Links
The General Links on this page are some of the current documents available to members. Click on the link to download a PDF copy to your computer. Please note that there may be some venue changes on the timetable in coming months. If wishing to join a group, please contact the Group Leader to check where it is currently meeting, or use the contact page to enquire further.
At the foot of the General Links section are some external websites that you may find useful or simply interesting.
The Creative Writing links are some of the stories produced by the Creative Writing Group (Scribes).
| General Links | ||
| Beacon System | Terms and conditions for Beacon user u3as | |
| Class register | Print only pages 1 and 2 if there are 25 or fewer members in the group. Additionally print pages 3 and 4 if there are more than 25 members. | |
| Data Protection | Adopted July 2024 | |
| Equality , Diversity & Inclusion Policy | Adopted 2022 | |
| GL Handbook | Adopted July 2024 | |
| Privacy Policy | Adopted July 2020 | |
| Roll of Honour nomination form | To recognise members who have made a substantial contribution to our u3a | |
| Safeguarding Policy and Procedure | Adopted May 2020 | |
| Stockton u3a constitution | Adopted 7th March 2023 | |
| Stockton u3a Standing Orders | Adopted July 2024 | |
| Art UK | Art UK is the online home for every public art collection in the UK. We are a charity, and our website represents a collaboration between over 3,200 British institutions. Through our work, we make art available for everyone – for enjoyment, learning and research. Art UK features over 230,000 artworks, so you might wonder where to start. You can search for artworks or artists, or explore art by theme through topics. Our stories highlight artists, movements, collections, exhibitions and themes. | |
| Arts and Culture app | Here is their blurb: Explore expert-curated guides from cultural institutions across the globe. With the free Bloomberg Connects app, explore expert-curated content and guides to over 170 museums, galleries, sculpture parks, gardens, and cultural spaces from the palm of your hand. From behind-the-scenes guides, to artist and expert-curated video and audio content, Bloomberg Connects makes it easy to discover arts and culture, anytime, anywhere. | |
| Astronomy Picture of the Day | Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. | |
| Atmospheric Optics | Light playing on water drops, dust or ice crystals in the atmosphere produces a host of visual spectacles - rainbows, halos, glories, coronas and many more. Some can be seen almost every day or so, some are once in a lifetime sights. Find out where to see them and how they are formed. Then seek and enjoy them outdoors. | |
| BBC Arts | Bringing arts and culture into your home. A large range to explore. | |
| BBC Introducing Arts | Innovative new short films, audio and interactive works from young artists | |
| British Museum | Explore curated highlights of the collection. There is also the opportunity to explore four million objects online, half of the museum's collection. | |
| Cultural activities to try online | Books, museums, concerts, cocktails – there’s an abundance of things to do despite coronavirus. We run down some of our best suggestions. | |
| Future Learn | An Open University site that hosts free MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) from many UK universities plus some from European, Australian and New Zealand universities | |
| Gameknot - play chess online | Play a friendly chess game online, or compete against other strong chess players. Many ways to crush your opponent and improve your chess skills, for FREE. All skills accommodated; from beginners to Grand Masters via a league table. | |
| Google Arts & Culture | This site has content from more than 1,200 museums and archives, including 500 virtual tours. | |
| History of English in ten minutes | A humorous and informative cartoon from the OU. | |
| Insights - Newcastle University | Public lectures at Newcastle University are free and open to all. Their aim is to offer a programme that will inform, stimulate, entertain, and excite. Lectures are usually on a Thursday evening at 5.30pm and are streamed live. Also, there is an archive of past lectures which you can stream and listen to again. | |
| Lines of Thought | Drawing from Michelangelo to now. Throughout history drawing has remained the ultimate thinking medium. From the Renaissance to the present artists have used drawing to generate ideas, develop concepts and solve problems. This online exhibition of drawings in the British Museum places historical and contemporary works side by side to examine the minds of some of the world's greatest artists in operation. | |
| LSO on YouTube | London Symphony Orchestra on YouTube. Many video clips and some extended excerpts from performances. Many other orchestras can also be found on YouTube | |
| Metropolitan Opera New York | During this extraordinary and difficult time, the Met hopes to brighten the lives of our audience members even while our stage is dark. Each day, a different encore presentation from the company’s Live in HD series is being made available for free streaming. | |
| MOOC list | This is their blurb: 'MOOC List is an aggregator (directory) of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offered by different providers. MOOC List is a website where you can find free online courses (MOOCs) offered by the best universities around the world. We don’t give MOOCs. We don’t create MOOCs.' | |
| Musée d'Orsay on YouTube | A collection of past presentations from the video gallery, each with a description of individual works of art. En français avec sous-titres français | |
