Our monthly meetings are held on the second Thursday of the month at the Union Church and Community Centre, Weston Park, N8 9PX. They are open to all members (please bring your membership card) and you are welcome to bring a guest: it is possible to join at the meeting.
◼ Talks start at 10.30 a.m. with U3A notices, then the main speaker at 10.45 a.m. Please could you kindly ensure that you arrive by 10.30 a.m. to avoid causing any undue disruption.
◼ Members arriving after 10.30 a.m. will be asked to access the venue via the entrance to the right of the main door (up the ramp).
◼ Tea and coffee are available from 10 a.m. – please bring your own cup or mug.
Coming up …
Thursday 12 March 2020
Dave Clarke : Untangling the Web – Demystifying Spiders at ZSL London Zoo
🕷 Spiders are a much maligned group of animals, but vital to our continued existence (and really nice once you get to know them!). This talk will illustrate the way ZSL London Zoo aims to redress the balance, by educating people about the positive side of spiders, presenting innovative displays to the public, direct conservation initiatives, and even curing arachnophobia on the Friendly Spider Programme
Dave Clarke is Head of Invertebrates at the Zoological Society of London. He has participated in captive management, exhibition and conservation programmes for a variety of species for over 35 years at ZSL London Zoo. Although having experience with all taxa, he has specialised in invertebrates and was instrumental in creation of the BUGS biodiversity display and Butterfly Paradise exhibits. An active member of national and international conservation bodies, Dave continually seeks to champion and promote the importance of invertebrates in zoos.
Thursday 2 April 2020
Dr Kat Jungnickel : Bikes and Bloomers – Victorian Women Inventors and Their Extraordinary Cyclewear
Victorian women were early adopters of the bicycle during the 1890s cycling boom in England. Yet, ordinary middle and-upper-class fashions were vastly inappropriate for cycling; skirts and petticoats caught in wheels and tangled in pedals. And, looking too much like a cyclist in more ‘rational dress’ could elicit verbal and sometimes physical assault by parts of society threatened by progressive ‘New Women’. In this talk Dr Kat Jungnickel reveals how some pioneering Victorian women not only imagined, made and wore radical new forms of cycle wear, but also patented their inventive designs. The most remarkable of these were convertible costumes that enabled wearers to secretly switch ordinary dress into cycle wear. Join Kat as she demonstrates some of these costumes and shares fascinating stories of 1890s inventors whose cycling contributions continue to shape urban life for contemporary mobile women.
Dr Kat Jungnickel is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. She teaches and researches on mobilities, inventions, gender and DIY technology cultures. She is currently working on a European Research Council funded project Politics of Patents: Re-imagining Citizenship via Clothing Inventions 1820-2020, exploring 200 years of fascinating wearable technology histories, with a particular focus on political acts of resistance through clothing.
Image of women cyclists used with permission of Charlotte Barnes
Thursday 14 May 2020
Janet Sutherland : Our Homes for Our Future
Will our homes support our independence as we grow older? Or do we want to move?
Let’s each do a Homes for Life review. Will my home be easy to live in and maintain, close to amenities and transport? What changes do I need to make, and when should I make them?
If we would like to move, what would we like to move to, and when is the best time to make the move? I will provide some examples of moves made by local CEDU3A members, and also some images of inspirational ideas, in the UK and beyond.
Our ideas could help to shape our future choices, together we can influence! The right home can add years of independent living.
Janet Sutherland is a freelance consultant specialising in housing, urbanism and regeneration, with an interest in housing for older people, and is part of a national U3A group Future Lives. Janet has held senior Housing positions with the London Boroughs of Lewisham and Camden, and was Director, JTP Cities and a Board Member and Chair of the Services Delivery Committee of Aldwyck Housing Group. She is a Director of The Academy of Urbanism, a member of Catalyst’s Customer Experience Committee, of London Housing LIN steering group, and of Crouch End Neighbourhood Forum, and Chartered Institute of Housing.
Thursday 11 June 2020
John Withington : North London Disasters
Meetings in 2020
February 2020
James M. Taylor : Brilliant British Humour in the Forgotten Art of the Picture Postcard, 1840-1950s
Artist-drawn postcards were the most popular art form from the Edwardian era to the outbreak of World War II. They entertained, inspired, instructed, motivated, persuaded and lifted up the spirits. James described the popular themes and styles by the masters of the medium such as Mabel Lucie Attwell, Donald McGill and Fred Spurgin; and the reasons why their popularity waned with the British public.
January 2020
Andrew Ellis : Art UK: Democratising Access to the Nation’s Art
A full house for the first monthly meeting of the year was 
rewarded with a fascinating and enlightening talk on the work and achievements of Art UK, by its director Andrew Ellis. The ambition of Art UK (gradually being realised) is provide an online catalogue of the nation’s artworks. This is especially important as 80% of these works are generally hidden from public view at any one time. The venues in which these are housed range from the country’s most well-known museums and art galleries to smaller institutions like Haringey’s Bruce Castle (although, sadly, not the Royal Collection). Andrew described the photographing and cataloguing of the works of art, talked about copyright and licensing issues, and highlighted one or two recent initiatives of the Art UK website, the most interesting of which is the forum where members of the public are invited to share any information about painting and sculptures about which nothing is known.
Previous monthly talks
2017
Peter Cox : Growing up in London
Tiago Mata : A history of The Economist
Estelle Lovatt : Fun and irony in art
2018
Katy Ghahremani : Plans for Hornsey Town Hall
Haringey First World War Peace Forum presentation
Robin Lustig : A life in broadcasting
Graham Bennett : Serge Diaghilev and his legacy
Alexander Zhuravlyov : The rise and rise of Vladimir Putin
Louise Stewart : Plans for Alexandra Palace
Carl Parker : What is terrorism?
Luke Alder : The Estorick Collection of Modern Art
Margaret Greenfields : Britain as a nation of immigrants
David Hunter : Guillaume Apollinaire and the First World War
Francine Bates : The golden age of the music hall
Elizabeth Woodcraft : Hi-heel sneakers – growing up in the 60s
2019
Peter Cox : The history and development of John Lewis and Waitrose
John Withington : Living to 100 – The secrets of the centenarians
Sandra Clark : Singing witches, authenticity and innovation: Macbeth on the Victorian Stage
John Hinshelwood : Crouch End and District: a photographic record from 1860 – 1920
Jayne Forbes : A solo traveller’s tales
Roger Hamilton : Climate change – where are we now
Jan Marsh : The Pre-Raphaelite sisters
Hugh Hayes : A Park for Finsbury
Ian Christie : Rescuing a pioneer: Britain’s forgotten creator of cinema
Oonagh Gay : The pioneer women MPS