June 2015 - Paphos Third Age

“AD-LIB”
The newsletter of
Paphos Third Age
(P3A)
www.paphos3rdage.com
June 2015
A message from the (new) Chair
FOLLOWING a successful AGM (reported on page 8) I am glad to have been elected
Chair of the P3A. I am also delighted - and relieved! - to welcome Dale Ikin to the
committee as Membership Secretary. I shall be handing that job over to Dale on my
return from travels, later this month.
We have a packed edition of Ad-Lib this time, with reports on the latest P3A Quiz,
excursions by the Art Appreciation and Archaeology groups, and a Walking Group trip
to northern Cyprus.
Look out too for proposed new groups : Nigel Harris plans a group to discuss the fastchanging world of the media, which raises some fascinating issues, while foodies
should be tempted by “Around the World in 80 Dishes”, proposed by Jill Dare and Jo Burgess.
The P3A now has a very healthy financial position, so the Committee has been discussing ways to
channel some of our funds usefully back to our members.
The guiding principle has always been that groups should be self-funding, especially for running
expenses, but we have given grants for equipment and will continue to do so. We can also pay travel
expenses for guest speakers.
The P3A has enriched our lives in Paphos, not only because we have enjoyed belonging to various
groups, but also because of what we can give back. David and I both have a keen interest in the nature
of Cyprus, but the Natural History Groups allow us to share our enthusiasm with others.
As David often tells me, there is no better way to deepen one’s knowledge of a subject than by
researching and preparing a talk on it. For someone who had always fought shy of this in the past, I have
found it surprisingly enjoyable and would recommend more people to try, even if only a short talk as part
of a group session.
I wish you all a great summer, wherever you spend it.
Kind regards,
Ros Sparrow
WHAT’S IN THE SUMMER ISSUE
Committee
Saturday Talks
Groups
My P3A
2,9
2
2
3
New groups: food, media 4, 5
Walkers head North
6
Our AGM
8
Kouklia’s secret history 12, 13
ART
DOUBLE VISION
ON GALLERY TRIP
TO THE CAPITAL
PAGES 10, 11
P3A Committee members
Chair
Vice Chair
Secretary
Treasurer
Membership Secretary
Group Co-ordinator
Events Organiser
Technical Officer
Magazine Editor
Ros Sparrow
Nigel Harris
Wally Oppenheim
Danne Johnston
Dale Ikin
Linda Maidment
Jeremy Wall
Brian Chalcraft
Nigel Harris
For contact details please go to http://paphos3rdage.org/committee.htm
P3A groups: where they are and how to join
The P3A website http://paphos3rdage.org/groups.htm has a complete list of groups together with details of
meeting times and Group Leaders. Click on the group title to see contact details. If you wish to join a group
please contact the Group Leader
Saturday Talks and Events from June to December
June: As notified (already postponed from February and March):
Scott Reid was going to talk about the current situation and future prospects for Cyprus oil
and gas, but for legal reasons is unable to do so at this stage.
It is hoped that he will be able to give this talk in
October or December.
19 September, Venue t.b.d.: Georgios Kassianos, probably the
premier sommelier of this country, will talk about vine-growing in
Cyprus and its wines and wineries.
21 November, Venue t.b.d.: Professor Demetrios Michaelides, UK educated and recently
retired from the University of Cyprus, will talk on Hellenistic Cyprus.
For further information on venues and subjects to be covered
in the Saturday Talks please contact Jeremy Wall.
jglwall(at)gmail.com
AND in the next issue.....
….we’ll have a full report on one the most memorable - and for some, creepy - mornings P3A
has ever enjoyed - when Spiderman Duncan McCowan came to town to tell us of the spiders of
Cyprus. Also, there will be news and pictures from an exciting Archaeology visit to the Polis
area, and in My P3A another member will reveal how P3A has changed his or her life.
….and heaps more ! Out in early September
2
My P3A
It was a
life
saver…
a life
changer
In the first of a new series,
Brenda Wallis raises a
glass to P3A—and tells us
what it means to her
HI EVERYONE, my name is Brenda Wallis and I have been a P3A member for 4 years.
I took early retirement and came to Cyprus in 2007 with my husband, Kevin. Sadly he died at the end of
2009 and I decided to try to continue to live the dream on my own.
I first heard about the Paphos branch of C3A in the summer of 2010 and dipped my toe into the water by
joining the book group which met at the Terebinth Tree cafe in Mesa Chorio.
