www.penrithandnorthlakesu3a.org.uk

June/July 2017 Newsletter 154

News and Views MONTHLY MEETINGS

Penrith and North Lakes U3A is a Registered Charity, No.1073281

2.15pm Thursday 21st September LIVERPOOL POETS, an illustrated talk by Ted McArdle Ted McArdle has a great knowledge and enthusiasm for the famous Liverpool poets of the 1960s when Roger McGough and Brian Patten were performing their poems in crowded bars. Full details in August newsletter.

Thursday 20th July 2017 U3A SUMMER EVENT: NAWORTH CASTLE AND LANERCOST PRIORY This year’s visit will encompass two significant sites: a castle and a former monastery. We are fortunate to have secured an opportunity to visit Naworth Castle (above right), not generally open to the public, where we will be given a special guided tour by the owner, Philip Howard. We will be able to see round parts of the castle and, if the weather is clement, visit the gardens, too. Coffee or tea will be available on arrival. Please note that unfortunately it will not be possible for those with reduced mobility to tour the castle as there are unprotected steps and other hazards. From there we will go on to see Lanercost Priory church (below) where, as well as viewing the church, there will be time for an optional tour of the nearby abbey ruins, under the care of English Heritage (entry £4 or free to members). The Tea Rooms at Lanercost have an excellent reputation so lunch may be taken there or you may prefer to bring a packed lunch. We will leave Sandgate bus station in Penrith at 9.30 am, and should be back in

Penrith by about 4 pm.. The cost of the visit will be £20 each. The latest date for booking is Thursday 29th June. Please see the form inside the newsletter for booking details. (On the reverse of the form you will find further information on both Naworth and Lanercost.)

ONE-OFF AND SHORT-RUN PROGRAMMES

ST ANDREW’S SATURDAYS

The morning series of open sessions with literary and other emphasis on the 3rd Saturday of the month has found most encouraging support from members. After a summer break, the programme will resume on 16th September. Watch for full details in August’s newsletter. If you would like to suggest topics to be included in the new season, please contact Robin Acland, 017687 79672 or rtacland@googlemail.com THE RETURN OF THE KING! Charles II and the history, art, architecture and literature of this era From the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, there was an explosion of new ideas in Architecture, Art, Literature and Drama and Science as well as plots, plague, fire, war, political and sexual intrigue and troubles about the Succession! Michael Fossey, Joan McMurtry, Robin Acland and Gillian Stoddart will explore this turbulent, creative period in English history in a one-day event at St Andrew’s Parish Centre on Friday 3rd November 10.00am to 4.00pm, with breaks for coffee and lunch (own arrangements). This is preliminary notice only, full details and booking arrangements in August’s newsletter.

NOTICEBOARD

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Calling all U3A golfers I am looking for people interested in playing a round of golf with other members in the region. I have tried to identify clubs which are privately owned, not too busy and only nine holes. In this way, people who may not be quite as fit as they were, or not currently a member of a club can take part. The courses under consideration, in alphabetical order, are Alston Moor, Beckside (between Winder-mere and Kendal), Brayton Park (near Aspatria), Distington (by Workington) and St Bees. As I live near to the Distington course I have spoken to the owner and for £5 we can play nine holes and have a bucket of balls on the driving range for practice. The most expensive green fee advertised is £10 so it won't be an expensive undertaking. I am looking at organising one outing per month at each of the courses, adjourning to a local hostelry afterwards. Start date late June, and I am looking at Fridays, late morning (10:30 or 11.00am) as start time. If you are interested please send an email to paul.tharagonnet@gmail.com or phone 01946 329404. When you reply please vote for four of the five clubs and on a majority verdict I will pick the four most popular. chosen courses for June, July, August and September. Paul Tharagonnet, membership secretary of Cockermouth Golf Club, who is contacting likewise all U3As in northern Cumbria.

Future structure of the Third Age Trust

Individual U3As operate within overall provision and support from the Third Age Trust. You pay for this: a proportion of all U3A members’ subscriptions funds the working of the Trust. All U3As have been contacted recently with a request to encourage members to update themselves on potential changes to the structure of the Trust that are currently under debate. An article in the June issue of Third Age Matters will enable you to do this.

