E & E News - December 2025

On Friday 17th October “Singing for Pleasure “had a fun morning singing a variety of songs, we were joined by Keith Parry and his musicians “Vintage”

Singing For Pleasure October - We welcomed 2 new members bringing us once again to 60 members so a waiting list is now in place.

Longmead members were able to listen to us and a few joined in as well.

Looking forward we will be welcoming Sue Overy and her ukulele players in November.
Group Leader
Jenny Sparrow

Exploring Architecture

This month a few hardy members of the group took a very chilly trip to North Greenwich to see the continued development of the area around the O2 peninsula. We first started with a visit to the development offices to see the peninsula planning model & videos of summer usage.

We then walked around the design quarter to see the lower cost business premises designed by various up and coming architects, and viewed the completed tower blocks in the Thameside developments. 

Cold weather sent us inside the university building, which was interesting in itself & then we walked the Thames path to see the Millennium Dome now it's been fully repaired. Fortunately the weather had warmed slightly & the snow had stopped!

Epsom Hot Jazz Club

Christmas concert – 9^th December, this is our LAST concert for 2025 at the Kings Church with Harry Strutter’s Hot Six

Venue: Kings Church, Off Gibraltar Crescent, Longmead Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 9BU

Highly applauded and admired, the band specialises in recreating the jazz and hot dance band music of the 1920s and 1930s, with its characteristic drive, wit and allure. Founded originally many years ago in Brighton, the band has expanded into the Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra that has gone from strength to strength. We are being treated to a smaller combination to give us a concert of irresistible swing, rhythm and glittering musicality!

Jazz Group – Important Notice

Effective - January 2026

Jazz Group – new venue & date!

It's all change for the Jazz Group in 2026!  We are moving to a new venue and changing our day of meeting.

We will be meeting on the 2nd Monday of each month.
Time: doors open 1pm. Music 1.30 – 4pm

Our new venue is St Joseph's Church Hall, St Margaret's Road, Epsom KT18 7JQ

It has a large free car park. It is almost opposite the hospital and served by several buses 166, 408, 293, 479, E5.

Members entry £15, non-U3A members £20. Cash or card on the door.

Come and join us to listen to live jazz from the best UK jazz bands. Our guest bands come from all around the UK and even from Europe! We specialise in New Orleans, classic, swing, and traditional jazz styles.

Trad jazz, short for "traditional jazz", is a style of early 20th-century New Orleans and Dixieland jazz, which experienced a major revival in Britain in the 1950s and 60s. It is characterized by a front line of trumpet, clarinet, and trombone playing simultaneously, a collective improvisation style, and influences from ragtime, blues, and European classical music.  

Do come along and enjoy some of the best bands from jazz festivals around the UK! 

Our first concert at the new venue Monday January 12th

Garden Wanderers

This month, the garden wanderers went back to RHS Wisley Gardens for a wander in the late autumn sun.

We started our afternoon chatting over coffee about next year's programme to pin down ideas and run through suggestions previously made. Then took a turn in the garden seeking out plenty full in flower and watching the Glow lighting event being installed. 

It looks like next year will be another busy one, we will be visiting some new places and revisiting gardens that we have not seen for a while.

Dancing - for fitness and fun

We've renamed our group!  We now dance a range of English, Scottish and European traditions. These include Regency, English and Scottish Country dancing, and some dances from Europe and USA. We occasionally have guest teachers to show us different traditions. We go back centuries to dance Regency and Playford dances. The emphasis is on fun, social exercise to great music! You don't need a partner. Wear flat-soled shoes. Bring your own mug for tea break time.  Group leader: Libby Curzon

For November our walk leader Amanda decided that as it was Remembrance Month that would be the theme of her walk. We started at Victoria with the plaque to commemorate the arrival of the Unknown Warrior and we learnt all about the background to this story. Then we walked to Hyde Park Corner and Australia Wall followed by the Royal Artillery memorial and the New Zealand War Memorial which has a fascinating shape and some interesting inscriptions on the girders. Next we visited the Bomber Commander Memorial followed by a walk down the Mall to the Cenotaph. Our last stop was at Westminster Abbey where we were permited to pay our respects (free of charge) at the grave of the Unknown Warrior inside the Abbey.

Did you know: When the grave of the Unknown Warrior was closed on November 18th 1920 an estimated 1.2 million people had visited the abbey. In the grave there is soil from Flanders and other battlefields. The coffin is made of English Oak and contains the unknown warrior and the crusaders sword presented by the King. The stone is Belgium black marble and the gold lettering is melted down shell cases.

Also close to the grave is the bell from the HMS Verdun the ship that brought him home. In the soldiers chapel hangs the Union Jack that was draped over his coffin.

November - Singing for Pleasure once again welcomed the u3a Ukulele Group to our "Country and Western "session in November, members joined in  with the spirit of the occasion, with many dressing up in style, one remarked, he hadn't worn his cowboy shirt for 40 years and it still fitted!!!! Everyone looked amazing, special thankyou to Sue Overy as well, we presented her musicians with some edible gifts to show our appreciation as ever. Plans are well under way for our Christmas Concert at St Barnabas Church in Epsom, on the 4th December,  when we will once again be singing to the "Sunnybank Trust members" and their Carers.  The Trust supports adults with learning difficulties in Surrey,  helping them  to  live without prejudice and to have confidence , opportunities and control over their own lives , there will be a mixture of traditional Carols and Christmas songs, and  once again we will be accompanied by the band "Vintage" Then on the 12th December we will be back at Longmead Community Centre for our own Christmas Concert with Pauline on Piano

That's all for now folks - Jenny Sparrow - Group leader

Exploring London 16 - Oct

This month we had a tour entitled Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat.

