In this festive special of the u3a radio podcast, hear a choir singing carols and a message from Third Age Trust CEO Sam Mauger - along with so much more. If you're not yet a member of u3a, join us now - https://u3a.org.uk/join Do you have a story you would like to share with the u3a radio team? Email us at communications@u3a.org.uk
- [Nick] Hello and welcome to our special Christmas edition of the u3a radio podcast, where later we'll be joined by most of the team around the virtual u3a Christmas tree. I'm Nick Bailey, and in this festive episode, we ring Santa at the North Pole.
- [Rosemary] Hello? Oh, is that you, Santa? Oh, it's Mrs. Betty Coombs here, 165 Abercrombie Avenue, the one with the slippery slate roof.
- [Nick] Find out what a vegetarian Christmas consists of.
- [Alex] The main centerpiece will be nut roast. Now I know nut roast is a bit of a cliche for vegetarians and vegans, but for me, it has become the traditional choice.
- [Nick] And discover how a special Christmas present led to a thriving new group in Cheshire.
- [Ken] My wife bought me a ukulele for Christmas a couple of years ago, because my granddaughter had one. And I was thinking. "oh, this is good."
- [Nick] We also have a couple of carols from the u3a choir. But first, here's a Christmas message from u3a's Chief Executive, Sam Mauger
- [Sam] Hello, everyone. It's been a year of challenges and opportunities. Who would have known how many of us would have become expert at meeting online and forging new friendships far and wide? Who would have foreseen how many friendships became even more important, when during times of lockdown, we knocked on each other's doors, and phoned and wrote letters. It is a year that none of us will forget. As we turn to the end of the year, which is special to so many as Christmas, and to many others is simply a time to stop, reflect and find some peace, it's good to know that right now, everywhere, there are u3a members thinking of each other. This festive season gives us a chance to celebrate both what has been good in the past and what is still good to come in the future. It gives us a chance to remember those who are not with us now or who are far away. It gives us a chance to think of all those dear to us, family and friends, and to reflect on what is truly important to us all, each other. Whether you're spending this festive time on your own or with others, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you will know that the u3a membership is together in spirit and that great spirit of friendship wraps around all of us and takes us forward to the year ahead. I'm sure 2022 will be a year of many new beginnings and exciting challenges of new friendships and new opportunities. To those of you who just simply celebrate a moment to stop and enjoy some peace, and being together with others, I wish you many moments of happiness. And to those of you that celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very happy Christmas. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I wish you all, everyone a very happy and restful and joyous time. ♪ Ding dong merrily on high ♪ ♪ In heav'n the bells are ringing ♪ ♪ Ding dong verily the sky ♪ ♪ Is riv'n with angel singing ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ Hosanna in excelsis ♪ ♪ E'en so here below, below, ♪ ♪ Let steeple bells be swungen, ♪ ♪ And I-o, I-o, I-o! ♪ ♪ By priest and people sungen ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ Hosanna in excelsis! ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ Hosanna in excelsis! ♪ ♪ Pray you, dutifully prime ♪ ♪ Your matin chime, you ringers ♪ ♪ May you beautifully rhyme ♪ ♪ Your evetime song, you singers ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ Hosanna in excelsis! ♪ ♪ Gloria ♪ ♪ Hosanna in excelsis! ♪
- [Nick] Ding Dong Merrily On High, with the u3a choir, conducted by Richard Keogh. It's quite common for children to send a letter to Santa with their Christmas list, but a member from Farnham u3a went a step further, and decided to ring him instead.
