General Meetings

General meetings of Haddenham u3a usually have a guest speaker and are held on the second Tuesday of the month.   Members arrive from 2.15 for a 2.30 start.  Meetings usually last for an hour and a half, including time to socialise over a cup of tea.

Guest speakers cover a wide variety of topics of general interest to enable an increased awareness of our locality and our world, embracing history, travel, nature, science and culture, with a balanced programme to meet u3a aims.

We hope you will enjoy our meetings, learn something new, get to know other members, and occasionally volunteer to help out.

Venue

The normal monthly meetings take place at:

Haddenham Village Hall
Banks Park,
Banks Rd,
Haddenham
HP17 8EE

There is parking at the venue.

Costs

General meetings are free to members of Haddenham u3a.

Joining the Meetings

The General Meetings are open to all members of Haddenham u3a.

Angela Hart, on behalf of the u3a Committee, organises the speaker programme. If you have any suggestions of good speakers who would be suitable for the u3a General Meetings, please contact Angela on 01844 292070 or speakers@haddenhamu3a.co.uk

The committee organises the rota of volunteers for the preparation of the venue.

 

Tuesday 12^th November 2024

Speaker Mark Davies

Talk: Artists in Wonderland: Pre-Raphaelite Adventures in Oxford

Many of the Oxford associations with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood centre on Thomas Combe, Superintendent of Oxford University Press, who was an early patron of these young, aspiring artists. He also played a key role in the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, whose author photographed Combe’s artistic protégés and their families.

Mark Davies is an Oxford local historian, author, public speaker, guide, and publisher specialising in the history of non-University Oxford, with a particular focus on the city’s waterways. Most of Mark’s early life was spent by the sea – in Hampshire, Sussex, Kent, and South Wales – but his interest in inland rather than coastal waters grew as a result of a chance decision to live on a canalboat in central Oxford in 1992, after living in Abingdon for a couple of years.

Since then Mark has written and published seven Oxford local interest books, four of which are currently in print: A Towpath Walk in Oxford (2001/2012), Alice in Waterland (2010/2012), Alice’s Oxford on Foot (2014/18), and Stories of Oxford Castle (2005/19). In 2015 his biography of the Oxford pastry cook James Sadler (who became the unlikely first Englishman to build and ascend in an air balloon in 1784 – see ‘King of all Balloons’ page) was published by Amberley Books.

Mark moved off his residential narrowboat, ‘Bill the Lizard’, in 2020 after nearly 30 happy and productive years, and continues to be active in the much-publicised ongoing campaign to retain a boatyard in the Oxford suburb of Jericho, both as a boating representative and as Chair of the Jericho Living Heritage Trust and a trustee of the Jericho Wharf Trust. He is also a Lewis Carroll Society trustee and on the committee of the Alliance of Literary Societies.

Tuesday 10^th December 2024

Speaker:  Jenny Mallin


Talk: Walking into Grandma’s kitchen at Christmas in 1940s Madras

Jenny’s career has been the culmination of several instinctive paths in her life which have led her to enjoying being an author and now a public speaker. With almost thirty trips to India over the past thirty years, she has explored and uncovered the history of her ancestors and their interesting path.

The re-uniting for Jenny of a family heirloom of a book which her great x 4 grandmother started in 1844, Madras which she remembers seeing in her mother’s pantry, is a time capsule in itself. This cherished book holds not only the handwritten manuscripts of recipes which were passed down from mother to daughter for the next five generations, but also hints at the technological changes ushered in by the industrial revolution which had a positive effect of intertwining the economies of India and Great Britain.

This talk centres around Jenny’s family’s traditions at Christmas, how the festive season was enjoyed by those who were living in a country which was part of the British Raj. We explore and discover how enticed they were by those exotic ingredients found in India, which with the help and careful consideration of their native cook, produced a different kind of cuisine. Through the pages of the old cookery book dating back to 1844, we uncover family recipes which were so loved and enjoyed over five generations, which provide a fascinating insight into those unusual recipe names which are alliterative with titles such as Ding Ding Fry and Rumble Tumble! We also get a good idea as to how they entertained, and how their social calendars were filled with tea dances, balls and social evenings which started on Christmas Eve and went right through to twelfth night.

Tuesday 14^th January 2025
Speaker:   Jane Robinson

Talk:         Trailblazer – Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon:  The First Feminist to Change our World

Jane Robinson is an acclaimed author and public speaker who specialises in social history through women’s eyes. She has written thirteen books and is a well known historian.

Jane brings out of the shadows one of Victorian Britain’s most influential but forgotten women. First wave feminist, co-founder of Girton College, Cambridge, the first university college for women, and connected to everyone, from Florence Nightingale to Gertrude Jekyll, George Eliot to DG Rosetti.

You have probably not heard of Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon but you certainly should have done.

Name any ‘modern’ human rights movement, and she was a pioneer: feminism, equal opportunities, diversity, inclusion, mental health awareness, Black Lives Matter. While her name has been omitted from too many history books, it was Barbara who opened the doors for more famous names to walk through. Her influence owed as much to who she was as to what she did: people loved her for      her robust sense of humour, cheerfulness and indiscriminate acts of kindness.

Tuesday  11^th February 2025
Speaker:   Dr Peter Altman

 

Aliens:   What are the chances?

 ‘Does Alien Life exist’ Dr Peter Altman is a retired Biochemist and Medical Book Publisher.  He has some unusual Fun Facts:  He has held 2 Guinness World Records; he was the first member of the public to travel on Eurostar; and he is a Member of the Magic Circle.

