Fri Apr 21st Comfort & Convenience in the Country House
Presented by Professor Marilyn Palmer, U3A Member, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Archaeology, Leicester University
Spaces available
Fri May 19th Signs & Symbols – The Hidden Messages in Paintings
Presented by Val Woodgate

Surrey Network study days are open to members of all U3As in Surrey and the surrounding area. They are held in the Menuhin Hall, Stoke d’Abernon and normally start at 9.30am with registration and finish at 4pm. The fee, including coffee tea and biscuits, is £10, though a visitor who is not a member of a U3A will be charged £12.

Attendees should bring a packed lunch. Prior booking is essential and forms are available at the monthly meetings or from the Surrey Network internet site www.u3asites.org.uk/surreyu3anetwork
There will be no Study Days for the holiday months of July and August.

River Cruise aboard MS Serenity  9 December 2017 (shared holiday with Richmond U3A expressions of interest required by March 30th)
Each winter, the streets and squares of Strasbourg are illuminated with light as Christmas casts its spell on this beautiful French city. With festive stalls spread across several different areas, it is one of the largest and oldest Christmas markets in Europe, and has been voted the best for the last two years running. Before spending the day here, we explore the city of Mannheim, which also hosts its own market, and there’s the chance to join our optional excursion to Heidelberg in the Neckar valley, ensuring you have a truly magical break.
4 DAYS FROM £399
YOUR CRUISE INCLUDES
BY COACH Coach travel to the port from your local area Eurotunnel crossing from Folkestone Three nights’ cruise on a full board basis on our 4 star ship.
Day 1: UK – Mainz We travel to Mainz, where the Rhine and Main rivers meet, and enjoy a relaxing evening onboard
Day 2: Mannheim We reach Mannheim in the early morning and have plenty of free time to enjoy the Christmas market. The city is located at the union of the Rhine and the Neckar rivers, and offers lots of sightseeing opportunities; the Mannheim Palace, a stunning baroque structure which now houses the university; the Luisenpark, noted as one of the most beautiful parks in Europe; and the Fernmeldeturm Mannheim, an impressive telecommunication tower complete with observation deck. However, the main attraction during winter months is undoubtedly the Christmas market – one of the largest in southwest Germany! Lunchtime sees us heading off on our optional excursion to Heidelberg for more Christmas markets. We set sail in the early evening, heading towards Strasbourg.
Day 3: Strasbourg Enjoy a full day in the remarkable city of Strasbourg. See the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, a gothic masterpiece; the stunning Kammerzell House which dates back to the 15th century; the Petite France district with its beautiful riverside setting; and the Church of Saint-Thomas, an excellent example of Alsatian gothic art. The Strasbourg Christmas Market is said to be the oldest and largest in Europe, dating back to the 1570s. Voted the Best European Christmas Market for the last two years running, it is spread over 11 areas of the city and features a huge Christmas tree standing at almost 100 feet.
Day 4: Mainz – London We bid farewell to the captain and his crew and set off on the return journey to the UK

COST

Main Deck£399.00
Middle Deck £439.00
Panorama Deck£479.00

Single Occupancy is available at £50% extra cost

Insurance £29.95 through the River Cruise Line

For more details contact Libby Barton
email libby.barton @btinternet.com
or telephone 0208 977 9064

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST BEFORE 31ST MARCH PLEASE

Please click on the links to see the whole timetable and the booking details.

http://u3asites.org.uk/london-region/events

LondonRegionSummerSchool2017_ApplicationForm(Final05Feb2017)

 SHARED LEARNING PROJECT: APRIL TO JUNE 2017

PIONEERS OF WOMEN’S HOUSING – FOR THE NEW MODEL WORKING WOMAN

The early history of Women’s Pioneer Housing

Background: WW1 saw the campaign for equal voting rights with men put on ice. Women instead took on the work men had been doing, jobs it was once thought far beyond the mental and physical capacity of women. Peace came at a price. Wartime casualties had left one in three women with no means of support but millions of women were being laid off to make jobs available to ‘returning heroes’. Those desperate to hold on to their job, or to find work to support themselves, flooded the agencies that had placed women in jobs during the conflict. High on the list of what they desperately needed was a decent place they could call home. Etheldred Browning, an Anglo-Irish suffragist who had recently moved to London, observed that in central London many large houses, designed to function on the back of cheap female labour, now lay empty. Women in the war years had tried alternatives to the badly paid, long hours of domestic drudgery. They weren’t going back to it. Etheldred came up with a plan to buy the houses cheaply and convert them into self-contained flats for women. Her tenants could decorate them to their own tastes, the rents would be moderate and there’d be no silly bars on visitors. Despite some very hairy moments, the new ‘Women’s PIoneer Housing’ proved a success with the active support of a network of veterans from the women’s suffrage movement. Old records recently found in Women’s Pioneer’s safe read like a Who’s Who of the suffragist movement, spanning Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. They reveal too that the women who supported her project or were housed or employed by it, included some of the first to qualify in professions where women are now accepted as the norm. What we have found is a forgotten chapter in suffrage history that shows how the suffragists turned skills honed campaigning for the vote to another practical purpose, helping protect and progress advances women were making in the workplace. We have a cracking story to tell but need help properly researching it.

