AUTUMN TERM 2024

Our Thursday morning meetings continue to be held as 'hybrid' meetings, where many members attend the talks in Ealing Green Church whilst we also broadcast them over Zoom for members to watch from home. A list of the talks and speakers for the term is shown below, whilst full details of the talks can be found in the Autumn Term 2024 talks document. Most of these talks were recorded and this is indicated by an asterisk (*) after the talk name. The Recordings are available on our Ealing u3a YouTube channel; if you would like to view any of these recordings, please contact the Webmaster.. All speakers were present in Ealing Green Church, unless otherwise shown.

• Thur 12th September (EGC and Zoom) - From Vera Lynn to Major Tom: Has the 2nd World War Burma Campaign ever been a ‘Forgotten War’? (*) with Philip Woods who retired at the end of 2021 and is now an Ealing U3A member, having previously taught History for 30 years at what is now the University of West London and for seven years at Kingston University, London. This talk explained the role of the media in the Burma campaign, the longest land campaign fought by British, Commonwealth and Indian forces in World War Two.
• Thur 26th September (EGC and Zoom) - The Uxbridge Road, a wander along it and a history (*) with Anthony Smith, a retired Secondary School teacher who taught in several of its schools and nearby. Since retiring he has been walking the paths through and around the city and his talk was an attempt to trace the origins of the road and a history looking at how it has been used and the places it passes through.
• Thur 3rd October (EGC and Zoom) - Syon House, Civil War and the Percy family - conspiracies, betrayals and the Battle of Brentford 1642 (*) with Howard Simmons who studied history before a career in the Heritage, Cultural and Regeneration sectors and is a Board member of the Battlefields Trust and a guide at Syon House. The talk explained the complicated loyalties of the Percy Earls of Northumberland and how Syon House became a centre for intrigue and negotiation between King and Parliament leading up to the Civil War.
• Thur 10th October (EGC and Zoom) - 8 buildings for 8 faiths in London (*) with Charlie Forman a London walking tour guide and lecturer who highlights the social, architectural and artistic history of this city. The talk spoke about the astonishing range of signature buildings of faith communities settling in London including a synagogue, a chapel, a gurdwara, a monastery, a couple of cathedrals, a temple and a mosque. NB - the recording of this talk was only available until mid-December
• Thur 24th October (EGC and Zoom) ‘Look again. The power of noticing what was always there‘ (*) was a short talk given by Georgine Carter, an Ealing U3A member and Convenor of our Psychology group. She is a retired head of psychology department in a grammar school and has an OU degree. This talk was preceded by the annual Photographic competition (full details on this can be found on the Photographic Competitions page).
• Thur 31st October (ECG and Zoom) - ‘Harlots! Covent Garden’s Sordid History‘ (*) with Ian Fagelson, one of the top London tour guides gave us a historical and often slightly bawdy tour of Covent Garden. Ian who studied law at the universities of Southampton and Oxford, going on to work as a lawyer in the City of London for 35 years.
• Thur 7th November (EGC and Zoom) - 'A Beginning, a Muddle & an End: Where do Novelists get their ideas from?' with Bobbie Darbyshire, a novelist who has written 5 books, and in an entertaining and informative talk, Bobbie explained how the complex world of character, location, plot and subplot arrives in a writer’s mind. (This talk was NOT recorded at the request of the speaker)
• Thur 14th November (ECG and Zoom) - ‘A Welsh Rarebit‘ (*) with Mike Perry, Ealing U3A member and a teacher by background who spoke about various aspects of Welsh history, along with some Myths & Legends in folk law, and leading up to a devolved Wales with its own Assembly.
• Thur 28^th November (EGC and Zoom) - 'Take Shelter!’ Immersive tours in a WW2 air raid school shelter (*) with Chris Cocking, a Principal Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Brighton, who told us about the shelter at a school in Brighton and many other stories of children's experiences in WW2.
• Thursday 5^th December 2024 -  ‘A Life in Musical Theatre’ (*) with Helen Anker, who has been a professional Actress working predominately in Musicals since the age of 9 where she was in the West End production of 'The Sound of Music' with Petula Clark.Helen is currently performing in the UK Tour of the show ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and is here during her few weeks off the tour to tell us about her life in Theatre while she’s back home in Hanwell.
• Thursday 12th December 2024 - Seasonal Quiz (a London Underground quiz and a Christmas quiz), presented by Jim McWilliams and Phil Broomsgrove, followed by refreshments.

