Please click on the links to see the whole timetable and the booking details.
http://u3asites.org.uk/london-region/events
LondonRegionSummerSchool2017_ApplicationForm(Final05Feb2017)
SHARED LEARNING PROJECT: APRIL TO JUNE 2017
PIONEERS OF WOMEN’S HOUSING – FOR THE NEW MODEL WORKING WOMAN
The early history of Women’s Pioneer Housing
Background: WW1 saw the campaign for equal voting rights with men put on ice. Women instead took on the work men had been doing, jobs it was once thought far beyond the mental and physical capacity of women. Peace came at a price. Wartime casualties had left one in three women with no means of support but millions of women were being laid off to make jobs available to ‘returning heroes’. Those desperate to hold on to their job, or to find work to support themselves, flooded the agencies that had placed women in jobs during the conflict. High on the list of what they desperately needed was a decent place they could call home. Etheldred Browning, an Anglo-Irish suffragist who had recently moved to London, observed that in central London many large houses, designed to function on the back of cheap female labour, now lay empty. Women in the war years had tried alternatives to the badly paid, long hours of domestic drudgery. They weren’t going back to it. Etheldred came up with a plan to buy the houses cheaply and convert them into self-contained flats for women. Her tenants could decorate them to their own tastes, the rents would be moderate and there’d be no silly bars on visitors. Despite some very hairy moments, the new ‘Women’s PIoneer Housing’ proved a success with the active support of a network of veterans from the women’s suffrage movement. Old records recently found in Women’s Pioneer’s safe read like a Who’s Who of the suffragist movement, spanning Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. They reveal too that the women who supported her project or were housed or employed by it, included some of the first to qualify in professions where women are now accepted as the norm. What we have found is a forgotten chapter in suffrage history that shows how the suffragists turned skills honed campaigning for the vote to another practical purpose, helping protect and progress advances women were making in the workplace. We have a cracking story to tell but need help properly researching it.
The project: We need help:
- reading through archive material to draw up an accurate record of who did what and when. The material will be digitally scanned so this can be done on a computer at home.
- researching individual women to find out more about their lives, specifically: their family background, their education/training, the work they did (paid or unpaid) up to and during the 1920s/30s. A lot of this can be done at home using geneology websites (we’re paying for the subscription) or at the Women’s Library, National Archives, university archives or from online archive material provided by trade bodies. Photos would be a huge plus.
- researching one or more professions that opened up to women post-WW1 or that changed significantly (new technology/materials or much tighter professional standards). What factors helped or hindered women’s progress (for example new laws) and how was the contribution of women valued and rewarded compared with that of men. Again archives, universities and trade bodies may help. Family anecdotes welcome!
You should apply if:
- you are interested in the suffrage movement and/or a period of British history that spans the final years of the struggle for Irish independence, world war one and interwar politics
- you are comfortable using the internet and are up to the challenge of trying to get information from geneology websites, where names are often misspelt or a search one day will throw up information that failed, using exactly the same tactics, the day before
- you enjoy detective work, making discoveries and joining the dots in a complex puzzle
- you have time to spare for our project during April, May and June
- you can attend two meetings in April (dates to be decided)
- you are willing to produce reports detailing what you found and where, including full details of your sources and who, if anyone, is to be credited for information and/or images.
Venues: The first meeting will be held at Women’s Pioneer’s offices in White City at 227 Wood Lane, London W12 0EX (nearest tube station is White City, Central line). The second will be held at the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics, 10 Portugal Street, Holborn, London WC2A 2HD (nearest tube is Holborn, Central and Piccadilly lines). Additional research may need to be done at the National Archives (Richmond Road, Twickenham TW9 (nearest station: Kew Gardens overground), the British Library and
Royal Holloway/University of London. Most other research can be done online.
Questions and applications by Tuesday 28 February or earlier to:
Lisa Thompson thompsonstwo@icloud.com 01732 750 433 Or text 07885 519 117
Jo Walters jo.walters.slp@gmail.com 01689 854880. Or text 07713916620
Dionne Antrobus Dionne.Antrobus@womenspioneer.co.uk 020 8749 7112
Citizens: 800 Years in the making: exploring the history of
liberty, protest, power and rebellion
Citizens is a three year project being run by Royal Holloway which will launch in January 2017. The aim is to create a website that explores the history of liberty, protest, rebellion and reform from Magna Carta to the Suffragettes and beyond. This site, promoted especially to teachers and school pupils, will help visitors understand and learn how and why people’s rights and their relationship with the state has changed; how people have challenged authority; how governments have responded to such challenges; and how Parliament and parliamentary democracy have evolved. With your help, Royal Holloway plans to identify, map and share the stories, discovered by U3A members, to build up a picture of how communities have contributed to our democratic heritage.
