Spectacular textile art at Southwark Cathedral: ‘Threads through Creation’ is an astonishing textile art exhibition showing at Southwark Cathedral from Saturday 20th July to Monday 26th August. This will be a real treat for anyone interested in the applied arts, textile art and sewing. The show is touring twenty cathedrals and this is the only chance to see it in London. It consists of twelve beautiful, huge — nearly 3m high — silk panels re-imagining the story of creation from the bible. It’s one of the largest textile art projects by a single artist, ever, and took artist Jacqui Parkinson three years — and eight million stitches!

Summer Walks, led by Bob Gilbert: his June and July walks have now finished. He is not doing any in August. He may resume in September — at present we don't know.

IT Training: We are running again, in conjunction with AbilityNet, another training programme on a variety of IT topics. The pace of each 2 hour session will be set to ensure all attending having one to one support and put into practice the subject being addressed. In other words, don’t worry about your current IT competency level, you're guaranteed to learn something. There is one session on each day in the afternoon 1.00-3.00pm. The dates are (all Fridays):

• 13 September
• 20 September
• 27 September
• 4 October

The detailed subject programme isn’t available yet, but if you want to register your general interest please complete the form here: 24 Aug IT Programme Sign Up. Details will then be mailed to you once available.

Table Tennis Turnout: Following this popular event last year we are repeating it. This year it will be on 16 September, 10.30am to 12.30pm and again it will be held at Bounce, Old St. If you as an individual member or as a representative of your ‘team’ are interested please complete the following form here: TTT Sign Up.

London Region of u3a's Monthly Online Talks programme: this commences for another season and as usual, the talks will be delivered via Zoom on the first Monday of each month 5.30pm-6.30pm.

• Monday 7th October: The New Scramble for Africa
• Monday 4th November: Secrets of the Human Brain
• Monday 2nd December: Women Traveling Alone

Click here to access the Events page of our website for the Autumn Programme with further details and links to booking forms. Please register early as bookings will close 48 hour prior to each talk. For assistance please email talks.lru3a@gmail.com

u3a National Discount Scheme: there is now a discount scheme available for all members called 'u3a Friends Extra'. This offers an extensive range of discount schemes. For a video with more information click here: How to Use Friends Extra or to sign up via Friends see here: Join Friends

u3a National Online Learning Programme: see details of their current talks here. You can always find out more information on their programme here.

u3a Workshops Programme for 2024: see the update Quarter 1 programme for national support workshops on the national website here: Workshop Programme

LRU3A Autumn Events: the London Region Events Team are offering an exciting programme of guided walks and events. Full details of the programme and how to book are yet to be published but you can see the outline and dates on  LRU3A Events page.
 

End of Life Planning: in 2019 we started a tie-up with Gentle Dusk regarding End of Life Planning. They hold 'End of Life Planning Cafes' for our members and provide guidance on how to create a Care Plan. You may find our guide useful to help explain some of the terms — read it here: End of Life Planning. Their next series of events are currently being planned and will be held in September/October.

Positive Ageing: see here for why u3a helps enable a positive view of growing old: Video

Bereavement Support: if you have recently suffered a bereavement you may wish to considering using the Islington Bereavement Community service. You can see some information about the service here or through their website: St. Joseph's Hospice (stjh.org.uk). Or, if you want to help them and consider volunteering for them, find their contact details in the linked document above.

London Age-Friendly Forum (LAFF): The latest report on this London Mayor initiative here.

The Third Age Trust is the national U3A organisation. It organises events, competitions and other activities for u3a members nationally. Some of these are in London, others across the country. Some get booked up quickly — to hear about events and when booking opens, you should join the Third Age Trust U3A events mailing list. To do so, you must register (it's very straightforward) with the Third Age Trust website. You can see all their news topics here.

Fit for the Future: many volunteers have been working on an initiative to shape the future for the u3a Movement. This has looked at the national governance structure and the communication channels between local u3as, their regional networks and the national Board. A new 'Council' is being proposed with representation from all regions. If you are interested you can see further information on the national website or here: FFTF Roll Out.   

Communications: Third Age Trust are moving towards more electronic communication. There is now a free 'Friends' e-newsletter and any member can register for this here. As requested by u3as, the Trust is trying to raise the profile of the u3a Movement and to publicise the benefits of u3as to raise the membership to 500,000 by the end of 2028. Information on this and much more will be published in the Friends Newsletter.

u3a Matters: Have you considered taking the national magazine, 'Third Age Matters'? It's very good value at just £3.80 for five issues per year. You can select the membership class which includes provision of the magazine when you renew your membership. Or if you missed that option but want to add it now, please contact Joy at iu3amembers@outlook.com. There is also an abbreviated digital version available through the national website: https://www.u3a.org.uk/news/publications

Interest Groups Online: There is a wide range of online interest groups (nearly 80 currently) with more than 5700 members from all over the UK. Annual membership is just £12.00. You can find out more information and join through this link: Interest Groups Online.

National Benefits: iU3A pays £4.00 to the national organisation per member. If you ever wonder what benefits we, and you, gain from being part of this (the 17th largest national organisation in the UK) then this might explain it: Where Does My £4 go? 

Other Events: to find out what is on across the London Region click here.

Research Projects

Researchers reading this and wishing to submit any requests for support should be aware of the u3a's guidelines on this topic. These can be read here: Research Application Guidelines.