Judith Amy of the Western Suburbs Branch of U3A (University of the Third Age) came along to inform us all about that organisation, and it was a real eye opener! Life consists of three ages – childhood; working life; and retirement (otherwise known as ‘me time’!), and U3A is designed to facilitate older people learning from each other. The word University in the title refers to the learning, but there are no assignments or degrees! Teachers are learners and learners are teachers. U3A was started in France in 1973 by Prof. Pierre Vellas, and the Australian version commenced in 1984. The WA aspect was set up by Dr Maureen Smith, and WA now has 10 autonomous Branches with around 1200 Members. The motto is “Learn, Laugh, Live”, and the management is done by a Council which consists of delegates from each Branch. The objective is to provide people with the ability to remain mentally, physically and socially active, and they do this by arranging talks, presentations, book clubs, creative writing, and excursions to name but a few. There is also a U3A Choir which started in 2012, and the Branches get together for an Annual Seminar on a Saturday in July. This year the Seminar is titled “The Arts Perspective WA”. Each year U3A puts on three Free City Lectures at the Library Auditorium, and these feature speakers of high calibre such as Dr Anne Ali, the federal Member for Cowan. U3A is the fastest growing adult education group in Australia, and is part of the international Alliance that fosters communication between networks. The Western Suburbs Branch meets weekly at The Grove Library on Monday afternoons, and usually has 2 speakers – one a member and the other an outsider.
