Gould Joyce, was in a Military band, as was his brother Henry Arthur Joyce, but things started to get personal with her grandfather Arthur Mills. He was in the 2nd Dragoon Guards, The Queen’s Bays and held the prestigious ranks of Farrier Quarter Master Sergeant and Farrier Sergeant Major. Which meant he had overall charge of the horses in the Regiment. She showed us a splendid tablecloth embroidered with the badge of the Bays in the centre, with his name, and the badges of the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and the Crest of George V.

His history was extensive, fighting in WWI, and being sent to the US to obtain more horses. It has been estimated that some eight million horses and donkeys died in the War.

All his children were born abroad, which made it tough on his wife, as it was for all Army wives. We saw a glimpse of the realities of foreign service in his medical card. Several references to Diarrhoea, Enteric Fever, Ague (!) and two of Gonorrhoea. Which tells its own tale.

Janes father was called up in 1939 and served all through the War, with Jane being born in 1946. Like many children of Army officers and diplomats, her brother was sent off to boarding school when only 7. The picture of the school resembled Colditz, and her brother never forgot or forgave his parents for sending him away at that early age.

The family spent a long time in Greece, in Piraeus in what seems to have been a really nice home. Jane tells of a visit to the American Embassy and many parties for the children of the English community. Her brother brought home two schoolmates who they only knew by their nicknames. They found out later that one was the son of the US Ambassador, the other was no less than Crown Prince Constantine!

On return to England the family fetched up in Colchester, before being posted to Germany and billeted in a house previously owned by a high ranking German official, with a German servant. There were lots of stories of Germany just after the War, with pictures of war damage. It seems the lady escaped from East Germany before the Wall made this a very dangerous thing to attempt. The impression Jane got was that anything was preferable to the Russians.

Then it was Jane’s turn to be packed off to Boarding School. The way she tells it, it sounded like St Trinian’s! This was a Catholic convent school in Loughborough, and the regime was strict. She did get to have lessons in horse riding and music, with a splendid photo of her class all sawing and blowing away in the orchestra.

Jane regaled us with extracts from the book of guidance for young ladies called ‘Towards Maturity’ This was very reminiscent of the stories told to your reporter by his sisters who attended a Catholic convent day school. Boys, it seems, think differently from girls about personal relationships. The unspoken message being ‘Do not trust them’! Your reporter remembers being more at risk from the convent girls of his day than the reverse…

A truly enlightening canter through the life of an Army girl. Many thanks Jane!

Thursday 25th May 2023. A coach trip to York

The May gathering of the History Group was not our usual presentation at Packington Village Hall but our (almost) annual coach trip, this time to York. We had previously used Roberts but they were unable to accommodate us this year, so we had to use Orbit coaches as an alternative. At 8.15, a rather startling apparition drew up outside the Royal Hotel, a bright red double-deck vehicle but with virtually no lower deck! All 46 participants arrived in good time and we set off with panoramic views from on high - well, as panoramic as the M1 gets! Fortunately, the traffic co-operated nicely, at least in our direction, and, after a brief stop at Woolley Edge services, we reached York at 11.00.

Given the number of alternative attractions and the probability that some passengers would already have visited some of them, no group activities were arranged. One or two were observed in the National Railway Museum, which, with free entry, must be the best value for money in York. Some intrepid explorers did venture onto the City Walls and a rather fine ice-cream stall was discovered in the Museum Gardens. Others were seen in a riverside cafe. It seemed as though everyone had enjoyed their visit when the time came to board for the return journey.

Unfortunately, the traffic did not co-operate quite so well on the return. We encountered some congestion leaving York where roadworks with temporary traffic lights were just after a busy roundabout, which seemed calculated to create the maximum chaos and the M1/M621 leading up to the M62 near Leeds also provided some heavy, slow traffic.

Nevertheless, we were only 15 minutes after our 6.30 schedule in arriving back at the Royal Hotel in good time for at least some members to transfer to Supper Club!

Thursday 27th April 2023. A look at the 60's by Alan Hiley

Today’s talk was given at short notice by Alan Hiley when the intended speaker realised they were supposed to be on holiday!

Called ‘A Look at the 60s’, an enthralling and nostalgic review of a time many consider the best of their lives. It was very well attended by 45 members.

Alan took us through a cavalcade of photos on different topics including famous people, furniture, foods, cinema, theatre, TV and radio, music, fashion, holidays, sport and literature. There were far too many to detail, but we all enjoyed reminiscing over the Beatles, Lawrence of Arabia, The Italian Job, and those singularly English ‘Saucy Post cards. Old TV programmes like the original Likely Lads, Steptoe and Son, and Radio programmes like Hancock’s Half-Hour, Round the Horne and The Navy Lark brought back real memories of a time before CGI and overwhelming bad news on all channels.

He reminded us of what home life was like at the time, including breakfast, dinner and tea, although some of us remember the furniture we had slightly differently! Alan added detail by showing us photos of Ashby, Swadlincote and Church Gresley from this era, which provoked many memories.

A time to remember, when the world was young, and we were younger.

He has more shows in train, and we may see more of his wonderfully relaxed and entertaining style. Many thanks, Alan!

Thursday 23rd March 2023. '50 Gems of Leicestershire by Michael Smith'

Today we had a good turnout of 45 members to listen to Michael Smith, a local historian and Ashby u3a member, talking about '50 gems of Leicestershire.' Michael is also an author of several books specialising in local history.

This was a very interesting canter through the history of the county using photos and background information. Michael started with a photo of a mosaic representation of a Plesiosaur fossil, from around 150 million years ago, found in Barrow upon Soar in 1851 and nicknamed The Kipper.