| Musée d'Orsay video gallery | Every week, discover the vision of a contemporary figure: an artist, a writer, a philosopher, a designer, a musician, an actor, a film or theatre director, or a scientist, on a piece chosen from the collections of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie. In French with English subtitles. | |
| Musée du Louvre | Four virtual tours of some galleries of the Louvre. Requires you to download Flash Player (free) if your computer does not have it installed already. | |
| Museum of the World | The Museum of the World brings an exciting assortment of objects from the archives of the British Museum to the web where you can explore them and their connections. | |
| National Galleries Scotland | Learning Resources pages of this website contain many articles and videos which address questions such as the following. Can art be good for you? What is art for? What is Expressionism? | |
| National Gallery | Highlights from the collection. Explore the most popular masterpieces in the National Gallery, with in-depth descriptions of each one. | |
| National Theatre on YouTube | Join this channel every Thursday at 7pm for some of the best British theatre, free to stream for a week. Starting from 2 April with the online premiere of One Man Two Guvnors | |
| Open University | The Open University open learning pages | |
| OperaVision | Watch live streams as the operas themselves unfold in the opera house. View your favourite performances, subtitled, on demand. Learn about the art form and specific productions by browsing our richly populated digital library, stories, and articles. Discover resources for young audiences and for artistic career development. In English, French, and German, thoughtfully curated, and free to browse and explore. Supported by the European Union's Creative Europe programme, OperaVision builds on the success of The Opera Platform, with more contributing opera companies from more countries, under the editorial supervision of Opera Europa, the European association of opera companies and festivals. | |
| Prints and drawings virtual gallery | A selection from the extensive collection of Western graphic art in Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. | |
| Promenades imaginaires | Imaginary Walks at the Musée d'Orsay. Author Béatrice Fontanel chose paintings at the museum to imagine the stories that you will hear. At home with your eyes closed, take a journey through time. Un podcast en français. | |
| Ri Channel | The Ri Channel forms part of the Royal Institution's mission to 'connect people to the world of science'. The channel carries science videos from the Ri and across the web. | |
| Risk Assessment | Risk assessment checklists can be downloaded from the members advice section of the website of the u3ɑ National Office | |
| Royal Opera House on YouTube | The Royal Opera House will be offering a free programme of curated online broadcasts, musical masterclasses and cultural insights that get under the skin of both ballet and opera and offer everyone a unique look behind the scenes at one of the world's most famous cultural institutions. | |
| Royal Society You Tube Channel | A resource of authoritative science videos | |
| Sage Gateshead | Read, Watch & Listen. Explore a collection of videos, articles, playlists and podcasts, sharing the stories and performances from Sage Gateshead and Royal Northern Sinfonia. | |
| Science Museum Group | Explore over 380,000 objects and archives from the Science Museum, Science and Industry Museum, National Science and Media Museum, National Railway Museum and Locomotion. | |
| Stellarium | Free software that pictures the night sky from your location. Allows you to identify visible stars, planets and satellites and gives information about their brightness, distance and speed. Software is available as an app for phones and tablets and online for computers. | |
| Tate Gallery | Explore art on display at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives. Learn about the themes that bring the artworks together, from the materials and methods artists use to shared interests in the impact of mass media, there's so much to discover. | |
| TED talks | This is the website blurb: 'TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.' | |
| Tyne and Wear Museums | Search the collections of nine museums and galleries including Hancock Museum, Discovery Museum, Laing Art Gallery, Shipley Art Gallery and Hatton Gallery | |
| Veritasium | A website with short, entertaining, informative videos. The website blurb says 'Veritasium is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science.' See what you think. | |
| Victoria and Albert Museum | From the Collections. From ancient Chinese ceramics to Alexander McQueen evening dresses, take a journey through 5000 years of human creativity with the V&A online collections. Search more than 1.25 million objects | |
| Yellowstone National Park | Virtual tours of the first US National Park. Explore some of the main attractions around the park and delve into the history and culture of the park. Also available is an online archive of 8000 photographs. | |
| Northumbria | ||
| Northumbria u3ɑ | ||
| Walking 1 | ||
| Gridref/Postcode/Lat & Lon finder | ||
| Ideas for Moors walks | ||
| Measure distance on a map | ||
| Met Office forecast | Select a location for a current forecast | |
| Met Office Mountain forecasts | ||
| Suggestions for further walks | ||
| Walking routes in Durham | ||
| Yorkshire Walks | Over 600 routes with route descriptions, photographs and an Ordnance Survey route map (from OS Open Space service) | |