A Glance into the Class

Part 1: July 2026

Recently I had the pleasure of dropping into a few of our U3A Hepburn Shire classes in part to educate myself more widely about what was happening, and also to get to become more familiar with members, and vice versa.

It was a wonderful experience. I attended three group meetings: ‘After All…..’ ‘Everyone’s an Expert’ and ‘Friday Book Club’. They were lots of fun in different ways.

I was warmly welcomed to ‘After All….’ By Jan. As it happened, I did already know the other members as I had met them in the classes which I attend myself, Book Club and Writers Circle, but this was a rather different context. The course is described as ‘a philosophical look at our last years’. You might imagine therefore that the atmosphere in the room would be somewhat sad or even negative but it was not at all! In fact, it was rather the opposite. The conversation ran at a lively pace and we covered a whole range of ideas and thoughts, some based on our own experiences of the deaths of loved ones, and how that had helped us to frame our own thoughts about what we would like to experience when we exit this world. There was lots of laughter and smiles, in a very trusting space which encouraged us to speak up.

I had been intrigued by the idea of ‘Everyone’s an Expert’ led by Milla. What a brilliant way to have some fun with such a warm and friendly group of folk. The idea is that each person takes along 10 questions [with answers of course] and take turns around the circle asking their questions, and then going through the answers. I was actually rather nervous. What should I ask questions about? Do they all have to be on the same topic [they don’t], what if I make them to easy, or too hard? [just make it a mixture and it’ll be fine], what if I can’t get any of the other questions right [I got many many wrong, but did manage to score a few points, and that was perfectly ok….] In the end I had my 5 minutes of feeling rather clever asking questions about English Literature. They seemed to hit the mark ok. I came away from the class having had a really enjoyable time, scoring a few points, and learning a bit more on topics which I knew little to nothing about beforehand.

I already belong to one of our popular book groups but knew it would be interesting to go along to visit another, and Jenny, leader of the Friday Book Club was kind enough to agree that I could visit. The book of the month was “A Different Kind of Power” by Jacinda Ardern and I managed to get it on my Kindle and read it fairly quickly beforehand. I’m what you might call a fussy reader and have been known to be deterred after just a few chapters and then give up [life’s too short…]. Autobiographies are not my first choice, but I have to say this was a terrific read, a view which was largely shared by all at the session. Again, this was a lovely welcoming group of people, and discussion flowed naturally. I actually knew very little about Jacinda Ardern previously except that she was remarkably young for a Prime Minister but I definitely learned a lot, not only from having read the book but also from the sensitive and knowledgeable insights that the members freely shared.

Many thanks to the tutors and members who welcomed me so warmly to their groups. The experience was a great reminder of what U3A is all about, having fun and learning with like-minded people [and there was cake too! ]; what’s not to like?!

Margaret Renshaw

President U3A Hepburn Shire