He swiftly moved on to a Bronze Age barrow, complete with chariot, discovered in Cossington, and subsequent Iron Age and Anglo Saxon finds. Leicester was very important in Roman days being possibly the third largest city after Colchester and London. He showed us a very impressive section of the Jewry Wall and outlined the excavation history and finds.

A wonderful find of a ceremonial helmet and Iron Age coins was found around 2000 near Market Harborough.

Interestingly Breedon church, a favourite stop on many of our walks, is on the site of an Iron Age hill fort. This was succeeded by a Saxon church, and then by Norman one. Reliefs inside show influences from far and wide.

Then he turned to Ashby Castle. This was originally a motte and bailey wooden fort. He referred to the part the Hastings family have played in the history of the town and the Wars of The Roses. But they fell out of favour afterwards.

He continued with our own St Helens church Ashby, which has many interesting features and monuments. One special one is a possibly unique set of finger stocks in which the miscreant has to place their hand on a small board, with slots for the fingers, and then curl the fingers around the edge. An 'L' shaped top board is then locked down over the fingers clamping them in place.

He dwelt a little on the end of Richard III; the Battle of Bosworth Field, which is now known to have taken place some way away from the traditional location; and the Richard III Experience in Leicester

Many people may not know of Thomas Wolsey's connection with Leicester. He fell out with King Henry VIII over his failure to negotiate the annulment of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. He died before Henry could accuse him of treason and is buried in Leicester Abbey. Henry's fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, is memorialised in the eponymous pub in Melton Mowbray which bears a portrait of her which is said to be quite unlike her!

Interestingly for the chroniclers of the development of education in the UK, it seems that the closure of monasteries by Henry VIII shut down schools that had been going since the early mediaeval period. So the local authorities built schools. Some were installed over top of the fixed market stalls in the centre of towns. A particularly fine example is in Market Harborough.

Michael then moved on to the Industrial Revolution, and the specialisation in our local area of framework knitting. Photos from the Wigston Framework Knitters Museum helped bring this era to life.

Then came photos of Taylors Bell Foundry and the Campanile in Loughborough; Moira Furnace and its lime kilns; the disused Blaby Glenfield railway tunnel; East Midlands Aeropark; The Motorbike Museum at Triumph in Hinckley and the memorial to Frank Whittle in the form of a Gloster jet fighter on a roundabout at Lutterworth. Whittle's test site was in Lutterworth.

Finally, he showed photos of the mobile Century Theatre mounted on 2 or 3 low loaders. This now static building was a post-war solution to the loss of so many bombed venues. It now resides in Coalville and is still in regular use.

So many photos of so many gems of Leicestershire that it is impossible to get them all in. But totally absorbing.

Thursday 23rd February 2023. 'Tales of Namibia' by Bill Devitt

35 members gathered to hear a presentation by ever-popular Bill Devitt on 'Wrecks and Diamond's with the sub-title of 'Tales of Namibia. Its copper mine railway, the game reserve, the wreck of the 'Dunedin' on the Skeleton Coast and the diamond mining ghost town'

A very interesting look at a place most of us have only ever heard of. Namibia is located about ¾ the way down Africa's west coast and is said to be Sub Saharan Africa's driest nation, with 2.6 million people in around 320 thousand square miles. For comparison, the UK's 65 million occupy around 95 thousand square miles.

Bill related the history of the country from around 1900 when diamonds ere discovered in what was then German South West Africa. The output under the Germans amounted in value to around 150 million Reichsmarks by WWI, although it had already been known for its copper. The Germans treated the Herero tribal inhabitants horribly, driving them out of their villages into the desert to starve and die.

Diamonds are still a very important part of its economy. Today, access to the diamond producing area is tightly controlled by De Beers, with a 100 square mile exclusion zone enforced by their own private army. The original mining area is now effectively derelict, and sand covered. This is the focus of a thriving tourism industry, including a Smugglers Museum, and tours of the old workings and towns.

Tourists can also make trips into the desert, which is composed of sand dunes up to 300 feet high, and virtually unclimbable on foot. There is the Desert Express, a luxurious train, from Victorian times , but fitted out with all the luxuries you could want. The first trains were more utilitarian, and Bill showed many slides of the antique locos and rolling stock in use for the mines.

There is nearby the Etosha Game Reserve, and the Lüderitz resort town, from where air tours covering the whole country and its surprisingly varied terrain can be taken.

Bill's slides showed the beautiful but deadly landscape of the dunes marching away into the interior forming an impassable barrier to anyone unfortunate enough to be ship-wrecked on the 500-mile-long coastline. And that coast has earned its nickname of the Skeleton Coast down the centuries because of the skeletons of ships rather than people. Countless wrecks, old and new are scattered up and down the coast.

Bill told us the tale of the Dunedin Star, possibly the most famous wreck, and the saga of the several rescue efforts mounted after she ran aground on the northern end of the coast in 1942 with 21 crew and 85 passengers. Four ships, one after another tried, but each came to grief. Then two Lockheed Ventura bombers tried, one of which became bogged down on the beach. Finally, a rescue convoy made it overland from Windhoek. Remarkably all were saved, though two of the rescuing crew died in the attempts.

Thank you, Bill, for a fascinating look at a remote part of the world.

Thursday 26th January 2023. 'Rasputin. Saint or Sinner?' by Yogi Godwin

Today was an historic day as we had 62 attendees, an all-time record!. We were all there for Yogi's talk on Rasputin. And as usual he did not disappoint.

Rasputin is one of those figures you expect to find in a Restoration play or one by Marivaux. Or possibly in one of Edgar Alan Poe's drug fuelled stories. But in fact he lived from 1869 to 1916, during a period of great turbulence in Russia. His legacy is beset with alternative interpretations and lurid accounts which Yogi outlined for us in excellent style.

