Episodes

Episode 27 – Life on the Watercress Line – Some Leave at Christmas (2)? Listen to Some Leave at Christmas (2) to find out about a great way of spending Boxing Day and the 27th December. If you’d like a break from the relatives, or just need some exercise and air, then go along to the Watercress Line and join in the fun. Christmas Leave is where you have the opportunity to travel with servicemen and their families. Some are travelling back to base whilst others are going home for a few days. Th...

Episode 26 – Life on the Watercress Line – Some Leave at Christmas (1)? Do you fancy some leave at Christmas? Would you like a break from the relatives? Need some air? Then visit the Watercress Line for Christmas Leave, where you’ll have the opportunity to travel with servicemen and their families. With Christmas just over, those who had leave for Christmas are travelling back to base. Those who were on duty over Christmas are going home for a few days. The Home Guard are very active during Ch...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 16 C – The Chinese Art of Dissent Alan Freeland’s talk on The Chinese Art of Dissent is the third in a series of four short talks given at the end of the Summer ‘Term’ to the Farnham U3A World History Group. The first part of the talk looks at the ‘scholar’ officials of the Ming Dynasty. Alan tells of the importance of scholarship in the Government of China over the years. He talks about the trials and tribulations of the officials when there was a dynastic change. We...

Episode 3 – Surrey’s Greener Future – Workshop 2 Welcome to the Surrey’s Greener Future – Workshop 2 podcast. In September 2019 Surrey County Council invited individuals and local groups to submit ideas to help combat the climate crisis. Ten ideas were then selected from the submissions. The Surrey’s Greener Future – Workshop 2 podcast is about the second workshop designed to help these projects get off the ground. Chris Tisdall introduced the workshop and then the members of eight of the tea...

Episode 24 – Canadian Pacific update part 2 Welcome to the Canadian Pacific update part 2, where I talk to Becky Peacock about the progress made to the boiler and Bulleid coaches over the past year. The project is to restore the Merchant Navy class locomotive, number 35005, Canadian Pacific and two coaches. Oliver Bulleid designed the Merchant Navy class locomotives for the Southern Railway early in the Second World War. They had many innovations – some worked well, others didn’t! He also desi...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 16 B – Handel in London Ian Wallace’s talk Handel in London is the second in a series of four short talks given to the Farnham U3A World History Group. Ian’s talk charts the life of George Frederick Handel from his arrival in London until his death. As a young man Handel travelled to Italy. He had composed his first opera by the age of 24. He then got leave of absence from his employer, the Elector of Hanover, to travel to London in 1710. The Elector of Hanover becam...

Episode 2 – Farnham’s Pollution Challenge Welcome to the Farnham’s Pollution Challenge podcast. In October 2019 Jeremy Hunt and the Farnham Herald newspaper co-hosted a Pollution Summit. Farnham is an historic market town at the far west of Surrey, on the border with Hampshire. The town is some 34 miles from London and is surrounded by rolling hills. The town suffers badly from air pollution and there are three major hot-spots. The Farnham Herald published an article in August 2018 where the a...

Episode 1 – Surrey’s Greener Future – Pilot Welcome to the Surrey’s Greener Future – Pilot podcast. In September 2019 Surrey County Council invited both individuals to submit ideas to help combat the climate crisis. Ten ideas were then selected from the submissions. The Surrey’s Greener Future – Pilot podcast is about the workshop to kick-start these projects. Chris Tisdall introduces the workshop and explains that there are three groups present: The ‘ideas teams’. Representatives of organi...

Episode 23 – Canadian Pacific update part 1 Welcome to the Canadian Pacific update part 1, where I talk to Becky Peacock about the progress made over the past year. The project is mainly about the restoration of the Merchant Navy class locomotive, number 35005, Canadian Pacific. Oliver Bulleid designed the class for the Southern Railway early in the Second World War. These locomotives had many innovations – some worked well, others didn’t! Oliver Bulleid was a very persuasive person; this all...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 16 A – In the Blood Andrew Cole’s talk In the Blood is the first in a series of four short talks given to the Farnham U3A World History Group. Andrew’s talk is about the influence that parents have on the careers chosen by their children. He starts by asking the question ‘to what extent are eminent composers from professional musician families?’ In his analysis he went through the family trees of 100 famous composers. The composers came from the periods – pre-1700, 18...

Episode 22 – Spring Steam Gala 2019 Welcome to Spring Steam Gala 2019, where we look at the attractions for this special weekend. London Transport 0-6-0 Pannier Tank L92 This loco was originally a Great Western class 5700 tank engine. The GWR and BR built 863 of these locomotives between 1929 and 1950. The class was designated as light goods and shunting engines. They were also used for passenger trains on branch, suburban and shorter mainline journeys. British Railways withdrew them by 1966...

Episode 21 – Life on the Watercress Line – Watercress People (3) Welcome to Watercress People (3), where I have the opportunity to interview some of the many people who make the Watercress Line the experience it is. Jim Russell – The Early Years Jim joined the Watercress Line on 25th August 1973, soon after he left school. He travelled around on his first moped. Jim and the others had many dreams for the line. He never imagined that it would turn into the thriving, living, railway seen today....

