Patience Champion, Hackney U3A writes....
1. Hackney U3A is in north London just a few miles from Central London. Hackney is a very diverse and exciting place to live and there is lots going on. Many artists live and work in Hackney. Many local older people are quite poor so we use free premises and keep our costs down.

2.Hackney U3A has around 90 members. We officially became a U3A only in autumn 2006.

3. Activities - We have 13 Interest Groups: Walking, Current Affairs Discussion, Book Group, Exploring Free London, Introduction to Anthropology, Local history, Sketching in Museums etc, capture London by Sketchbook, Drama, Creative writing, Opera Appreciation, Gay Rights, Patchwork, Music Appreciation. We took a group of 20 to the Royal Opera House for just £6 each thanks to the Education Department. We hold a monthly meeting and are planning a Summer School on 21 August 2007 to offer drumming, singing and dancing to members and potential members. We have a grant to do this. New groups are springing up regularly.

4. What I like best about my U3A - I enjoy meeting people and love the range of groups offered. Opera Appreciation is my current favourite.

5. My personal message is that U3A is a wonderful idea and we must find ways to publicise it in all our communities.

From Anne Kirby, Warwick District U3A...

WARWICK DISTRICT U3A covers the towns of Warwick, Kenilworth and Leamington Spa in the centre of England. The first two are mediaeval towns with castles and lots of tourists; Leamington Spa developed in the 19th century when the rich sought medical cures by bathing in or drinking the natural waters. (tastes 'orrible).

WDU3A was formed 14 years ago and has 713 members.

We have 62 groups which meet weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Subjects range from crafts, music, art, history, philosophy, poetry, gardening, current events, world contrasts and languages to physical activities: dancing, sports, rambling, etc. There's something for everyone. We also have outings, occasional celebrations and holidays

Involvement in U3A has enabled me to dip into subjects as a taster and delve deeper when I want to, without the pressure of a heavy financial commitment, exams and competition. For instance we have no "experts" in our Ancient History Group but we each research a topic and share our findings with the group. It's a thoughtful way to learn and we aren't marked out of 10.

Today I attended our Open Meeting with a speaker (2 a month). Looking around I realized what a lot of friendly people I have met over the last 8 years. We've struggled together over irregular verbs, helped each other over stiles, enjoyed visiting gardens and other places of interest and offered and received hospitality. Retirement is an exciting opportunity for a new life.

Colin Roberts - U3A Johannesburg

Our branch started about six years ago, and we presently have nearly 600 members. Last year we helped a new group to form in the Eastern part of our big commercial capital city. (Cape Town is the political capital - the ‘Mother City’.) The new Group is called Joburg East. We struggled to find a more evocative name for it, but we don’t have clearly defined natural boundaries on the Highveld. Our municipal namings are not anything to go by either. Joburg East is going great guns and succeeding in attracting new members from different parts of the sprawling metropolis. Football fans - get ready to come in 2010 – the World Cup is going to be very exciting.

I maintain the material on the common SA website for the U3A Groups in South Africa except for the ones around the Western Cape, which Peter Lawson does. All our sites can be accessed immediately from www.u3a.org.za - Johannesburg, Joburg East, Pretoria, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Plettenberg Bay, Knysna and George, in addition to the ones in the W Cape. Most of our U3As offer 25 to 50 courses at a time, held in private homes, libraries, church halls, etc. In addition we all hold General Meetings monthly, addressed by eminent guest speakers.

I’ve added a section to the SA Home Page listing national rebates, discounts and concessions available to Senior Citizens. It adds up to a lot more than our modest annual U3A membership. I can’t recall seeing anything like that on other sites. Did I miss it?

U3A gives me a chance to do good things for my fellow seniors, trusting that they too will realize that life goes on, so stay fit and think young, and take all the benefits you can from the varied affordable stimulation that U3A can provide.

Dr Sajjan Singh is founder of the Chinmaya U3A, Rewa, in Madhya Pradesh - the first U3A in all of India.

We run some general meetings here at the Chinmaya Ashram, but also run many camps in the rural districts. You could say we have about 100 regular members/attendees.

Our studies are Fitness, Sociology, Domestic Economics, Psychology, Spirituality, and we hope to add Computing/Communications to that list of subjects.

What makes me so happy with U3A? Well we had a Gynaecologist member who lost her husband and became so depressed and withdrawn that we were concerned that she would simply pass away from her grief. We persuaded her to come to one of our rural camps and after just 4 days she called me to say it had given her a new purpose in life and now she wanted to spend her days helping those who cannot afford family planning services. U3A has that effect. Yes - those who teach shall learn,and those who learn shall teach. Dr S Singh

We started our U3A in June 2006 and currently we have 30 members but with the push this year for more courses and tutors we are looking extremely good to increasing our membership for 2008. We are currently offering 20 courses e.g. Painting, Art in all its Mediums, Home Repairs, Hobbycraft, a Variety Group, Computing, English History, Home Budgeting, Play Reading, Public Speaking, Recorder, Musical Appreciation, Italian, Sculpting, Myer Briggs, Tai Chi, Korean Cooking, Public Speaking Listening and Communicating, and Choral Singing. We have many talks and workshops programmed; as interesting as Antarctica , Mt Everest, Precious Gemstones, Famous Australians and Health Issues.

What I like best about my U3A is the opportunity it gives me in being instrumental in offering friendship, encouragement and interests to our older citizens. It is certainly true: "Those who teach shall learn and those who learn shall teach".

Rick Swindell. Name and location - U3A Online has no physical location. Rather, it is a virtual U3A located on the Internet, open to any older person from anywhere in the world. Our main activity is providing intellectually challenging courses particularly for older people who are carers, ill, immobile or otherwise unable to travel to a U3A meeting. However other U3A members can also join. Our second major aim is to provide resources for Australian and New Zealand U3A leaders to help them to meet their members' needs.

Number of members
Difficult to say at any one time but more than 2100 have subscribed since the project started in 1998.

Range of activities
Our international page (www.u3aonline.org) has links to Worldu3a, the Third Age Trust, and to our own courses and resources site. As more large U3A-like organisations join the U3A cooperation movement we'll add links there to help spread the worthy idea of a U3A community without walls. Our volunteers have now written 18 courses, each of which represents about 8 weeks work. We work closely with TAT online courses colleagues and members of both organisations can take part in each others' courses.
The beauty of the Internet is that courses can be written and led by any qualified person no matter where they live. If you'd like to try your hand at writing a course let us know and our volunteer editors will show you the ropes.

What I like best about my U3A
Comments on our website, such as....
"Nowadays, living alone and physically limited, I was being stupefied by knitting, crochet, patchwork, computer puzzles and occasional bus trips. There is a limit."
show that the online U3A community is making a big difference to the lives of isolated older people. In particular, frail people with sound minds are clearly finding extra meaning in life through their online courses and enjoying virtual friendships with people they'll never meet. I like the way that U3A people have a go at something new by offering to help other people to keep their minds alert.