Invitation: People’s Emergency Briefing screening - 24 May and 18 June
There are now further screenings of the People’s Emergency Briefing film on the risks to British life and the UK economy from ongoing damage to nature and to our climate. This follows on from the success of the first screening on 14 May. The next is in the Hub at Sideshore on May 24th, and free tickets here - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peoples-emergency-briefing-film-discussion-tickets-1988307614599 . It's also being shown again on Thursday, June 18 at Scott Cinema in Exmouth.
The film features footage from last November’s National Emergency Briefing, which brought together leading UK experts in climate science, food security, health, economics, national security and nature. It presents a clear, measured overview of how the climate and nature crisis is affecting everyday life in Britain, and what the evidence says about risks and responses. The initiative is explicitly non-partisan and is supported by a wide range of organisations including National Trust, Church of England, Exeter University, the Royal Meteorological Society, WWF, National Education Union, and many more.
Hospitality day at Newton Abbot races - 27 May
Newton Abbot Races have finalised their fixture list for this year. Their charge for the hospitality package has gone up to £95pp ... but Dee Mcvey, Chair of Oakhampton u3a, has negotiated a reduction for u3a members to £40pp on Wednesday 27th May. Our package includes admission to the Paddock enclosure, use of the Lindhay Suite for the day, a small finger buffet and cream tea in the afternoon. Tea and coffee will be available all day in our Suite. Due to some members no longer able to go there are a few places left. If you'd like to come please contact Dee on 01837 658590 or by email at chair@okehampton-u3a.org.uk.
Research study on concern about falling in older adults
We have received information about a research study the University of Leicester is conducting on concern about falling in older adults. The study aims to understand whether witnessing or hearing about other people falling (e.g., friends, family members, or others) influences individuals’ own concerns about falling. Dr Matt Hill says:
"Participation is entirely voluntary, anonymous, and confidential. Members can access the survey online at their convenience, and there are no right or wrong answers – we are interested in participants’ experiences and perspectives. If you are willing to assist, we can provide you with the study information sheet. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the study. Thank you very much for considering this request. Your support would be invaluable in helping us understand concerns about falling and informing future falls prevention strategies - https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/leicester/how-seeing-or-hearing-others-falling-affects-older-adults-worri
Dr. Matt Hill
School of Psychology and Vision Sciences (SoPVS)
University of Leicester
Email: mwh20@le.ac.uk
Cyber Crime Article
We have been sent from the u3a South West Region network an article copied from a leaflet distributed by an area’s Cyber Protect Officer which provides some very helpful information about cyber crime. To see this, click or tap on this link - Cyber crime article
The role of the National Council
We have been sent from the u3a South West Region network a paper on the role of the Council of the Third Age Trust (the national u3a). You can read this by clicking or tapping here: The role of the national council
A follow-up to the Monthly Meetings on Brain Health held in October 2024 and June 2025
At our October 2024 and June 2025 monthly meetings Jonathan Hanbury from the Ness Care Group gave us some really interesting presentations about brain health and dementia. You can see a recording of his talk on our u3a YouTube channel by clickng or tapping on this link - Jonathan Hanbury presentation (or on the image below). In addition he has now very kindly produced a 2-page information sheet for us, and you can read this and/or download it by clicking or tapping on this link: Top Tips to Stay Mentally Agile
If this is something that interests you and you want to know more, Professor Sir Muir Gray has given a presentation on a similar topic as part of the national u3a's Future Lives initiative, and a video recording is available for anyone to see. The current topic on our own u3a's Connect & Learn website (at https://sites.google.com/view/connectandlearn) is 'Live Well Longer' where there are a number of useful resources, including Muir Gray's presentation. Here's an extract from our u3a Connect & Learn website which gives the links:
- Sir Muir Gray's presentation on 'Reduce Your risk of Dementia' offering from the national u3a's Future Lives initiative. This is something that does or could affect us, our family and our friends and so is well worth a watch. You can see this by tapping or clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-L5dMklbGk&ab_channel=u3a
- Slides from a presentation from Patrick Holford, Founder of the Food for the Brain Foundation on 'Upgrade Your Brain' have been posted on the national u3a's Future Lives webpage - see https://www.u3a.org.uk/our-impact/future-lives/future-lives-past-events and scroll on down to see this.
