A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

To All Our Readers

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A REVIEW FROM THE CHAIR Dear Members

What a mixed bag this year has brought. First, if any of you followed my “tip of the year” then you will see that not much has changed regarding Orion. Certainly, no supernova. Betelgeuse is still there, much as it was this time last year. Perhaps it will go bang and perhaps not. However, this summer has been interesting for any trying to view the planets. During July and August, Jupiter was the first object to light up towards the SE, closely followed by Saturn, seemingly 6 inches away further east and slightly higher. One evening I lodged my 10 x 50 binoculars on a couple of cushions to cut down on vibration and could clearly see three of Jupiter's moons. Their track is now much lower, even at highpoint due south, so by 8 pm you start losing them. Mars' orbit placed it at its closest to earth this autumn and consequently it still rates one of the clearest, brightest points in the sky. Rising almost due east it soars, generally higher than the moon, and remains visible to the southwest until early morning. By that time Venus appears, following a roughly similar track. Do any of you know enough about this to run an astronomy group?

Specifically, U3A wise, the year which started with so much promise has, at times, been in danger of becoming a non-event. It was a great disappointment to have to postpone the open meetings, trips, and the summer social evening. Some groups met briefly during the summer but are in limbo as I write, with England in lockdown. I know that Creative Writing continues using email so that has to rate as a success. Also, in lieu of the open meeting, Brian has organised a series of video talks, free to Members who wish to log in.

You will be aware that we have not held the AGM for 2019/2020 as planned in April. Initially we hoped that coronavirus restrictions would lift and only a short postponement would be necessary. It became increasingly obvious that this would not be so, and your Committee has considered both a virtual electronic and postal alternative and is further considering a blend of the two. What we have decided is to postpone the outstanding meeting to April 2021, if possible, meeting in person or otherwise using whichever option seems best suited. The meeting will cover the two years as will the accounts. As fees were waived for 2020/21 persons holding Membership at the end of 2019 will be the voting Members.

You remember that we made the decision to waive fees for this year and fund ourselves from contingency reserves. This is all very well for a short term but the U3A does not run cost free. We must pay the National U3A Membership fee (next due in March 2021), the video talks cost about £50 each, and there will always be some stationery/postage etc. By April next I estimate we will have spent about £1000, all out of reserve, and so whatever happens next year it looks to me as if some membership fee will be required to survive.

I wish to end on a positive note. Please be assured that "normal service” will be resumed as soon as humanly possible. Meanwhile Christmas will come along. Keep smiling at the cracker jokes, or better make up your own around the table. Plenty of time whilst making room for the Xmas pudding.

Stay cheerful and keep well. Barry

DECEMBER 2020

Edition No. 97 CHATTERBOX The Official Newsletter of CHATTERIS U3A

CHATTERIS U3A VIRTUAL TALKS (Speaker Secretary – Brian Windsor)

NOVEMBER’S TALK

On Thursday 19th November we were able to watch a talk by David Clark about the mysteries surrounding two of his ancestors in My Mysterious Grandmas. It was a story about the morality of the late Victorian and Edwardian times of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the actions taken by families to cover up breaches of this moral code. These stories brought into sharp relief the changes in attitudes over the last 100 years.

He showed how families then would go to great lengths to cover up a birth out of wedlock and even passing of the child as having different parents. His other grandmother showed us the dire consequences when a married mother falls in love with another soldier during the First World War and the drastic actions her and her lover had to take to make a life for themselves.

David also gave us an insight into the information he used to trace his family history and unearth these fascinating facts. He made use of census records as well as birth, marriage and death certificates to identify his ancestors and then used some astute detective work to unearth their stories.

We will all have ancestors with interesting stories, both good and bad, and I hope this talk may have caused you to think about your own families and created a desire for you to find out more about them. If anyone wishes to look into their family history or is interested in finding out more we have a Chatteris U3A Family History group run by Georgina Plumb so give her a call and you will find group members able to give guidance and information to help you with your exploration.

DECEMBER’S FORTHCOMING TALK

“A Christmas Entertainment” by Sun Jester

Thursday 17th December at 11.00am

We hope this presentation will bring a ray of light and celebrations into people’s lives during this period of restrictions and will provide a moment of good cheer to start the Christmas period. Sun Jester have been working in history and heritage education for more than 20 years, delivering fun and informative talks and entertainments for all ages.

The always popular Bob and Dot present a feast of anecdotes and music on a seasonal theme. Christmas songs from the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals combine with tales about the artists and an exploration of the origins of some of our favourite Christmas traditions, including how one of them was (and still could be) illegal.

To register for this FREE talk all you need to do is click on the following link https://mirthy.co.uk/u3a-chatteris/ , fill in your name and email address and you will receive an email back from Alex Ramamurthy within minutes and definitely within one hour with details on how to join the talk. If you have not received the email, please check in your Junk/Spam email folder in case it has been put there by your software. If you have not received an email, try re-registering. Mirthy sends out reminder emails twice more before the talk, one two days before and the last reminder 15 minutes before the talk. These reminders also include the link and instructions on how to join the talk.

