News
This page has breaking news about what is happening in our u3a. It is often the most up-to-date source of information as items are usually posted here first.
19-Apr-24 Coffee Morning 26th April 2024 with Annual General Meeting (AGM) starting at 10 a.m. prompt.
12-Apr-24 Speaker Meeting 19th April 2024 A Perfect Place to Live by Ned Williams. Also New Members Induction 10.30 a.m.
12-Apr-24 First meeting of new group MOTO took place. Further details to follow.
01-Apr-24 Membership Renewal for 2024/25 is now closed. Anyone who did not renew their membership may rejoin at any time – details on the Join Us page.
25-Mar-24 Almost sold out – there is still one ticket left for Another Evening of Music from the 50s, 60s and 70s with Mike Prince on Friday 19th April – details on the Social Events page.
22-Mar-24 Spanish – a welcome return of the this group was announced at today's Coffee Morning. Names are now being taken of interested members – more on the Spanish group page.
22-Mar-24 Day trips Tickets go on sale for the trip to Charlecote House and Stratford on Wednesday 1st May – details on the Events page.
15-Mar-24 Speaker Meeting today by Val Campbell. She gave an uplifting talk (with samples) on Otto and the History of the Bra. Also another 10 new Members joined our u3a.
07-Mar-24 NEW group MOTO – something different – will be have an initial meeting on Friday 12th April 24. More on their webpage.
05-Mar-24 Group returns – Indoor Bowling is hoping to restart and will have an initial meeting on Wednesday 20th March 2024.
04-Mar-24 Group Leaders met today with Lynda (Chair) and Cath (Co-ordinator) – an opportunity to get together, hear the latest news, share ideas and discuss any areas of concern.
02-Mar-24 The latest Newsletter, for March/April, is now available here – in the Links section – and in printed form at the Community Centre.
three more new groups are in the pipeline – watch for announcements.
23-Feb-24 A few tickets left for Another Evening of Music from the 50s, 60s and 70s with Mike Prince, back by popular demand. Details on the Social Events page.
16-Feb-24 Speaker Meeting – one of our members, Peter Bates, gave the talk today The Story of Burke and Wills. Not what you probably think, but a detailed story of 19th century exploration across the unforgiving Australian heartland.
09-Feb-24 Coventry trip 6th March is no longer running. Details on refunds now available on the Events page.
24-Jan-24 Day Trips 2024 – details now available on the Events page.
19-Jan-24 Speaker Meeting today – a full house despite freezing weather was warmed by a morning of Black Country poetry and humour by David Bartley, making a welcome return.
18-Jan-24 Readers of Village Voice may have noticed that we feature in the Parish Pump section – all part of making our u3a known in the community. Village Voice is a free magazine distributed in Kingswinford, Wall Heath and Wordsley.
02-Jan-24 The latest Newsletter, No 12 for Jan/Feb, is available here – in the Links section – and in printed form at the Community Centre.
01-Jan-24 Membership renewal NOW OPEN – full details on the Renewal page.
01-Jan-24 Happy New Year to all our readers.
21-Dec-23 Ukulele for beginners – the Ukulele group are starting a course for beginners in January. More on the Ukulele group page.
18-Dec-23 The Relaxation group met today for the last time. Thanks go to Sue Ash for giving us the benefit of her knowledge and for her hard work leading the group.
15-Dec-23 Today’s Speaker Meeting had a most entertaining talk ‘Tis the Season to be Jolly by the popular Kath Reynolds. The audience learned about Christmas past with plenty of pictures and props to jog memories, plenty of laughter, and finishing with everyone singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas – living indeed.
08-Dec-23 NEW group starting January 10th – Shanty Singers. Something different, something interesting and a chance to have fun and sing heartily (good for you) – more on the Shanty Singers group page.
06-Dec-23 Ukulele Group Christmas Concert this afternoon – most enjoyable – more info and picture on the Ukulele group webpage.
06-Dec-23 The Trustee Committee met today. Amongst other things, they discussed Data Protection, Insurance and Trustee Constitution.
04-Dec-23 u3a Christmas Tree on display at Wordsley Parish Church Christmas Tree Festival over the weekend – picture in Jan/Feb Newsletter.
01-Dec-23 Membership renewal 2024 new page with advance information – Renewal.
24-Nov-23 At today's Coffee Morning, the Singing for Fun group showed what they can do, complete with carols and some spirited singing along from a packed hall. Meanwhile, the Art group had an impressive display in the back room. More, including pictures, on the group pages.
17-Nov-23 The Speaker Meeting today had a characteristically theatrical and, at times, hilarious talk by Max Keen about General Gordon of Khartoum. A good way to learn – very much the u3a way.
12-Nov-23 A busy weekend of Social Events. On Friday members rolled back the years, some showing us they could still move it on the dance floor, during an excellent evening of 50s, 60s and 70s music by Mike Prince. And on Sunday there was a coach trip to Symphony Hall for a Classical Spectacular. More on the Social Events page.
