Message from the Chair
Dear Friends,
So, how does it work? That sounds like a straightforward enough question until you try to give an answer. There is a super helpful book that I have been delving into recently: ‘500 Beacons – The U3A Story’, written by Dr Eric Midwinter, one of the three founding fathers of u3a in the UK in 1982. Canterbury & District u3a is of 1986 vintage [...]
Dear Friends,
So, how does it work?
That sounds like a straightforward enough question until you try to give an answer. There is a super helpful book that I have been delving into recently: ‘500 Beacons – The U3A Story’, written by Dr Eric Midwinter, one of the three founding fathers of u3a in the UK in 1982. Canterbury & District u3a is of 1986 vintage, just four years later, according to the book.
The notion – older people organising their own educational activities – appears a straightforward enough answer, until of course you realise there are many different networks of volunteers making it all work; particularly in our Canterbury u3a. I personally believe that the success of the Canterbury u3a is not so much about age, but honouring the aging process itself through a willingness amongst our membership to keep active; and an enthusiasm to pursue continual learning.
I hope you find that Canterbury u3a does enable you to pursue interests across a wide range of topics and activities, thanks to the freely given efforts of so many of you. As we continue to grow, we do of course need more leaders and helpers; so please feel free to discuss with me, or my committee colleagues, ways in which you are interested in maintaining the long established success story of the Canterbury u3a.
It remains for me to say thank you, and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to enjoying your company at many of the Christmas events.
Robin Terry
December 2025
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Important Dates and Notices
Wednesday 3rd December: Canterbury u3a Winter Celebration at St. Mary Bredin at 2pm
Friday 5th December: Joining Session at St. Peter’s Methodist Church, Blue Room - 10.30 to 12 noon. There will not be a joining session in January but anyone interested can join online.
Members, please make this date known to friends who may be interested in joining our u3a or better still, bring them along.
Tuesday 9th December - Potential Tutors Workshop at St Peters Methodist Church, Blue Room - 2 pm. to book a place, please contact Jonathan Butchers.
Monday 12th January 2026: next research group meeting at 2pm at the Gate Inn, New Dover Road, Canterbury. New members welcome. Further details from Jo Walker. There is no research group meeting in December
Wednesday 14th January 2026: Monthly meeting at St. Mary Bredin Church with a talk entitled "The London Loop, designed by The Ramblers", Speaker: Chris Burke.
Open Day 2026 - Change of Date: Thursday 21st May
Please note a change of date for our Open Day. This is because of a clash of dates with the u3a holiday, inadvertently planned for the same week as the Open Day. Our new date is Thursday 21st May - single venue only: St Peter’s Methodist Church
Summary of forthcoming events...
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Committee News
We are delighted to welcome Tim Landsman who was co-opted at the November Committee Meeting. By virtue of being a committee member, Tim becomes a Trustee of Canterbury & District u3a and registered with the Charity Commission. Tim will be nominated at the April 2026 AGM for approval. Tim has agreed to currently fulfil the role of second Vice Chair.
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.
West Sussex Holiday
The Canterbury u3a holiday working group recently announced their proposed itinerary for the next five day coach holiday..
West Sussex: Monday 11 May - Friday 15 May 2026
Places are going fast so please do ensure your booking form reaches us by Friday 12th December.
Note that if you leave your booking forms in Orange Street, we may not be able to collect them in time. Canterbury u3a coach holidays are enjoyed by many for their warm friendship and camaraderie over five days, visiting the planned venues, and enjoying dinner together in the evenings. It's a great way to spend Monday to Friday.
Interest Sharing Groups
Please note: Knit and Natter and English Heritage groups are not meeting in December. Green Fingers do not meet in the winter and the Photography Group is inactive at the moment.
The following groups continue to meet, and members may join at any time. Just contact the relevant leader and you will be made very welcome!
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
Sustainable Living Group meets at 10.30 am on. 9th December at The Chatterbox Cafe, Castle Street. Contact: Helen Howard
Discussion Group on Current Affairs every Monday at 10.30 a.m. For venue details of the next meeting, contact the group leader Steve Casey.