The project: We need help:

• reading through archive material to draw up an accurate record of who did what and when. The material will be digitally scanned so this can be done on a computer at home.
• researching individual women to find out more about their lives, specifically: their family background, their education/training, the work they did (paid or unpaid) up to and during the 1920s/30s. A lot of this can be done at home using geneology websites (we’re paying for the subscription) or at the Women’s Library, National Archives, university archives or from online archive material provided by trade bodies. Photos would be a huge plus.
• researching one or more professions that opened up to women post-WW1 or that changed significantly (new technology/materials or much tighter professional standards). What factors helped or hindered women’s progress (for example new laws) and how was the contribution of women valued and rewarded compared with that of men. Again archives, universities and trade bodies may help. Family anecdotes welcome!

You should apply if:

• you are interested in the suffrage movement and/or a period of British history that spans the final years of the struggle for Irish independence, world war one and interwar politics
• you are comfortable using the internet and are up to the challenge of trying to get information from geneology websites, where names are often misspelt or a search one day will throw up information that failed, using exactly the same tactics, the day before
• you enjoy detective work, making discoveries and joining the dots in a complex puzzle
• you have time to spare for our project during April, May and June
• you can attend two meetings in April (dates to be decided)
• you are willing to produce reports detailing what you found and where, including full details of your sources and who, if anyone, is to be credited for information and/or images.

Venues: The first meeting will be held at Women’s Pioneer’s offices in White City at 227 Wood Lane, London W12 0EX (nearest tube station is White City, Central line). The second will be held at the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics, 10 Portugal Street, Holborn, London WC2A 2HD (nearest tube is Holborn, Central and Piccadilly lines). Additional research may need to be done at the National Archives (Richmond Road, Twickenham TW9 (nearest station: Kew Gardens overground), the British Library and
Royal Holloway/University of London. Most other research can be done online.

Questions and applications by Tuesday 28 February or earlier to:

Lisa Thompson thompsonstwo@icloud.com 01732 750 433 Or text 07885 519 117

Jo Walters jo.walters.slp@gmail.com 01689 854880. Or text 07713916620

Dionne Antrobus Dionne.Antrobus@womenspioneer.co.uk 020 8749 7112

Pioneers of Women’s Housing SLP

Citizens: 800 Years in the making: exploring the history of
liberty, protest, power and rebellion

Citizens is a three year project being run by Royal Holloway which will launch in January 2017. The aim is to create a website that explores the history of liberty, protest, rebellion and reform from Magna Carta to the Suffragettes and beyond. This site, promoted especially to teachers and school pupils, will help visitors understand and learn how and why people’s rights and their relationship with the state has changed; how people have challenged authority; how governments have responded to such challenges; and how Parliament and parliamentary democracy have evolved. With your help, Royal Holloway plans to identify, map and share the stories, discovered by U3A members, to build up a picture of how communities have contributed to our democratic heritage.

U3A members will be playing a vital role, highlighting local stories, figures, movements. Here in London, for example, members will look at the relevant history of a particular borough which has contributed to this eight century long struggle to define, defend and extend rights and liberty. Here in Battersea, you may like to research the Putney Debates or the central role Battersea played in the early days of British Socialism – for example,names such as Charlotte Despard, John Burns and John Archer.

This is a more flexible form of Shared Learning Project than we have been used to in London as members will be asked to work in small, local groups or on their own on their chosen topic and then come together for meetings every eight weeks when they can discuss their progress and raise any questions. The meetings will be held at Senate House, University of London National Archives in Kew, and the first briefing meeting will be on Monday 16^th January 2017.

If the project interests you but you would like some suggestions as to research topics, please sign up and come along to the first meeting to hear Dr. Matthew Smith’s proposals. Matthew will also be able to give you a letter of introduction to your local museum. If you haven’t found anyone with whom to work, come and find a group you can join. If you are at all interested or have any queries, please email Jennifer Anning, the U3A Co-ordinator of the project.

Please click on link below for more information

http://citizens-u3a-slp-flyer-london-region

Jennifer Anning, National SLP Co-ordinator
ja_ku3a@btinternet.com