One of the ideas of a social history group as opposed to a straight history group is that we would be encouraged to talk about and share our own histories – after all we are all part of history ourselves . In the short time we’ve been meeting we’ve heard about Victorian children in workhouses which prompted a discussion on our diverse experiences of our own childhoods , we’ve reminisced about earlier Christmases , and remembered with much laughter going to the cinema as children with particular stories of the Saturday morning ‘ flicks’ . At our last meeting we were treated to a visit from Gus Green and his wife who some of you may remember from an earlier history group meeting . The first time Gus and a colleague came dressed in full Roman regimental costume and proceeded to demonstrate the armour and weapons of the Roman army . This time he and Lollia talked about and showed us what the Romans ate and wore at home which made for a fascinating afternoon .

There are lots of other ideas in the pipeline – watch this space !

Here are some pictures of what many of you missed! – DG:

The next meeting will be on Friday, 18th January 2012, at 2.30 p.m. in the Museum when we will be reminiscing about the films of our youth, Saturday morning pictures, Picturegoer magazine, and many other related things.
As we meet in the Museum there is plenty of room for additional U3A members to attend. there will be a nominal fee to cover the cost of the hire of the hall but tea and coffee will be provided.

Although not well publicised several people attended the preliminary meeting of the newly formed Social History Group on Friday, 21st September 2012. Chaired by Terry Cook he told us how, on a visit to Fishguard in Wales, he discovered the tale of ‘The Last Invasion’ on British soil, which he had never heard of, and certainly none of those present save one (Frances – but then she is Welsh!) had heard of either. It happened in 1797 when an army of French Soldiers landed at a bay about 3 miles from Fishguard. Suffice to say the ensuing events read like an episode of Dad’s Army and are told in detail in the following link: http://www.fishguardonline.com/Last_Inv.html We all thought the whole affair absolutely hilarious.

The second part of the meeting involved an exchange of ideas regarding what form the new group should take, and Terry will relate these ideas to the membership at the next Monthly Meeting at the Ramblers on October 4th 2012.