At this time P3A was being formed as a separate organisation and in early 2011 an open day was held to encourage new people to join. I went along, met several group leaders, and took the plunge by going to the
Current Affairs Group, which was being run by Wally Oppenheim.
As a shy person it is a very daunting experience to go into a room full of strangers, but the welcome I received was very encouraging. I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting, and my self-confidence had been given
such a boost that I then joined other groups, such as History and the new P3A Book Group.
Since that tentative start I have become a very active member of P3A, editing Ad-Lib for 2 years and joining
several other groups.
I have met many new people, learned a lot and have made several close friends, so in many ways I would
describe P3A as being a life-saver, and certainly a life-changer.
I know that I shall continue to be a member and encourage others to participate in the groups, because no
matter what your interests may be, there will always be something new to discover.
NOW it’s your turn: write to Ad-Lib and let us know how P3A changed YOUR life
3
Around the
world in 80
dishes...
Are you a good cook & like sharing knowledge and recipes? This new group’s for you
Are you a limited cook but want to expand
your repertoire?
This new group’s for you
Are you an inexperienced cook but want to
learn?
This new group’s for you
Do you love food and want to have a go at
experimenting?
This new group’s for you
THE GROUP will meet once a month, starting in September, each time at a different members’ house.
Each person will bring ONE dish of food (preprepared), about 6 portion size, and copies of their recipe for each member. This can be a starter, snack, main
course, pudding, whatever you feel comfortable doing
or find an interesting recipe to make, as long as it follows the “theme” for that month, writes Jo Burgess.
The “theme” will be a different Country/Cuisine of the
World—for example Indian, French, Asian, British etc.
At the beginning everyone will put forward suggestions for their preferred cuisine and the time of year they can
host the meet. From that we will prepare a calendar so everyone knows what the theme is and where we shall
meet each month for the next 8 months.
So at each meeting we will have a wonderful and varied “buffet” of food for us all to try. We will discuss each
dish, talk about the recipe, techniques, how easy/difficult it was to prepare, - especially if things haven’t gone
quite right. Disasters will be welcomed!
This is an opportunity to share knowledge and help less confident cooks. It is NOT “Come Dine With Me” (no
voting for the best dish)! It is not a competition to see who can prepare the biggest, best or most expensive dish.
It is just a get together, for a talk and taste, exchange of recipes, where to find the right ingredients in Cyprus
(often very difficult), maybe even share bulk buying of spices, expand our joint knowledge of food of the world
and have an enjoyable time doing it.
Due to the nature of the group, numbers will have to be limited to 10 – 12 people. Therefore there will be two
Groups and two Group Leaders to offer the opportunity to more members.
JILL DARE will lead the Paphos Group and anticipates meeting on either a Monday or Tuesday evening, depending on the members’ preference.
Tel: 26 911489 Email: andjill@tesco.net.
JO BURGESS will lead the Polis Group and suggests the 1st or 3rd Tuesday or Thursday of each month, 1pm
in the winter months and 5pm in the summer months, again depending on members’ preference.
Tel: 99 175988 Email: geoff.joanna@gmail.com.
If you are interested, contact Jill or Jo soon so the first meeting can be arranged in
September. Tell them a good day for you and they’ll do their best to suit everyone.
4
… and now let’s look forward to some food
for thought with a new discussion group
which will aim to make sense of the
bewildering and
fast-changing
world of
MEDIA
A NEW media discussion group is
planned to start in autumn this
year.
It will try to unpick the mysteries
of tv, on-demand, smartphones,
tablets, social media, blogs, downloads, newspapers, YouTube and all the other everchanging and tumultuous babble we’re surrounded with these days.
And perhaps to talk about big questions like: where has the truth gone? In cyber-space
everyone can hear you scream, but nobody takes any notice. So where does that
leave the average information-seeking citizen?
A suggested format for the new group is that the first half of each monthly meeting will
be devoted to discussion of a media topic, via a paper prepared by a different member
each month. After the break the group will discuss media subjects of the month,
suggested in an earlier e-mail to give people time to have a think.
The nature of discussion groups means that attendance would be limited to about 12,
with membership higher than that to accommodate people on a first come, first served
basis. Group Leader will be Ad-Lib editor Nigel Harris (still bearing the scars from 40
years at the media coal face), who proposes to kick off proceedings with the subject:
Are Newspapers Dead? And If So, Who Cares?
If the numbers look good, the group would start in October. Date, time and venue still
to be arranged.
