Message from the Chair
Dear Friends,
“I don’t know quite what it would be like to study a subject that you didn’t want to share with other people” is a quote from Dame Mary Beard, English Classicist, that jumped off the page of a magazine I was reading recently.
Dear Friends,
“I don’t know quite what it would be like to study a subject that you didn’t want to share with other people” is a quote from Dame Mary Beard, English Classicist, that jumped off the page of a magazine I was reading recently.
Inevitably my mind turns to the value of Canterbury u3a for many of us as it enables us to get together in all sorts of learning and sharing activities whether they be courses or interest groups; music making and singing; walking or swimming; cinema or day trips; holidays; and many other opportunities to stimulate our minds and enjoy each other’s company.
We should remind ourselves, of course, that the sustainability of Canterbury u3a should be viewed from the perspective of a community built on active participation. The importance of volunteering and sharing leadership responsibility will always be central to maintaining the strength of our u3a. The more members involve themselves; the more workloads can be spread; and the more members can find gentle-commitment ways to engage. Feel free to share your thoughts and interests with any of our enthusiastic leaders.
Thank you for all you do for Canterbury u3a and participate in, and indeed a warm welcome to those who have just joined us.
See you soon,
Robin Terry
November 2025
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Important Dates and Notices
Friday 7th November: Joining Session
Please feel free to drop in at our regular monthly Joining Session. And bring a friend! Joining Sessions are an opportunity to meet other new members; meet Committee members; drink coffee; ask questions; and of course, become a U3A member, if you decide to! You can also renew your lapsed membership at a Joining Session if you need to.
Wednesday 12 November: Annual Quiz 2pm to 3.30 at St Mary Bredin, Nunnery Fields. Book a table for six or come along and join a table.
Wednesday 3rd December: Winter Celebrations 2pm at St Mary Bredin. Come along for music and festive fun, tea, coffee and mince pies.
Friday 5th December at Chartham Village Hall....
Bring and Share Christmas Lunch
This year the Christmas Lunch will be held on Friday 5th December, 12.45 for 1.00pm, at Chartham Village Hall.
Each attendee should offer a savoury or sweet dish (couples bring two dishes please).
Please note we do not have facilities to heat or cook food.
We do provide drinks.
The Bring and Share Christmas Lunch is a fun Canterbury u3a tradition, so do join in. Booking in advance essential please by email to Robin Terry; advising whether you are bringing a savoury or sweet dish or one of each.
Synopsis: Yorkshire, 1916. Enlistment to World War I leaves a choral society without their male members. The conductor Dr. Guthrie is left to recruit teenagers into the group, creating joy and community through singing while the young men grapple with their impending conscription. They were divided by war, he united them in song. Trailer: https://youtu.be/2YL4_bEKSzc Booking link: The Choral - Gulbenkian Ways to book your […] Synopsis: Yorkshire, 1916. Enlistment to World War I leaves a choral society without their male members. The conductor Dr. Guthrie is left to recruit teenagers into the group, creating joy and community through singing while the young men grapple with their impending conscription. They were divided by war, he united them in song. Trailer: https://youtu.be/2YL4_bEKSzc Booking link: The Choral - Gulbenkian Online – visit https://thegulbenkian.co.uk/ and find the screening in question. Before you select your tickets, please insert the u3a discount code (as emailed to members) into the promo code box at the top left of the screen and click the small grey arrow so that it registers the code. Then select your seats (they will show as full price at this point) and proceed to payment (the discounted price will appear when you are .in your basket) From personal experience, I find that if you register with the Gulbenkian first, this then becomes very straightforward. In person – visit the box office between 5.30-8pm weekday evenings or 1pm-8pm on the weekends (times subject to change). Please ensure to bring your u3a ID as they have no way of validating this on their system. Email – email boxoffice@kent.ac.uk to reserve your tickets with a name and phone number and they will call you back to take payment. Phone – They are only able to answer the phone between 5.30 and 6.30pm, and are often busy with “in person” customers. You can either ring 01227 769075 during those times or use the email address above. If none of these methods work for you, you can buy your ticket on the day, but please arrive in good time, as there maybe a queue and you will also need to show your u3a membership card. Parking is free at the weekends or there is a regular bus service from the bus station every 15 minutes.
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Ways to book your tickets for U3A Screenings
Summary of forthcoming events...
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So, you have joined the u3a, applied for courses (and hopefully been accepted) or have already attend some but feel that your own life experience could offer a course/activity of your own. You are not alone! Many of us feel that way, but don’t know how or what to expect. We run quarterly workshops for just this need. Our next one will be held on […] So, you have joined the u3a, applied for courses (and hopefully been accepted) or have already attend some but feel that your own life experience could offer a course/activity of your own. You are not alone! Many of us feel that way, but don’t know how or what to expect. We run quarterly workshops for just this need. Our next one will be held on 9 December at 10.30 in St Peter’s Methodist Church Hall, Blue Room. Refreshments provided. If you would like to attend, please contact Jonathan Butchers. Refreshments provided.
Show this event in full Potential Course Leaders’ Workshop: December 2025
Autumn Walk
Friday 14th November 10.30
A Circular Walk from Littlebourne to near Villages
This is a 3.5 to 4.5 mile easy and flat, circular walk from Littlebourne to Wickhambreaux and then to Ickham. En route we will see three mills and three Churches. At the end there is The Ivy Barn Café for coffee (with delicious cakes) or Lunch. Meet outside the entrance to Littlebourne Church, Church Road, CT3 1UA. Park in the roads nearby or take Bus […] This is a 3.5 to 4.5 mile easy and flat, circular walk from Littlebourne to Wickhambreaux and then to Ickham. En route we will see three mills and three Churches. At the end there is The Ivy Barn Café for coffee (with delicious cakes) or Lunch. Meet outside the entrance to Littlebourne Church, Church Road, CT3 1UA. Park in the roads nearby or take Bus 43 from Canterbury Bus Station.
