Last updated 15:51, Wednesday, 23 April 2008

AMERICA can offer many surprises, but vice-chairman Keith Irving was unprepared for a bomb scare before he had even entered his hotel in Washington.STAN BUCK, chairman of Lamplugh and District Heritage Society, formed four years ago, opened Whitehaven U3A members’ eyes and minds with a review of more than a century’s effort to preserve Ennerdale Show.WILLIAM Hague has published two acclaimed biographies, one of William Pitt and the other of William Wilberforce, and during a talk on the latter by David Matthews we learned more of the interesting connection between these two men.

Surely the rest of his holiday would run more smoothly.

A tour of the city’s sights included the Korean war memorial which movingly reflects the horrors of that war.

A boy on a bicycle collided with the party’s coach during the journey from Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home for many years, and was chastised by the driver. Shortly afterwards a brick was hurled through a window in the vehicle.

The emotional reading of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address recalled the heavy losses of the American Civil War, as did views of Harper’s Ferry at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. The latter’s valley, where General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson was heavily outnumbered lies between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains.

A picture of a large old house marked the energy of a twice-married man who fathered 19 children. Since the talk was delivered during Holy Week a slide of dogwood blossom topically illustrated through its cruciform, flowers the legend that Christ’s cross was made of dogwood.

Views of impressive caverns, a natural bridge and elements of modern American culture such as the site of the first Fried Kentucky Chicken, the largest private mansion in the USA (care of George Vanderbilt), the time wars of historic colonial Williamsburg, the only US house on the world heritage list (Thomas Jefferson’s home), Dolly Parton’s theme park and the Kentucky Horse park filled the 2,000 mile trip.

Both Radio Cumbria and this newspaper have been stalwart supporters of the event. A tin trunk of scrap-book style records proved invaluable.

An advertisement in The Whitehaven News sets the origin of the show, organised by four men for August 13, 1895. A later occasion was to raise funds for “A Scholars’ Treat”, a wagonette trip to St Bees, so that local children could see the sea.

Herdwick sheep have always been the backbone of the show. Other types had to wait until 1934 to make an appearance. Cattle have been a feature too. Hound trails and wrestling joined in during the early years of the 20th century. The aim being to attract people from beyond the valley.

The location has been changed several times, as has the range of activities. Butter carving disappeared about 40 years ago. Famous names like Beatrix Potter, Fred Peart, Ronnie Dickinson rub shoulders with Glenn Tubman. A contingent of Breton wrestlers turned up last year. The weather wreaks havoc, but the beer tent remains indomitable. members learned.West Cumbria U3A, April 16.

Both studied at Cambridge, both were great parliamentarians, but whereas Pitt could have been described as almost autistic in his relations with other people, Wilberforce was affable, witty and the life and soul of the party.

Although small and weakly as a boy, Wilberforce was active and gifted. A stay with his devoutly Methodist aunt and uncle in Wimbledon, after his father had died when the boy was 12, affected him greatly, and in later life he experienced a religious awakening: a visit to John Newton, the composer of the hymn “Amazing Grace”, encouraged his calling to a life of public service.

Although he was MP for first Hull, then Yorkshire, there is a local connection in that he leased a house near Windermere: he realised that he had wasted a lot of his time at University in frivolous living and that he needed to read in depth and complete his education.

Those who only associate Wilberforce with the abolition of slavery would be surprised to learn of the variety of his interests. He was chairman of no fewer than 69 organisations devoted to, for example, the emancipation of minorities, electoral reform, poor relief, abolishing the sending of small boys up chimneys, and reform of the Army and Navy.

He was also a founder member of the National Gallery, co-founder of Sunday Schools in Somerset and worked for the abolition of bear-baiting and capital punishment.

One of his techniques for persuading others to his way of thinking was to talk enthusiastically about a wide variety of ideas, and then return to the subject the next day when his thoughts had had time to bear fruit in his listeners.

This was an excellent talk about an influential Briton whose work continues to resonate today.