Monthly Meetings
Monthly meetings are held at 2.00pm at the Friends' Meeting House at 8b Summerfield Road (off Bath Road), Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton WV1 4PR.
Parking
Please leave the car park adjacent to the Meeting House for visiting speakers, delivery of equipment and for the use of disabled members.
Parking is available at the large medical centre car park on the left as you drive through to get to the Meeting House on payment of £1. An 'honesty box' is provided at the registration desk. Otherwise we ask able-bodied members to use the free roadside parking places (two hour limit in Summerfield Rd or four hours around West Park).
| Dates for your Diary | |
|---|---|
| Meetings | |
| Tue Apr 28th | Alan Wise Your Journey to Good Health and Happiness. |
| Tue May 26th | Philip Caine From Barrow to Bagdhad. |
| Tue Jun 23rd | Summer Social. |
| Tue Jul 28th | David Clark "You can't broadcast that": An amusing look at the BBC. |
| Thu Aug 27th | No Meeting. |
| Tue Sep 22nd | AGM. |
| Art Appreciation | |
| Wed Apr 15th | 'Picture restoration' presented by David Tordoff |
| Wed May 20th | 'The 12 women artists represented in the Wightwick Manor collection' presented by MB |
| Wed Jun 17th | 'Musical instruments in art' presented by MB |
| Wed Jul 15th | 'Sport in art' presented by Di Simcox. |
| Wed Aug 19th | 'Gardens' - garden designs, favourite gardens, and interesting 'eyecatchers' members have discovered in gardens. Also planning for next programme. |
| Wed Sep 16th | 'Grayson Perry' presented by David Tordoff. |
| Local History | |
| Mon Apr 13th | This is Bank Holiday Monday, but, as agreed with members, we will be having a session for those who wish to come along. We will be taking a close look at Isaac Taylor's Map of Wolverhampton. |
| Mon May 11th | Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre Visit Alec Brew |
| Mon Jun 8th | Talk by Andy Sloane of the Wolverhampton Society |
| Philosophy 1 | |
| Mon May 11th | Due to the Coronavirus this meeting is likely to be postponed. For the last three months we have been looking at political philosophy. We started with John Locke (1632-1704) who held that we surrender some of our freedoms to an authority or government which should protect our lives, property, and freedoms. His ideas influenced much of the development of democratic societies especially the foundation of the United States with its separation of powers: the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. The legislature is controlled by elected representatives. In John Stuart Mill's time (1806-1873) the electorate was restricted to adult male property owners, about 2% of the adult population. Mill campaigned for a universal electorate including women. If is widely believed that men had the vote and women attained it in 1918. However the various reform acts of the nineteenth century extended the vote from property owners to some householders which increased the male franchise but in the election of 1910 only about half of the adult males were entitled to vote. Less than half the soldiers who fought in the first world war were entitled to vote. If was this injustice that led to the 1918 act which extended the franchise to almost all males over the age of 21 and females over the age of thirty. In 1928 women had equality. Mill believed in a representative government but was concerned about “the dictatorship of the majority” and that some faction could impose its values on any minority. His solution was to limit the power of government; it should only forbid behaviour that would harm an other person or other persons. He rejected governmental paternalism, that is making laws to prevent persons or group of persons harming themselves. He was a fierce defender of free speech. In 1944 there were only 11 democracies in the world; by 2011 there were 101. This may have been the zenith as a few democracies (so far) have returned to autocratic regimes. Free speech is also under attack in all societies, democratic as well as authoritarian. Mill's arguments for liberty and free speech are as relevant today as they were in his day. At our next meeting we will be looking at Karl Marx and his ideas. The primary sources will be “The German Ideology” by Marx and Engels and “on the Jewish Question” by Marx. At later meetings we are considering looking at metaphysics. If you wish to join the group please phone me or click on contacts and send a message to the group's coordinator. If you do not wish to, or cannot join our meetings but would like to know more about the subject let me know and I will add you to the distribution list for my notes. |
| Reading 1 | |
| Thu May 7th | 'The Wall' by John Lanchester |
| Thu Jun 4th | 'A Change of Climate' by Hilary Mantel |
| Thu Jul 2nd | 'Travels with Charley: In Search of America' by John Steinbeck |
| Science and Technology | |
|
Wed Mar 18th →Tue Apr 7th |
PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS ALL U3A MEETINGS ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL FUTHER NOTICE |
| Walking | |
| Fri Apr 17th | Pattingham: 7 miles, Pub Lunch. Dave Smith |
| Thu Apr 30th | Ludlow: 6 miles, Pub Lunch. Phil & Carol Thomas |
| Tue May 12th | Short Slow Flower & Bird Walk, Pendeford Nature Reserve: Sheila Moore |
| Wed May 27th | Hampton Loade around Dudmaston: 6 miles, Pub Lunch. Ed Barron |
| Fri Jun 12th | Malvern Hills, Eastnor: 10 miles, 5 miles before lunch and optional 5 miles after, Café Lunch. Ann & Neil Malcolm |
| Wed Jun 24th | Evening Walk & Meal - Worfield: 4 miles, Eileen Woolverton |