Retired? Living in or around Durban? Planning a holiday to our friendly city? Never heard of U3A? Then read on for insight into an organisation with groups throughout the world
U3A is the abreviation for University of the Third Age. Non-academics, be not alarmed! It is not a university in the usual sense of the word, but an international association of like-minded people (retired and semi-retired ) who wish to keep active in mind and body, learn from each other and share their knowledge and experience with fellow members, enriching their lives and having fun!
The organisation provides the opportunity for members to become involved in a wide variety of courses, outings, debates, tours and social gatherings, at very little cost.
Each branch has its own constitution and modus operandi. The Durban branch has a once-off enrolment fee of R30. New members are issued with a name badge and a copy of the course list. The annual subscription is R50 per person. This entitles members to free access to the group activities, as well as the opportunity to initiate group of their own choosing. Group activities are for members only and the name badge serves as a free pass to groups and general meetings.
U3A Durban members are currently enjoying more than 30 different activities, most of which take place once a week in the homes of individual members. For details of the various groups, their facilitators and venues click
Some activities require a lot of floor space as in the case of Yoga, Bridge for Fun and Minds Alive groups. To accommodate those taking part, the group facilitator may need to hire a venue, in which case each participant is asked to contribute R2.00 per session.
Besides the group activities we also take part in various outings from day trips to weekend and even longer tours including game parks and the Battlefields of KwaZulu Natal. Proposed outings are announced at the general meetings and advertised in our bi-monthy newsletter - free to members via the post or e-mail. Internet users may access the newsletters by clicking on Third Age Ramblings. For the most recent information see Notice Board
The General Meetings are held five times a year on the first Wednesday of every second month. The meetings are advertised in our newsletter and the local papers. To date, these gatherings have proved very popular with both members and visitors, the attraction for visitors being our interesting guest speakers. For information on forthcoming and recent speakers refer to the AGENDA under our Notice Board the top slot of the sidebar. For past and recent talks refer to our newsletters under Third Age Ramblings. Attendance for members is free. Visitors are asked to contribute R10.
Each year, instead of a general meeting in December, those of us who have not disappeared to Cape Town or flown to far off shores for family reunions, get together for our annual picnic.
Last year the picnic was held on the 3rd December at the Mitchell Park bandstand for the second year running. Visitors are most welcome, (as is the case for general meetings and the AGM.) For the picnics, we always bring our own food - to share or not to share - and we usually have music and plenty of cameraderie. See pics on left - taken at the 2008 gathering) The 2009 event was transformed into a bone fide Bring and Share - see newsletter no 43 under Third Age Ramblings, listed in the side Bar.
The U3A concept originated in Toulouse, France, in 1972, in association with the local University, and was called “l’Universite du Troisieme Age”. In France the association with universities has been maintained.
U3As are to be found world-wide and each branch operates quite independently. To quote our founding chairman, the late Dr Basil Edge :
"The French obviously age more slowly than the British, for their Third Age corresponds to Shakespeare’s sixth, the age of retirement. Do not imagine, therefore, that you will be associating with the lover, sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad made to his mistress’ eyebrow.
No such luck! But you will find wonderful companionship, stimulation and entertainment and an opportunity to share your own particular enthusiasms with others similarly inclined."
The Durban group was founded in October 2001. We have had several successful tours including tours to the battlefields of KwaZulu-Natal. For interesting reports and photographs go to Tours and Outings. We are working on a new site which will include at least two more accounts of these tours. The published tours to-date took place in April last year, this was covered in Newsletter 34. The tour of June 2009, which included historical sites and forest reserves in Zululand was featured in Newsletter 40.
For a more comprehensive history of U3A Durban Group see Marie Millar's refreshing and informative update.
The activities of the branch are managed by a committee, which is elected each year at the Annual General Meeting. For details of committee members see Subpages below.
The above link will take you away from the Durban U3A Branch's pages, which are Google sites and will open on the U3A South Africa Home page. Once the site is open click on the GROUPS button to view the list of all S.A. branches. The Worldwide link is opened via the Harrow Branch in the UK.
See also U3A World Wide - the bottom slot of our sidebar on the left of this page.
U3A Durban thanks Colleen Dardagan of The Mercury for her excellent article "Never too old to Learn" which was published in The Mercury on Wednesday February 8. As a result of this exposure we have received an influx of calls from Durbanites wishing to join. Apologies to those who found a blank page when opening the Application for Membership Enrolment Form. The form is now available for downloading. Click on the relevant subpage above which is underlined in green type.