His short history is peppered with several odd, lengthy gaps, lasting around ten years each, for which there is no explanation.

The conventional story is that he was born in a remote part of Siberia as the only survivor of eight children to a poor tenant farmer. His early life would have been very hard as Siberia is even now a very harsh environment with temperatures rarely above 0 Celsius in winter and often down to minus 40. Life would have been very constrained in small villages, with no near neighbours.

Nothing much is known about his life until he was around 18, when he seems to be married with three children. Even then, though, he had a reputation of being a heavy drinker and womanising and fathering many children and disappearing for weeks at a time. Reputedly uneducated he seems to have been largely self-taught and earnt a living by holding seances.

He next appears at age 28 seemingly attending a monastery, and becoming a pilgrim, subsisting on charity. It was then his reputation as a healer seems to have been earned. Several instances of his 'healing powers' are recorded, and women seemed attracted to him. He was able to increase the size of his pupils, which is known to make people attractive to others (possibly because it signals interest in the other).This is a technique also used by hypnotists. After seances followed by dancing, women are found unclothed but with no knowledge of what happened. The museum at St Petersburg has an object described as part of his anatomy and measuring 12 inches. It is not his foot...

There is another gap until he is aged 37. In 1905 he managed an introduction to the Tsar's family and became the Royal Lamplighter in the Tsar's palace. By apparently healing the Tsarevich, heir to the throne, of haemophilia, he wormed his way into their confidence. Surviving at the Palace until War broke out in 1914, he became very close to the Tsarina when Tsar Nicholas had to leave St Petersburg to take charge of the Army.

He was very influential, persuading her to make political changes, advising her on religious matters and generally supplanting her other most senior advisors, which made him many powerful enemies.

A determined attempt was made on his life, in which a bizarre sequence of events took place. He was apparently poisoned, without effect, shot, but not killed, kicked and beaten by the assassins, and shot again, then thrown in the river. This seemed to have done the trick, as he was found two days later, and buried after a post-mortem. He was then exhumed and cremated for good measure in 1917.

By now the Bolsheviks were in power, and set up a team to discredit all the Royals including Rasputin, and this seems to be the story we have just heard.

Another version of the story has emerged however.

It seems he was, in fact, born into a wealthy family. The healing of the Tsarevich, Alexander, was down to him stopping the use of aspirin by his doctors, which is now known to be totally contra-indicated for haemophiliacs. His 'healing' powers are now attributed to his powerful hypnotic technique and calming influence. His poisoning failed because the chemist asked to supply the Strychnine panicked and supplied ground-up aspirin instead. It might be supposed that the shooting would have finished the job. However, when his body was recovered he had water in his lungs, which suggests that he was still alive when he went into the river.

Finally, the post-mortem found his body intact. Which raises questions about the exhibit in St Petersburg.

The story does not quite end here. Three days before his death he wrote to the Tsar, saying that if he is killed by royalty, the Tsar and all his family will be killed by the Russian people.

Which, of course turned out to be only too true. Maybe he did have special powers!

Another classic offering by Yogi. Many thanks!

Thursday 1st December 2022.

The Group didn't meet in December and it was thought that November's meeting would be its last ever and that the group would fold.

But there has been good news. The reports of its demise were, it seems, greatly exaggerated and it is back up and running again with barely a missed beat. Yogi Godwin has stepped in to take over the leadership reins of the organising committee whilst the existing committee members have agreed to stay on and have been joined by Isobel as well. A full program of events is currently being planned and the first meeting will be on Thursday 26th Jan at 2.15pm in Packington Village Hall. Admission £2.

Thursday 24th November 2022. Trouble and Strife, the challenge of finding a wife (marriage law!)

Sadly, this may be our last Meeting as two thirds of the organising committee are standing down and no-one has yet volunteered to help take over. If anyone reading this would like to help, do please make yourself known: the Group has been one of the best. However, this Meeting was a classic.

Roger 'Bis' Bisgrove of Swannington Heritage Trust entertained 34 of us to a fascinating look at marriage customs down the years. He organised his presentation into a question-and-answer format and gave examples of the sorts of answer.

It seems we used only to be allowed to get married between certain times of the day, which have changed over the years, until recently being between 8 am and 6 pm. But now, with venues being licenced almost anywhere (so long as they were in public) this has been rescinded.

The age of marriage has been changing under successive Marriage Acts. Generally, almost any age seems to have been acceptable, provided that a parent's consent has been given.

In the UK, for instance, Lady Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, married first in 1450 at the age of 7 or 8 but required a Papal dispensation on grounds of a close relationship with her husband. Canon Law, however, did not recognise the marriage as it was contracted before she was 12. Then she married Edmund Tudor in 1455 at age 12 but was widowed a year later whilst pregnant with Henry Tudor. Then she married in 1458 at age 14, again with a relationship dispensation, once more being widowed in 1471. She remarried for the last time in 1472 (still only 29).

Generally, from 1753 onward, parental consent was needed to marry under age 21. Today, the minimum age is 18 in the UK, (16 with parental consent, but only until 2023) although it varies widely around the world.

The method of announcing marriages was quite varied. The system of Banns has been in place from 1215, with Canon Law requiring them to be read in the parishes of both parties, to prevent clandestine marriages. Licences for marriage away from the home parish had been issued since the 14th century but, because they had to be paid for, were seen as a perk of the wealthy.

