A very nice informal History/history chat took place this morning  1000 till about 1130 am. All 4  members enjoyed it.

The next History meeting will be on Tuesday 16^th August as usual from 10 am to about noon with the topic being “Disasters”.

Look forward to  seeing you all then.

Michael Page

 

 

Re: History Discussion Group.  

 At our latest meeting today-the 15^th- we had a wonderful time listening  as usual to a wide range of topics....     They  were....Barnes Wallis Bouncing Bomb.   By undersigned....

Kingdom Brunel  by Michael Southgate.                   

Beatrice  Shilling  by Lesley Futcher.                                                                                               

Pollution  by  Brenda Brown. 

Thermometers -History  of by Louise Cotton.

Michael Page

Wine Appreciation Group

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At our latest meeting on Monday 20th January there were 8  out of 10 of us present, and as had been decided at our previous meeting our theme for this and  the next two meetings  were South African Wines.

Liz hosted the wine appreciation  and she presented for our deliberations and sampling two red South African Wines.

 

The first was a Sheraz Cape Peak wine of 2013 vintage from the Western Cape with a 13 % alcohol  volume. It was felt  by many members that it was a bright  red/ruby  wine with good clarity, a medium body with possible plumb  and/or blackcurrant flavour.

although one member thought that there was a hint of honey. , and with all members marking the wine out of 10 an average mark of 6 1/2 was achieved.

 

Our second wine was a Pinotage from  "Vineyards=world of wines". describing it as "Bold  red berry and spice flavours"

Comments were that it was a clean dark   medium sharp(bitter) wine. again with maybe a hint of blackcurrant/plumb/blackberry flavour.

 some said it had a balanced acidity but with a vinegar taste,

So the  majority felt that it was not as good as the first one- and indeed a couple thought that it was only good for cooking purposes.

 

This just shows how  different and varied we all  think  about  the many varied wines we drink, but also it is good as all our pallets are different,

  

In the late Spring we hope to have a visit to a local vineyard for some food and then a guided tour of the farm.

 

Many thanks to Liz for providing our wines , and our next meeting will be on Monday the 17th February  starting at 7 pm at Val Westalls.

 

Michael Page

December 2013 and January 2014

TOTTON HISTORY GROUP 

 December 2013 and January 2014 

Meetings Report 

 We have had two very interesting meetings. The first was on 16th December 2013, when we heard from Jack and Joan about the Inca people, and their achievements. They were a very successful people, whose empire was centred in Peru mainly, but also stretched across the Andes Mountains down into Columbia, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina. They built roads, terraced the land for farming, and had a sophisticated system for irrigating the crops. Their inventions are amazing. They discovered how to freeze dried foods, build aqueducts and hanging bridges across ravines and rivers, which sound terrifying, and developed a sophisticated measuring system, among other things. They were also skilled in making gold artefacts. Machu Pichu was rediscovered in 1911 having been abandoned and left in the jungle for many centuries which has been a source of much of our knowledge of the Incas. Unfortunately, in the early 1500, European invaders unwittingly gave the Incas Smallpox which killed nearly 90% of the Inca people. The remainder were defeated by the Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Pizzaro in 1532. Today, the descendants of the Incas still live in Peru and carry on the Incan language and customs in food, music and religion in remote villages.
 We then had a very interesting account of the French influence on America by Myra, who told us that the American constitution was modelled on the French constitution when they were planning to become Independent of England. It is estimated that 4% of Americans are French speaking. We also heard that many of the cities of America have names that are French influenced names derived from Indian names – Chicago, Detroit, which was founded by Mr Cadillac., Arkansaw Illinois, etc.

 Monday 20 January 

 Yesterday we started by discussing a proposed trip to the American Museum near Bath. Myra has kindly agreed to see what arrangements we can make for travel there by train and taxi. We have provisionally fixed the date for our June meeting on 16 June.

 We then had an enlightening talk from Leslie regarding the connection Bristol has with the slave and sugar trade with the West Indies and America. Bristol was about 100 years ahead of Liverpool and London in trading with America in slaves and in 1670 William III made it a royal company. One Bristolian left £15 million. Many buildings, including the Theatre Royal was built using the proceeds of the 3-way trade between Africa, America and England. There was a huge ship-building business in Bristol – it is estimated that 2108 ships left Bristol. Glasgow was also built on the slave trade, and in 1833 £20 million was given to coloured people by the British Government.

 Leslie has also agreed to look into the feasibility of organising a trip to Bristol to see the building legacy in Bristol.. Our next meeting will be on February 17 at Holmwood when we will look at the life and times of George Washington

December Wine Group

WINE APPRECIATION GROUP REPORT

Our group met on Monday 16^th December at Sue Huckers house for wine tasting and also an American Supper to celebrate the year of our group activities, and also Christmas and New Year.

The first wine was an Australian wine which obtained an average mark

Of 7 out of 10.

Many thought that it was a clean smelling, very nice light wine, Also it

had a good body to it and a balanced acidity. With regard to the fruit

flavour there was a mixture of answers covering gooseberry, lemon,

raspberry or grape.

Our second wine was a Hardy Merlot and the majority thought it had a

blackcurrant flavour. It seemed to have a strong clean flavour with a

slight tart taste with a musty feeling. Some thought that when swallowing

it was too sharp, and also a sharp twang to nose and back of throat.

Sue confirmed that this wine came from Australia with an average mark

of 6 out of 10,

Our next meeting on Monday 20^th January 2014 and will be at Mike’s in Totton and Liz will be hosting the wines.

It was decided that for the next three meetings we will be tasting wines

from South Africa, so we can learn a bit about them.