Talk length - 40 minutes. Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Brian

INTEREST GROUPS

GUITAR GROUP – Steve Wright

Due to the Tier 2 Covid-19 restrictions, the December meeting will be postponed. I hope to conduct the January meeting and further details will be posted in the next Chatterbox which is due to be produced early in January.

I suggest that you can indulge yourself during December by listening to your favourite music. If a particular song or piece of music resonates as a strong favourite then please search on the internet for the appropriate guitar tabs. If you can print the music for our next meeting then we can include this as a practice exercise as part of the agenda.

At the next meeting I will also bring the neccessary tools to fit second strap buttons for all those wishing to have this feature. Plus I will bring along a pink Electric Guitar (that I have acquired!) to the next meeting to compare the playability with Classical and Acoustic Guitars. Steve

HEALTH & WELLNESS – Steve Wright

We have now finished the November lockdown and enter December with Tier 2 restrictions. Who would have foreseen that this year would be so disruptive and predict it would all end in tiers? Anyway, I am proposing that we can start this group in January. I will need to ascertain the Covid-19 restrictions closer to the time and check with the King Edward Centre (KEC) as to their availability; again, with the Covid-19 constraints in mind. Therefore, if this proposal can be realised the meeting will be held on Thursday 7th January 2021 from 1.00pm until 3.00pm at the KEC.

The first meeting will explore the principles of Assertiveness. One such principle is accepting our right to express our views, albeit in the appropriate circumstances and with the appropriate person(s). Being Assertive also means creating a comfortable environment that would allow others to express their views to us whilst we listen. However, a past work colleague did provide some astute words which are applicable here: "We can think some things; We can say some things; But it is not wise to say everything we think!"

I hope we can all enjoy the Christmas Season and I pray this period will bring some peace, happiness, and enjoyment. I will keep you updated for the January meeting via Chatterbox or, if more applicable, via an email. If you want to discuss anything further relating to this group or on the comments expressed above, then please contact me. Remember to Learn, Laugh & Live. Take care, keep safe and have fun. Steve

WALKING THERE – Brian Windsor

Our planned walk in October was postponed due to heavy rain. Luckily, it was rearranged for Wednesday 4th November, the day before lockdown 2. It proved to be a beautiful sunny and dry day with an ideal temperature for

a gentle stroll around the countryside. Eleven members turned out for this walk which we did in two groups separated by some 10 minutes to maintain the rule of six. The walk of 4.5 miles started in Ramsey and went to Bury and back. It was mostly down hidden leafy lanes and woodland but with some road and field edge walking to add to the variety.

The route visited the Church of the Holy Cross in Bury which has parts dating back to 1100’s although most was built in 1300’s and 1400’s. We crossed Ramsey Golf Club and came out in Ramsey near St Thomas a Becket Church and the gatehouse of Ramsey Abbey.

It was suprising to find that the church had been there since 1180 while the gatehouse had been built in the 14th century. Continuing up the road, we looked in on the icehouse at Booths Hill before skirting fields to the Ramsey Rural Museum, closed because of Covid, to return to the road by Wood Lane Cemetery and so back into Ramsey and the end of a very pleasant walk.

On Wednesday 9th December, John and I will lead a walk from either Fenstanton or March depending on weather conditions and we are meeting at 9:30am in Furrowfields Car Park. Please use appropriate footwear as parts of either route are likely to be muddy. Anyone wishing to join the group should contact either John Parry or Brian Windsor for further details.

LUNCH CLUB – Jan Fieldhouse I wish all the attendees of the Lunch Club a Very Happy Christmas and Good New Year. Hopefully, we will be able to start our lunches out in 2021 at some point... I will keep you posted when I have an update. Jan x

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TRIPS / THEATRE (Chris Coveney)

Sunday 18th July 2021. HUNSTANTON AND THEATRE TRIP is CANCELLED for The Beach Boyz Tribute Show. The Theatre rang us to say this had been cancelled because the Beach Boyz are not going to tour next year. So hopefully we can go next year and see someone else.

If you paid for this trip (£35), we will refund the money to your bank account. If we already have your bank details for previous trips you do not have to do anything. If we don’t have your bank details please forward your SORT CODE, ACCOUNT NUMBER AND NAME OF ACCOUNT to me.

This is the last trip to be cancelled on a pretty sad year with only one trip running which was Peterborough Greyhound Racing which was very enjoyable. We thought we had an excellent programme for this year so hopefully we will be able to rearrange some of them again.

Sunday 20th December 2020. CAROLS AT THE HALL - You might want to join the Carol Concert at the Royal Albert Hall on a video link. As we cannot go on a trip this might be the next best thing. You can buy a ticket online for £16 which will enable you to stream the concert into your own home. Details are available on the Royal Albert Hall website - https://www.royalalberthall.com/

Well as we go into our bubbles for Christmas and find that the whole family cannot mix, Pete and I find ourselves on our own for Christmas Day for the first time ever. We do have plenty to do for the rest of Christmas, so it is only one day, and I am sure lots of people are in the same boat.

