Bude U3A held their June 2010 meeting at the Parkhouse Centre on the 17th.
Chairman Sylvia welcomed everyone including two newly joined members.
Our U3A has been up and running now for 10 years and at our AGM in October we will have a small celebration. A cake has been ordered and there will be drinks, tea and coffee and probably, who knows, there may be something sparkling and bubbly.
The Devon Link Open day at Filleigh on 11th October 2010 will cover “Aspects of the law” and those not already signed up are urged to do so. Our visit to Highrove will go ahead in September
and Mary would like payment ASAP.
Sylvia then welcomed our speaker Jane Hanscombe who enlightened and entertained us with a talk on “Herbs and Spices”. We were able to handle the various seeds, leaves and powders (in jars) of dozens of varieties. We were told that in Biblical times they were so important and valuable and there are many references including of course frankincense and myrrh. In 2000 BCE the Chinese were using herbs and spices and evidence of this has been found in archeological digs. The Romans introduced herbs to Britain and many grown here are now used as flavourings in cookery but of course they also have other uses, rue for example keeps insects away and garlic keeps witches and vampires at bay. There was also a time when southernwood was rubbed onto bald heads to encourage hair growth but no-one at the meeting tried it.
Iwan Davies thanked the speaker and the meeting adjourned for tea and coffee. It was a most enjoyable afternoon.
Our next meeting is on 15th July when the speaker’s topic is “Fun with family history”.
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