Good morning. Welcome to Whitwick & District U3A.
What is U3A? U3As exist to provide a forum in which retired and semi-retired people can get involved in helping to create, join and run a wide variety of activities which improve their knowledge and skills, enhance their physical and mental wellbeing and keep them socially connected in a friendly and informal environment. It is a non-political and non-religious organisation.
Central to this are interest groups of which we have over 40. In these we learn from each other and from direct experience, rather than being taught in a formal setting . There is no formal structure of assessment or awards. Any member can, and is encouraged to, form a new group within their own area of interest or expertise.
Our membership is drawn from North West Leicestershire, primarily from the Whitwick / Coalville area and other nearby towns and villages. Our general meetings are held on the 3rd Friday of the month at Broomleys Church Hall at 2.00 pm. You are most welcome to come along and find out more.
COVID19 (CORONA VIRUS)
In light of government advice to avoid all unnecessary social contact and travel, Whitwick & District U3A will be suspending all General Meetings and physical meetings of Interest Groups with immediate effect. Where possible groups will try to meet on a virtual basis.
Roundup covering what groups are currently doing, was emailed on 8th April. If you have not received your copy, please first check your spam / bulkmail folder(s). If you still do not have it then you can find a copy here.
NEW 9-4-20 Computing Refreshers is now holding sessions online starting 15th April. These sessions are open to all members..
NEW 9-4-20 Striders bring back memories of some walks last year.
NEW 6-4-20 A few Virtual Tours for those suffering from holiday withdrawal symptoms
NEW 3-4-20 Help for those in Isolation / vulnerable in Whitwick
NEW 2-4-20 Zoom video conferencing. A number of respected technical sites are highlighting various privacy and security issues, with additional ones for Mac users, and people with email addresses not based on the major email providers (outlook.com, gmail.com etc.).
NEW 1-4-20 Guides for appropriate settings provided by UK Safer Internet Centre for Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Roblox.
NEW 1-4-20 Scam examples as found by the BBC
NEW 31-3-20 Little Leaflet of Cyber Mistakes to help you keep safe on line
Updated 3-4-20 A short summary of various methods of keeping in touch
Updated 3-4-20 History group is now operating in virtual mode - see their web page.
NEW 29-3-20 Virtual garden tours Note: the House Beautiful site uses a large number of cookies which it invites you to accept, but you can decline and it still functions.
NEW 28-3-20 NW Leics are suspending Garden waste and Cardboard collections from 30th March onward.
NEW 27-3-20 The National Theatre is to stream plays on You Tube on Thursdays, for free www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/at-home. The programme for April is:
- One man, two guvnors
- Jane Eyre
- Treasure Island
- Twelfth Night.
Added 20-3-20 Scam advice
As soon as the situation changes we will update this information.
Recent events
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| A banana break?! Striders March2020. More pictures on their page |
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| General Meeting, December 2019. More pictures on their page |
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| Ramblers on their lunchbreak, Februrary 2020. More pictures on their page |
If you are having problems receiving any of our emails, please first check your spam/junk/bulkmail folders. If this fails, there are some other suggestions here. Users of Microsoft mail addresses (@hotmail, @live, @msn and @outlook) may find further suggestions here. Users of Google mail may find a suggestion here.
Membership Renewal 2020-2021 All members
should receive their membership renewal letters by the end of February; if
you haven't received yours by then please contact the Membership Secretary
.
Although present circumsatnces mean that you cannot renew at a General Meeting,
you can renew by post or bank transfer - details are on your renewal form.
Updated Information
Recent pictures are posted from the Digital Photography Group, from March events for Gardens and Striders, from February events for SWANS, 5milers, Ramblers and for the Christmas General Meeting, and pictures of the December events for Quiz group and Sunday Lunch.
For a full list of recent updates see here, or you can choose to get notified by e-mail using the notify page in the members area.
Items of Interest
Third Age Trust AGM. Notification is hereby given of the 37th Annual
General Meeting of TAT will be held at the East Midlands Conference Centre,
Nottingham on 27th Aug 2020 commencing at 11.15 am. For further details please
contact Wendy 
Regional Trustee Newsletter is available here.
The Third Age Trust issue national newsletters. An archive of these is available here, or you can sign up to receive them directly here.
National events:
In Depth Study Groups - A chance to study in much greater depth than an interest group. If you have a computer you could link up with like-minded people across the UK.
Forthcoming monthly meetings (click on underlined dates for more detail)
These will only resume when the restrictions relating to Covid 19 are relaxed - so these are what we hope will take place
| 15 May 20 | AGM plus our own Fun Choir |
| 19 June 20 | Speaker Philip Caine - Barrow to Bahgdad and back : My career story |
| 17 July 20 | Speaker Andy Smith - John, Paul, George and me |
| 21 Aug 20 | Speaker Dr Victoria Strong - Life as a zoo vet |
| 18 Sept 20 | Speaker Mike Storr - Masters of Mirth |
| 16 Oct 20 | Speaker Kevin Reynolds - Dispelling the myths - an introduction to bats |
| 20 Nov 20 | Speaker Andy Smart - Their names will live on |
| 18 Dec 20 | Singer Natalie Nightingale |
| 15 Jan 21 | Speaker Paul Siddals - The history of the gas industry in Leicestershire |
| 19 Feb 21 | Speaker Stuart Warburton - 100 years of cycling |
| 19 Mar 21 | Speaker Samantha Hancock - Cyber-awareness, Fraud and Scams |
| 16 Apr 21 | Speaker Bharat Patel - Behind the headlines |
| 21 May 21 | AGM then Speaker Sue Garside - Lifestyle medicine |
| 18 Jun 21 | Speaker Elaine Clifford - Hearing matters |
| 16 Jul 21 | Speaker Helen Reid - A fair cop: A history of British policewomen |
| 20 Aug 21 | Speaker Dr Iain Hambling - T G Green & Co Pottery |
| 17 Sep 21 | Speaker Alan Gray M.B.E. - 'You cannot be serious': Tales of a Wimbledon umpire 1988- 2012 |
| 15 Oct 21 | Speaker John Whitehead - Churchill |
| 19 Nov 21 | Speaker Sandy Leong - Black cats, new moons and ladders: Origins of superstitions |
| 17 Dec 21 | Performance Fool's Gold Christmas Show |
Pictures of some other previous talks are here, and for other information on previous talks and speakers, click here.
Please note that as an anti-spam measure e-mail addresses on this page are NOT links, but should be manually copied
 | Our U3A received grants from the Big Lottery Fund in 2010 and 2013 |