- [Rosemary] Hello? Is that the North Pole? Ah, may I speak to Mr. Clause please? Mr. S clause? Yes, I'll hold. Hello? Oh, there's that you, Santa? Oh, it's Mrs. Betty Coombs here. 165 Abercrombie Avenue, the one with the slippery slate roof. Well, yes, we did have a conservatory. No, no, don't mention it. What's a few hundred pounds worth of rare tropical plants between friends. I just hope you didn't hurt yourself too badly with all that broken glass. Good. And were the reindeer all right? Well, yes, I suppose it is good to vary their diet a bit from time to time, and in a way it's reassuring to know that orchids aren't really all that poisonous after all. And I do think it was very brave of you to clamber all the way up to the top of the roof again, just so that you could enter the house in the traditional way. Oh, I agree. It is important to maintain standards in this time of sliding moral values. And the climbing equipment only dislodged a few slates. In fact, we didn't even notice the hole until the next downpour. And after you'd taken all that trouble, then to get the reception you did from our Sonia. Oh, I know. Yes. I know. Try to see it from her point of view though. She wakes up suddenly in the middle of the night, to find an 18 stone man bending over the foot of her bed, smothered in soot, stuck all over with bits of tropical plant and bellowing, "Ho ho, ho Merry Christmas little girl." She's been on Valium ever since. Yeah. Yes, thank you. She loved the Cindy doll. No, that's right. A girl is never too old for a Cindy doll, even at 23. And Benny was thrilled with the air gun. Uncle Harry's out of intensive care now. They think he may make a complete recovery, eventually. I'm glad you found the glass of sherry and the mince pie we left for you in the dining room. Good. I'm glad you enjoyed them. And it was clever of you to find the bottle of whiskey in the sideboard, and the eggs and bacon in the fridge. Yes, indeed, I know it's a long night for you. And who needs breakfast on Christmas morning? We were all much too excited, and much too busy. No, no. It's very kind of you to ask, but really that's why I'm phoning. I honestly think you should give us a miss this year. Well, we know how busy you are and, no, no, no really and truly the children won't be disappointed. Why? Because they're 23 and 25 years old, and they haven't believed in you for years.
- [Nick] The Santa Line was written and performed by Rosemary Wisbey from Farnham u3a. Now someone who did appreciate his presence a couple of years ago was Ken Wakefield, a member of West Cheshire Rural u3a, who received a ukulele for Christmas. Since then, he hasn't looked back. And for some time he's run his own u3a ukulele group. Val Dawson asked why he thought the ukulele had become so popular.
- [Ken] Well, because I think it's a relatively easy instrument to learn. It's not that difficult and you don't need to learn a lot to be able to join in and participate. And of course, it's great fun. Who doesn't love a sing along?
- [Val] So you've got the group in your local u3a, but you're also volunteering to assist others to form their own groups, is that right?
- [Ken] Yeah, that's correct. I did that, mainly because that's the way I started. If I tell you a little bit about my story, my wife bought me a ukulele for Christmas a couple of years ago, because my granddaughter had one, and I was thinking, "Oh, this is good." And well I hadn't a clue what to do with it. I tried tuning it. I tried everything. It just didn't work. And then somebody from another u3a up on the Wirral, sent an invitation, said anybody need help, I will help. And I went up there and away I went and that was it. I just needed somebody to get me started. So I thought, well, the same thing here, isn't it?
- [Val] So then you managed to get a group together locally then?
- [Ken] That's correct, yes. I was enthusiastic about doing it. I got started myself from nothing. I'd never played before, never played anything before. I'd play a little bit with a keyboard, but not very good. And that was years ago. And so we just started from nothing.
- [Val] So how many members do you have now?
- [Ken] 12 At the moment.
- [Val] And can you have as many as you'd like? Does it matter how many?
- [Ken] Well, no. Some groups I hear go a very, very big, but depends on -- a few things restrict you, of course, the size of the room that you're meeting in, and how to just keep control and communicate to a size of group. We think our group's probably... we can go a few more members.
- [Val] I suppose the one thing, this is fairly obvious to say this, shows my age, the persons I think of immediately, I think of a ukulele is George Formby of course, who I gathered used to live near Knutsford where I am in Cheshire as well some years ago.
- [Ken] Yeah, he lived around a bit, actually. He's actually buried in Warrington Cemetery, and that's where I'm from originally. People always associate with George Formby, but most ukulele groups will give you a crack around the head, actually, if you tell them, "Will you play George Formby"
- [Val] Oh dear.
- [Ken] Because we don't.
- [Val] Is the ukulele a banjo or is it... I've heard there's something called the banjolele as well.
- [Ken] There is a banjolele, yes. And it's basically the same except it's shaped like a banjo, the stringing is the same, and a banjolele is very loud. It's the loudest of all the ukulele instruments. And actually that's what George Formby used to play, a banjolele.
- [Val] So, tell me then your history of music. Cause you say you also sang in a choir I believe.
- I did, yes, I used to sing in a Welsh male voice choir, the Rose Orpheus Male Choir, based to just south of Wrexham.
- [Val] So you are a musician after all.
- Well, I'm a musician as a singer, yes, but we've been shut down of course for a long time now with COVID, so.
- [Val] Generally speaking, of course you, you sing all the time to ukulele, all of you.
