Female Secret Agents for the Allies During World War II
18th June 2026
Sheryl Green gave us a very interesting and informative Talk about six women of different nationalities and backgrounds who chose to train and act as agents, for the Allies during World War Two while fully aware of the dangers they would face.
Sheryl is an experienced public speaker who specialises in providing illustrated talks on the Allied intelligence agents during the Second World War and the RAF Squadrons that served them.
Sheryl subsequently sent us the attached list of books about the women from around the world who worked as secret agents for the Allies during World War Two whose activities she told us about in her Talk.
The History of Gunpowder
Thursday 16th April 2026
Our speaker Geoff Smith, who is a long time u3a member and is a former convenor and founder of the Science and Technology Group, gave us a Talk titled ‘The History of Gunpowder'.
Geoff's comprehensive Talk covered the origin of gunpowder and some of the myths connected with that, as well as its chemical components and many uses through the ages, some unexpected and others discovered by accident. The wide ranging Talk also covered fire pots both as weapons of war and to keep a fire burning. Geoff also brough some artifacts including a musket which he showed how to load and fire.
There was no charge for this talk which was at Napier Hall and started at 12.30pm, as the speaker is a member of our u3a and the cost of the hire of the hall and tea, coffee and biscuits was covered by the Group's surplus funds.
Thursday 19th February 2026
Dr Cheryl Butler gave us a talk about the 800-year history of the Abbey, from its foundation in 1239 by Cistercian monks through to its destruction during the reformation and its rebirth as a Tudor Mansion, and lastly its transformation into the gothic ruin it is today, the inspiration of poets, painters and playwrights.
Some of us remembered Cheryl's last talk about the Titanic at our first meeting on 14th September 2023 when her passion for the subject due in part to her ancestry being linked to the event really brought history to life.
Thursday 15th January 2026
Our speaker Daniel Ball is the Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Mid Hants Railway Trust for the Watercress Line heritage railway. Daniel talked about the 160 years of the Watercress Line; its history and the people, as well as why and how was it built. The line runs ten miles from New Alresford to Alton where it connects to the National Rail network. Dan said the line gained its popular name in the days when it was used to transport locally grown watercress to markets in London. Dan's talk included video clips and photos from episodes of 'Call The Midwife' and 'Midsommer Murders' filmed on the line, and a report and interview with a boilerman by Alan Titchmarsh CBE.
Although the line survived the Beeching Axe in 1963 it was eventually closed by British Railways in February 1973. Before its closure, the railway joined the South West Main Line at Winchester Junction. Restoration began in 1975 when the section of line from Alresford to Alton that can be seen today was purchased from British Rail in November that year. Reconstruction of the rest of line subsequently progressed in stages with track having to be brought back from Barry in South Wales.
18th December 2025 : No Meeting
Thursday 16th October 2025
Our speaker Jane Glennie told us all about the Portsmouth born award-winning inventor and suffragette Phoebe Sarah Hertha Marks. After studying mathematics at Girton College, Cambridge, Hertha attended classes in electricity at Finsbury Technical College in 1884 where she was taught by William Ayrton who she married the following year. Her friends included Barbara Bodichon, co-founder of Girton College, the writer George Eliot, and physicist Marie Curie.
Jane’s theatrical performance reenacted Hertha's story, in particular the challenges she faced in 1915 to get the war office to adopt the fans she had invented to clear poisonous gas from the trenches. Sadly by the time they did countless lives had been lost because of the delay. Unsurprisingly the fans almost certainly would have been adopted much sooner had she been a man.
Jane was absolutely brilliant and it was a pity that those members who could not come because of holidays, illness or other commitments missed this Talk.
Lepers on the Hill
Thursday 21st August 2025
Renowned Osteoarchaeologist Lesley Johnson gave us a talk exploring the mysterious topic of lepers and leprosy in medieval times. Lesley's Talk gave us insights into the nature of leprosy, its perception during the medieval period and the various treatments, including some unexpected ones.
There was a warning that the slides would contain (black & white) photographs of pathological archaeological remains.
Although we may think leprosy was a disease that was around in ancient times, there was a leper colony on the island of Spinalonga off the coast of Crete that only closed as recently as 1957.
A Parcel of Gold
Thursday 19th June 2025
Jo Owen Smith gave us the story of Ellen Suter, one of Australia’s Pioneer Women, who spent most of her life in Australia in the gold fields of Bendigo in north-central Victoria.
In 1841 when aged only 19, Ellen fled poverty and squalor in the back-streets of Portsmouth and set off alone to live on the other side of the world. Her life there has been pieced together from the letters she wrote to her brother, William Suter, a papermaker in Headley, Hampshire.
Thursday 17th April 2025
Helen Paul gave us a talk about the widespread uprising in 1830 by agricultural workers in southern and eastern England who were protesting against agricultural mechanisation and harsh working conditions.
Hampshire agricultural workers were in the thick of it and when the time of reckoning came many found themselves before the courts to face harsh sentences.
More information about the Riots can be found on the Hampshire History website.
Helen is a lecturer at Southampton University.
Chichester Harbour from the Ice Age to Global Warming by Liz Sagues
Thursday 16th January 2025
Liz is an author and journalist and has written a book Chichester Harbour- England’s Coastal Gem which was available at a reduced price.
The Wealden Iron Industry
from Iron Age to the Middle Ages by Jeremy S Hodgkinson
Thursday 19th September 2024
Iron was made in the Weald of south east England from pre-Roman times until the early 19th century, and in the Tudor and Stuart periods was the main iron production area in the kingdom. The talk explores the raw materials, technology and historical development of the industry.
Jeremy S Hodgkinson MA FSA is a retired school teacher and, for more than 40 years, has lectured, primarily about the Wealden iron industry, at conferences and to local societies and adult education audiences.
He has also appeared occasionally in a specialist role on radio and television. and gained his MA in Regional and Local History from the University of Brighton in 1993. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and until recently was an Honorary Research Fellow of Exeter University. He was Chairman of the Wealden Iron Research Group for 24 years and is now the editor of its annual journal.
He is the author of two books: The Wealden Iron Industry, published in 2008, and British Cast-Iron Firebacks, published in 2010.
Details of previous talks can be found in Patricia's comprehensive Newsletters