History
The history group is no longer meeting but here is a record of the group for the benefit of any members who may wish to get a u3a history group restarted in the Hope Valley. It was active for six years from 2014 until the pandemic struck in March 2020. Monthly meetings resumed on zoom and subsequently face to face between January and October 2021. Given the low numbers attending, the decision was then taken not to organise further meetings.
The group members were history enthusiasts, not experts, and took turns to suggest different themes to explore. Usually one person in the group introduced the discussion but all members of the group were encouraged to do their own research and join in the discussion. Different periods of history were selected, sometimes with a local and regional focus, sometimes with a focus on Britain and sometimes from a wider international perspective. Themes included the First World War in the Hope Valley, Religion, monasteries and churches, Trade, finance and exploration, Anglo-Scandinavian and Norman England, the Civil Wars in England and Ireland, the History of Law, crime and law enforcement, the Enclosures of common land, Slavery and anti-slavery and the History of North America.
There were also occasional visits: Creswell Crags in August 2017 to see the caves and the rock art; the World Museum, Liverpool, June 2018, to visit the China’s First Emperor and Terracotta Warriors Exhibition; the Archaeological Dig at the New Hall site, Castleton, July 2019.