| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Organiser: | |
| When: | Monthly on Friday mornings 10:00 am-12:00 pm 4th Friday |
| Venue: | The Lounge, Greenwood Park |
This Group now has 20 members and numbers will be capped at a maximum of 24 to fit round the tables in the Lounge. If someone is undecided whether to join the Group, then they are welcome to come along to a meeting as a free trial but please email the Organiser Catherine first. We meet in the Lounge at Greenwood Park on the 4th Friday of the month from 10am to 12pm and tea/coffee and biscuits are provided. The group does not meet in December.
The provisional programme arranged for 2026 is
- 24 Jul - Talk by Pam on her archaeology experiences.
- 28 Aug - Videos on Victorian mourning jewellery.
- 25 Sep - A talk by David Palmer, the auctioneer, has been arranged.
- 23 Oct - Show & Tell when members bring along objects to talk about.
- 27 Nov - Videos on portrait miniatures plus planning meeting.
- 25 Dec - No meeting.
To contact the Organiser if you wish to join the group, or just want to find out more about it, click on the organiser name link on this page. Please include your membership number in the message if you are a member of Chiswell Green u3a.
Our June visit to Forty Hall was cancelled due to the heatwave but will be rearranged.
Our May meeting showed a video about the furniture maker Thomas Chippendale and his craftsmanship was superb. We also saw a video about the National Trust property Nostell Priory, which has a collection of his furniture and work by Robert Adam.
Our April meeting was a visit to Alan and Jill’s house to see his Matchbox vehicle collection. He has a fascinating collection of vehicles in display cases and his knowledge of their rarity and collectability was amazing. He gave us a PowerPoint presentation and then we looked round the collection, with Alan telling us more about them. Jill also has a very interesting collection of various objects and we liked her Muffin the Mule puppet which Alan gave her, which sparked several reminiscences. We all enjoyed our morning and thanks to them for hosting this and providing refreshments.
Our March meeting was a fascinating video narrated by Nicholas Parsons about the Marie-Antoinette watch & watches designed by the Breguet Company. Click here for more information about the Marie-Antoinette watch on wikipedia.
The Group had a lovely talk in February by Roger Osborn (with help from his wife Sue to show photos on the Lounge TV via her laptop) about his autograph collecting over the years and the famous people he has met through this. Roger and Sue are members of our u3a. We enjoyed his talk so much, that he continued after the coffee break until we finished at 12pm. We hope that he will come next year to speak to us again about this and his other interests.
The Group had a fascinating video at their January meeting on the history of printing and the inside story of Johann Gutenberg who invented the world’s first printing press in the 15th century. This was narrated by Stephen Fry, whose dry sense of humour added to our enjoyment and he classed this as “The Medieval invention that changed the course of history”. The amount of work involved in achieving this was huge, but it was very sad that Gutenberg had to hand over all his work and the press to the person who had financed his invention as he could not repay the debt owed.
We enjoyed our November meeting when we watched dolls house videos and had a successful planning meeting . We explored the jaw dropping world of miniature dolls houses and saw the 10 most expensive ones in history. Number 2 is worth one million dollars and the Queen Mary dolls house at Windsor is priceless. The furniture was made by some of the leading craftsmen of the time and their attention to detail is superb. We also saw a 1700's Cabinet dollhouse and had a video tour of a very rare 18th Century French glass roof dolls house with its original furnishings. It is amazing this was not destroyed during the French Revolution.
In October, the Group had a lovely morning enjoying a talk by the independent auctioneer David Palmer wearing his trademark colourful waistcoat.
His reminiscences (often going off at tangents) were hilarious and he was able to tell us about the various objects brought along, and that it is no longer possible to sell any ivory without a licence.
We hope he will come again next year.
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In September, the Group saw a very interesting video on the diamond trade and diamond mining. The differences between the disciplined trading in London and Antwerp and the chaos of the Indian trading market, which seemed to rely solely on mobile phones and trust, was amazing. It was also somewhat scary to see the state intervention in the Russian trading market and mines.
August's meeting was a Show and Tell, where members brought along objects to talk about. We all enjoyed Alan’s Bavarian costume and his commemorative beer festival mugs, and the variety of items brought along.
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The Group had a very interesting talk in July by Pam about silver hallmarks
and spotting fakes and forgeries.
This was accompanied by some relevant videos and pictures
about David Merry and the Goldsmiths’ Hall.
Pam also brought along some pieces of silver to show and tell us about.
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We had a lovely outing to Stockwood Park, Luton in June in perfect weather.
We enjoyed seeing the gardens and museum there, as well as having coffee and lunch.
The carriage collection is impressive and luckily there was some welcome shade in the gardens.
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May was a video on the history of the scent industry.
Members brought along perfume bottles which Pam told us about.
We also planned the programme for the next 6 months.
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We saw some interesting & amusing videos on Automatons in April & were impressed by the skill involved in making these. Many were very lifelike, with several enjoying sticking out their tongues at us. They are still made today, but as a hobby because it is not profitable to make them now in view of the time & work involved. The most beautiful is the silver swan dating from the 18th Century at the Bowes Museum.
March was a very interesting video on Caithness paperweights and May kindly brought along some of her collection to show us. Caithness Glass was founded in 1961 and went into Receivership in 2004 when it was taken over by Edinburgh Crystal. It was again taken over in 2006 by Dartington Glass who continue to make paperweights. We were all impressed by the skill involved in making these and the number of different designs available.
The World record for a paperweight was just over 250,000 dollars in 1990.
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In February, a video was shown about the Romanov Faberge eggs.
At our January meeting we watched a most interesting video about the traditions associated with kimono, about the different kimonos worn at different occasions, how they are decorated and how the ruling classes influenced the materials and decoration.
Marianne brought along a beautifully embroidered kimono she owns (see pictures).
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The Group had an interesting video at their November meeting about Japanese Netsuke (ornaments that sit in the hand) and 12 of us enjoyed looking at the pieces Pam had kindly brought along. We were amazed by the skill involved in creating these small objects and how beautiful some were.
Some examples of Japanese Netsuke
brought along by Pam.
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This new Group had an enjoyable meeting in October when members brought along an interesting mix of objects to describe.
We were unable to guess the use of the wooden box - it turns out to be a Dutch cigar maker - the box opens out and has recesses to hold the tobacco in place.
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