Bis then looked at proxy marriages. These were usually the prerogative of royalty, and the marriage was supervised by the proxy. He also acted to protect the bride until she could be transported to her new home. Curiously, a sliver cufflink of Charles II was found in Moor Lane, Swannington, supporting evidence that he was there at the time. He married Catherine of Braganza three times in 1662: once by proxy in Portugal, once secretly as a Catholic on her arrival in Portsmouth, then publicly in London in a Protestant ceremony.

There was even a proxy marriage arranged between a cosmonaut and his fiancée while he was in orbit and she in Texas. This is an example of variations on proxy weddings which included posthumous marriages. There was even one arranged between a man who killed his fiancée then himself. The families arranged it to remember them fondly by.

Certain types of marriage were prohibited, specifically to a deceased wife's sister or to a deceased brother's widow. Bis showed us a 1911 Census entry which indicated a woman married to her deceased sister's husband, so there were many variations possible.

Bis explored the interesting area of 'Boy Meets Girl'. How did people meet up to get married? He traced the various marriages associated with the Hough Mill in Swannington and various families from Castle Donington. These can be traced through the various attendees at marriages and the families they belonged to. Clear evidence of how close these rural communities were.

There were a few grace notes to spice things up:
Mistletoe apparently translates as 'Bird Poo'. So be careful this Christmas where and whom you kiss!
Bridesmaids wear the same colours and styles of dress as the bride it seems to confuse the evil spirits.
The Best Man was supposed to help kidnap the bride if required; to defend the happy couple from objecting parents; and to stand guard outside the marital home to ensure the marriage is consummated.

So ended a most enjoyable canter through the arcana of marriage.

The writer hopes you have enjoyed his Reports over the years, as he has enjoyed writing them. He stands ready to take up the pen once more if the Group is revived. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thursday 27th October 2022. Victorian Values and Enlightenment by Yogi Godwin

Our ever popular 'Yogi' Godwin delivered a very interesting talk to 40 members on Victorian Society in general and the Workhouse system in particular.

He reminisced about his early life, and that his parents threatened him with the Workhouse if he didn't pull his socks up at school. The mother-in-law of another member used to say very much the same thing if she misbehaved. It didn't seem to stop her!

The 19th century saw huge changes in society. There was significant immigration from Europe which was seeing great upheavals after the Napoleonic Wars, and the rapid application of new machinery to farms displaced many into the new cities. These in turn were being transformed by the burgeoning Industrial Revolution. At the start the balance was about 20/80 in favour of the country. At the end that ratio had reversed. This unfortunately led to severe overcrowding as the building of housing could not keep place. Sanitation fell even further behind.

A significant factor in investment was the Slavery Act in 1838. This allowed for the Slave owners to be paid to release their slaves, but put huge sums into their hands to invest in the new industries and things like railways. The changes were marked in different ways, all of them with profound implications for society.

At the start of the century the fastest means of communication was the stagecoach, progressing at possibly 5 miles an hour (although improving rapidly to about 12 miles an hour as the road system was improved.) By the end there were trains that could reach 100 mile an hour at times, and the telephone.

New technology, such as the Bessemer Converter for making steel, also affected the fundamental processes of industry allowing a rapid growth in manufacturing and similarly rapid progress was made in medicine, sanitation and education.

But underlying much of society were the so-called 'Victorian Values' of hard work and self-reliance. These were actually a continuation of a mindset stemming back to the Middle Ages, which seemed to suggest that sickness and misfortune stemmed from some inner character failure or 'sin'. Out of this came the philosophy of 'Laissez Faire' or let society control itself without State interference.

People worked very hard, and life expectancy was short for the poorest and most manual of workers. Bad sanitation, poor safety at work, pollution of all kinds and no easily accessible medicine wrought a horrendous death toll. Yet the belief in discipline and one's place in life was so deeply entrenched that people found it very hard to break out.

Gradually the State started to roll back Laissez Faire as it became obvious that the work force could not deliver its best. Unions and clear-sighted entrepreneurs alike pushed for better safety and education.

The place of religion in all this is mixed, but as an example, in Leeds in 1840 there were about 200,000 people, with 2 churches and 39 chapels. But 451 taverns, and 98 brothels.

The 1841 Census revealed for the first time the actual distribution of different types of people in the population, and the range of jobs and occupations that existed. In particular it highlighted the huge imbalance between the poor and the well off. A typical poor labourer's wage might be 90d to 100d per week, but calculations suggest that 120d (10 shillings, or 50 pence today) would be the minimum for any sort of decent life.

Running parallel to all this, the changes in the Poor Law and Workhouse Systems were having to change to accommodate the changes in society. Between 1795 and 1815 expenditure on poor relief quadrupled, partly as a result of the Wars, and partly as a result of the disruptions to society of the changes mentioned above.

Conditions in the workhouse were set to be worse than those outside for even the worst employment. Penal in style, the discipline was absolute, and similar to that in the jails. Men and women were segregated as were the children. Tasks include picking oakum; punishments were such as breaking rocks. Running away was punished the most severely, and flogging was common. Although it was not supposed to be used on children below 14, Charles Dickens (who visited several workhouses) suggested that it was common for much younger children. Florence Nightingale did a great deal to bring the conditions inside Work houses to the notice of the authorities, but the fundamentally Public School/Military background of the politicians was very hard to break down.

But a sea change came when first, old age pensions were introduced in 1909, and then the Welfare State in 1947. These essentially rendered the Workhouse redundant. Paradoxically, the Infirmary system run by the Workhouses became the foundation of the public hospitals we have today, as many of the abandoned Workhouses were suitable for conversion into hospitals.

Yogi mentioned several people who rose to fame after being in the Workhouse including Charlie Chaplin and journalist and explorer Henry Morgan Stanley (he of 'Dr Livingstone, I presume' fame).

