We recently held a special Silver Anniversary party, as we were celebrating 25 years since our foundation. About 60 members came, including 4 of our original members.
Full details are here.
Monthly meetings
We have a regular program of monthly meetings with different speakers. The meetings are also an opportunity to meet with other members or to find out more about our u3a.
A list of speakers and topics for our forthcoming meetings is here.
Following the talk by Marie-Claire Barker from the RNIB about sight loss a visit was arranged to the guide dog training centre at Leamington Spa.
A number of our members enjoyed an interesting afternoon, finding out about the work done there to train dogs to help people with sight loss.
You can read more about this visit here.
Theatre and Ballet visits
We arrange frequent outings to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre where we are fortunate to obtain excellent seats at favourable group rates. In recent months we have seen The Merchant of Venice 1936, Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Othello among others - a varied and stimulating collection. In May 2026 we had seats for The Tempest, although we didn't see the King!
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We also keep our ballet aficionados happy with trips to Birmingham to see ballets such as The Nutcracker, Don Quixote and Swan Lake.
24 members and friends of Stratford-upon-Avon u3a attended a matinee of "Swan Lake" at the magnificent Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre on Thursday 24th September. We we whisked there in style and comfort by Johnsons Coaches and, once there, enjoyed a marvellous afternoon of glorious music and lovely dancing.
Prince Siegfried was danced with emotion and grace by Yasiel Hodelin, but of particular note was the interpretation of the complex role of Odette/Odile by Yu Kurihara. This young ballerina (aged only 24) is a graduate of the Royal Ballet School and already has a number of significant roles to her name. Odette/Odile is the famous white swan/black swan pairing and Ms Kurihara brought a range of emotions and beautiful technique to the parts that many of us had not seen before. Altogether a splendid afternoon.
The Royal Ballet Sinfonia under conductor Paul Blake ensured our ears had a wonderful treat as well.
Regional and national events
Other events include meetings, courses, conferences and workshops arranged by the Third Age Trust nationally and regionally. These include the popular u3a Summer Schools, short holiday courses open to all members. All events of likely interest to members are publicised in our regular newsletter and on this website.