Michael Page

TOTTON U3A HISTORY GROUP

At our first meeting in October, it was agreed that for the next series of sessions each member would research a specific subject connected with the History of America. Our next meeting was held on Monday 18^th November where two very interesting topics were discussed. One was the discovery of North America by the Vikings, and much interest was shown as to how they actually got to America, and whether they had any influence on the native population. The conclusion was that both communities kept themselves apart and it was interesting that the Vikings settled in America for about 700 years – up until after 1066.

The second part of the morning was devoted to the Native Americans, their way of life, and how they adapted to the various terrains they inhabited. We were surprised at how many different tribes there were, and interested at how they solved their differences between them, as although they did fight among the tribes, they were not in the habit of killing each other.

Our next meeting is on 16^th December at 10am at Holmwood, Bartley.    

August Meeting

Our latest meeting  was at Val Westalls on the evening of Monday 19th August.

There were 7 members present, apologies were received from the other three.

Our fist wine was a red French Burgandy- Pinot Noir Grape- medium bodied.

the average mark out of 10 was 6 1/2 and it cost £7.18.

some comments were that it was sharp,strong tarty and heavy, tasting of blackcurrant with a clean smell.

some members thought it might have come from Germany or Australia. one member thought that after tasting there was a cherry hint.

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Our second wine was a Merno from New Zealand- costing £10.00

Young Brains  main  comment  was "I like it"...fine ..it could therefore have been a very short meeting.

comments thought it was a bright healthy wine..bit sharp/tarty at times- the flavour lasting   whilst one member thought it was Italian,  but Michael for his

sins thought that it was "Bulgarian"

It was a very good socially based evening and our thanks to Val for hosting it and providing a good selection of cheese and biscuits.

Our next meeting will be on Monday 16th September at Kathies.

June Meeting

"Our group at met Brian and Margaret Gilbys on the evening of Monday 3rd June for another pleasant and enjoyable evening. As usual there were two very different wines to enjoy, the first was a white wine called "Casa Roscoli (12%) Pirot Origio 2012...this wine is described as fresh and zingy with light apple and citrus flavours. Dry and refreshing in style. served as an aperitif or with light dishes such as chicken or seafood. Pirot grapes grown in Province of Pavia in N.Italy.(price £4.99). some members commented that it was a sweet and sharp and bright and a well balanced medium wine. it was awarded 6.6 points out of 10. Brians comment was "It was very nice" which probably summed it up quite well. Our second one was a red wine called Saint Vigni(13.5%).Cotes du Rhone 2011...this wine was described as a blend of different grapes, typical of Rhone origion. Dark fruit aromas are complimented by a soft palate of cherries and light spices.(price £5.99). some members commented that it had blackberry/blackcurrant taste, also it was tarty,heavy, some depth medium wine. For this one our group voted only 3.6 out of 10 so it was not so popular, indeed I commented that this would be "an ideal wine for alcoholics as it would give them a kick".

Our grateful thanks to Brian and Margaret Gilby for their hospitality and the technical details of our two wines. The next meeting will be on Monday 15th July at Lyns commencing at 7 pm.
Michael Page

On Monday evening-commencing at 7 pm - the group met at Michael Page's house for their monthly meeting.

present were..Michael Page, Lynn Sleep, Val Westall, Jean Symes, Sue Hucker, Lesley Bywater, Margaret Gilby, Brian Gilby and Kathie Horner.

Our first bottle of wine was a white Chardonnay Pinot Grigio 2011 from Italy..

Top marks to Jean Symes who correctly guessed the wines origin.

Some of the comments from our group were that the wine was bright, light clean smell, maybe yeasty, nicely balanced, slightly tarty with a hint of

gooseberry or apple.. a pleasant wine overall

average mark of 7 out of 10.

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the second bottle was a red wine called Dreamtime Ridge from Australia.. no year was shown on label. but it was described as a fresh, fruity, easy drinking red,

great with pasta, pizza and grilled meats(is this what Aussie's live on ??)

this scored an overage mark of 6 out of 10. there were no correct guesses for its origins.

some of the comments were clear, bright, dry medium wine.. tarty or smokey with a hint of plum, blackberry or cherry.

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It was again a very enjoyable evening and our next meeting will be on Monday evening the 3 June at Margaret's and Brian's.

=================

Michael Page

18th March History

Our latest meeting was held on the morning of 18th March at Michael Pages- and the subject was "Old Hampshire" To start the meeting a friend of mine who runs the Copythorne Parish History Group came and showed us a sort film made in the early "50's , about the New Forest- and it was lovely to see all these lovely scenes about life when we were young. We then re arranged the chairs around the edge and had a good discussion about Old Hampshire. After refreshments the meeting finished by noon and all the members left having had once again an interesting and pleasant morning. The next meeting will be on Monday the 15th April - at Michael Pages - starting at 10 am and the topic for discussion will be "WW1. Causes, effects and the lost Generation"

Michael Page

18th March wine meeting

Our latest meeting was held on the evening of the 18th March at Lesley Byewaters house in Bartley. As usual we had two bottles of excellent red wine to" sample our delights" As it turned out Lesley had been very clever in that both bottles were "Australian Chiraz" but of different verities- this really tested our skills in this very enjoyable hobby.
 The first wine was the lighter of the two with a slight blackberry(and cherry-Jean) flavours with a balanced acidity and not too intense. for this the average mark out of ten was 7. The second wine was thought to "cling to the glass"- with a bright, deep ruby flavour , with a strong sharp flavour. for this the average mark out of ten was again "7". Everyone enjoyed the evening and our thanks go to Lesley for hosting the evening. The next meeting will be on Monday the 15th April at Michael Pages, commencing at 7 pm. ====================== Michael Page =====================