- [Ken] Yes. Not everybody sings. Some like to sing more than play, and some like to play more than sing. But the advantage is when you're playing in a group, you know, you can just do whatever you like. And it's great for all abilities, as well as you see, because some people who don't play as well as others, well, it's all hidden, well it's the same in the choir, you know, because it's a large crowd of you, all the little imperfections get washed over and we're only performing for ourselves, nobody else. And boy do we have some fun. ♪ Dashing through the snow ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ Across the fields we go ♪ ♪ Laughing all the way ♪ ♪ Bells on bob-tails ring ♪ ♪ Making spirits bright ♪ ♪ What fun it is to ride and sing ♪ ♪ A sleighing song tonight, oh! ♪ ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh what fun it is to ride ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh, Oh! ♪ ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh. ♪ ♪ We're dashing through the snow ♪ ♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ Across the fields we go ♪ ♪ Laughing all the way, ho ho ho ♪ ♪ Bells on bobtails ring ♪ ♪ Making spirits bright ♪ ♪ What it fun it is to ride and sing ♪ ♪ A sleighing song tonight, Oh! ♪ ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh what fun it is ride in a one-horse open sleigh, oh! ♪ ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ♪ ♪ Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh ♪
- [Nick] Ken Wakefield, from West Cheshire Rural u3a, with his solo version of Jingle Bells. And don't forget, if you'd like to tell us of a new group or an exciting development within your u3a, or perhaps there's something you've done, whether it be along the quirky lines or a new adventure, we'd love to hear from you. Just get in touch via communications@u3a.org.uk. No doubt, you've already thought about your Christmas dinner, maybe Turkey and all the trimmings. But if you're a vegetarian or even vegan, what's on offer? Don't worry because help is at hand. Alex Cornell is from Vegetarian For life, and Peter Clift asked what he was having for Christmas dinner.
- [Alex] Well, that's a really interesting one, because I've been vegetarian for 30 something years now, and I will be having a whole mix of different things, but the main centerpiece will be nut roast. Now I know nut roast is a bit of a cliche, for vegetarians or vegans, but for me it has become the traditional choice. I can use all sorts of different ingredients to put into that. So I can put in lots of herbs and spices, and maybe a little bit of cheese in there, all sorts of different nuts, which I'll roast beforehand, just to get that extra bit of flavor, pack it into a tray and then just bake it away. And then I'm going to have it with all the trimmings that everybody else has. So I'll have the roast potatoes, I'll have mashed potatoes. I love sprouts, of course I'll have sprouts. I'll have red currant jelly, which I grew the red currant myself. So I'm going to make that, which is a real nice treat, peas and great vegetarian gravy, and all the other things that everybody has. So it's going to be a lovely big plate of food a nice celebration for Christmas lunch.
- [Peter] What about all the bits around Christmas? The things that one has cold on boxing day, there's all the nibbly things?
- [Alex] That's right. Yeah, that's right. When you're thinking about catering for someone that's vegetarian, or it's your first vegetarian Christmas or vegetarian/vegan Christmas, you need to think beyond that sort of Christmas day meal, because you've got, you might have a tradition of having stuff in for breakfast. So do you want to get some veggie sausages in for breakfast? So you can have like a sausage barm, if that was your regular thing, but also those nibbles, as you say, Peter, in the evening, you might have a buffet, all those sorts of things that you've already... you have as part of your, you know, your traditions in your families, but if you add meats, and you're not going to be eating meat or you're catering to someone that doesn't have meat, you know, you need to think of stuff that will be delicious and easy finger foods. So you're not doing the actual bit of work. So if you go to the supermarket these days, there's so much labeled, and you can get some great food, great ready meals, little veggie sausages and quiche, all quiches and all those different things, so you've got them in the fridge. So if you get guests and you can have a slice of it, and just enjoy it as you go along. Tip is to make more than just for them because inevitably other people will want to try it. So do get that extra in, but it goes beyond that. You know, if you're vegan mean it's so easy, these days, things are really, really changed around, and you've got and chocolates as well. You know, you hear all these little treats. You can even get, and I saw these the other day, I was looking out, I won't mention the shop, I was out shopping and I saw vegan chocolates for putting on the tree. And it's these little things that add up, to sort of make the whole experience inclusive and special.
- [Peter] Now I know you recently did a workshop on Christmas food for u3a. Where could you go if you want a bit of help on, on vegan or vegetarian recipes?