Altogether a fascinating look at the complex changes and currents influencing Victorian Society, and still at work today.

Thursday 22nd September 2022. Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre - A self-drive visit

17 members drove down to Bosworth Battlefield where we were met by our guide Gary who talked us through the history of the Plantagenets and how for over 30 years the two rival branches of the family ie Lancaster and York fought for control of the English throne. Through complicated machinations involving deaths, marriages, unions and fallings out, the two ever changing sides fought each other at various battles until Henry Tudor and Richard III met at Bosworth.

Gary then had several of us take the roles of the main protagonists on the field, each of us with our battle standards, arranged as it is believed actually happened, and talked us through the battle until Jane (as Henry Tudor) defeated Colin (Richard III)! He then walked us to the top of the hill where we could look down onto the site where it is believed the Battle actually took place. (As you may know, Bosworth Battlefield is now understood not to be where the battle was). An hour and a half flew by and we all learned something new about this turbulent period, even if we previously thought we already knew it all.

We then retired to the café to be served tea, coffee and cake before walking around the on-site museum. A thoroughly entertaining afternoon.

Thursday 25th August 2022. A history of Cornishware by Dr Iain Hambling

The History Group's August meeting featured Dr. Iain Hambling, who gave a presentation regarding T. & G. Green & Co, a firm of pottery manufacturers based locally at Church Gresley. Mr. Green originated from Boston, Lincolnshire and, after being rejected three times by Miss Mary Tenniel, emigrated to Australia, where he was very successful in business enterprises. This success resulted in Mary having a change of mind; the couple married and, during their honeymoon in Scarborough, a chance meeting led to Mr. Green's involvement in the Church Gresley pottery in 1864. He was extremely successful although, apparently, a somewhat unpleasant character. The pottery employed around 1,000 at it's zenith, surviving at least three fires.

The best known product, Cornishware, was produced from 1923. The name was due to the use of Cornish china clay as the distinctive blue and white bands were difficult to produce satisfactorily using only local clay. Production continued until 2007, by which time the company was no longer independent. Following the closure, a new company was established in Somerset to produce a range of Cornishware products.

The site of the pottery is now largely derelict although four of the distinctive bottle kilns still remain. These are now listed structures but are on the 'at risk' register due to their neglected condition.

Iain gave us a comprehensive history of the pottery and it's products with a wide range of examples available for us to see and handle. Some of the rarer examples are worth many hundreds of pounds. A most excellent and informative presentation.

The Group's next meeting on 22nd September is a self-drive visit to the Bosworth Battlefield Visitor Centre for a talk, site visit and tea. The cost is £14 plus car share and anyone not already signed-up should contact Jane Harris by e-mail or phone (01530 838025) to arrange to be included.

Wednesday 27th July 2022. A self-drive trip to Berkeley Castle and Dr Jenner’s House

It had been intended to organise a coach trip to Berkeley but the numbers signed up couldn’t justify the cost of hiring a coach so Colin organised several drivers to take people by car. Berkeley Castle is between Gloucester and Bristol, overlooking the River Severn and so it was approximately a two hour drive from Ashby. We all arrived at much the same time, before the castle opened, but in time to get a cup of tea or coffee.

We met our tour guide at the castle gate where she took us into the courtyard to give us some of the history of the castle. It was first built as a wooden motte and bailey around 1067 on the orders of William the Conqueror and was held by the first Roger de Berkeley. It was rebuilt as a stone castle in the 1150s.

The Berkeley family, (via one or two side steps when direct descendants did not exist) still own and occupy the castle to this day. It is believed to be the oldest building in Britain occupied by the same family since its construction. (Although the was a period during the Civil War when it was captured by Parliamentarian forces but the family were allowed to retain ownership provided that they didn’t repair the breach in the wall.)

The castle was reputed to be the site of the murder of Edward II in 1327 after he was deposed by his wife Queen Isabella.

Much of the castle is in very original condition and it is therefore quite often used as a location for period films. Parts of the castle are off limits and private as members of the Berkeley family do actually live in the castle. They own it still. It is not owned by National Trust or English Heritage. The Berkeley family’s wealth has waxed and waned over the centuries and in early 20thC they sold Berkeley Square in London for to raise funds. One of the family, Bishop George Berkeley, moved to the US and founded a library at Yale University where a college is named after him as is the University of California, Berkeley.

After lunch we visited the house of Dr Edward Jenner who in the late 18thC pioneered the concept of vaccines including one for smallpox, the world’s first vaccine. His work is said to have “saved more lives than the work of any man” The house is a museum to the man and his work and also has a physic garden containing many plants reputed to be cures for all ailments although some are now thought to do more harm than good!

A very interesting day out.

Thursday 23rd June 2022. Family History by Mark Pacey

Our presentation today, to 29 members, was by Mark Pacey, on his maternal grandfather's service in World War II. He turned up in his ancestor's uniform, complete with the insignia of a Company Quarter Master Sergeant, and with many artefacts from his war service.

L.E. McAllister was born in 1918 and apprenticed as an electrician at the Brush works in Loughborough. Suffering problems with his lungs, when he was called up in 1939 he was not fit for combat so was posted to the Royal Corps of Signals where he quickly made his mark. After training in using and maintaining military signals equipment, he was posted to France with the BEF. Mark's account of his experiences in France, falling back before the German advance, were laconic and gave little detail of the conditions this unit must have endured, but he was eventually safely evacuated via La Panne to Margate.

In common with many servicemen, he was posted back and forth around Britain, gaining training and experience as he went. Much of his time in Scotland and afterwards in Llandudno seemed to have been low key, but then he was sent to Lisburn in Ireland. There was a distinct possibility that the Germans might attempt incursions via Eire (as it was then called) with help from the IRA, but the only action he saw was to arrest some of the local IRA men without drama.

