History of Torbay u3a
Our branch of the University of the Third Age began in 1995. Seven people had attended a seminar at South Devon College given by an official from the Third Age Trust. He wanted to start some branches in the South Devon area since, at that time, there were none.
At the same time, a few other people in Torbay had contacted u3a National Office looking for local groups. As a result a meeting was held at Ken & Beryl Eyre's house. After a few weeks there were 17 people interested, and a Branch was formed with various interest groups led by people with skills to offer.
At first people were hesitant to start groups as few members had teaching experience, but it was all so friendly that it was just fun to find an excuse to meet and the number of groups increased steadily.
National u3a offered £30 to organize a meeting, advertise and see how much interest could be engendered. Everyone was having such a good time that they were doubtful about expanding, but they decided that the whole u3a concept was too exciting to keep to themselves.
The Start-Up meeting, to their amazement, was attended by 50 people, justifying the hard work entailed in poster and meeting preparation. From then on Torbay u3a has never looked back. Five of the original members are still with us and have been awarded Life Membership.
As interest in the area grew other u3a's have been set up in Paignton, Teignbridge, Brixham, Totnes and, recently, Preston & Livermead.
Due to increasing membership in Torbay, accommodation for the monthly General Meetings has changed several times, culminating in our present location at Central Church.
In 2015, we celebrated our 20th birthday.
The COVID pandemic limited our activities in 2020, but in 2021 most groups resumed, and we are back up to a membership of over 350.