Well, stay positive for next year and a Happy Christmas and Healthy New Year from your TRIPS / THEATRE COMMITTEE – Jan, Jeanette, Pete & Chris.

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ONLINE PASSWORD SECURITY (Ken Robson)

Since the advent of Covid-19 lockdowns it is likely that many of us are using the internet a lot more, for purchases, online banking etc. etc. It is therefore essential that you use strong passwords for your own safety and security.

Previous advice was to use about 8 characters including symbols like #,@,& etc. However, current thinking is that length is far more important (of passwords, nothing else!).

The table shows this clearly; the time taken to crack the password is not by GCHQ or the NSA but just a high spec. High Street computer.

This shows that the length of your password is much more important than including odd punctuation symbols etc. For example, using a dictionary word like 'Cromwell' (8) would be cracked in less than 1 second, but ‘Cromwellx' (9) would take 3 days. 'Humpty' (6) 2 seconds, HumptyDumpty (12) 1,000 years. So, put two or three words together that you can easily remember, the longer the better, and it will be much easier to remember than something like 'gxK#t8m@'.

Characters Length Crack time

A - Z, a - z, 0 – 9 8 4 hours A - Z, a - z, 0 - 9, + symbols 8 1 day A -Z, a - z, 0 – 9 12 10,000 years A - Z, a - z, 0 - 9, + symbols 12 138,000 years A - Z, a - z only 12 1,000 years

TWENTY CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

1. What do you call a line of men waiting for a haircut? A barberqueue 2. Why was the snowman looking through the carrots? He was picking his nose 3. What did Adam say the day before Christmas? "It's Christmas Eve" 4. What did Santa do when he went speed dating? He pulled a cracker 5. What did Cinderella say when her photos didn’t arrive on time? One day my prints will come 6. When do vampires like racing? When it’s neck and neck 7. What does Father Christmas do when his elves misbehave? He gives them the sack 8. Why did the pony have to gargle? Because it was a little horse 9. Why are Christmas trees bad at knitting? Because they always drop their needles 10.What is good King Wenceslas favourite pizza? One that’s deep-pan, crisp and even 11. What do you call a train loaded with toffee? A chew chew train 12. Why couldn’t the skeleton go to the Christmas party? He had no body to go with 13. Why did no-one bid for Rudolph and Blitzen on eBay? Because they were two deer 14. What happened to the man who stole an advent calendar? He got 25 days 15. Who hides in the bakery at Christmas? A mince spy 16. What do you call a woman who stands between two goal posts? Annette 17. What goes "Oh, Oh, Oh"? Santa walking backwards 18. Why are pirates called pirates? Because they arrrrrrr! 19. What do you call a blind reindeer? No eye deer 20.What’s round and bad tempered? A vicious circle

TWENTY CHRISTMAS FACTS

1. Delivering all the world’s presents on Christmas Eve, Santa visits 822 homes per second and travels at 650 miles per second. 2. Robins on cards were a joke 150 years ago when postmen wore red tunics and were named after them. 3. Carols began as an old English custom called wassailing, toasting neighbours to a long life. Carols weren't sung in churches until they were introduced by St Francis of Assisi in the 13th century. 4. The abbreviation Xmas isn't irreligious. The letter X is a Greek abbreviation for Christ. 5. James Pierpont's 1857 song Jingle Bells was first called One Horse Open Sleigh and was written for Thanksgiving. 6. Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space when Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sang it on December 16, 1965. 7. Christmas pudding was originally a soup made with raisins and wine. 8. Before turkey, the traditional Christmas meal in England was a pig's head and mustard. 9. The typical number of calories in your average Christmas dinner is 957. 10. Boxing Day gets its name from all the money collected in church alms-boxes for the poor. 11. The average Christmas tree grows for 15 years before it is sold. 12. Many parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin C. 13. Despite the tale of three wise men paying homage to baby Jesus, the Bible never gives a number. Matthew's Gospel refers to merely "wise men". 14. Rudolph’s nose redness is hypothesised as a parasitic respiratory infection. 15. In the “12 Days of Christmas”, all the gifts from the song will add up to 364 gifts. 16. According to tradition, you should eat one mince pie on each of the 12 days of Christmas to bring good luck. 17. Mistletoe (Viscum album) is from the Anglo-Saxon word misteltan, which means “little dung twig” because the plant spreads via bird droppings. 18. The Yule Log was originally an entire tree that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony and burned over the 12 days of Christmas. 19. Electric tree lights were invented by Edward Johnson in the US in 1882. 20. The average number of Christmas presents a UK child receives is 16. ********************

(Editor’s Footnote)

I plan to publish next month’s newsletter on Thursday 7th January. If you would like to contribute to it then please email your article to me by noon on Tuesday 5th January. Take care and have a great Christmas.

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