Occasional Seminars

What are the seminars?

The Seminars are an opportunity for members to talk about the topics that interest them – and it is amazing how wide the range of topics can be. Some of the Seminars have led to the formation of regular groups – e.g. Philosophy and American History – others have just provided a fascinating morning for all those who have attended, for example the experiences of evacuees and Alan Hills experiences on Christmas Island

We meet at the Abbott Hall Social Centre on Dowkers Lane. Coffee is available at 9.45 and the Seminars start at 10.00. The format is usually a presentation followed by questions and discussion – but it’s all very informal and flexible depending on the topic.

Everyone in U3A is always very welcome to come along and we look forward to seeing you.

For more information contact the coordinators Jackie Hinton or Terry McIntee.

Dates for your diary

The dates for the next Seminars are as follows, but do check the website and the newsletters for further details nearer the time.

Wednesday 6 October: "The Mark of the Pen" lead by David Silk.
Despite the spread of printing and computers, we still use the humble pen to make marks to store and communicate information, in everyday life and for artistic effect. For a thousand years, books written and decorated by hand in the British Isles were the main repository of our knowledge, and a major art-form in their own right. These skills were lost, but then rediscovered in the 20th century.

We shall look at work of scribes from the 6th century to the present day, and seethe principles which all of us can adopt in our everyday handwriting. There will be opportunity to try making letter-forms in the traditional way.

Do please note these dates in your diary and come along to join us.

Recent Seminars

14 April 2010: "Bryan Stilling POW"
34 members came to hear Enid give an account of her late husbands experience as Prisoner of War in Germany. Enid gave an excellent talk with pictures of the documents that Bryan had kept. It was a very moving account and very interesting. It was a wonderful tribute to a remarkable man. It left the audience very much humbled that such young men gave up their youth so that we could be free.
Bryan came back, but many of his friends didn’t. We must never forget their sacrifice and the horror of war.

13th January 2010.
This morning 28 of our Members endured the bitter cold and skating-rink pavements to hear Walter Gent's entertaining and informative presentation on 'The Joys of Jazz'. We heard about the origins of this art form, watersheds in its development, and about some of its great exponents. Walter played us some wonderful CD tracks, but also played some jazz numbers himself on the piano. I'm sure that everyone would agree with me that Walter gave us an excellent and memorable morning. We were all sorry when it had to finish!

7 January 2009
23 members braved the snow to hear Mary Christian talking about the experiences of the children, men and women who were captured by Indians on the American western frontier.