THE average age of a member of Bendigo\u2019s University of the Third Age is seventy-three, but that doesn\u2019t affect their shared passion for ongoing education.<\/p>\n
The local U3A group was established in 1990 soon after the organisation made its way to Australia and is part of a state network of 104 branches with some 35,000 members.<\/p>\n
Local branch president Ian Burdett said the group exists to encourage older people to pursue their passions or develop new interests with likeminded people at an age when social isolation can often take hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout your working life, you\u2019ve been doing whatever your job was and for a lot of people, they haven\u2019t had the opportunity to, particularly in our age group, study when they were younger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the whole idea of U3A, to encourage older people to continue learning or to start something they\u2019ve always wanted to learn about.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really the impetus for the start of U3A but we here in Bendigo, like many U3As, have branched out now.\u201d<\/p>\n
As well as their educational classes, which include languages, literature and history, the group also offers a range of social activities like board games, table tennis, and walking groups.<\/p>\n
All up, there\u2019s more than 80 activities for members to choose from, with 14 of them already booked out after a recent enrolment day attracted about 430 members.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re well ahead of where we were at the same time last year, so we would expect probably by the middle of the year we\u2019ll be well past 500,\u2019 Mr Burdett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should probably get to 600 by the end of the year. If we hadn\u2019t had COVID, we were looking at probably reaching 1000 this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making a gradual but strong return to classes since they were suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic, Mr Burdett said members were keen to restart their studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest focus for us now is to get people back together; the social aspects of it, the ongoing learning aspect, recreation and having fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing is people come and they live, love and enjoy our activities.\u201d<\/p>\n