Back to Catterick and further training, and promotions. The systems he was working on here were at the forefront of communications technology at the time.

Promoted to Sergeant in 1942 he was sent to Edinburgh, where he met his future wife, who was also in Signals. Then, after being sent down to Northumbria in 1944, preparing for the D-Day Landings he found himself once more in France, landing at Gold Beach.

By now he was a CQMS, a very prestigious promotion, and by coincidence met up with his brother, a tank driver, in Normandy.

The Army's progress through Normandy was very dangerous and confused, with close quarter fighting in the narrow lanes. We were not told if he was in direct combat, or just in support, but life must have been very precarious for all in the combat zone.

In common with many such units, he found himself attached to another Regiment, in his case the 51st Highland Divisional Signals. How far he and his unit penetrated into Europe we were not told, but he was still in Europe at War's end foraging for, and salvaging, abandoned German equipment. At one time his unit was visited by Churchill.

But his health deteriorated, and he was discharged in Liverpool in 1946 with an exemplary report, and many memories.

Mark had many slides of his wanderings, photographs from France and all over England, and the documents and artefacts marking his progress. An altogether fascinating snapshot of a short, but extremely active part of his life.

Thursday 28th April 2022. Dad’s Army by Jed Jaggard

27 attendees. Jed gave an enthralling canter through the origins and development of the Home Guard, with some very interesting exhibits for us to handle.

The origins of a national defence force, raised from local populations, can be found in the raising of various militia or yeomanry regiments on a local basis, often for the purpose of maintaining public order. The Trained Bands of Elizabethan times seem to be the first of this type of force to be organised on a national scale. This was formalised in 1908 with the creation of the Territorial Force, as the U.K's. reinforcements for the Army in times of crisis.

However, as these were men of an age and fitness group that could be ordered overseas for combat, the idea was transformed in the run up to WWII to make use of those who were not suitable for combat to act as a sort of local volunteer force to help the authorities in the event of localised incursions. It was thought that, with the springing up of local, independently organised, vigilante style groups sometimes armed with shotguns and other weapons, things could quickly get out of hand. So a general call went out for men to join a nationally organised force. Initially the authorities thought they might get up to 10,000 volunteers. They got 250,000!

This quicky evolved into the Local Defence Volunteers, and it was seen increasingly that they should be equipped to put up a fight of sorts in the event of an actual invasion, and possible occupation. The average age of these turned out to be 36, with the oldest 86.

As the War developed, so the LDV (soon to become The Home Guard) was equipped with better and better kit. Many and varied were the actual resources, from local boating clubs acting as water born patrols (advancing on the enemy at 4 mph!) to roller skates and knives taped to broom handles.

But they eventually received standard army weapons and books on how to kill invaders. Some units, made up of ex-Regular soldiers, were even readied to go into bunkers in the event of invasion and pop up behind an advancing army. These were in some ways the forerunners of the Commando units. Jed outlined for us one spectacular commando raid during the War on St Nazaire. It earned the Commandos 5 VC’s, but the cost was enormous, losing 179 dead out of 612, with 215 captured.

Jed handed round examples of weaponry, such as a Lee-Enfield rifle, a Tommy gun and a Sten gun, with hand grenades, booklets and photos, and badges from various units. These latter included women in the later stages of the War.

The Home Guard was stood down in 1944, and every member received a special letter from the King, and two medals.

One questioner asked whether there had been any assessment of what would happen in the event of an invasion. War-gaming suggests that the Germans would have got no further than a line roughly from Bristol to the Wash, as the Royal Navy was still functional, and they could not be resupplied.

One wonders.

A really entertaining and informative talk on a piece of history that just touches on our own generation but is history for those who come after us.

Thursday 24th March 2022. Palitoy by Bob Brechin

Bob Brechin, ex Chief designer of Palitoy^TM, treated 34 of us to an exhaustive history of the famous toy company. For most of us it was a nostalgic wander down memory lane, revisiting the toys and games of our childhood. And of our children's and their children's childhoods, too.

The firm came to life in Leicester just after WWI, being started by Alfred Edward Pallett. From toy windmills and baby's rattles the company grew apace, branching rapidly out into dolls. The company went through many metamorphoses and several hands, as well as new premises, continuously through the Interwar years. One ground-breaking innovation was proposed by Queen Mary: non-flammable toys. Strange it wasn't thought of until then but led to the invention of Bexoid, a non-flammable plastic.

By 1937 they had moved to Coalville, although the war called a halt to toymaking. After that little piece of nastiness new inventions and techniques, notably injection moulding, kept the flow of new products coming. Blow moulding and then rotational moulding took them into industrial processes, making plastic bottles and other containers, but also into making complex toy parts, such as doll's heads. They exhibited at the 1951 Festival of Britain.

The changes, both in products and company ownership came at a dizzying speed, but always with the company in the forefront of the market. A major change was into the area of toy systems, such as Action Man, Tiny Tears and Sindy dolls, where the basic toy was a core product with multiple other associated products that could be bought to accompany it. These brought multiple awards.

Bob joined the company in 1967 and developments and new products just kept coming. In 1975 a new warehouse was built at Ashby, just about where Wickes is today! The next venture was into merchandised products to accompany films such as Star Wars, and competition with such as Hornby, with their Mainline range of model railway items, Airfix and Meccano.

Globalisation brought another sea change with global branding and multi-lingual packaging. But the writing was on the wall as early as the 1973 oil crisis, and despite several more company changes and regroupings the Palitoy factory closed in 1995, with the last product being Play-doh.