We started at the National Liberal Club (where Churchill had been a member)/Royal Horseguards Hotel where we were lucky enough to be given a tour of the building and see some of the spectacular rooms and the largest marble stair case.

We then went to the grand Old War Office, now a Raffles Hotel, where we stopped for a coffee.

From there we went to see the famous statue of Churchill in Parliament Square and ended up in St Margarets Church (often overlooked as it is next to Westminster Abbey) where Churchill was married to Clementine.

1536 - £55.00 per person – stalls seats

Wednesday May 20^th 2026

Matinee performance: doors open 13.00. Arrive by 14.00, show starts 14.30 (Run time 1 hour 50 minutes, no interval)

Recommended for ages 15+

Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London WC2H 9ND

A Ticket only event from the Theatre Group

Kings don’t kill their wives, right? It’s not – it just doesn’t happen. It doesn’t.

Tudor England. A field in Essex.Three women meet in secret, hungry for gossip from London.

Word spreads of a clash between King Henry VIII and his Queen, Anne Boleyn. And closer to home, another rumour begins to catch fire.

As these women begin to see echoes of the royal drama in their own rural lives and a rise in violence spreads throughout the land, the actions of a queen imprisoned in a tower threaten to cost them everything.

Don’t miss your chance to experience this “wonderfully vibrant, cracking debut”(The Guardian).

New Beginners Scrabble Starting January 2026

Our Climate Conversations Group have space for more members. They meet on various days. Please contact Will the group leader for more details.

For further details of which groups currently have space for more members check the Groups page of the website.

Our new Science Group starts January 2026

There will be a small charge of £5 per member to cover hall hire and speaker. The Banstead Community Hall has a large free car park.

The First meeting is on Wednesday January 7th and the speaker will be talking about "What's in a dram of whisky"

If you enjoy playing Bridge why not join our Tuesday Bridge Group.

For details of Theatre tickets check the website.

A message from Heather and the Bourne Hall team.

At Bourne Hall, we are delighted to welcome u3a and truly value the hard work and community spirit you bring. We are proud to host your large monthly meeting on the first of each month and are equally happy to accommodate smaller group gatherings in between. For smaller groups, here’s what you need to know:

• Café Area: This is a welcoming space for all, and groups are encouraged to use it. However, please note:

• The café seating is strictly for customers, if you would like to book maximum group sizes are 12 (in the black tubs chairs)
  • All attendees must purchase something from the café.
  • No external food or drink is permitted.
  • Furniture cannot be rearranged.
  • Bookings for café tables are available on Mondays, Wednesday afternoons, and Fridays only, due to high footfall on other days. (subject to availability)

• Alternative Spaces: If tea and cake aren’t on the agenda, the library study area is available for meetings. Simply enquire at the library reception desk, and they will be happy to help.
• Additionally, Epsom Library is actively seeking new groups and activities for its newly upgraded study zones—another great option for u3a members.

YES MINISTER - We set off to explore the rest of Whitehall that we hadn't visited last month. We hadn't bargained on the day being budget day and had a little competition from farmers in their very loud tractors and a helicopter overhead. It was a beautiful sunny crisp November day and we visited the visible remains of the old Whitehall palace, especially the banqueting house where Charles 1 walked out onto a scaffold to have his head cut off. We saw the MOD, Foreign Office, Treasury, Horseguards and the Admiralty. There are many statues commemorating notable war leaders as well as the Women of WW2 and the Bali bombing victims.

Exploring London 16 - November

The walk finished at the Admiralty Citadel and a well-deserved lunch at a Whitehall pub.

An important message from your committee.

Dear Member,

We hope this message finds you well. We are writing to let you know about an important change to the way we handle payments.

From November 2025, our bank will begin charging us a fee for every cheque we pay in – currently 42 pence per cheque. Until now, we have not had to pay for this service, but unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

Most of our members (almost 1000 out of 1,200) now pay us by bank transfer (BACS) for subscriptions, social events, and theatre bookings. However, just over 200 members still prefer to pay by cheque or cash. As we are a non-profit organisation, even small charges like this can make a difference to our finances.

We would therefore be very grateful if members who currently pay by cheque could consider changing to paying by bank transfer instead. This will help us to avoid extra costs and ensure that more of our funds can go towards the activities and events we all enjoy.

We completely understand that not everyone uses online banking or feels comfortable with it. If that is the case, please get in touch with a committee member, who will be happy to talk through the options. Some members ask a family member or friend to make a transfer on their behalf, and others may be able to make a payment at their bank branch – we are checking whether that option would involve a fee.

We truly appreciate your understanding and cooperation with this change. Your continued support helps us to keep running smoothly and to provide the activities and events that make our u3a so enjoyable.

Your u3a committee