About Us
Bourne End and District u3a serves a wide area, not just Bourne End, Wooburn Green and Flackwell Heath, with
some members coming from High Wycombe and Cookham and further afield. We
had our inaugural meeting in March 2018 when more than 250 people signed up.
Over 40 interest groups were started shortly afterwards and there are
now some 50 operating, from improving languages to current affairs,
golf to bird watching, socialising to crafts and singing. We now have more than 450 members and we’re
still growing!
About the u3a
The University of the Third Age (the original meaning of u3a) started in France in 1972; ten years
later the first u3as were established in the UK. The number of groups
have risen steadily over the years, to currently over 1,000.
The term “university” is used in its non-academic original sense, a
group of people coming together to share their love of learning. Many members are retired, but in fact the only qualification to join the u3a is to be not in full-time work. With the u3a you can expand your knowledge and skills in a wide
variety of subjects, while at the some time having fun and making new
friends. Find out more about the u3a nationally and locally here.
Each u3a is self-financing. Our annual
fee is £16 in April 2022.
Our u3a holds a
monthly meeting for the whole membership, as well as pop-up chats and trips. Our monthly meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 2pm at the Community Centre in Bourne End.
The u3a depends upon the enthusiasm of its members getting together
to form interest groups on any topic. Each group needs a leader or convenor:
he or she does not need to be a subject-expert, the role is to organise
the group and liaise with the Committee. It is up to the members of the
group to promote the learning or other activities of the group.
Bourne End & District u3a is Registered Charity Number 1178428.