MINES OF CROSS FELL AND THE PENNINES It was a pleasure to welcome Ian Tyler to our May event because of his reputation as a real au-thority on the history of mining in Cumbria. Ian’s numerous books and talks, together with the min-ing museum at Keswick he once ran, have helped to inform many over the years. Many in our U3A are interested in geology, industrial archaeology and local, family and social history, so his subject matter had wide appeal. His talk, like his book on the same subject, began in the Brampton area. Ian reminded us that it was once monks, then Lords of the manor, who were responsible for some of the earliest mines. The link in the Brampton area is with the monks of Lanercost Priory and the Earls of Carlisle of Naworth Castle, both places featuring in our summer outing in July. Later in the talk, Ian touched on the Roman period, mentioning the Maiden Way, linking Kirkby Thore (Bravoniacum), on the main York/Carlisle route, to Whitely Castle (Epiacum) near Alston, with its lead mines, and on to the central Roman Wall. Mineral mining in the Pennines probably goes back even further – Ian mentioned copper mining above Melmerby and after his talk I discussed with him Bronze Age sandstone spear-moulds which had been found at Croglin in 1883. He knew of test copper mining above Renwick though of none at Croglin, it is worth noting that the Bronze Age mines of the

Great Orme went initially unnoticed be-cause the worked veins had been back-filled by those early miners. The Earl of Carlisle’s colliery at Tindale Fell was of interest to our Archaeology 1 group who visited the area last summer. The lines of the old waggon-ways are still clearly visible on the fell and eventually these linked to Brampton and later to the Newcastle line. The tramways were the earliest in the country and Lord Carlisle’s agent James Thompson, who went on to lease the estate collieries and lived at Far-

lam Hall, was also pioneering. He purchased Stephenson’s “Rocket” in 1837 to haul coal, but though this locomotive had won the Rainhill trials for speed, it could only haul 3 trucks and was laid aside at Tindale 3 years later, eventually moving to what is now the Science Museum in Lon-don. It was interesting to see the old photographs of the once thriving village of Tindale and its Spelter works which smelted zinc, but unfortunately polluted the surrounding farmland. There were several collieries near Hallbankgate and Tindale, and one, Roachburn Pit, was flooded in 1908 when a nearby tarn was breached & 3 miners lost their lives. Forrest Head, in the same vi-cinity, is the site of the biggest lime kiln in Cumbria. The ready access to limestone (15 beds in the Pennines) and coal meant that lime making was commonplace. We moved through the Eden Valley, the view of Lacy’s Caves reminding us of the Long Meg Ala-baster (gypsum) works and mine which once existed nearby – an area again previously visited by our archaeology group. The caves however were excavated by Lt.-Col. Lacy of Salkeld Hall in 1790 to keep his wine in! Ian entertained us with tales of local characters. One such was Rev. Thomas Robinson who was Rector of Ousby. He wrote the book The Anatomy of the Earth, and towards the end of 1600’s leased Goldscope Mine in the Newlands Valley, but the venture ended in failure and debt. The Hartside pass, Cross Fell and Great Dun Fell, with their history of lead and later barytes ex-traction were explored. Great Dun Fell Silverband mine, for example, was once exploited by the Quaker owned London Lead Company who developed the village of Dufton and were responsible for piped water in the village and the surviving water fountain – again visited by some of our mem-bers. Barytes, was later mined here. Amongst its uses, it is the source of barium, still sometimes used in imaging the gastrointestinal tract (barium meal/swallow/enema). The altitude of the mine and transportation problems was solved using an aerial ropeway, the remains of which can still be seen. Ian concluded his entertaining talk by detailing the difficulties of mining while under fire on the Warcop range!

Josie Dunlop

Remains of Tindale Fell Spelter Works

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EVENT REPORTS MEDICAL ISSUES ON EXPEDITIONS

In April, local Eden lady Hokey Bennett-Jones, who has worked in some of the most remote places in the world providing vital medical support, gave members of the U3A, a fascinating insight into her work as a ‘nursing leader’. Hokey has served on many field work expeditions, however, she chose to focus her talk on the 1976 ground breaking Explore Programme to Borneo. It was this very expedition which established her reputa-tion as a ‘dedicated, modest and energetic’ field nurse. Borneo isn’t a country. It is in fact an island that is administered by three differ-ent countries, Brunei, Malaysia and Indone-sia. It is the world’s largest island, behind Greenland and New Guinea and is consid-ered one of the most bio diverse places on