- [Alex] Well, do you know, there's so many places these days that you can go, it's so popular. If you just type in a search on any, you know, on any of the websites, you'll find all sorts of recipes. But I will certainly point you to our website. So if you type in Vegetarian For Life, you'll find all sorts of information about catering well, not just at Christmas, but at the whole of the year. We've got some lovely, lovely recipes. Of course, we've got not roast on there. When you asked me about what I was going to have, and I was like, well, am I going to say mushroom wellington, am I going to say the nut roast? You know, I'll probably end up having both. The mushroom wellington is lovely. It's chopped mushrooms and nuts and breadcrumbs and herbs and spices, and onion and garlic, and all sorts of lovely things, cooked, and then you get some pastry, pre-made pastry, really easily. Roll it out, put your filling in, roll it up, bang it in the oven, and you end up with a delicious... it's a bit more complicated now, but you end up with an absolute delicious centerpiece, and it's great hot or cold as well. So I would have a look on our website, because we've got lots of recipes. We've got information on nutrition, all sorts of different services that we do, about catering well for older vegetarians and vegans, so do have a look at that.
- [Nick] Alex Cornell, and if you want more information, visit vegetarianforlife.org.uk. Now this time, last year, there were only three of us involved in the podcast, but now the team has grown to six, including Val Dawson, who we heard earlier. Unfortunately, Val won't be able to join us in our cozy chat around the virtual u3a Christmas tree, but at least this means there are more mince pies and mulled wine to go around, though, to end our festive podcast, I thought we could revisit some of our memorable Christmases, and I'm going to start with Jo. You weren't here last year, but you've been with us for about six months, I would have thought. And last podcast, you were being interviewed and talking about your travels, particularly covering the Olympics for many, many years. Is your memorable Christmas to do with travel or closer to home?
- [Jo] It is to do with travel, Nick, but it goes back a very long time to a school's cruise I was on, in the Eastern Med on the old SS Uganda. And I was a bit reluctant to be honest, because Christmas was always a big family occasion. So it would be away over Christmas was a novel experience, but not necessarily one I was looking forward to. But it was a very interesting trip. And I remember on Christmas Eve we were in Beirut, and as we came back on board the ship, we weren't allowed to go on until they'd decorated it. And so we were all waiting and people were buying various bits and pieces on the quayside. And one of my mates came back with a carpet, or a rug to be honest. And I thought, well, this is a bit strange. cause it seems to be a lot shorter than everybody else's rugs and it was supposed to depict a deer, I think it was, drinking at a pond. And when we looked at it more closely, the head of the deer was missing, which is why the rug was about six inches shorter than everybody else's. But I do remember being woken up every morning with a Christmas carol, and as we were going from west to east, that got progressively earlier on my body clock. So that was a bit of a strain, because I'm not an early morning person. But I do remember Christmas dinner on the Uganda was a novel experience, if only because the seats were actually fixed. So you ended up being quite some distance from the actual table, and you're sort of leaning over, and getting your Christmas pud and whatever else. It was certainly a novel experience. I'm much more at home, you know, appealing and sated with the nine lessons and a carol, you know carols on a Christmas Eve, than being at sea. But that's certainly my most unusual Christmas.
- [Nick] Well the SS Uganda is sadly no more. I remember when I was working in Gibraltar, I saw the SS Uganda. Never been on it myself. Jo, thank you for that. Onto Sarah Goodall from Swansea u3a. Now, Sarah we haven't heard you yet, but you will be in January's podcast. And I know that you were a journalist and you travel a lot as well overseas. Is that going to be one of your memories or not?
- [Sarah] No, it's not Nick, because last Christmas, my great niece asked me to get her dolls' clothes for Christmas. And that prompted me to remember the first Christmas I ever remember. I think it was 1951. And so I was very little, and I was... Came downstairs. It was my grandmother's house. My aunties were there. There was this state of excitement, which of course at that age, I didn't really understand. And lo and behold, they opened the parlor door. Now nobody ever went in the parlor, and there they opened the door and they... I shouldn't be in and I was a little bit, "Oh, what's going on here?" And there was this thing, and it was a doll's pram. Somehow or other, in 1951, they'd managed to get hold of a doll's pram. There was a doll inside it, a small doll with clothes, which my auntie had made for me, which had poppers and things so I could get them on and off. And I thought, "Well, this is good!" Whatever it is, it's good. And I love, you know... And the next thing I remember from that day, is being led out on to the front steps, the porch, because our house was very high up in Swansea. And in those days we had docks, and then there were all these hooters going, ships' hooters were sounding and all the bells in the churches were ringing. And I was allowed to take my doll's pram up and down the terrace to show all the people. And I was made a big fuss of and it has stayed very clearly in my mind.
- [Nick] Now onto our two stalwarts, Peter Clift, not I'm saying you're old, but you have been with us since day one. I don't suppose you remember your first doll's pram do you?