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 14 A – Spending a Penny Spending a Penny (A) is the first part of the talk by Tim Davies. The organisers of the Great Exhibition appoint George Jennings to provide the ‘necessary convenience’ for the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. He installed ‘monkey closets’ used by over 827,000 visitors. The charge? One penny! Visitors got a clean seat, a towel, comb and shoe shine. Tim tells us about the many euphemisms for ‘spending a penny’. Do they come from a taboo? The Roman...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 14 B – Spending a Penny Spending a Penny (B) is the second part of the talk by Tim Davies. In this part George Jennings marries his first wife Mary Ann Coates Gill in 1836. They had four children. George Jennings established his company in Paris Street, Lambeth, in 1837. At this stage he worked virtually single handed. Mary died in 1844. In 1850 he consulted on the sanitary needs for the Great Exhibition. His ‘necessary convenience’ at the Crystal Palace was used by o...

Season 2019 / 2020 – Talk 1 C – Disused Stations Please note: Disused Stations was missed from the talk on the London Underground as we ran out of time. A number of members said they would like to hear it so I have recorded this podcast. This material will be to the other parts of the talk when they are posted. Tim Davies tells us about the London Underground’s Disused Stations in this short talk. He tells us that the first to close was King William Street. This was the original ‘City’ terminus...

Episode 20 – Life on the Watercress Line – Autumn Steam Gala (2) Welcome to the Autumn Steam Gala (2). The Steam Gala features Guest locomotives as well as Watercress Line regulars. There is a Steam Gala each Spring and Autumn. This episode features Schools Class ‘Cheltenham’, Class 9F No. 92212 and Class 2MT No. 41312. 4-4-0 Schools Class locomotive No. 925 Cheltenham The Schools class were the most powerful 4-4-0 type locomotives to operate in Britain. They were a very successful design, us...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 13 a – Marconi (1) Please note: This talk is in two parts and Marconi (1) is the first part. Please scroll down to the second part after listening to this one. I regret that the sound quality varies during the recording due to issues with the PA system. Alan Freeland tells us about the life of Marconi starting with his childhood and then his first experiments in Italy. He then move to Britain, after being ignored by the Italian Government as he felt it would be easier ...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 13 b – Marconi (2) Please note: This talk is in two parts and Marconi (2) is the second part. I regret that the sound quality varies during the recording due to issues with the PA system. Alan Freeland continues to tell us about the life of Marconi. This episode, Marconi (2), starts with the technology that Marconi brought to the world. Alan also looks at a technology timeline between 1830 and 1900. The talk looks at the start of the wireless service 2LO which, in 192...

Your Big Project – Series 1 Episode 13 – Review Welcome to Review, the last talk in the series ‘Your Big Project‘. Hopefully this series of podcasts will improve the chances of success for your project. We have considered the good, the bad and the extremely ugly throughout the series! The Review is where you learn from the successes and mistakes in your project . If you have skipped steps or haven’t done things thoroughly enough this is where you start to understand the factors that contribute...

Episode 19 – Life on the Watercress Line – Autumn Steam Gala (1) Welcome to the Autumn Steam Gala (1). The Steam Gala is an opportunity to see Guest locomotives on the Watercress Line. There is one in the Spring and this one each Autumn. This episode features Foxcote Manor and ‘Prairie’ tank locomotive 5199. 4-6-0 locomotive No. 7822 Foxcote Manor This is one of a class of 30 engines. Charles Collett designed the engines for the Great Western Railway and first were built in 1938. Foxcote Mano...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 12 a – Victoria and Albert (1) Please note: This talk is in five parts and Victoria and Albert (1) is the first part. Please scroll down to each part after listening to the previous part. There is a linked video after parts 1, 2, 4 and 5. Nigel Mariott tells us about the lives of Victoria and Albert and their great love for each other. He brings humour to the talk and included a number of video clips. I have split the talk into five parts so that you can ‘click on the ...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 12 b – Victoria and Albert (2) Please note: This talk is in five parts and Victoria and Albert (2) is the second part. Please scroll down to each part after listening to the previous part. There is a linked video after parts 1, 2, 4 and 5. Nigel Mariott tells us about the lives of Victoria and Albert and their great love for each other. He brings humour to the talk and included a number of video clips. I have split the talk into five parts so that you can ‘click on the...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 12 c – Victoria and Albert (3) Please note: This talk is in five parts and Victoria and Albert (3) is the third part. Please scroll down to each part after listening to the previous part. There is a linked video after parts 1, 2, 4 and 5. Nigel Mariott tells us about the lives of Victoria and Albert and their great love for each other. He brings humour to the talk and included a number of video clips. I have split the talk into five parts so that you can ‘click on the ...

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 12 d – Victoria and Albert (4) Please note: This talk is in five parts and Victoria and Albert (4) is the fourth part. Please scroll down to each part after listening to the previous part. There is a linked video after parts 1, 2, 4 and 5. Nigel Mariott tells us about the lives of Victoria and Albert and their great love for each other. He brings humour to the talk and included a number of video clips. I have split the talk into five parts so that you can ‘click on the...