SPRING TERM 2024

A list of the talks and speakers for the term is shown below, whilst full details of the talks can be found in the Spring Term 2024 talks document. Most of these talks were recorded and this is indicated by an asterisk (*) after the talk name. The Recordings are available on our Ealing u3a YouTube channel; if you would like to view any of these recordings, please contact the Webmaster. All speakers were present in Ealing Green Church, unless otherwise shown.

• Thur 11th April (EGC and Zoom) - The House of Everything (*) with Robert Seatter, a poet, performer, writer and broadcaster who has published six poetry collections and is also the author of 'Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the BBC', published in 2022 to mark the Corporation’s centenary. Robert has many connections with Ealing, where he first began his BBC career, as well as being a regular performer at Questors Theatre.
• Thur 25th April (EGC and Zoom) - From Care to Coronation - an introduction about her life (*) with Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu OM DBE FRCN, an Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London. Her memoirs, 'Dreams From My Mother' are available both in paperback and as an audiobook. Elizabeth has been honoured with a Damehood, the Order of Merit and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing and she carried the Sovereign’s Orb in the Royal Procession of King Charles III. Elizabeth is a mother and grandmother.
• Thur 2nd May (EGC and Zoom) - Fighting for the Mother Country (*) with Simone Higgins (aka Simone Adams), who has recently retired, was a government lawyer and law lecturer for just over 25 years. She regularly gives talks on Black British history and has written and narrated the 8-episode podcast ‘From the Romans to Windrush,’ which can be accessed through Morley Radio. The podcast tells the story of the lives and careers of key Black British personalities who lived in Britain, before the arrival of the Windrush in 1948. Simone has also written film reviews for the Talking Pictures TV podcast and written, narrated, and produced the podcast Classic Hollywood MTC, which tells the story of the lives and careers of several classic Hollywood movie stars, including the World War II veteran David Niven.
• Thur 9th May (EGC and Zoom) - Seeing the world through different eyes (*) with Monica Macias, who has lived in several countries around the world and now resides in south London. She has written a memoir 'Black Girl from Pyongyang' which is a collection of stories from her life growing up in North Korea under the protection of the country’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, as well as her journey to understanding her identity as a mixed-race woman who was raised in a country far from her native land of Equatorial Guinea.
• Thur 23rd May (EGC and Zoom) - Out and about in Perivale, the Sweetest Vale of Middlesex  (*) with Joanna Dudzinska, a Polish educationalist, English as a foreign language teacher and tour guide turned urban explorer, founder and director of Talking and Exploring, founder of Ealing Walking Talking and Exploring Group. Joanna comes from Poland where she received an MA in Educational Studies (1989) and a BA in Teaching EFL (1994).
• Thur 30th May (EGC only) - Interest Groups Showcase. A chance for Members old, new and prospective to find out more about the Interest Groups within Ealing U3A. Many Interest Group leaders were available to discuss/describe their particular groups and all members were able come along to learn about the activities available.
• Thur 6th June (EGC and Zoom) - The End of Roman Britain: A Mystery (*) with Jill Stern who has been both a teacher and a health authority chairman here in West London. She is above all a historian with a doctorate from University College London in the history of the Netherlands in the seventeenth century.
• Thur 13th June (EGC and Zoom) - The Secret history of London’s Chinatown (*) with Craig Kao, who is originally from Taiwan and is a Graduate in Fine Art from Central St Martins College of Art and Design. In 2018 Craig gained the Blue Badge Tourist Guide Qualification and likes to explore the history of South East Asian people’s stories in London.
• Thur 27th June (EGC and Zoom) - 'Burying the Ghosts': one 'lucky' woman's story of escape from Nazi Germany with Sonia Case. Unfortunately, this talk was CANCELLED as Sonia's car broke down on the way to the Church.
• Thur 4th July (EGC and Zoom) - Utterly Immoral - Robert Keable, WW1 chaplain (*) with Simon Keable-Elliott, who was educated at Sherborne School and Durham University. Simon first worked in Fleet Street – as a barman – before managing and owning restaurants in London. He trained as a teacher and spent 25 years as Head of Politics and Director of MUN at a secondary school in Croydon. He now works as a writer and speaker, publishing his first book 'Utterly Immoral' last year.
• Thur 18th July (EGC and Zoom) - Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and other interesting people from the world of art and poetry with Colin Lomas, an Ealing U3A member. After a career in education, as teacher and lecturer in maths and computing, Colin studied art history at the V&A museum (where he is a volunteer guide) and began giving lectures on art history.