U3A members will be playing a vital role, highlighting local stories, figures, movements. Here in London, for example, members will look at the relevant history of a particular borough which has contributed to this eight century long struggle to define, defend and extend rights and liberty. Here in Battersea, you may like to research the Putney Debates or the central role Battersea played in the early days of British Socialism – for example,names such as Charlotte Despard, John Burns and John Archer.
This is a more flexible form of Shared Learning Project than we have been used to in London as members will be asked to work in small, local groups or on their own on their chosen topic and then come together for meetings every eight weeks when they can discuss their progress and raise any questions. The meetings will be held at Senate House, University of London National Archives in Kew, and the first briefing meeting will be on Monday 16th January 2017.
If the project interests you but you would like some suggestions as to research topics, please sign up and come along to the first meeting to hear Dr. Matthew Smith’s proposals. Matthew will also be able to give you a letter of introduction to your local museum. If you haven’t found anyone with whom to work, come and find a group you can join. If you are at all interested or have any queries, please email Jennifer Anning, the U3A Co-ordinator of the project.
Please click on link below for more information
http://citizens-u3a-slp-flyer-london-region
Jennifer Anning, National SLP Co-ordinator
ja_ku3a@btinternet.com
Day 1: We board our Executive coach at the four pick-up points in the Kingston area and make our journey north for our lunch stop at Moseley Old Hall (NT) – an atmospheric Elizabethan farmhouse that saved a King. Find out about the dramatic story of King Charles II hiding from Cromwell’s troops after he fled the Battle of Worcester in 1651. After lunch we continue to Cumbria where we check into our 3* AA Cumbria Grand Hotel at Grange over Sands for four nights on half-board basis.
Day 2: Today is dedicated to a guided tour of the stunning Lake District. We will visit many areas of outstanding beauty and small villages, steeped in character and history: Hawkshead and Beatrix Potter Gallery (NT) and Hilltop (NT), Beatrix Potter’s 17th century farmhouse, Grasmere and 400 year
old Dove Cottage, once home of the famous poet William Wordworth.
Day 3: This morning we will board the Windermere Lake Cruise for a 40 minute cruise to Bowness. After lunch we visit Holker Hall & Gardens, the family home of Lord and Lady Cavendish. This is a delightful family home with fine displays of antique furniture and art.
Day 4: Today we start by visiting Kendal with its many historical buildings, castles, bridges and a street market on a Wednesday. In the afternoon we visit Sizergh Castle and Gardens (NT).
Day 5: This morning we check out of the hotel and on our way home we stop at Leighton Hall. Stepping inside this house is like taking a step back in time, but it still retains the atmosphere of a family home. An enthusiastic guide will reveal the Gillow Reynolds’ family history and habits. Each room from the Gothic Hall to the principle bedroom and the charming library has some interesting secret to reveal or tale to tell. Why is there a lock of James II’s hair in the Drawing room, and why is the table in the hall shaped like a daisy? A light lunch is included here before we retrace our steps homeward.
Date: 17th – 21st September 2017
Boarding:
8.30 am. – Kingston, High Street,
opposite The Rose Theatre 8.40 am. – Surbiton, outside
Coronation Hall Pub
8.50 am. – Surbiton, Ewell Road, Bus
stop ‘Telephone Exchange’ 9.00 am. – Tolworth – Bus stop ‘J
Princes Avenue’ – outside ‘Our Lady Immaculate’
Cost: £499.00 pp Half-board, sharing a twin/double bedroom
Included: All entrance fees (except to NT properties) plus 1 light lunch on day 5
Single room Supplement: £39.00 (4 nights)
Deposit: £85.00 pp (non-refundable) Balance due by 04.08.2017
Travel Insurance: £30.00 (No upper age limit – conditions apply)
For a detailed booking form please complete the attached application form and send it together with a stamped addressed envelope – not too small, please – to Gisela Zürcher-Feiß, 37, The Byeways, Surbiton KT5 8HT – Phone 020 8399 4990
If you do not give an email address please enclose a stamped, self- addressed envelope.
The beautiful Lake Distric application form
Following the very interesting and successfully August Monthly Meeting on this topic a spontaneous collection was taken from those attending and over £300 was raised to help fund the projects being run in Ethiopia. We have had a letter of appreciation from the speaker and his wife who have established the developments in health, education and water provision which we heard about in the talk. There is a weblink provided here for anyone who may wish to find out more http://www.lalibela.org.uk this is a combination of small charities our speaker reports under the Norman and Carole heading.