The factory is now a business centre. The company and its ethos refuse to die however, with various commemorative events: a green plaque in 2017, a celebration in 2019 of 100 years of toy production and talk of films and a website. Watch this space.

Thursday 24th February 2022. 4 Fiddlers by Bill Devitt

Bill Devitt entertained us royally to an account of four of the greatest con men of the 19th Century. 43 members turned out as Bill is always a good draw. The 'Fiddlers' of the title were George Francis Train, Isaac Merrit Singer, Mr ZZ (Zacharios Basikeos Zacharoff) and Joshua Abraham Norton.

GFT was called the rudest man of the 19th Century. And is one of the originators of the story of Phileas Fogg. He was orphaned at the age of 4 but went on to build and lose fortunes in the shipping business and was involved in large scale schemes in America and Australia in the railroad business. In the UK he founded with others the luxury railway concept, and even went to America to work with Pullman. He also started a successful Horse Bus enterprise using street rails. Involved in international politics, some of his hare-brained schemes included trying to sell Ireland to the IRA, declaring himself Dictator of the States, and annexing Cuba. He tried to spend his income of $97 thousand a year by circumnavigating the world but seems to have sparked a competition between two lady journalists who did it in opposite directions in less than 80 days. He went into tax fraud in a big way, failed and died penniless.

Isaac Singer made his name improving the sewing machine and adapting it for the domestic market. He seems to have invented the 'higher purchase' system, but also devised a trade-in system to strangle the second-hand market. An impresario and bigamist he is said to have fathered 26 children by at least five women. His gravestone stands in Torquay.

Mr ZZ was another energetic type. He was an arsonist for the Constantinople fire brigade (!), a pimp and arms dealer. Amazingly devised a steam powered submarine with a tall smokestack. How he expected it to submerge is unclear. He engaged in a machine gun contest with Maxim but cheated to win. As a final gesture, at age 75 (1 years before he died) he married and gave his wife the casino at Monte Carlo as a wedding present. It took two days to burn his life history.

Joshua Norton also inherited a fortune but lost it all speculating. He was another with grandiose political ambitions and proclaimed himself Emperor of America, protector of Mexico. He even issued his own currency. In the course of his adventures he 'abolished' Congress On the other hand he was responsible for the concept of the Golden Gate bridge. His luck ran out and he died in 1880.

Altogether a fascinating canter around some of the century's classic 'chancers' many of whom made the century what it was: a dynamo of invention and enterprise.

Friday 28th January 2022. Edith Piaf by Julie Edes

For our first meeting in 2022 we were privileged to have Julie Edes, a popular and very professional presenter. 41 members turned out to hear her speak about the iconic and charismatic French singer, Edith Piaf (which is French slang for Sparrow).

Edith's life was chaotic, but Julie navigated us through it superbly.

Born in December 1915, some say on the street, and some in hospital, her family background was as chaotic as her life and goes a long way to explain what happened.

Brought up by her street performer father (with at least 19 children by various women to his 'credit') after being weaned from wine at four, and having been 'cured' of failing sight, she was on the streets until aged 16, when she was discovered and started singing in nightclubs. She had an extraordinary capacity for drink, reputedly visiting up to 15 bars in a day! As soon as she made any money, it went on alcohol.

She became a star at age 20 in Gerny's Cabaret but was dogged by scandals and possible involvement in a murder, which for a time had her blacklisted in Paris.

Her genius brought her renewed fame and success and enabled her to keep going during the War. Apparently uncultured, unprincipled, and an incurable romantic, a string of boyfriends and affairs had no impact on her continued success with both French and Germans alike.

She maintained her success and momentum after the War, being introduced to Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip and the list of her famous contacts reads like a Who's Who of Society at the time: Raymond Russo, Yves Montand, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Aznavour and Jean Cocteau to mention just a few.

She toured in America to rave reviews and had several romantic encounters which eventually ended in tragedy, with first Marcel Cerdan, and near the end another boyfriend, both dying in air crashes. Following a series of accidents, she became addicted to morphine, on top of the alcohol.

She married Jaques Pils in 1952 but divorced in 1956. Nothing seemed to halt her success, notching up 300 million French francs of royalty sales in 1958 alone (about £600,000 today). However her health started to deteriorate and she was in and out of hospital. Despite this, she continued with a string of boyfriends.

She married for the last time in 1962, to a hairdresser called Theo Lambouskas, but she passed away in October 1963 aged just 48, on the verge of going to America to sing for John F Kennedy, who himself had just one month left to live.

Julie played us out with a haunting recording of Piaf herself, signing 'Non, je ne regrette rien'.

A life more different than any of us could have contemplated, but somehow lighting up ours. A strange but engaging experience for us all.

Thursday 25th November 2021. The Settle and Carlisle Railway by Colin Ellis

This was our first meeting since January 2020 and 39 members attended to hear Collin Ellis's excellent talk about the Settle and Carlisle railway. As ever, Colin managed to entertain whilst educating us.

The origins of the makings of this line stretch right back to 1778, strangely enough being tangled up with rivalry in the Midlands over the carrying of coal from the coal fields to London.

As the late 18th and 19 centuries progressed, and the Industrial Revolution along with it, the importance and value of this trade increased rapidly, with the so-called 'Railway Mania' bringing into existence lines all up and down the country. The scramble for the trade produced lines which where uneconomic, duplicated, or very lucrative and with a monopoly, which then reversed their fortunes in a bewildering succession.