If you’re interested, contact 99 393815/ 26 940772 or nigelhmharris@gmail.com
5
Sitting this one out: Mike and Penny Legg take a breather during the trip to the North
Walkers march off to the North
THE P3A Friday Walking Group recently returned from a two night trip away to Northern Cyprus, staying at
the Exotic Hotel, Bogaz, which we all enjoyed. The food in their restaurant across the road from the hotel was
excellent. Some members took the opportunity to use the health spa facilities at the Exotic, writes Alan Bowd.
On Thursday we had a 13k walk on the way near Larnaca .The weather held out for us despite some ominous
black clouds. Unfortunately just before we arrived there was a very heavy rain storm causing the road to the
meeting place to become difficult but it had dried up before we left.
After an enjoyable evening we set off for our first walk in the North, heading for Yedikonuk. As we walked
through the village we came across two village boys who liked to partake in some banter about football, with us
mentioning Manchester United and they responding with Galatasaray.
The walk carried on towards the coast—not without some difficulty as we were navigating from detail supplied
by a member who could not make the trip. But another member came to the rescue with a rather upmarket GPS
that could zoom in on any area. On reaching the coast we set off back to the village eating our picnic on the way.
A nice surprise when we arrived at the village was that the two boys we met on the way out were waiting at our
parked vehicles and had brought perhaps twenty of their friends along to greet us with more football banter and
also asking other questions. They even offered to fetch their schoolmaster to help with their English, but it was
not necessary because they were actually very good.
On our last day we walked from Kantara village around the medieval castle, an easier walk this time. We are now
busy planning next year’s trip away, which will be to Lake Garda in Italy. We are lucky to have an Italian who
walks regularly with us who has a property at Lake Garda, and has kindly offered to do a lot of the organizing.
From May 29th we started walking at 5pm with about a 6K walk followed by a meal at a taverna.
Our usual start time is 9 30am October to May inclusive.
New members must be willing and able to lead at least one 12k walk each year.
6
Drainiacs are top brainiacs
A SUCCESSFUL quiz night, very ably led by Michael Clayton, was held at the Coral Star
Restaurant on 30 April, writes Jeremy Wall.
Michael, efficiently assisted by his wife Jill, devised 6 rounds of 10 questions on different
topics, plus 2 rounds of pictorial questions, one based on locations and the other on films,
each potentially yielding 20 points, making a possible total of 100 points.
A total of 44 players, comprising nine teams, 4 of 6 players and 5 of 4, took part.
The winning team, Brain Drain, captained by Geoff Cosson, with Marion Campey, Paul
Clarke and Shirley Spratley, scored 81.5 points.
Second, with 79 points, was a team from Hugh Atkinson's Current Affairs group called
Currant Buns, with Patricia Copley, Robert Bowman Clarke, Bill Ogden and Jeremy Wall,
while the third podium finisher was Six Pack, consisting of Bill & Paula Stokes, Alana
Sullivan, Anneke Irwin, and Marilyn & Barrie Dawson, with 71 points.
Many thanks to all who took part, and special thanks to Michael and Jill. Thanks too, to
Jeremy’s wife, Nanci, who collected the entrance fee of €5 per person which provided
prizes of €30 M&S vouchers for each member of the winning team and thank you gifts to
the Claytons. A surplus of €40 was donated to the Friends' Hospice.
Can you solve this literary mystery?
THE LONG arm of Paphos Third Age has reached Lincoln, where a reader asks if we can
solve a mystery for his mother.
They are searching for copy of John Waterhouse’s autobiography "A Stage in my LIfe". Mr
Waterhouse, a playwright who lived in Cyprus for over 30 years, died in January 2013.
David Mackinder writes that his mother Lorna went to school with Mr Waterhouse in
Skegness, and was a very good friend. But she lost touch with him in the 1990s and only
learned recently that he had died.
David found a Google reference to Ad-Lib, saying that Mr Waterhouse - a former actor who
wrote over 20 plays - gave a talk at the Coral Star in 2011.
Over to you. Does this ring any bells with any of our members? Let us know if you have
any clues and we’ll pass the information on to David.
7
Chairs win the
day at our AGM
SO IT all came out very well in the end.
But our annual general meeting this year began on a knife edge…..
WOULD enough members turn up to vote on the seven changes to
the constitution the committee were proposing?
AND WOULD the members stand for the crucial changes they were
being asked to approve?
John Harper
Well, gentle readers, the answers were Yes, and Yes.
A healthy attendance of 84 meant we were quorate for those vital constitutional amendments,
which were (ahem) to delete Chairman and Vice-Chairman and insert Chair and Vice-Chair.