- [Peter] No, no, I don't sadly. I'm a bit more up to date really, well I say up to date is about 40 years ago. For 10 years, I taught difficult teenage boys in a residential school. And the building was a Victorian Gothic mansion actually, built in the Oxfordshire countryside. Idyllic. It had a galleried hall, wooden galleried hall, and every Christmas it was decorated with a huge tree and all the other decorations. It was very nice, and because we all lived on site, all the staff could go in there and enjoy it. And in fact, my two daughters who are obviously now grown up, when they were very young, they thought that everybody had Christmas in a huge galleried hall with a huge, great Christmas tree. And it really was, it was kind of lovely. It was like a shock from some kind of Dickens' film. Very, very Christmas-sy. I have to say, I'm not sure if a lot of the inner city kids we had really enjoyed it that much. But it was great. It was very, very nice.
- [Nick] Well, onto Ela now, Ela is very important to the team because she produces the podcast. And if we have any technical problems, Ela is the person we go to. And Ela, I think since the podcast started, which is over a year ago now, 18 months, I think, you have moved haven't you?
- [Ela] I have. I've moved to be close to the sea, which we've achieved, although it is snowing here today. And I didn't realize it did that near the sea.
- [Nick] And what about for your Christmas?
- [Ela] For my memory, for my Christmas memory, well, I don't live in a Gothic mansion either. No, it was quite a big house, but I'm going back in time to when we sold our first house. We were both very young and incredibly naive, and we allowed the buyers to move into our house before they paid. We didn't ask anybody, we just did it. And of course they didn't pay then. We had an amazing solicitor who eventually sorted it all out, and the things that were done for us at that time, my boss took his touring caravan to an isolated field outside of the town, and said we could live in that. So we had no oven. We had no electricity. We walked a good, long way for water and it was Christmas. My husband was on call-out duty. And so we couldn't get away either. And it was just the extraordinary kindness of people because at work, some of the friends that I had, their families who didn't know me at all, one family invited us for Christmas dinner. Another one invited us for Christmas tea, another one for the whole of boxing day. And then a few days before Christmas, we came home from work, tiny, lonely, freezing cold caravan, and some friends had planted a six foot Christmas tree outside the caravan window, and decorated it for us with all that beautiful sparkly angel hair. And it's that memory of how wonderful everybody was to us, in our hour of need. And eventually everything got sorted out, but it was a very magical Christmas.
- [Nick] Well, that's certainly the spirit of Christmas.
- [Ela] And what about you, Nick? Have you got a special memory for us too?
- [Nick] I have, it's a travel one. Travel has been my passion, and I was in Burma in the early 80s, at the time when you could only get a week's visa and we had to sort of rush around the country to see everything. And I was in a hill station called Maymyo, and of course Burma is Buddhist, primarily. And yet in the evening after dinner, there were carol singers, which I thought was very, very charming. And the next day I had to get to Rangoon, and I was staying at the Strand Hotel. Now the Strand Hotel apparently now is very, very grand. And it was when it was first built. It was part of the empire that included Raffles and the Eastern Oriental Hotel in Penang. When I went in the early 80s, it was well and truly faded. And it was one of those hotels where you got brown water out of the hot tap and black water out of the cold tap. It cost about $12 a night, but the Christmas meal that I had was absolutely fantastic. But what I remember most of all was the Christmas pudding. And I of had this in my mind. I imagined that it was a Christmas pudding that had been made by the British, before independence. And it'd been kept in the cellar. And you know, how puddings improve with that with age? Well, this certainly had improved with age, and it was absolutely... I think it's the best Christmas pudding I've ever had, I suppose, partly influenced by the, you know, the romance of it all. But that is certainly a Christmas that I'll never forget. So thank you all for your Christmas memories. Absolutely fantastic. And I'd like to wish you all very happy Christmas and a happy new year, and indeed to all our listeners who are listening today, I wish you all the very best. And we're going to end with the u3a choir, under the direction of Richard Keough, who are going sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas ♪ ♪ And a happy new year ♪ ♪ Good tidings we bring ♪ ♪ To you and your kin ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year ♪ ♪ Oh, bring us some figgy pudding ♪ ♪ Oh, bring us some figgy pudding ♪ ♪ Oh, bring us some figgy pudding ♪ ♪ And bring it right here ♪ ♪ Good tidings we bring to you and your kin ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year ♪ ♪ We won't go until we get some ♪ ♪ We won't go until we get some ♪ ♪ We won't go until we get some ♪ ♪ So bring some right here ♪ ♪ Good tidings we bring to you and your kin ♪ ♪ We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year ♪