The May Open Meeting of Bude & District USA at the Parkhouse Centre was opened by the Chairman, Sylvia Henry, who welcomed everyone and then made a number of business announcements.
The Speaker for the afternoon was one of Bude U3A's founder members, Jill Davies (who also leads the Philosophy Group). She had entitled her talk "The Story and the Storyteller". Man has probably told stories since the beginning of time, initially passing them on from one generation to the next by word of mouth. Jill took her listeners back to the earliest recorded stories - the legends told by Homer in his epic poem, "The Iliad", which is believed to have been written sometime during the 6th century BC.
Jill revealed that she was about ten years old when she first encountered the Greek myths, and she has loved them ever since.
With the help of cast lists and maps distributed through the audience she then entertained everyone with the story of the gods, the Greeks and the Trojans and the war that followed Priam (the King of Troy)'s theft of Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta.
A question children often ask at the end of a story is "Is it true?" As with all legends it is probable that the Iliad contains some truth. Troy was a very wealthy city, with a natural harbour for which the Trojans charged high mooring fees. The Greeks had a large and efficient sea-going force, and a desire to increase their wealth, so war between them was probably inevitable. But whatever your opinion it remains a terrific tale, and Jill's love of the characters and their doings shone through. Her audience rewarded her with a long round of applause at the end.
Away from the Parkhouse Centre, the formation of a Canasta group has brought the total number of interest groups to twenty. Among these, the Cinema group is planning to see "No Country for Old Men" in May and "The Other Berlin Girl" in June, both at Holsworthy, while the Theatre group will be visiting Bamstaple, Exeter and Plymouth in the next few months to see a variety of productions including ballet, Shakespeare, a modern comedy and a musical.
Both Sharing Poetry groups are thriving, as are both Discussion groups, the Scrabblers, the Walkers and the Gardeners. However, the Singing for Fun group (which is just that) would love to welcome some more members. They meet four times a month, twice as a group, and twice when they visit Fairfield and Red Gables Old People's Homes to sing well-known old favourites with the residents. Accompanists (of any sort) are also in short supply. The group has a couple of singing members who can play their keyboard, but would be delighted to learn of anyone else who might be prepared to help out.
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