08-Nov-23 The Trustee Committee met today. Amongst other things, they discussed future website changes and 2024-25 membership renewals.
27-Oct-23 At today's Coffee Morning there was a sale of work by the Craft group; and a cameo on stage by the Recorders group, playing music they have learned recently.
20-Oct-23 Speaker Meeting today. Terrible weather kept numbers down – a pity because Barry Picken’s talk, Red Flowers and a Bag of Old Bones, was topical, enlightening and moving. Those who made it, now know how the poppy eventually became a symbol of remembrance, and how the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior came to be.
12-Oct-23 Holiday – a party of over 40 members enjoyed a coach holiday in the Lake District, organised as part of our Social Events programme.
11-Oct-23 The Trustee Committee met today, and agreed guidance to Group Leaders about the effect of changes in the terms and conditions of room hire at the Community Centre.
09-Oct-22 A small group took a trip through the Geology that made the Black Country – a guided walk around Wren’s Nest. This was organised after the talk Life and Death in Dudley Limestone Mines at the July Speaker Meeting. The walk was illuminating and enjoyable in equal measure, helped by fine weather.
08-Oct-23 New page added – Join Us with info about joining and an application form.
02-Oct-22 The Ballroom Dancing group met again after a summer break. The emphasis was on learning some sequence dances, including the Mayfair Quickstep, always good fun. More on the Ballroom Dancing group page.
02-Oct-23 Groups Leaders met today with our new Group Leader Coordinator to discuss a range of topics aimed at keeping them up-to-date and ensuring the smooth running of their groups.
18-Sep-23 New Group Latin for Beginners starts on Monday 25th September 2023 at 2pm in Room 1. Please contact John Hunt, Group Leader, if you are interested or want more information – details on the Latin group webpage.
15-Sep-23 A packed Speaker Meeting had Paul Butcher talking about photography and showing a wide range of his pictures, including a few with local interest.
13-Sep-23 The Trustee Committee met today. Among other things they discussed re-allocating vacant non-trustee roles that keep u3a going; the upcoming Third Age Trust AGM; and the safety of portable electrical equipment.
30-Aug-23 Groups with a waiting list to join are now identified on the Groups page – look for the †
29-Aug-23 New Page – Social Events with info about events organised by the social committee, including An Evening of Music from the 50s, 60s and 70s on Friday 10th November 2023. For more details GO TO the Social Events page.
18-Aug-23 The Speaker Meeting today had a near full house despite atrocious weather. Karen Evans enlightened us about Grim Tales of Staffordshire – and they were grim – with an excellent presentation derived in part from her book on the subject.
09-Aug-23 The Trustee Committee met today. Among other things, they reviewed the queuing arrangements for day trip tickets, which seem to working reasonably well; and appointed Cath Robinson to the vacant post of Group Leader Coordinator.
01-Aug-23 July was the last free Coffee Morning. The Trustees have decided that from August the normal meeting charge of £1 will apply.
28-Jul-23 Groups represented at today’s Coffee Morning were Latin and Genealogy. If you didn’t make the meeting and are interested GO TO the group pages.
21-Jul-23 Another well-attended Speaker Meeting enjoyed an illuminating talk entitled Life and Death in Dudley Limestone Mines by our own Adrian Barrett. The excellent presentation was full of local interest.
12-Jul-22 The Trustee Committee met today. Among other things, they looked at charges for meeting in the light of the first quarter’s accounts.
12-Jun-23 The Trustee Committee meet this week with a full agenda as usual. In addition to the regular items, they will be checking progress on repair of the defibrillator.
16-Jun-23 Today's Speaker Meeting had a characteristically well-researched and interesting talk by Peter Bates about Woolworths, covering the firm's origins and originator in the USA and its rise and fall here.
05-Jun-23 Our revamped homepage, from today, aims to help visitors see at a glance what we do. Part of continually improving the site and keeping it up to date.
26-May-23 At today’s Coffee Morning the Board Games group and the Creative Writing group each had a table in Room 4, where the group leaders were available to provide information to anyone who might be interested in joining them. We plan to make this a regular feature, showcasing two groups each month in this way.
19-May-23 Today’s Speaker Meeting saw a welcome return of Kath Reynolds with another of her entertaining talks. Food, Glorious, Food took us down memory lane with lots of humour and audience participation, recalling brands we all knew such as Fray Bentos, Be-Ro, Vesta Ready Meals and many more.
17-May-23 The ‘new’ Trustee Committee met today with Lynda Brettell in the chair. Full details of changes to Trustees etc can be found in the Newsletter for May/June.
05-May-23 Minutes of the recent AGM are now available on the Events page.
28-Apr-23 Just over 100 members came to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to vote on important matters, including a new Chairperson (see Newsletter No 7) and three new Trustees (full details in next Newsletter). In addition, the Treasurer went through the Annual Financial Statement, as confirmed by the independent examiner and now accepted by the meeting. The usual coffee morning followed.