U3A - University of the Third Age is a concept that began in France, where retired people went to Universities to listen to lectures. It expanded into the UK and evolved into a world wide programme where people attend lectures and study groups in their community.
In April 2022 Carey was musing about setting up a U3A in Cambridge and met Lyndall Hermitage who had recently moved to Cambridge and had been very active in U3A study groups in her previous location. Together with a Cambridge identity - Carole Hughes - the three of them launched U3A Cambridge with several well attended public meetings in late May and June 2022.
After three years, U3A Cambridge has over 500 members, around 42 study groups and several other well attended programmes. A key to getting the organisation up and running was Moneyworks sponsorship - as those funds enabled the organisation to operate without seeking initial funding. As we launched we were also very fortunate to be able to use a wonderful meeting room - The Woolshed - at Te Awa Lifecare - as part of their community work.
These days, there is a strong committee of volunteers that manage membership and contacts from the community, a Treasurer, and Carey and Lyndall run the meetings.
Carey is responsible for managing the Governance and committee meetings and for organising the speakers. There are 14 meetings a year (11 monthly meetings on Fridays - which will move to Tuesdays in 2026) and 3 joint partnership meetings with the Cambridge Historical Society - where we profile a speaker on the local area.
Lyndall runs the many Study groups, the seminar series and the Story Slam. The study groups are small groups of people who get together on a schedule that works for them, often in someones house to 'study' a topic. These range from Art History, to Gardening to Current Affairs. Very popular groups are 'cities of the world. Anyone can propose and convene a study group and they may be for a short period of time or for a long time.
The seminar series are brief 2-4 lecture series on a particular topic (with a small extra fee) and the Story Slam is a new event, where every now and then people get together and tell a story on a particular topic (like a scary thing that happened to me) and then get together for dinner afterwards.
While U3A Cambridge is open to any one to belong, our members tend to be mature/retired people who are interested in learning more and keeping their brains active. At $30 pa membership fee, it is a cost effective, social and educational thing to be involved with.
