Introduction
This week's CST session has 'Money Makes The World Go Round' as a theme because the 40th anniversary of 'Decimal Day' is fast approaching (14th February 2021) and the Royal Mint has just announced five new coins will be released this year.
There will be a new £5 coin to celebrate the Queen's 95th birthday in April. It will depict the royal cypher "EIIR", above the words "my heart and my devotion", which is a nod to part of her 1957 Christmas broadcast (the first to be televised).
The 2021 British coin collection will also mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of novelist Sir Walter Scott (who wrote 'Waverley', 'Rob Roy' and 'Ivanhoe'), and the 75th anniversary of the death of author HG Wells (who wrote 'The Time Machine' and 'War Of The Worlds').
The 50th anniversary of decimalisation, when Britain's modern coins came into force, will be featured on a new 50p coin and the 75th anniversary of the death of the inventor John Logie Baird, famous for his early prototypes of the television, will be commemorated on another new 50p coin.
Here are pictures of the collection:
Discussion points:
Ask members who remembers 'Decimal Day' in 1971? How difficult was it swapping over to the new prices on everything?
Does anyone collect coins? Does anyone still have some pre-decimal coins or notes?
Do people tend to pay for things with money still, or do they use their bank card to swipe or pay online? When is the last time anyone wrote a cheque?
What do people think of the new polymer bank notes? Has anyone washed one yet and put it through the tumble dryer?
The new £50 polymer bank note featuring Alun Turing is due to be brought into circulation later this year. There are already polymer notes for £5, featuring Sir Winston Churchill, for £10, featuring the author Jane Austen, and for £20, featuring the artist JMW Turner.
Here they are:
The £5 note features Winston Churchill, one of the greatest statesmen of all time, and the only Prime Minister to win the 'Nobel Prize for Literature'. The images on the back of the note show a view of Westminster, home of the UK government, and the Elizabeth Tower (containing the bell 'Big Ben') from London’s South Bank, looking across Westminster Bridge.
The £10 note features the distinguished author Jane Austen. Books by her included 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Mansfield Park', 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Emma'. When it was released in 2016, an artist produced a few notes with a microdrawing of an inscription by Jane Austen on it? The words were, "I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good." These five notes were said to be worth £50,000 each, if you were lucky enough to find one.
J.M.W. Turner features on the new £20 note. Turner is perhaps the single most influential British artist of all time. His self-portrait, painted in 1799 and currently on display in the Tate Britain, features on the new note, along with his painting of 'The Fighting Temeraire'; a tribute to the ship which played a distinguished role in Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
The mathematician, computer scientist and 'Enigma Code' breaker Alan Turing will feature on the new £50 polymer note, which will be released later this year. He was chosen following a national poll and is recognised not only for his Second World War heroism, but also for the fact that he was a gay man living in a time of prejudice and discrimination, who was chemically castrated as an alternative to prison and died at the age of 41 after taking cyanide.
Finally, we asked if anyone regularly plays 'games' to win money, either 'Bingo', 'The National Lottery', 'The Pools' or 'Premium Bonds'.
We asked members whether anyone had ever had a lucky windfall from one of these, or something else, for example an inheritance?
We went around the room and asked members, if they had £50,000 to spend, what would they do with the money to treat themselves (paying bills was not allowed).
IDIOMS
We asked members to complete the following phrases:
Rich man, poor man, beggar man - THIEF
Money makes the world go - ROUND
Three coins in a - FOUNTAIN
Sound as a - POUND
Treasure - ISLAND
Long John - SILVER
Born with a silver spoon in his - MOUTH
Break the - BANK
Bring home the - BACON
Cash in your - CHIPS
Foot the - BILL
From rags to - RICHES
Sticky - FINGERS
Live hand to - MOUTH
Pay an arm and a - LEG
Penny - PINCHER
Pay a King's - RANSOM
Pick up the - TAB
Pour money down the - DRAIN
Put your money where your - MOUTH IS
Bet your bottom - DOLLAR
Money doesn't grow on - TREES
Strike it - LUCKY/RICH
Money - TALKS
Worth it's weight in - GOLD
On the - HOUSE
Pay - PEANUTS (get monkeys)
Feel like a million - DOLLARS
Bread and - BUTTER
Diamonds are a girl's - BEST FRIEND
Spend a - PENNY
Find a penny pick it up. All day long you'll have - GOOD LUCK
Filthy - RICH
The penny - DROPPED
The love of money is the root of all - EVIL
Money makes the world go - ROUND
This led us to our first song ...
SONG. 'Money, Money, Money, ABBA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETxmCCsMoD0
Can members think of any slang names for money?
FILTHY LUCRE, DOUGH, DOSH, READIES, SPONDULICKS, WONGA, LOOT, LOLLY
MUSIC & PICTURE QUIZ
We continued with asking the following questions ...
Round 1. Old Money
1. What bird was on a 'Farthing' (a quarter of a penny)?
2. Which character featured on the front of the old 'Penny'?
3. How many sides did an old 'Thrupenny bit' have?