A large minority movement was in favour of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson, but on a show of
hands mustered only 29 votes, as opposed to 39 for the original committee proposal.
We then moved on to elect our first Chair - Ros Sparrow, palpably not a Chairman, who brilliantly
dealt with Any Other Business before declaring the meeting closed after 24 minutes.
The outgoing Chair, John Harper, said: “What a difference a year makes! ” In his last Chairman’s
Report, he pointed to the ending of our relationship with Cyprotels and the resourceful way in
which groups have moved to new venues such as DT’s, Axiothea, Neo’s Bar and Technopolis.
He also mentioned his “hobby horse”- the need for more new groups or for the duplication of
existing ones in the north of the area, for the convenience of members living round Polis and to
give more choice to our 700 members.
He included an interesting round-up of members’ quotes from the “mothership” - U3A groups in
Britain. For example: “P3A taught me things I have missed along life's way”, “P3A provided me
with an anchor in the bleak time after retirement”, "As a P3A member, time passes so quickly,
you can't be bored" and “Being a member of P3A means that I no longer have any spare time”.
Sentiments shared by many of us, one imagines.
John’s farewell was accompanied by a hearty round of applause, which was a fitting sign of the
warmth we feel for him personally, and gratitude for his service to P3A.
Apart from that, the accounts were approved, there were no matters arising, it was agreed that
active Group leaders should have their membership renewed free, the new committee introduced
themselves, and generally a good time was had by all.
Thanks to the Avanti Hotel for again providing an excellent venue, and plenty of excellent cake.
8
Nigel Harris
Home run for groups...
A VERY fruitful meeting was held for Group Leaders in March, looking at the challenges we face
and discussing problems we have in running groups.
As a result of the meeting and discussions afterwards, a database giving details of all of the venues the various groups are now using is to be set up, which should be of help to groups looking
for a new home. A working party will be looking at updating and revising the Group Leaders Manual. Taken together, these should give our current group leaders more support.
In future we also hope to give more support and information to those who are thinking of setting
up new groups, and I shall be working on a document giving various ideas and suggestions during the summer months.
I have been given a list of groups run by a U3A branch in the UK which may give prospective
group leaders useful ideas. If you have ideas for setting up a new group this is an ideal time to
start considering it in time for the autumn – I will be happy to help prospective new Group Leaders, so just contact me. You can read about two planned new groups on pages 4 and 5.
Other items of group news include:
Members of the P3A enjoyed a social musical evening at Technopolis 20 on May 22, when
we were entertained by a harpist. Markella & Marina who run Technopolis are keen to
encourage P3A members to discover the facilities they are offering, which include art exhibitions, book launches and musical evenings. The Classic Film Group meets there fortnightly, and members are appreciative of the cushions now provided.
The 18 months before Paphos 2017, when our town becomes a European Capital of Culture,
might be a good time to set up a Musical (or Cultural) Appreciation Group, perhaps looking at the various concerts (classical, jazz, blues, etc) that are becoming increasingly
available to us and maybe to organize trips to various venues. Anyone interested in setting up such a group, perhaps in a different format?
We recently parted company with the singles social group, which was targeted at a certain
sector of our membership. Some of their activities are covered by present groups, but
there may be openings for new groups to fill the gap.
Linda Maidment
Committee welcome for Dale
The committee welcomed its newest member at the AGM held on
the 26th May at the Avanti Hotel. Dale Ikin has taken over the role
of Membership Secretary from Ros Sparrow, who has been
elected Chair of P3A.
Dale - pictured left - and his wife Karen have been living in Cyprus since
retiring in August 2012. They have five children and in March this year
welcomed their 10th grandchild.
Dale has a military background, having joined the Army as a Junior Soldier aged 16. He continued to serve worldwide for over 35½ years and
finished his long career in March 2010.
After leaving the Army he became a General Manager with a specialist engineering firm.
Dale and Karen are both active members of P3A and in January this year he took over as the Group
Leader of the Improvers Bridge Group.
Apart from his family, Dale’s other passion is Rugby Union. He played for over 20 years with the
Army and various civilian rugby clubs, and both he and Karen are avid followers of England and
Newcastle Falcons.
9
Art group has
double vision
on a capital
day out in
the capital
Nicosia is fortunate to have private
cultural institutions of excellent quality that are worthwhile making time
to visit.
In April the Art Appreciation Group
targeted two of these, the CVAR and
the Zampelas Art Museum. Each is
the realisation of quite different
passions.