the planet being home to an estimated 15,000 different plant species. Borneo’s rainforest is one of the oldest in the world and is estimated to be about 130 million years old. In 1976 The Royal Geographical Society sent out the largest expedition it had ever mounted to Sarawak to study and survey the newly gazetted Gunung Mulu National Park. Hokey was part of this ‘multi-disciplinary’ team whose role it was to make recommendations for the future manage-ment and development of this tropical forest reserve. Over a period of 15 months Hokey and over 115 scientists spent 10,000 man-days researching a ‘wonderfully rich’ tropical forest. However, before the team could begin their vital work base camp had to be established. Hokey along with members of the multi-disciplinary team helped with the construction of the base camp headquar-ters ‘a traditional long house’ and a number of sub camps in a variety of habitats. Her main role was to provide necessary back-up for the scientists to enable them to devote their time to the field. In a typical day Hokey would administer basic nursing care, treat minor injuries, establish and maintain basic toilet hygiene to prevent sickness and diarrhoea but also help with the actual building of toilets. Hokey also spent time in the field visiting the sub camps, many of which were in extreme locations; to provide support and routine medical care to the scientists. Maintaining group moral, encouraging and showing genuine interest in the work of the scientists was also an important part of Hokey’s daily work. During her stay in this ‘weird, wonderful and en-chanting’ place Hokey formed great friendships with the indigenous tribal nomadic people ‘Punan’ who bestowed her with gifts when she returned home. The slides she provided included images of her daily work, base camp, the team and the spectac-ular pinnacle Karst Formations with some of the largest underground caverns and cave systems. Gunung (Mount) Mulu, a 2,376 sandstone and shale block, looked awesome rising majestically above the dense rain forest. This expedition provided ‘the base line surveys’ which contributed to the Management Plan and future work within the National park. The plan was formally adopted by the Sarawak Government and is a model for South East Asian rainforest management. The expedition in Hokey’s view saved Mulu. However, a new generation of Punan people inhabit Mulu who are sadly no longer nomadic. Today a tourist centre, which is run and managed by the Punan people, is now open close to the original base camp and future research is being encouraged. In 2016 Hokey was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for ‘her immense contribution’ to the organisation over the years and considered a ‘legend’ in her field.

Teresa Douglas

Deer Cave, near Miri, Sarawak

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REPORTS FROM GROUPS

The Archaeology 2 group in Penrith en-joyed the modern end of the Industrial Ar-chaeology spectrum in May on a visit to the Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum near Keswick. In glorious sunshine with Blencathra mountain as the backdrop, they explored the Museum which is sited in a disused quarry. Started up in the early 1990’s, the Museum contains a wealth of information and artefacts on the Quarrying and Mining history of the Lake District and Cumbria. Before the coming of the rail-ways and introduction of tourism in the mid

19th Century, Cumbria relied on quarrying, mining and upland agriculture for its living.

The museum takes visitors up into the former quarry face area on a 2ft gauge railway. This railway and its rolling stock came from former MoD munitions depots in Cumbria, another facet of the industrial activities once found in the region (see photo above of the group alongside the ex MoD 1947 Ruston diesel and train with the original 1900 quarry engine shed behind). A surprise to visitors is the unique collection of vintage excava-tors kept at the quarry. Managed by the Vintage Excavator Trust, over 70 examples of excavators dating from 1909 to the late 1980’s are here. These range from the world’s oldest working example of a steam navvy built in Lincoln in 1909 (see photograph right with the group dwarfed in size alongside it) to some of the last classic rope worked excavators built in the 1980’s before all hydraulic machines took over in mines and quarries. Many of these machines , which form the National Collection of Vintage excavators, are in working order and can be seen in operation on 2 weekends each year. See the link for the Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum for more details of this fascinating site to visit https://www.threlkeldquarryandminingmuseum.co.uk/

James Sellars

St Andrew’s Saturdays

The 2016/17 season of St Andrew’s Saturdays concluded in April, and the sessions were well attended by U3A members. The sessions started in September when Joan McMurtry and Mike Fossey explored the influence of Classical Greece on our culture and civilisation. In other ses-sions Robin Acland focused mainly on poetry, discussing the influence of the war poets, Alan Bennett’s perspectives on John Betjeman and WH Auden, “poetical birds” and the works of RS Thomas and Elsie Eldridge. Robin made use of audio and visual aids and audience participa-tion was encouraged. In March Joan and Mike returned to cover Martin Luther and the refor-mation and the art of the northern renaissance. Many thanks to Joan, Mike and Robin for an-other highly successful season of St Andrew’s Saturdays. As noted on page 2, the sessions will resume in September, details in the August newsletter.

Chris Wilkinson

The narrow gauge railway at Threlkeld

Steam navvy at Threlkeld

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Copy deadline for the next issue is Monday 7th August

If you would like to receive any part of the Newsletter in LARGE PRINT, please contact the Editors.

Editorial Team Groups sheet, also the Monthly Meeting and Short-run/One-off Programmes: Robin Acland, Chapelside, Mungrisdale, Penrith CA11 0XR, 017687 79672 rtacland@googlemail.com

Remainder of News and Views: Chris Wilkinson, 10 Hall Grange, Bolton, Appleby CA16 6WA 01768361819, 07986003551 Cwilkins0n@aol.com (Please note the ‘0’ in Chris’s surname is a zero!) Or Chriswilkinson48@gmail.com (Please note the ‘0’ in Chris’s surname is a zero!)

Contents

Monthly Meetings 1

Mines of Cross Fell and the Pennines

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Medical Issues on Expeditions

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Contents 6

One off and Short Run Pro-grammes, Notice-board, Third Age Trust

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Reports from Groups

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