WINTER TERM 2024

A list of the talks and speakers for the term is shown below, whilst full details of the talks can be found in the Winter Term 2024 talks document. All speakers were present in Ealing Green Church, unless otherwise shown. Most of these talks were recorded and this is indicated by an asterisk (*) after the talk name. The Recordings are available on our Ealing u3a YouTube channel; if you would like to view any of these recordings, please contact the Webmaster. All speakers were present in Ealing Green Church, unless otherwise shown.

• Thur 11th January - A Taste of Florence (*) with Mike Perry, Ealing U3A member who is a teacher by background but moved to Wales in early 1970s to try farming. After five years running a dairy farm, changed career again to antiques dealing. Moved to West London in March 2021 and joined our organisation. The books mentioned by Mike in this talk were - Ross King: Brunelleschi’s Dome and Lauro Martines: April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici.
• Thur 25th January - Shared Learning: Theatre Programmes from Kingston University Archives (*) with Dayna Miller, University Archivist at Kingston University who began assisting in the Archive in 2009 and her work has focused on creating the Archive’s digital collection of photographs and listing and cataloguing its theatre programme collections.
• Thur 1st February - Save the Asian Elephants – a charity’s dramatic journey to helping all animals abused in global tourism with Duncan McNair, a practising lawyer in London, an author, and founder and CEO of ‘Save the Asian Elephants’. He devised and pioneered the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act through Parliament. He was named ‘UK Animal Hero of the Year’ in 2018. (This talk was NOT recorded due to technical issues on the day)
• Thur 8th February - Hanwell - from Village to London Suburb withDavid Blackwell, who is a local historian, specialising in Hanwell’s history, which he has been researching since 1997. He grew up in Hanwell in the 1950s and 60s, where his family ran one of the dairies serving the community. (This talk was NOT recorded at the request of the speaker)
• Thur 22nd February - Richmond - the coming of the Railways (*) withVicky McGrath, Learning Officer at the Museum of Richmond, who has over 20 years of experience of working in Museums and Heritage Education, designing workshops and resources for school and families, and delivering talks, tours and workshops for adults.
• Thur 29th February - From London’s transport to London Transport (*) with Michael Peacock whose National Service in the RAF was followed by a career in the Civil Service. His voluntary work has included Chairmanship of the local branch of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England, Chairmanship of the local branch of the Civil Service Pensioners Association and of the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship.
• Thur 7th March - The Work of Today’s House of Lords with Carl Woodall OBE, who was latterly Director of Facilities of the House of Lords (2009-2023) and was made an OBE in the New Year Honours List for services to Parliament. Carl was responsible for the House of Lords’ estates projects, buildings maintenance, cleaning services, reception services, catering services and he was the longest serving member of the House of Lords Management Board. (This talk was NOT recorded at the request of the speaker)
• Thur 21st March - Ealing U3A AGM (*) followed by a short talk on Asian Hornets and the threat they pose (*) by Lee Horwich, a long time Ealing resident of around 50 years who was formerly a Project Manager for offshore platform design and became intrigued by beekeeping when working abroad. Since returning and stopping work Lee has been an active member of the Ealing Beekeepers Association.