CHAIRMAN Janice Jackson welcomed all to the April meeting of Northwich U3A.

Tickets were on sale for Jersey Boys in July.

Tea and plants outing to Bents is on May 30.

Payment for the holiday to Bournemouth in May is due and leaflets for the autumn holiday were handed out.

Mark Bevan was the speaker whose talk was White Mischief and Vale Royal Legacy. This was a journey from Cheshire to Africa.

In the 13th century Edward I, returning from the Crusades was almost shipwrecked and he prayed to God that if he was saved he would build a Cistercian Abbey. He was saved and the abbey was founded in 1270, but over the years it was troubled with lawless locals and poor discipline in the abbey itself.

In 1530 the abbey was closed by Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and was given to Sir Thomas Holcroft who built a house using the stones from the abbey. His descendants lived there until1615 when it was sold to Lady Cholmondeley. When she died her son Thomas founded the Vale Royal branch of the family and became Lords of Delamere.

The third Lord Delamere was Hugh, born in 1870. He became a game hunter and led expeditions to Uganda and Kenya. In 1897 he married Lady Cole and they moved to Kenya to rear sheep on their estate, which they named Equator Ranch.

Between the 1900s and 1940s many British aristocrats settled in Happy Valley. Some worked hard but many were bored which led to excessive drinking, drugs and sex, leading to wife swapping and divorce.

The most famous episode was in 1941 when the Earl of Errol started an affair with the married Lady Delves Broughton. In early 1941 Errol was shot dead in his car and her husband, Jock Delves Broughton was charged with murder.

Due to lack of evidence he was acquitted. Films were made and articles written, but it still remains a mystery. Mark was thanked for his interesting talk.

The next meeting is on May 20, Peter Turner is the speaker and his talk is Slight of Mind.