Middlewich U3A by Susan leicester

Chairman Sue Johns welcomed members to a well attended Middlewich U3A’s April’s meeting and announced a forthcoming visit to Arley Hall. Members were asked to consider joining the committee at June’s annual meeting.

The speaker was Bernard Loveday telling of The Advances in Modern Medicine. He worked in the field of cardio-vascular medicine and research, beginning in the 1930s. Drugs to regulate high blood pressure were only devised in the 1960s. This came as a surprise to most members, and pacemakers were developed in Sweden in 1958, coming to the UK in 1959. Their use was greatly improved by the development of batteries. Debates raged at the time over the ethics of transplanting hearts from one human to another.

Stents were initially used as a stop-gap but now are permanent fixtures, eliminating major surgery. A sobering fact is that the human heart is almost identical to that of a pig.

The talk was an excellent, easy-to-understand description of what can be done nowadays and how. Everyone left vowing to exercise more and take of themselves.

The speaker at the May meeting will be Tom Jones talking about Chester Zoo.

For more information about Middlewich U3A please see the website www.middlewichu3a.org.uk