Valentine

Trying to dig up the origins of St Valentine's day from what I can find , it was nothing to do with love but the honouring of a Christian martyr named Valentinus. There were several martyrs of that name and it is not clear which one it was. Geoffrey Chaucer first introduced the love notion with reference to the mating season of birds. It was not until later medieval times that flowers, and sweetmeats were given as a symbol of love between two people.

An interesting afternoon, it was the first of our local WEA lectures on Britishness: Its origins and future. All the students arrived but no lecturer. He lived in Bristol and after a couple of calls to our headquarters in Exeter who knew nothing of his whereabouts he eventually arrived. I think the course will be good and certainly a chance to exercise the old grey cells!