This Conference was held at
The occasion was, as you would expect from our hard-working Chairman and Committee, a very well organised event – from the warm welcome one received on entering the building where one was handed a programme together with a plan of the rooms where the Workshops were to be held, to easily finding one’s name tag laid out alphabetically on the table inside the main hall where coffee was being served.
After
welcoming speeches from the Chairman of the Thames Valley Network and our Chairman,
the Keynote speech was delivered by Dr Alex McMinn, a member of the U3A National
Executive Committee and Chairman of that Committee’s Research Council.
Dr McMinn’s topic was the need to keep one’s body and mind
active after retirement and he expanded on the theme underlining the well-being
that is derived from the many U3A topics. What
a pleasure it was to have a speaker who needed no notes, whose talk flowed so
fluently and was interspersed with humour. I
think we were all overwhelmed by the extent of the activities of his own U3A
(
The delegates then broke into eight Workshops, having chosen their own personal subject on enrolling. At 12.30 we returned to the Main Hall where a most excellent buffet lunch had been laid by Patsy’s helpers, and, judging from the lively chatter at lunch, everyone had enjoyed a stimulating Workshop. My own group which discussed ‘U3A – Education and/or leisure’ proved interesting, was based around the on-going debate as to whether ‘university’ should be retained in our title and ending with an almost unanimous agreement that it should, bearing in mind that if someone wanted an accredited degree there are opportunities for that (e.g. the Open University) and a feeling that the word university gives the organisation a certain standing – we are not another Day Centre!
The afternoon session opened with another address, this time by the current Chairman of the Third Age Trust, Ian Searle, who had given his talk the title of ”The Future of the U3A”. It was obvious from the numbers he quoted that U3A is here to stay and will continue to expand; he did, however, point out that many think the organisation is too much a club of white, middle-income members and he expressed the opinion that we should perhaps strive for more diversity although it was pointed out from the floor during question time that there is no bar to membership by way of race, class or religion.
The next item on the programme was a presentation by one member from each of the Workshops on their discussions and conclusions and the proceedings closed with thanks to Wokingham U3A and a handover to Swindon U3A who will host the Conference in 2011.
Although I have heard much of what was
said many times and although I am a great believer in the value of U3A both for
mental stimulation and physical health, the day’s speakers gave a renewed
underlining to what can be achieved. I
had a most enjoyable day – it is great to meet up with members from other U3As
in the
Joyce Bird
.