David Bomberg: Gate to Mt Hilarion, 1948.
Firstly the Centre for Visual Arts and Research (CVAR) in Old Nicosia: we spent several engaging hours taking in the varied art, memorabilia and objects in this collection representative
of the complex history of the island.
The owners of the Centre, Rita and Costas Severis, are dedicated to bi-communal engagement, which is reflected in the balanced and comprehensive range of items that have been
collected with discernment over the years.
This includes not only the historical art works, but costumes and memorabilia from Turkish
and Greek Cypriot life, and colonial times - all carefully preserved and associated with the
periods and styles of the themed floors
Our group was genuinely impressed by these well curated exhibits. There are many drawings
and paintings completed by visiting European artists over a substantial period, 1700-1960,
that document the architecture, people, street and domestic life, landscape and agriculture of
the island.
Plenty of fascinating surprises here - the red Caterina Cornaro Room, the artists’ work out of
the Jewish internment camp in the late 1940's, the political cartoons and tourist posters, flat
drawer files of immaculate embroideries (think V&A).
Quirky art too, for example Gladys Peto’s playful interpretation of life in Cyprus – drawings in
an Art Deco style. We were struck by David Bomberg's expressive, strongly coloured painting
of The Gate to the Princess’s Garden, Mt Hilarion mountain. There’s even a Ben Nicholson.
The art works are absorbing in their richness and variety. The building also houses a Research Library focused on the Middle East and Cyprus.
continued/…..
10
/continued….
We had a lunch of sea bass and spicy
lentils at the in-house café Balthazar very reasonable and very good. Don't
miss this Centre. The area is a gem to
wander about in, with its restored houses
(or otherwise), workshops and lanes.
Our other choice, Zampelas Art Museum
in Kaimakli, exhibits a private collection
with a very different focus, that of the
contemporary art of Cyprus.
Here you'll find the work of non-Cypriot
artists like Miriam McConnon, Glynn
Hughes, and Mike Owen, together with
that of Cypriots George Kotsonis, Christos Christou, Adamintos Diamintos and
many others.
A great couple of hours enjoying the
great range of quality work in such a fine building. The owners, George and Loukia Zampelas, have invested not only in growing their much loved collection over a lifetime, but in the
imaginative and spacious structure in which it is housed.
They are committed to an education programme aimed at youngsters as well as affordable
art in the form of quality screen prints of work from the collection: they want to make art ac-
Marion Campey
cessible.
Above: the odd life in
Cyprus: Gladys Peto
(1890-1977) A curious
habit of patting you on
the cheek which is
rather disconcerting.
1927, at CVAR.
Right: an interior view at
Zambelas Art Museum
For more information
visit the galleries’
websites:
www.cvar.severis.org
www.zampelasart.com.cy
11
Archaeology Group members inspect the olive oil press and storage tanks at Stillarka
Kouklia’s secret histories
Members of the Archaeology Group visited four unusual sites around Kouklia at their February
meeting…inspecting, and scrambling over, remains that are largely unknown to the public….no signs, not much information, but accessible all the same.
Kouklia (once called ‘Old Pafos’), has been settled for thousands of years. We visited sites
dating from the Chalcolithic period (around 5,000 years ago) up to medieval times.
We went first to the olive oil production area near the sea at Stillarka, where the two huge
pierced stones provided the fulcrum for a press. The five storage tanks could hold 45,000 litres of oil, so this was an industrial-scale operation.
Next, we went to
the medieval sugar
factory at Stavros left - where the Lusignan and Venetian aristocracy
set up a system to
grow and refine
sugar cane. Sugar
was a valuable export, and the
method of
production was
very /continued
12
Left, inside the
Stavros sugar
factory; above,
the Kouklia city
walls; below,
bottle tombs at
Laona; below
left, the
Marchellos
siege ramp
/continued…..
clear to see in the restored factory,.. from the aqueduct bringing water to drive the machinery
in an underground vaulted room, to the millstones to crush cane and furnaces to boil juice.
From there we went back 2,000 years, to the siege ramp at Marchellos. Archaeologists here
have shown how a Persian army besieged the city in 498BC, uncovering the ramp up which
the attackers built to advance up to the walls. We were able to crawl through the tunnels,
where the defenders tried to collapse the siege ramp.
Lastly, we went to the cemetery at Laona. In the hard rock, on a ridge, over 100 graves had
been dug into the ground near a settlement dating back at least 5,000 years. Archaeologists
have found bones and items of jewellery in the deep, bottle-shaped tombs.
13
Geoff Cosson