Cowbridge U3A History Group’s ‘Show and Tell’

The Cowbridge U3A History Group’s recent AGM was followed by the now traditional ‘Show and Tell’ session, with contributions from members.

The first was from Norma. This was the story of a small pamphlet, dated 1678, entitled ‘Bishop Ussher’s Prophecies’, once owned by her father-in-law, an antiquarian book collector. The bishop had calculated the age of the Earth by scholarly means over a period of 20 years, to deduce that the creation had occurred on 22 October 4004 BC, at nightfall. From this, Ussher had determined the dates of other Biblical events. Norma’s well-researched story encompassed the 19th Century scientific discussions, based on geology and fossils, about the age of the Earth, to a court case in the USA which examined the merits of evolution theory versus creationism (in 1925, 15 US states prohibited the teaching of evolution). Fortunately, the flimsy document survived being passed round by the audience!

The second participant was Thelma, who had brought an Art Nouveau pewter salver, made in Germany around 1900, which she had inherited from her parents. The handle was in the form of a beautiful female, with outstretched arms and flowing hair (somewhat reminiscent of the Rolls Royce ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ mascot). As well as the story of the manufacturer, WMF, who are still in business, but now making coffee machines, Thelma gave a short history of the Art Nouveau movement of modern design, with British exponents such as William Morris and Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Thelma also entrusted her family heirloom to the audience’s tender mercies.

The final items, a Welsh language bible given as a present in 1944 to her parents and another bible, this one in English, which she had received at the age of 3, were shown by Gwerfyl. The audience were told the tale of the Denbighshire scholar William Salesbury, described as a ‘gentleman from birth’, who produced the first translation of the New Testament into Welsh in 1567. It is believed that Salesbury and Bishop Richard Davies began to translate the Old Testament into Welsh, but for some reason — according to one source because they disagreed about the meaning and derivation of a word — the work was discontinued.

It was Bishop William Morgan, born in Penmachno, who translated the whole Bible into Welsh in 1588. Curiously, his first marriage was to one Ellen Salesbury, but Gwerfyl did not know if she was related in any way to William Salesbury. The bibles were made available to anyone who wished for a closer view.

SPM