Sewing Group - usually meets at Cosy Club, St Margaret’s Street, Canterbury at 9.30 am - 12 noon every Wednesday.
NB on the 10th and 17th December the group will meet in Ethelbert Road, Canterbury - please contact the course leader for details. There will be no meeting on the 24th December. The first meeting of 2026 will be at the Cosy Club on January 7th 2026. Leader: Sara Bateman
Winter Walk
12 December 2025
Circular Walk from Canterbury to Thanington via Wincheap
This 4 mile, easy circular walk starts at the entrance to Dunhelm Mill (opposite the Wincheap Park and Ride, CT1 3TT). This walk includes a good view of Canterbury Cathedral. We walk through fields and orchards, as well as along the Stour River. Park at Dunhelm Mill or opposite in the Morrisons parking area. Dunhelm Mill offers optional lunch or refreshments at the end of […] This 4 mile, easy circular walk starts at the entrance to Dunhelm Mill (opposite the Wincheap Park and Ride, CT1 3TT). This walk includes a good view of Canterbury Cathedral. We walk through fields and orchards, as well as along the Stour River. Park at Dunhelm Mill or opposite in the Morrisons parking area. Dunhelm Mill offers optional lunch or refreshments at the end of the walk.
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Booking is required. Contact the walk leader Ruth Adams for details.
Research Group Update
A review of the year and looking forward:
The research group has been busy this year learning about research and completing, continuing and planning for projects.
- Our evaluation report for Moving Memory Dance Company’s Groovin’ Well workshops was finalised in January and was integrated into a funding bid by their artistic Director, Sian Stevenson.
- Our Memorandum of Understanding with Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) was signed off in March by Robin Terry and Rama Thirunamachandran, Vice Chancellor. Collaboration allows access to lunchtime research seminars, professorial lectures etc. and research collaboration opportunities.
- Our survey of reasons for non-renewal of u3a membership was presented to the committee in May, and we have been invited to repeat this survey next year.
- We assisted Dr Zara Bergstrom and her post-grad student at University of Kent (UoK) with data coding for a project on memory and await feedback.
- We are meeting with Professor Angela Pickard at CCCU, with a view to assisting with a proposed dance-related project.
- Concurrently, we are working on mapping u3a dance provision nationally, and planning to progress to an evaluative component.
- Also, we assisted in recruitment to target for a UoK study; we had a presence at the Open Day in May, agreed a policy for dealing with outside requests for research participants and undertook training for editing our web page.
We would welcome new members to join and learn with us. We meet monthly, and further details, including links to reports, are via our group’s web page and the monthly Bulletin.
Joint co-ordinators: Ann Skingley and Jo Walker
Canterbury Festival’s Beautiful Noise Day
Many Community music groups and choirs were involved in making this a special day full of harmony, interesting sounds and varied styles of music. Our u3a has been privileged to be invited to participate and we thank all those, members, friends and loved ones who supported us. We hope you enjoyed the day.
Our u3a Singers making a Beautiful Noise!
Festive Fun & Games!
Our U3A has had a generous gift of a number of board games (many of each type). They include:
- Go
- Othello (also known as Reversi)
- Mastermind
- Dominos
- Cards
- A few others...
Playing instructions are either included or available on the web.
If anyone would like to start a group or course to use these games, please contact Jonathan Butchers
It would be a pity not to use them!
And now for some festive fun, for which we thank Chris Anspack.
- A little fellow stole a precious jewel from the Louvre (3 )
- I get angry following brutal honesty but smell OK ( 12 )
- Sounds like someone’s nicked this cake ( 7 )
- She sang about Santa Baby (6,4 )
- The start of it all (3, 5, 4)
- I heard this plonk got stuck somewhere ( 8)
- It seems that part of roast turkey initially is drunk (4)
- Wills epiphany moment (7,5)
- Coming down the chimney, his first glance is a stocking and nice tree arranged in the lounge (5)
- This guy sang about an unusual colour for Christmas (5, 7)
The Bulletin Team would like to wish all our members a peaceful festive season and a good start to 2026.
Holly image designed by rawpixel.com / Freepik
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 January is Saturday 27th December