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Research Group
Next meeting Friday, 21st November, 2pm in Riverside Church café, Whitstable. All welcome. Contact Jo Walker
Holiday Planning for 2026
Itineraries for 2026 as follows:
- 11th - 15th May : West Sussex
- 14th - 18th September : The Cotswolds
Details will be published soon.
The working group continue to seek an individual or couple who can manage the administration and lead the group during each holiday week.
Winter Extras
Every year there are a few courses which for one reason or another have not been included in the main Programme of Courses and Activities, and we call these our Winter Extras. These course are being scheduled for the New Year and will be booked in [..]
Every year there are a few courses which for one reason or another have not been included in the main Programme of Courses and Activities, and we call these our Winter Extras. These course are being scheduled for the New Year and will be booked in the same way as other courses from the Programme. We are now finalizing the details for these courses but would like to give you an idea of what is to come.
We have five brand new courses in the pipeline:
- Bluegrass Slow Jam
- Decoding the Bayeux Tapestry
- Growing up in 1950s London
- Psychology and Current Issues
- Science Fiction Reading Group
In addition, the Current Affairs Discussion Group has been so successful that it will be offered again. Grammatology also proved popular and will be repeated, mainly so that we can accommodate the members on the waiting list but there will probably be a few places available. We are also offering Sustainable Living again, having postponed it from earlier in the Autumn. We hope that there might be a few more members who will be able to join this course, which is highly relevant to our lives today.
You will be sent full details of the courses in the coming weeks and will be able to book them on the booking website from a date in December, yet to be decided. As usual we shall offer help to non-email members and those who self-classify as ‘IT Challenged’.
Angela Tippett, Course Administration
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Interest Sharing Groups
Members are invited to join in the following Interest Sharing Groups at any time of the year. Just contact the relevant leader.
Sewing Group - a new Group!! - now meets at Cosy Club, 20-21 Margaret Street, Canterbury at 10 a.m. - 12 noon every Wednesday. Leader: Sara Bateman
English Heritage the last English Heritage Group visit of the year is to The National Maritime Museum and possibly the Royal Naval College on the 21st November. There are no visits planned for December and January. Leader: Steve Casey
English Heritage Group visit to The National Maritime Museum and possibly the Royal Naval College on the 21st November. NMM website: https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum
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Knit and Natter This group meets fortnightly and mainly knits clothes for premature baby units. They are a friendly, inclusive group and any new member would be welcome. Knit and Natter Group meet at The Dolphin Pub, St Radigund’s Street at 2 pm. on Thursdays 13th and 27th November. Leader: Norma Ratcliff
Sustainable Living Group Sustainable Living Group meet at 10.30 a.m. on 18th November at the Chatterbox Café, Castle Street. Leader: Helen Howard
Discussion Group on Current Affairs every Monday at 11 a.m. For venue details of the next meeting, contact the group leader for details of venue as this changes according to numbers. Leader: Steve Casey.
Coastal Bridge Group meets at Dunkirk Village Hall on Thursday afternoons. Leader: Anni Bignold
Canterbury Bridge Group meets at Littlebourne Village Hall on Friday afternoon. Contact: Jane Dennett
Photography: For details of meeting, date and place, contact Keith Kolsteren
Promoting Biodiversity
Many thanks to those of you who made contact about the health topics that you’d like to know more about. We are hoping to put a couple of new courses into next year’s programme. If anyone else has health and social care knowledge to offer we’d be pleased to hear from you.
The volunteers I want to hear from this month are those of you who are citizen scientists, or help at the small (or large) sites in and around Canterbury, where increasing biodiversity is the aim. I think many members would be pleased to hear about your work and maybe visit to see how it’s done.
As a volunteer myself at Stodmarsh Nature Reserve, I am sure u3a is full of people who care about biodiversity.
We look forward to hearing from you: Helen Howard
Can You Help?
Subject Coordinators needed!
We have vacancies for 2 Subject Coordinators. If you are a good “people person” and, preferably, have experience of being a tutor (so you know how the system works), why not consider being a Coordinator?
You would be the “go to” person for your subject group for queries and advice and assist in getting the group to submit their course proposals for the main programme.
Experience in the subject area is not essential, but a sympathy for the requirements of the subject will help the process.
We have vacancies for:
- Creative & Recreational Skills
- Languages
Contact: Jonathan Butchers
An opportunity to take on a new worthwhile challenge
We have a vacancy to fill which is the Canterbury u3a Beacon Site Administrator. Canterbury u3a activities are underpinned by Beacon; an online management system designed by u3as for the use of u3as. Beacon is managed by a national team and we are one of over 650 u3as that use it. This role may appeal to the problem solvers amongst you, perhaps someone with a scientific/engineering/ IT background, but do not let the absence of such an interest put you off, as there is a comprehensive user guide written for non-specialists. If you are not very mobile or not keen to travel into Canterbury this is a role that can easily be carried out from your own home with occasional contact with committee members, especially the membership team.
If you are curious and might like to fulfil this very useful role in Canterbury u3a, or would just like to find out more, please contact Angela Tippett in the first instance.
Thank you for all your contributions, from a couple of sentences up to 250 words.
Keep them coming, as this is your News Bulletin.
Send them to Ursula Steiger
The copy date for November is Monday 24th November.