{"id":19506,"date":"2022-12-29T14:42:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T14:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/?page_id=19506"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:54:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T10:54:39","slug":"what-is-the-u3a","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/?page_id=19506","title":{"rendered":"What is the u3a?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QkkBF_aP9-s?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>u3a<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0formerly <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">University of the Third Age<\/span><\/strong> is a university in the original sense of the word:- \u201ca collective of people devoted to learning\u201d. The third age is a time of creativity and fulfilment for people who are retired or semi-retired. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DgICh7ZyQDE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">It was the French who first thought of <em>L\u2019Universit<\/em>\u00e9 <em>de Troisi<\/em>\u00e8<em>me<\/em> \u00c2<em>ge<\/em> in 1972 and it was an immediate success. They linked their organisation to actual universities. However, a group of people in Cambridge who began to develop the French idea, thought it too restricting to limit membership to those living near a university. It was for this reason that the idea of self-help groups was born and it is this model that is followed by all UK u3a\u2019s.<br>Since it&#8217;s inception the scope of the u3a has widened to include many leisure and social activities in addition to it&#8217;s education remit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BxLu33g7ycQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone in their third age can join a u3a &#8211; no qualifications are needed and no qualifications are gained. It is merely an approach to lifelong learning and provides an opportunity to do things you have never tried before. All you need is interest and enthusiasm and a desire to share your knowledge or expertise with other like-minded people. Each u3a is a democratic, self funded, self managed, non profit organisation that exists to provide education, leisure and social activities for people no longer in full time employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Wbe6XqnwhEo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>u3a\u00a0formerly University of the Third Age is a university in the original sense of the word:- \u201ca collective of people devoted to learning\u201d. The third age is a time of creativity and fulfilment for people who are retired or semi-retired. It was the French who first thought of L\u2019Universit\u00e9 de Troisi\u00e8me \u00c2ge in 1972 and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"parent":5,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19506","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P5Obhw-54C","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19506"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32222,"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19506\/revisions\/32222"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westwoldsu3a.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}