Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings and Open Days
We meet at 2pm on the first Wednesday of each month (except August and December) in the Angel Centre, Tonbridge (map). We invite interesting speakers and always follow the talk with the chance to chat over a tea or coffee.
Once a year this meeting is dedicated to an Open Day where there is the opportunity to talk to many group leaders. Details of these meetings are given on the Events page.
We have had positive reports from most of those that joined the January monthly meeting over zoom. We will be making the February meeting available over zoom. The meeting id is published in the February Journal. These meetings are for members only. Please don’t circulate these details outside the u3a.
If you would like to be sent an e-mail with the link to these meetings each month or have any questions about this new service, please e-mail me at zoom@tonbridgeu3a.uk The zoom service is being provided for those members that cannot join us in the Medway Hall for whatever reason.
Do come to the meeting if you are able; you would then hear the speaker live and enjoy meeting other members after the talk over a tea or coffee.
IT Coordinator David Bell itcoordinator@tonbridgeu3a.uk
PROGRAMME FOR MONTHLY MEETING SPEAKERS 2024
Meetings open to all members; First Wednesday of the month 2:00pm to 4.00pm
at The Angel Centre, Tonbridge
WEDNESDAY 5 FEBRUARY 2025
Artificial Intelligence - Alan Freehand
Alan Freeland, u3a member from Farnham, will be giving a general talk on the benefits and the perceived fears of AI. Alan recently spoke to Sevenoaks u3a and was very well received. In the light of his talk, it may be possible to arrange a study day on possible ways our members may use AI. There may also be room for further explorations of the fears induced by the media and others.
WEDNESDAY 5 MARCH 2025
A Beginning, A Middle and an End - Bobby Darbyshire
Our Speaker will be Bobbie Darbyshire who has spoken to many u3a branches. She will be giving a light-hearted informative talk entitled “Where Do Novelists Get Their Ideas From?”. From initial spark to realisation on the page, she will explain how the complex world of character, location, plot and subplot arrives in a writer’s mind. Bobbie won the 2008 fiction prize at the National Academy of Writing and the New Delta Review Creative Non-fiction Prize 2010. Her latest novel is ‘The Posthumous Adventures of Harry Whittaker’ and her earlier ones are ‘OZ’, ‘Love, Revenge & Buttered Scones’ and ‘Truth Games’. She has worked as barmaid, mushroom picker, film extra, maths coach, cabinet minister’s private secretary, care assistant and volunteer adult-literacy teacher, as well as in social research and government policy.
WEDNESDAY 2 APRIL 2025
Sue Ryder - A life of Service - Joanna Bogle
WEDNESDAY 7 MAY 2025
Tom Crean - Unsung hero of Antartica - Michael Smith