Exmouth & District u3a AGM - 2025
Last year's AGM was held at The Ocean on Thursday 8th May 2025 at 10:30 am. The agenda and other documents for the AGM were sent direct to members in April and all of the papers are also in the Documentation section on this website for members to see – members need to be logged in to see these. John Smith stepped down from his responsibilities as Groups Coordinator and Steve Gibbs is taking over. All of the other officers and members of the committee were re-elected, with Pippa Gibbs also being elected as a member of the committee. Details of our current committee are in the About Exmouth u3a section. It was also agreed that the annual membership fee would increase from £12 to £14 next year.
Devon Communities Together: 2024-25 Impact Report - Connecting Communities and Creating Change
Devon Communities Together is an independent charity that connects communities and creates change across Devon. They are a rural community development organisation, supporting rural and coastal communities and working with communities and its partners to reduce rural and health inequalities on a place-based level. If you would like to read this report, you can see it by clicking or tapping on this link - https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/case-studies
Previous Monthly Meetings
Our monthly meeting on Thursday 13 February 2025 in The Ocean which was a celebration of our u3a Groups. There was table-top information & displays of work from a selected range of our splendid activity groups, plus live music, singing & latin line dancing. More details are at Celebration of our Groups. We have created 25 short videos of various performances and you can see them on our Youtube channel via this link - https://www.youtube.com/@exmouthu3a/videos. They include a short highlights video which you can see by clicking or tapping on the image below. We have also selected 55 photos taken at this event which you can now see on our Event Photos webpage.
Our monthly meeting in January 2025 was a talk from Jane Birdsall on ‘A La Ronde’, our local National Trust property. This talk covered the recent renovations to the house and garden and the representation of it. If you would like to learn more about A La Ronde, you may wish to take a look at its website - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/a-la-ronde and especially https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/a-la-ronde/exhibition. The good news is that Jane allowed us to record her talk and you can now see this on our u3a YouTube channel. Just click or tap on this link to view it - A La Ronde presentation
A Dozen Words for Sixpence
u3a member and local author Leonora Wilson has recently published a novel called A Dozen Words for Sixpence. Her story is based on an event in her grandparent's lives in South Wales, when in 1923, in the great depression, her grandfather tried (unsuccessfully) to find work in London - and decided to emigrate to Canada without telling her family. Further details are at https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/24634988.exmouths-leonora-wilson-new-book-dozen-words-sixpence/ and on the Amazon website - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dozen-Words-Sixpence-historical-separation/dp/1068762209
Pickleball webpage
A welcome addition to our website from Nigel Day is the Pickleball webpage. This gives an introduction to the game and an outline of the basic rules and regulation, together with a number of useful links to further information. It also provides direct links to all of our u3a's pickleball groups and the latest local u3a pickleball news. You can see this by clicking or tapping on Pickleball information in the Groups list or on this link.
Video - Guided tour of our new website
The minutes of the u3a committee meetings held up until January 2026 have been published, together with the Members' Code of Conduct, the Accessibility policy, the Equality & Diversity policy and the IT policy. They are in the Documentation section on this website for members to see, and members need to be logged in to read these.
April blossom on one of our u3a 10th Anniversary trees
To see the wonderful photos of these trees taken by Christine Chittock, please click or tap here - April blossom
Photos and photographers wanted
We are continually looking for suitable photos for this website. We can always utilise photos of venues that we commonly use and groups undertaking their usual activities. What we could really do with though are general photos of older people talking, socialising and generally enjoying themselves. When you peruse this website, what kind of images would you expect or want to see? Please get in touch via the Website link in the Contact Us section.
Latest news from the u3a nationally (The Third Age Trust)
You can read the latest news from the u3a nationally at The Third Age Trust's news page. The latest edition of its podcast is available at National u3a radio podcast. In addition you can sign up for the u3a National Newsletter for Friends of u3a at Sign-up for u3a national newsletter
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Room Hire – Ness Hub, Exmouth
The Ness Hub, 89 Withycombe Village Road, has conference and meetings rooms available to hire. For further details, click or tap on this link to its poster – Room Hire – Ness Hub, Exmouth