Sutton Bridge

Welcome to the u3a SUTTON BRIDGE website

u3a Sutton Bridge, The Gateway to Lincolnshire, and so much more!

Please scroll down to read "A Personal Perspective from the Former Chairman"

We are a friendly group of over 130 members and, currently, 17 Interest Groups, with more in the pipeline.

We cover a large geographical area encompassing Sutton Bridge, Long Sutton, Holbeach and all surrounding villages.

Monthly meetings
We hold monthly meetings on the first Tuesday of every month, with doors opening at 1:30pm for a 2:00pm start.

Most afternoons will begin with the Chairman's welcome, and we can then settle back to enjoy an invited speaker. Following the speaker, refreshments will be served, and the Chairman will deliver any announcements. This is also a chance for Interest Group Leaders to share group news with the assembled members.

There's time at the end of the formalities for friends to meet up for a chat, and make new friends too. This is also a chance to look for news on the notice board, and to browse the Interest Group table, where members can sign up for an activity or interest that takes their fancy. Committee Members will also be circulating, and will be available to answer any questions, or just say hello.

All members are welcome at our monthly meetings, which alternate between The Curlew Centre (Bridge Road, Sutton Bridge PE12 9SA) and Market House (9 Market Street, Long Sutton PE12 9DD).

Visitors are welcome to attend monthly meetings with no limitations (apart from those set out below) on payment of a small fee per meeting. The fee will be agreed by the Executive Committee each year. Visitors will be encouraged to become members, and visitors who join at the monthly meeting will have their visitor fee for that meeting refunded.

Visitors are not permitted to enrol in any Interest Group or to attend an Interest Group meeting until the membership fee is paid and a membership number issued. Visitors are not eligible to vote or participate in the Annual General Meeting or attend the Christmas social event.

We also issue a monthly newsletter, full of news and information. The newsletter is sent to most members via email, but printed copies are available on request.

Please use the Contact page to request further information on any aspect of u3a Sutton Bridge, or use our enquiries email enquiries@u3asuttonbridge.org

Thank you for visiting our website. We look forward to welcoming you to our u3a!

Summing Up the Nationwide u3a Movement

The u3a movement is a unique and exciting organisation which provides, through individual u3as all around the country, life-enhancing and life-changing opportunities. Retired and semi-retired people come together to socialise and learn together, not for qualifications, but for its own reward; the sheer joy of discovery!

Members share their skills and life experiences; the learners teach and the teachers learn, with no distinction between them.

The u3a movement is a charitable concern supported by its national organisation, The Third Age Trust.

A Personal Perspective from the Former Chairman of u3a Sutton Bridge

Welcome to the u3a Sutton Bridge website. I am delighted that you managed to find us.

My name is Chris Livesey, and I am pleased to have served as the Chair of the Committee that was responsible for the day to day management of our u3a. I am equally pleased to have been appointed at the 2021 AGM as the new Social Secretary.

If you are a resident of Sutton Bridge, Long Sutton or the surrounding villages, aged 55 or over, not in full-time employment, and have not heard of the u3a, then we have done a miserable job of keeping you informed of the hidden gem that is u3a Sutton Bridge!

You are also missing a great opportunity to improve your leisure time, make new friends, learn new skills, do some of the things that perhaps you used to do in your youth and that you thought you would never do again, and have some fun.

If you are new to the Sutton Bridge and Long Sutton area, then you have my sincere and warmest congratulations on finding a really beautiful part of the country. My wife and I moved here back in 2002, I retired in 2013, and we have never regretted either.

In 2017 I saw an article in a local magazine announcing that the local u3a was having a scheduled monthly General Meeting, and that visitors would be welcome. Those that know me would say “Chris will go anywhere for a free cup of tea and a biscuit” and so I did.

It turned out to be the very best of afternoons! I met some great people, some of whom are now amongst my best friends. I found members who wanted to start a Table Tennis group. I had not played since I was 19 and it was comforting to learn that, apart from some improvements to the bats and a change in the scoring rules, the game was pretty much as I remembered it.

Since then I have joined other Interest Groups: Local History, The Gin Appreciation Group, Archery, and I have even started my own Interest Group, The Beer, Wine and Bus Pass Group. If you can see any common thread running through this choice of groups it may just be coincidental (or not)!

If you would like to find out more about what could become your very own local u3a please look at the Contact page on our website and send one of us an email saying “Yes, I am interested in what you have to offer”. I do recommend that you do this, as it could very well prove to be the best thing that you have done in years!

With my personal best wishes,

Chris Livesey
Former Chairman, u3a Sutton Bridge