ROMSEY and District
Low-down in the Lockdown Bulletin No.1 - 29 April 2020 WELCOME to the first edition of ‘Low-down in the Lockdown’ – a twice monthly collection of ideas from Romsey and District U3A to help you Stay at Home, Stay Safe and Stay Active, organised around the U3A motto: ‘Learn, laugh, live’. Throughout this period of lockdown we aim to increase contact with all of our members to keep you regularly and better informed of what is going on in U3A, both locally and nationally. These Bulletins do not replace our quarterly Newsletter, the next edition of which is due out in mid-May.
Learn
We have had to cancel our monthly general meetings until August (subject to review) but will do our best to briefly cover each programme topic, using on-line resources that you can follow up if you wish. We hope the speakers will be able to re-schedule their talk at a later date.
April’ s main meeting was to be: The Amazing Animals of WWI by Tony Babb. Here is a summary from the Imperial War Museum’s web page called: ‘15 Animals that went to War’: Over 16 million animals served in WW1 for transport, communication and companionship. Horses, donkeys, mules and camels carried food, water, ammunition and medical supplies, and pulled guns and ambulances; dogs and pigeons carried messages. Canaries were used to detect poisonous gas, and cats and dogs hunted rats in the trenches. Monkeys, bears and lions were kept as pets and mascots to raise morale and Horses wearing gas masks provide comfort amidst the hardships of war. The Army Veterinary Corps treated 2.5 million injured animals, 85% returning to duty. The RSPCA tried to reduce animal suffering, providing swift and humane treatment to ‘war’ animals; they ran temporary kennels at Boulogne for dogs belonging to men going on leave to the UK. After the war, they set up the Soldiers Dog Fund to bring the dogs home, quarantining them until they could be returned to their owners.
Over 484,000 British horses, mules, camels and bullocks died, plus many hundreds of dogs, pigeons and other animals. Inspectors also lost their lives trying to save animals forced to participate in war. Use this link to read more: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/15-animals-that-went-to-war INTEREST GROUPS Eleven groups are keeping in touch through ‘virtual’ meetings using Zoom, Skype or Lifesize. Nine groups still communicate by email, phone apps, Flickr, questionnaires, newsletters & websites. Please let Margaret Marchbank know how your group is ‘keeping in touch’. If you are a Group Leader and would like help setting up a ‘Zoom’ meeting, please contact: Sylvia Croxall enquiry@sylviassilversurfers.co.uk 01794 840101
SCAMS
PLEASE be extra careful that you don’t fall victim to scammers during this ‘lockdown’.
Sylvia Croxall (Introduction to Computing) has written an article for the May Newsletter that will help you identify them. Criminals will impersonate genuine organisations by Cold Calling, Phone, Text (SMS), Email or on a Website but remember: * Never accept help from Cold Callers * Never share ANY personal details on the Phone * Never give remote access to your Computer over the internet * Never click on an attachment, link or box in an Email or SMS you are not expecting * Never click on a pop-up on your Computer, Tablet or Smart Phone * Never transfer or withdraw money ‘for security reasons’ Did you see the CORONAVIRUS SCAMS item on The One Show on 22 April? If not, catch up on BBC iPlayer if you can - it’s 5mins.30secs. into the programme. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hk4s/the-one-show-22042020 Page 1 of 2