U3A celebrates 15 years

Alida de Beer

The George-Wilderness University of the Third Age (U3A) had a thoroughly enjoyable morning on Wednesday 25 April when they celebrated their 15th birthday at their usual gathering place, the Emmaüs hall.

Three previous chairmen took the meeting on a trip down memory lane with highlights of the interesting lectures and activities that were featured right from the founding of the branch in March 2003. Founding Chairman Karen Marshall shared copies of some of the posters that they used to publicise the talks in the initial stages. These brought back fond memories, also for Tony Tilburg, Jeannine Blomme and Lilli Paterson, who were members from the very beginning.

Current chairman Mike Holland was excited about the recent growth in members. About 50 people joined the branch during the past couple of months.

The U3A is aimed at providing opportunities to retired people to keep on learning through interesting lectures and courses on a large variety of topics. Language courses, a photography club, "armchair travel", creative writing, international affairs discussions and many more are part of the offering on their programme. If there is enough interest, Xhosa classes could be added to the list soon.

For more information, phone the membership secretary, Ciska Tempest, on 044 871 4828.

Jeannine Blomme (left), French language teacher at the U3A, and Lilli Paterson have been members of the U3A since its founding in 2003.

Photos: Alida de Beer Founding chair of the George-Wilderness U3A, Karen Marshall, with current chairman, Mike Holland.