Astronomy has been a long-standing interest, especially the topic of Alien Life and whether it exists.  One of his retirement projects was a book, entitled Mysteries of the Universe – answerable and unanswerable questions.  His talk is based on the Aliens chapter in the book.  The question is of course unanswerable, so the best that we can do is to look at any evidence and then to decide whether it stands up to scrutiny.

His talk begins with a short historical look at the subject, and then goes on to consider such things as UFOs and other sightings, the Roswell incident, reported abductions, and attempts at contact, ending with his personal opinion.

Tuesday 11^th March 2025
Speaker:     Dr Timothy Walker

Talk:    THE LAND OF GIANTS &   VOLCANOES – plants and places in Western USA

The Pacific States of America are home to a wonderful array of huge trees and volcanoes.  In addition, there are some spectacular alpine meadows and some of the most dramatic coastline in the World.  This talk looks at the botany of this region and the influence of the volcanoes.

Timothy Walker was born and brought up in South Buckinghamshire and read Botany at University College Oxford.  After graduation, he worked for two years as a trainee at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden  then took a National Certificate in Horticulture at Askham Bryan College York.  This was followed by a one-year traineeship at the Savill Garden Windsor, and 15-months as a diploma student at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.  In 1995  Timothy was awarded a Master of Horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society of London.

From January 1986 to July 2014 he worked at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum, firstly as General Foreman, then as Horti Praefectus (from 1988) and finally as Director (from 2002).  Between 1992 & 2000 the OBGHA won 4 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show London.  In 2009 the Botanic Garden was one of seven Oxford collections to be awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for providing imaginative educational programmes for adults, students, children and the general public, thereby breathing new life into education for people of all ages and enriching their lives.

In 2010 Timothy was elected as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London and from August 2014 has been a lecturer in Plant Sciences at Somerville College, Oxford, and now holds similar positions at Pembroke College and Hertford College.

 

Tuesday 8^th April 2025
Speaker:    Nick Cook

Talk:   Homeward Bound – the story of Odysseus

Would you go for a drink with Odysseus? He’s a born liar and you will almost certainly end up buying every round. But it will be worth every drachma because of his charm, humour and seemingly endless fund of amazing stories. Most of these are about his voyage home from the Trojan War. They include famous encounters with murderous monsters, wicked women (divine and mortal) and his arch enemy Poseidon god of the sea. Who could ask for more? His long suffering wife Penelope perhaps. So bring your sou’westers and seasickness tablets for the voyage of a lifetime.

Nick Cook worked as a research scientist for more than twenty years and was press-ganged into health and safety.  To his surprise he enjoyed this even more than the research (maybe something to do with the pleasure we all find in studying work rather than actually doing it).

Now retired from Kodak Nick spends his time lecturing (recently rated “outstanding” by his college), speaking and writing.  Topics include creative writing, memoir writing, Greek mythology, the social history of health and safety and storytelling for adults.

He also works as a part-time consultant for the same callous company that originally press- ganged me into health and safety all those years ago.

Tuesday 13^th May 2025

This meeting is the AGM commencing 2.15pm

Speaker:   Andrew Baker
Talk:  Norway Denmark and Sweden.

These three Nordic countries have many common characteristics: decency, prosperity, informality, tolerance; but they are also asking whether their past can be a guide to the future. Why?

Their landscape is spectacular but the distinguishing characteristics of the three countries which I shall be talking about is that they are put together on understandings different from our own country.  Principally, they taxed more heavily and the public realm is better provided for.

More recently, however, all three countries have begun to ask whether that model can serve as their guide to the future just as they have seen the wave of migration which Europe has experienced  over the past two decades as potentially threatening to their identity. It is interesting to consider the issues of similarity and difference and to ask whether the Nordics have anything to tell us.

Andrew Baker taught in Grammar Schools for over 40 years and is the author of a best-selling book on Contemporary British Politics.  Drawing on his experience of over 22 years as Headmaster of Westcliff High School for Boys, he recently published a further volume on Education and the Pursuit of Values: A Headmaster’s Reflections. He now works as a freelance lecturer.

Tuesday 10^th June 2025

Speaker:   Dr. Martin Holmes
Talk: Boris Johnson a reputation revised

 

Dr Martin Holmes is a Member of the Senior Common Room at St Hugh’s College Oxford where he was Lecturer in Politics for over 20 years. An expert on British and European political history he is the author of seven  books the latest of which is FROM THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES TO THE TREATY OF MAASTRICT: CONFLICT, CARNAGE AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 1918 – 1993 (Routledge 2022). A strong supporter of life – long learning he is a regular U3A speaker and has enthralled our members on previous occasions.

The subject of Martin’s talk, Boris Johnson, would probably be described by each member of Haddenham u3a in a different way.  Whatever your take on “Boris” this talk will be enlightening and entertaining,

 

Tuesday 8^th July 2025
Speaker:   Dr. David Jones

Talk:    From primordial soups to primates  in suits – the evolution of all life on Earth

Life evolved more than 3.5 billion years ago, and today humans share the planet with around 12 million other species. David has set himself the difficult challenge of telling the story of the evolution of all life on earth in 1 hour. Can he explain the origins of life in the oceans, the evolution of millions of species, the extinction of millions more, and the rise to dominance of Homo sapiens, in just 60 minutes?

Dr David Jones works at the Natural History Museum in London, and lectures at Imperial College. He is an entomologist specialising in rainforest insects and soil ecology. He has done fieldwork in 18 countries including Indonesia, Gabon, Madagascar and French Guiana. He has published more than 50 research articles in scientific books and journals. David is a multi-award-winning public speaker, and frequent after-dinner speaker. He has won the annual Toastmasters’ UK & Ireland Impromptu Speech championship five times.