History Discussion
Co-ordinator: Mike Wade
Meeting at 2 pm on 3rd Wednesday of the month in each others houses.
Our way of working is very informal - each member, without compulsion, chooses something that has interested them during the month and gives a very short talk on their findings to the rest of the small group.
Mike Wade - New Co-ordinator for U3A History Group arranged at September Meeting
At last September's meeting of what was the History Discussion Group, the co-ordinator, Grace Price on needing to step down, agreed for member Mike Wade to take over as co-ordinator with immediate effect.
On discussion it was thought it could now be known as the History Group, with members continuing to bring their own researched historical stories, including personal ones, from any period for the group to hear and discuss. This continues the opportunity to learn from history, which is often sadly lacking from more traditional approaches to history.
Janet reviewed some examples of what had been discussed, including how our knowledge can omit original versions of later inventions, such as the electric vacuum cleaner, when one could previously have had one’s house vacuumed by a team arriving with a mobile pump they manually operated outside, with the pipe taken into the house for the cleaning. Mike Wade mentioned about how the invention of printing was not able to bring the expected benefits for public news straight away, because of the 200% government tax levied on early newspapers to restrict their circulation.