20192020Archive | Ferndown U3A

Whitchurch Silk Mill

Jan 21, 2020 | 20192020Archive

On Friday 17 January a group of the U3A members met on a slightly chilly but dry and sunny morning, at the Whitchurch silk mill for a guided tour of the working mill.

We started off with a welcome cup of tea or delicious coffee and biscuits, served by very smiley, chatty, ladies. A good start! We were divided into two groups one on a tour inside the mill and the other outside to hear about the history of the building and people who owned the mill, and why it was built on this particular piece of land. The days previous wet weather had left the rivers nearby in full flow so one could understand why it was the ideal place for a watermill of any kind.

Our group was not too observant as we were asked what the mistake was on the clock face and no one appeared to spot the fact that the roman number 4 was only shown as a IIII but nobody has found out why this had happened.

After the fresh air we went inside and were informed about the history of silk production, how it is harvested, dyed and how the looms are threaded to acquire the various patterns. And how millions of silk worms are boiled alive so that we might have the pleasure of the beautiful fabric, a fact I personally did feel rather sad about, but there is no denying the colours and fabrics are very tactile and desirable to wear.

We had the added bonus of an exhibition of beautiful and imaginative embroideries to enthral us after the mill tour. There was a small shop with some very good quality British made products for sale and also a little snack area which quite a few of the group took advantage of with bowls of steaming, tasty soup, toasty sandwiches, and jacket potatoes all freshly prepared – delicious.

An interesting talk, and demonstration by a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides.

Whitchurch Silk Mill

Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum

Jan 21, 2020 | 20192020Archive

Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum uncovers moving and important stories of everyday people’s interactions with the justice system since the late 18th century. It shows how the law affects all of us, and how we can also affect the law. The Museum makes this extraordinary building and these fascinating stories available and enjoyable for all.

XMAS (17 of 23)

First Friday Talk – Motorways in the sky

Dec 30, 2019 | 20192020Archive

The 6th of December saw the last First Friday Talk of 2019 when 90 members of the FU3A came to the Barrington Theatre, Ferndown to hear a very interesting talk on Air Traffic Control.
The talk was given by the very knowledgeable Dr. John Guy who has spent his whole career in ATC and is a leading authority on the subject. His audio visual presentation demonstrated the multiple levels of control by the various air authorities that keep us all safe in the air. He explained about the regional and global network of areas of authority control which modern airliners travel through en route and the procedures involved in keeping the ever increasing numbers of flights apart, in all directions. He finished with a fascinating video of a huge jet airliner making it’s approach to San Francisco Airport and demonstrating all the features of ATC which he had been explaining. The lecture was extremely well received by all those present.

The next First Friday Talk of 2020 is on January 3rd and has the intriguing title of “How I survived the house that sat down” and is at the Barrington Theatre, Ferndown. Free coffee and teas will be served from 9.45am, as usual and the talk will start around 10.20am. All members are welcome.

Tea at the Museum – Kingston Lacy

Dec 22, 2019 | 20192020Archive

Thursday 12th December was not a nice day. Those of you who can remember will recall that there was not a deluge of rain, more a precipitation of Biblical proportions, a prelude to all the flooding in the locality. We who had arranged to go to Kingston Lacy to see the Christmas decorations, inside the house and the illuminated gardens outside, watched with a degree of trepidation as it poured and poured and poured.

And then, as if by magic, the rain stopped at about 3pm and there was even a glimpse of some unaccustomed yellow stuff in the sky as we made our way to Kingston Lacy. Everyone who said they could come and their guests, arrived as if there had been no adverse weather conditions at all. After suitable sustenance in the café – we’re not called Tea at the Museum for nothing! – we made our way into the house to see the Christmas decorations.

The inspiration for the decorations, both on the stairs and adorning the enormous Christmas trees in some of the State Rooms, was ‘Making Memories’ and was taken from the Edwardian journals of the Bankes children, including the last owner of the house, Ralph. The trees were beautifully decorated and the presents wrapped in brown paper and ribbon, which took me back to my childhood. (Oh dear, showing my age now…) Some members enjoyed the board games set out in the Saloon – dominoes, snakes and ladders and jigsaws. And of course we were able to enjoy the wonderful art collection on the State Room floor.

And then it was time to venture outside. A choir sang Christmas carols in the courtyard and the fine weather held. All agreed that the gardens and trees were beautifully illuminated, especially the fernery, which looked magical. There was more to see this year than last and the Japanese garden was the subject of many photographs. Thoughtfully, there were rubber mats on the soggiest paths so everyone who wanted to was able to safely negotiate the illuminated route and see all that they wanted.

So, unexpectedly, given the weather at the start of the day, we were able to do everything that we wanted and enjoy Kingston Lacy at its festive best.

Pam and Kay

Visit to old fossils

Nov 24, 2019 | 20192020Archive

Visit to old fossils
On Thursday 21st November members of the Tea at the Museum group visited the Etches Collection at Kimmeridge for the afternoon. This is a modern, purpose built museum housing the lifetime collection of Jurassic marine fossils (157 million years ago) belonging to Dr Steve Etches. A resident of Kimmeridge village, Steve’s passion has been to collect and reveal the wonderful fossils along a five mile stretch of coastline close to his home and from a couple of local inland quarries. A National Lottery grant enabled the community to build a modern village hall and a stunning museum to house Steve’s collection; it opened in 2016.
Steve’s star finds are displayed in large display cases arranged according to themes and our excellent guide, Sarah, explained clearly what we were looking at and why it was important. Steve has found some completely new species including the “missing link” in the evolution of bivalve molluscs for which Darwin had searched but been unable to find! The collection is internationally important and Sarah explained it all to us in a most interesting way.
It can difficult to imagine what a prehistoric creature looks like based on some fossilised bones. The museum solves this problem in two imaginative ways. The first is to project onto the sloping ceiling images of marine creatures swimming through the warm Jurassic seas and the group enjoyed watching ichthyosaurs, ammonites and predatory cuttlefish ‘swimming’ across the ceiling, much as one would in a viewing tunnel in an aquarium.
Some of the group enjoyed engaging with the museum’s latest technological innovation – using a Bournemouth university designed program to create three dimensional representations of some of the Jurassic creatures that could be walked around as though they were actually in the gallery.
Earlier fine weather turned to afternoon rain but that did not deter our hardy group from making the short trip across the road to the Clavell Restaurant for tea and cake. On the way home, some of us met a large group of friendly and curious locals…

KIM (7 of 10)

Palmerston’s Folly – Fort Nelson

Nov 24, 2019 | 20192020Archive

33 members of the Discovering Wessex J1 Group went to Portsmouth on Friday 15th November, to visit Fort Nelson which is now the home of the ROYAL ARTILLERY Museum. We were shown around the whole installation by 2 very knowledgeable official guides looking at the museum galleries, the displays of historic guns from ancient cannons to modern artillery pieces. One of which was 200 tons in weight and ran on railway tracks and used to fire huge shells 7 miles. We also saw the ramparts with their original cannons etc. The visit ended with a walk down the underground tunnels into the magazines, stores and barracks areas. Many enjoyed a tasty lunch before returning to Ferndown by the coach. A very enjoyable trip.