The upshot was the link from Settle to Carlisle was in competition with the West Coast main line. This provided a very useful alternative to the vital link from Leeds (and thence London) and Glasgow The line was opened in 1875 to goods, and from 1876 for passengers. But not after over 100 deaths within the 7000 strong construction crew. These lived with their families in bleak conditions in the remote valley where the main Ribble Viaduct was being constructed. The line cost around £3.8 million - a colossal sum for the period.

The line was very successful, despite the steep gradients (1:100) but being in competition with a major player, meant that its life was short. Short but sweet as the service available was very special: dining/refreshment cars even for Third Class (Second Class was phased out relatively soon) and other special services to make this a premium route to the North. Complications with the tendency of through trains from other lines not to stop for local passengers, and the inevitable attrition as the century went on from mergers and closures, was a threat that became very real after the First World War.

After the War, financial restrictions made it necessary to reduce complexity and cost in the system and the government grouped the multitude of lines into a fewer number of monolithic Groups with names we are familiar with such as LNER, LMS, GWR and so on. Sadly, the effect was to starve the line of traffic to the point of collapse in the 1960s. The last expresses ran in 1982 to Nottingham. Expresses through to London ceased earlier in 1976. However, a rescue campaign was successful and the line as we know it was born.

The route is spectacular, passing through remote country over many viaducts and several tunnels. The main Ribble-head Viaduct is 440 yards long and 100 feet high (no metric conversions available!) It is expensive to run, but the variety of locos and rolling stock, plus the attraction of the line to visiting railway aristocrats such as Flying Scotsman, Sir Nigel Gresley, Battle of Britain/West Country class locos from the Southern, and Coronation Class locos from the LMS, make it a very popular line, attracting visitors from all over the world.

There was much more to this detailed and very interesting talk, illustrated with a great many photos of locations and trains, but this is all the room your author has in which to present it.

An excellent afternoon.

Thursday 27th February 2020. The Orient Express Bill Devitt

Our talk this month was given by one of our own U3A members, and surpassed many a presentation we have had in the past. Bill Devitt took us through the history of the Orient Express, a project he had been instrumental in re-creating some years ago.

With humour and colourful visual aids he took us on a journey from the beginning of this kind of luxury train travel, and its use as a hotel on wheels, with all the lavish comfort it's passengers could imagine.

From the early Pullman coaches to the Orient Express used today, whilst also including the reasons for their popularity and the various heads of state and other famous faces who used them over the centuries. We were spell bound, and those who might have thought it was a niche interest confessed themselves completely wrong.

Thank you Bill!

Sunday 24th August 2014. 'Voices of Calke' - Roy Adams

Roy gave a talk illustrated by old photos and the recorded voices of some of the people who remembered the last few families who had owned Calke.
Calke began its decline on the death of Sir John Harpur Crewe in 1886, then eventually began to emerge again in 1985 when the National Trust took over its care.
Sir John was an eccentric countryman who loved hunting and taxidermy. He preferred to stay within the bounds of his estate rather than have a public life. Although hunting was an important pastime, if Sir John came across magpies as he went out to shoot, he called off the outing, being very superstitious.
On Sir John's death his son, Vauncey, took over the estate. It's not known whether from Vauncey's choice or his father's, but all farming equipment and livestock - other than the Portland sheep, which Sir John said must always remain at Calke - were sold in a 2-day fair before the old man's death.
We heard from Mrs Bradshaw, a cook at the Hall and Lucy Pegg, the daughter of the gamekeeper, a close and trusted friend of Sir Vauncey, about life around this time. Sir Vauncey,like his father, was interested in the countryside, his passion being birds. He shot and bought so many examples that by his death in 1924 he owned the second largest collection in England. One of the duties of the staff was to make sure all 37 fires in the house were lit and kept alight, to protect his taxidermy!
Vauncey was not in favour of visitors, nor of allowing the new-fangled motor car to cross his boundaries, preferring to send a horse and carriage to the gates! He was kind to his staff but strict with his children.
As Sir Vauncey's son, Richard, predeceased his father, the estate passed to the eldest daughter, Hilda, who was married to Colonel Godfrey Mosley. Thus the Harpur Crewe name passed from use.
In order to pay off huge death duties Hilda was forced to sell a huge part of the collection of birds and books and to cut her staff from 26 to 6. She cared for the staff she had, even taking a basket of vegetables to them -to be collected from her carriage _ if there was illness in the family. Mrs Wain, the wife of a historian and naturalist, said Lady Mosley treated her like a sister, taking her on her visits around the estate and the village of Ticknall.
World War 1 had no effect on Calke, but during World War 2, for nine months, there were some evacuees there - possibly the short stay reflecting the state of the house!
Hilda and her husband had no children, therefore the estate passed to her nephew, Charles Jenney - who changed his name to Harpur Crewe. Despite realising that her nephews and niece would probably inherit, Hilda had not trained them in any way for this future. Charles attempted to farm the land but preferred the quiet life, though he served as High Sheriff for some years. He put electricity into the house in 1963, making life slightly easier for those who were running the farm. Gradually the flocks were increased, cattle reintroduced and some of the grounds made more accessible, but the house remained mainly untouched.
When Charles died- whilst setting mole traps- in 1981, his brother Henry once again faced huge death duties, therefore he offered the house and contents and most of the estate to the Treasury, who turned it over to the National Trust. Henry enjoyed the public life which came with this move - being photographed on the balcony of Buckinham Palace with the Queen Mother, and shaking hands with Nancy Reagan, both of which events were connected with the publicity of the Chinese bed hangings.

The staff gave other anecdotes about the families, but space doesn't permit to include them all. Suffice to say, Roy and his Calke voices gave us a very good afternoon!

Thursday 26th May 2011. Fossil Ashby Project

Thursday 24th March 2011. Visit Ashby Castle.