Monthly Archives: January 2020

New Challenges UK 1964-1997

For the Forum’s meeting on the 22nd of January the guest speaker was David Davies.

In a very varied career David had, among other things,served in the Army, worked as an engineer and as a manager for RollsRoyce and lectured in business management.

His talk was titled New Challenges UK 1964-1997 and was a comprehensive political history of the UK between the years mentioned.

His talk began with the death of Winston Churchill which he classed as the closure of a chapter of British history. We then entered the era of Wilson Labour and Heath Conservative governments which included industrial unrest resulting in the three-day week, the Grosvenor Square riots against American involvement in Vietnam and produced notable celebrities such as Germaine Greer and Arthur Scargill.

David included his analysis of the performance of British industry with respect to labour relations and management performance. After Callaghan had a short spell as Prime Minister, in 1979 we entered the Margaret Thatcher era which lasted till 1990 and included problems with the car manufacturer British Leyland and a number of violent incidents connected with terrorism.

Particularly well-remembered is the Falklands war.

David’s last subject was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the various personalities involved.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked David Davies for a fascinating talk and complimented him on delivering it without notes.

Inside China

On the 29th of January 49 Forum members gathered at the Church Centre to welcome the guest speaker Jane McKeown whose talk was titled Inside China.

Her daughter is a fluent Mandarin speaker who was a volunteer with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and worked as an English teacher in the city of Xian. Jane spent a month staying with her daughter in her teacher’s accommodation in the Xian university and in her talk described the life of the students who were in general from an under-privileged background but saw the learning of English as the key to advancement enabling them to gain permission to leave China.

She visited and stayed at the homes of her students which often involved travelling long distances on local buses in very basic conditions. Jane highlighted the differences between the modern perception of life in China as modern and sophisticated and the simple life enjoyed by the majority of the largely rural population which she witnessed.

She also stressed the difference in outlook of the Chinese to the Western world where the Chinese regard their country as “the tummy button of the world”.

All organisations are expected to be led by Chinese nationals which gives problems for Christians and Muslims.

Forum members took part in a lively question and answer session before Chairman Mike Earle proposed a vote of thanks to Jane McKeown for a most interesting talk.

Some British Sporting Heroes of Mine

The Forum re-assembled on the 8th of January after its Christmas break.

The first guest speaker for the new session was Neil Ramshaw who is the Secretary of the Harlow Forum and brought New Year’s greetings from his members. Neil’s talk was titled Some British Sporting Heroes of Mine in which he described the life and achievements of sportsmen whose careers he had followed.

His surprising first choice was Jackie Pallo, a professional wrestler who featured in ITV’s Saturday afternoon programmes during the seventies and eighties which Neil watched with his father.

He followed with Christopher Brasher, an athlete most famous for acting as a pace-maker for Roger Bannister’s first four-minute mile and for co-founding the London Marathon.

Although not a great fan of motorsport Neil featured John Surtees in his list because he was the only person to be world champion on both two and four wheels.

Neil followed with Roger Utley from Rugby Union, the runner Brendan Foster, Ray Reardon from snooker and Henry Cooper the celebrated boxer, before time forced him to finish.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked Neil for a trip down memory lane.