Totton University of the 3rd Age (U3A)

Totton 'University of the Third Age' group (U3A) was formed in 2005.  It was set up with the help and support of Totton College when Sheila Webb, who was then the Adult & Part time Course Co-ordinator, organised an interest meeting at Hanger Farm Arts Centre attended by about 50 people.

The group for the over-50s retired community now has over 130 members. Separate interest groups currently meet for members to pursue a variety of interests: Walking, Theatre, Bird Watching, Lunch Club, Genealogy, French, Italian, Book Appreciation, Tai Chi, History, Craft, Singing, Art, Philosophy and Computing/IT.

This summer, Totton U3A is again celebrating a successful Lottery bid, supported by Mark Bramwell.  The group has been successful in winning a £3250 'Awards for All' grant to purchase a number of laptop computers for members to borrow.

The group also wanted to arrange some IT tuition for support.  As a result, Bill Edmunds, local secretary of U3A, contacted the Computing and ICT department.  Together we decided to use some of the funds for the hire of a computer room, and for some of our able students to provide support in a series of workshop sessions on Wednesday afternoons at the college. The links between younger and older members of the community is very much in keeping with the philosophy of U3A.

A series of 10 sessions has been offered, from 2-4pm each week, for up to 12 U3A members to attend.  They are being supported by Emma Varty and Phil Batten – two second year A level Computing students.  Emma and Phil are taking responsibility for the planning and preparation of the sessions, and responding to the needs and requests for help of the U3A members.

Topics covered include the use of email, searching the internet, purchasing on-line, using a digital camera, wordprocessing and desktop publishing.
Emma is planning to go on to University and into secondary teaching, so this is a good opportunity for her to start to develop her classroom management skills. Phil is expecting to study software engineering at university, and also appreciates the chance to help older people develop their IT skills.

A second course is planned to start in January 2009, when 12 new members of U3A will be attending the college on Wednesday afternoons.