Please see the Archive section on the menu bar where you can find Nomination Forms for people to become Committee members for 2020/21. This is being announced well in advance as the AGM will have to take place online with the help of ZOOM as the Richard Mayo Centre is not available for large group bookings until 2021. Further details will appear in both the  Autumn Newsletter and the News Bulletins to keep you up to date with the necessary procedures.

Membership Renewal forms for 2020/20121 will be available via the Membership tab on the Menu Bar for you to download as required.  The new membership year will start on October 1st 2020.

Many Groups are trying to keep in contact during the pandemic using Zoom or other video conferencing applications (best BBC neutrality here) email, Skype or the outdoors as the weather allows e.g.the Art Groups maybe  “en plein air”.  Cycling and walking are being re introduced in the smaller groups now allowed as lockdown gradually relaxes.  Please keep checking with Group Leaders to see the new developments for your groups.

PLEASE NOTE: This website has been left intact as far as possible, in order to display what happens in KINGSTON U3A  when we are NOT in the middle of a pandemic.  Anything found in these pages must be understood in this context.  Thank you.

These paintings have been produced by Art Group 5 who meet on Fridays at the Cass Art Shop in normal circumstances.  Rather than let Lockdown hold them back they have been holding their usual teaching sessions via Zoom and keeping each other updated by sharing their work.   Please click on Read More to see examples of their work.

These are two of the more recent topics undertaken by Women in History, the talks and discussions which followed were all done using Zoom sharing illustrations and powerpoints as required. The first  Women In Wine was a presentation by Pascal Strudwick  (a visitor to our group but relevantly  is leader of  the Wine  & Food Appreciation Group) about 6 women who were pivotal in the development of Champagne.  The women mostly widows often from quite a young age took over small firms and made them into some of the most famous names in the champagne industry.

Presentation1   Women and Champagne

The second topic shared over 3 fortnightly meetings as we are a group of 15,  was on interesting women who were born near you and ranged from the internationally famous to a very local relevance some examples are

Margaret Rutherford a Wimbledon girl and film star

Agnes (Aggy)Weston Founder of Sailor’s Rests helping serving sailors,marines and their families  first woman to be given a full ceremonial Royal Navy burial

Edith Smith first woman Police Woman with full powers of arrest granted in recognition of her service during the First World War in Grantham  (I come from Lincolnshire and could of course not think of any other famous women who came from Grantham)

Dorothy Day American journalist , social activist and anarchist who became a Catholic Christian a  Chicago local and now part of the slow process of being canonised.

Ladies for the Abolition of Slavery in Brazil who led the movement in NW Brazil and succeeded in having their state become the first to totally abolish slavery.

Dorothy Day

Agnes Weston

Margaret Rutherford

Some of us who had learn’t to play Bridge via U3A classes  and then went on to form our own groupings when we thrown out of the nest as it were have been keeping up with our bridge by playing online using Bridge Base Online and then adding Zoom or a Whatsapp dimension to help keep bridge a social as well as a playing occasion!