Three Into One Won't (quite) Go!

 Whatever the pain, misery and tragedy it has brought, this Covid pandemic has also initiated many in the intricacies of technology to assist with teaching, learning, meeting and simple community living without real physical engagement.  Few, if any, of us can be unaware of the name ZOOM ... even if some have not actually used it, and many more will not have initiated a Zoom meeting.

I have been fortunate in discovering or taking part in a number of regular Zoom opportunities in recent months.  Some are expressions of activities of which I was already a participant, others have been discovered during one lockdown or another.  On Thursday, however, my diary revealed not two but three such events which, if demanding complete participation, would have been an impossible combination.  However, since they formed a partially overlapping chain, I took the questionable decision to attempt some attendance at each one.

At 6.30 came a political discussion on the implications of the 2019 general election, held under the auspices of Make Votes Matter.  The speaker was a very knowledgeable professor whose appearance fitted his credentials.  His wispy hair flowed in all directions and sometimes required the flick of a hand to keep it off his face.  The manner of his delivery was unusual and a little off-putting, for he kept up a quite regular swaying movement from front to back.  Fortunately he was wearing his microphone, so the sound wasn't interrupted.  The slides he used to illustrate his presentation were mostly graphical, and of differing formats.  Although these were always relevant and informative, the speed of their delivery made it difficult sometimes to assimilate the dimensions and significance of one before it was sacrificed in the appearance of the next.

At something short of the hour, as the professor was drawing his thesis to a conclusion, I was not unhappy to 'jump ship' and engage a meeting of the Suffolk Family History Society.  The speaker here had been spared a lengthy journey, and joined us from her home in Clitheroe.  In her native soft Lancashire accent, she presented countless examples of her amazing finds in local newspapers of past centuries.  Clearly her interest exceeded the bounds of her own family research, and she had browsed far beyond the personal to absorb much of the background against which their lives had played out.  It was an example that I wish I had the time to follow up.  That said, I do recall once making the amazing discovery that my grandfather had once appeared in court - a story to be told here on another occasion!

She had held us in rapt attention for over three-quarters of an hour, when I looked at the clock and realised that my third appointment had already begun.  Reluctantly I turned away from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth.  One of my significant discoveries in this Zoom age has been the Western Front  Association.  Their avowed aim is not to glorify war but educational in nature, seeking to maintain interest in the period of the Great War and to perpetuate the memory, courage and comradeship of those on all sides who served their countries, principally in France and Flanders, in that conflict.

Having decided to accept the invitation to contribute to their funds in response to the many enjoyable winter evenings I've now spent in their 'company', I discovered that, for little more than my planned donation, I could join the association.  This means that, thanks to a very efficient administrative operation, I have now received some very interesting back copies of their regular magazines, and have access to potentially useful resources in the 'members-only' sections of their website.

I joined this week's presentation part way through a talk about the development of propaganda during the War, and the ways in which it made use of the media of the time to sway public opinion.  By the time the speaker had finished, I think I was finished, too.  After nearly three hours at the screen, I felt 'Zoomed out' and didn't stay for the questions-and-answers session.

Message to self - if you want to enjoy what you're doing, don't overcrowd every hour of your day!