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Burnham-on-Crouch U3A – July 2010
The monthly branch meeting took place on 1st July at the Ramblers Clubhouse with 67 members present. The Chairman Mick Connolly announced that there were still vacancies on the committee for Branch Secretary and Editorial Liaison. Volunteers should contact any committee member for further information. Members were reminded that the annual subscription of £12 was now due, and that after July31st it would increase to £13. 

    Garden Party tickets are still available at £7.50 for Langford Museum venue on 5th August. 

    Derek Sutton announced that the Oriental Dining group would be at the Thai restaurant in Burnham High Street at 7.00 p.m. on Friday July 16th.

    The Homebirds lunch group next meeting will be at Swallowtails at 12 noon on Friday 23rd July.

    The Philosophy group’s next meeting would discuss “Creation myths of ancient civilisations”

            Derek Alan then introduced the speaker, Tony Earle, who gave an interesting account of working for Kodak for 40 years. Basically a history of photography, which started over 180 years ago, the first recorded photograph being taken in 1826. The first photo of a human being was taken in Paris in 1835, and Monsieur Daguerre pioneered the “daguerretype” in 1839 using polished silver plates. Only one copy was possible until Fox-Talbot of Laycock Abbey invented the negative from which unlimited prints were possible. The first colour photo was taken in 1850.

            By 1879 Ilford were the largest photographic company in the world, followed in 1881 by George Eastman in Rochester, New York. Eastman invented the word KODAK, and built a large factory in Harrow-on-the Hill. 

`    He invented the folding camera, and took the only picture of Orville Wright’s first flight at Kittyhawk, North Carolina. The Brownie model was introduced for children in 1910, and by the end of World War 2 over 9 and a half million had been sold. Kodachrome colour roll film was produced until quite recently, and the first digitalcamera was invented in 1975.It took 23 minutes to produce the photograph.

`After a short question and answer session during which several old cameras were shown, a vote of thanks was moved by Vice-chairman Alan Brown
The next meeting will be the Garden Party on 5th August at Langford Museum. The September meeting at the Ramblers will be on 2nd when the speaker will be Joan Williams on her experiences as a cook at Kentwell Hall.


           


 

 


NEW SOCIAL EVENTS GROUP
The first event planned is on the 19th of October to Saffron Walden which is a pretty market town with old buildings and antique shops. In the 18th century the town's main industry was malt for brewing. Many historic buildings were built by the Quakers and survive today , largely untouched by industrialisation. There are the remains of a small castle, and a rather good church. Tuesday is also Market day. So it promises to be an interesting and busy day out.
Book your tickets with Beth Greaves, Ann Pennington-Legh, Thelma Benfield or Yvonne Charge. A £5 non- returnable deposit will be required on booking. The cost of the coach will be £12.
We plan many more trips in the future, and would like your input of what you would like to do or where to go. We can't promise to fulfil all ideas but majority of visits asked for will be considered.
Please keep checking the web site NEWS page for new outings in the future.
Yvonne Charge, PR


 


       


 

 

 



Memories of Ward B21 of the Medical Emergency Ward at Broomfield Hospital.

 

            I recently had a 4-night mini-break courtesy of the NHS in a mixed-sex ward. This is a 24-hour treatment ward, thus there was plenty of mixing but no sex!
     A few memories stand out, such as being woken at 1.15 in the morning, placed in a wheelchair with a sheet covering me, and being wheeled smartly to X-ray dept. looking for all the world like ET going home.
    Two girls making the beds, on learning I was going to Outpatients, said I would need to be fully armed and offered to lend me a shotgun. Still can’t work out if they meant to reassure me or frighten me.
     Rather worrying was the young Italian chap manning the tea trolley when he said I had sexy pyjamas!!
     There was one slim young junior lady doctor who must regret asking me to grip her hand. This was part of a routine test for patients who had suffered a TIA (transient ischaemic attack) but she may have to re-think that one unless the bruises have healed by now.
    This was the first time in my life that I woke up next to a different lady every morning!! One morning I thought I must be hallucinating for opposite me was a very large Dalmatian dog sitting up in bed. Intense study revealed it to be a young 20-year old girl wearing fluffy white pyjamas with black dots on them.
     I am now aware of the true meaning of some everyday phrases that we usually take for granted. Rather like an estate agent’s description of a property, words spoken in hospital take on a different meaning, so I have prepared a translation for anyone going to Broomfield in future.

1) Will I be kept in overnight, answer “not likely” = Definitely.
2)  When will I be discharged, answer “tomorrow” = Next week.
3) When will the consultant see me, answer “ first thing in the morning” = Tomorrow afternoon.
4) Nurse to patient, “I’ll be with you in 2 minutes” = See you in half an hour.
5) We are moving you to a day ward = You’re staying here indefinitely.
6) All the medical team have gone to an emergency = There’s a party in the Nurses Home.
7) The nurses are doing the shift handover = They are gossiping about what they got up to last night.
8) Get there early and you’ll be able to park easily = The car park’s always full.
9) A hot meal = cold meal; a cold meal = still frozen ( This one is a joke, the meals were excellent, but all the others are true)
Geoff.Charge








 

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