General Meetings

General meetings of Haddenham u3a usually have a guest speaker and are held on the second Tuesday of the month.   Members arrive from 2.15 for a 2.30 start.  Meetings usually last for an hour and a half, including time to socialise over a cup of tea.

Guest speakers cover a wide variety of topics of general interest to enable an increased awareness of our locality and our world, embracing history, travel, nature, science and culture, with a balanced programme to meet u3a aims.

We hope you will enjoy our meetings, learn something new, get to know other members, and occasionally volunteer to help out.

Venue

The normal monthly meetings take place at:

Haddenham Village Hall
Banks Park,
Banks Rd,
Haddenham
HP17 8EE

There is parking at the venue.

Costs

General meetings are free to members of Haddenham u3a.

Joining the Meetings

The General Meetings are open to all members of Haddenham u3a.

Angela Hart, on behalf of the u3a Committee, organises the speaker programme. If you have any suggestions of good speakers who would be suitable for the u3a General Meetings, please contact Angela on 01844 292070 or speakers@haddenhamu3a.co.uk

The committee organises the rota of volunteers for the preparation of the venue.

 

Tuesday 11^th March 2025
Speaker:     Dr Timothy Walker

Talk:    THE LAND OF GIANTS &   VOLCANOES – plants and places in Western USA

The Pacific States of America are home to a wonderful array of huge trees and volcanoes.  In addition, there are some spectacular alpine meadows and some of the most dramatic coastline in the World.  This talk looks at the botany of this region and the influence of the volcanoes.

Timothy Walker was born and brought up in South Buckinghamshire and read Botany at University College Oxford.  After graduation, he worked for two years as a trainee at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden  then took a National Certificate in Horticulture at Askham Bryan College York.  This was followed by a one-year traineeship at the Savill Garden Windsor, and 15-months as a diploma student at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.  In 1995  Timothy was awarded a Master of Horticulture by the Royal Horticultural Society of London.

From January 1986 to July 2014 he worked at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden & Harcourt Arboretum, firstly as General Foreman, then as Horti Praefectus (from 1988) and finally as Director (from 2002).  Between 1992 & 2000 the OBGHA won 4 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show London.  In 2009 the Botanic Garden was one of seven Oxford collections to be awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for providing imaginative educational programmes for adults, students, children and the general public, thereby breathing new life into education for people of all ages and enriching their lives.

In 2010 Timothy was elected as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London and from August 2014 has been a lecturer in Plant Sciences at Somerville College, Oxford, and now holds similar positions at Pembroke College and Hertford College.

 

Tuesday 8^th April 2025
Speaker:    Nick Cook

Talk:   Homeward Bound – the story of Odysseus

Would you go for a drink with Odysseus? He’s a born liar and you will almost certainly end up buying every round. But it will be worth every drachma because of his charm, humour and seemingly endless fund of amazing stories. Most of these are about his voyage home from the Trojan War. They include famous encounters with murderous monsters, wicked women (divine and mortal) and his arch enemy Poseidon god of the sea. Who could ask for more? His long suffering wife Penelope perhaps. So bring your sou’westers and seasickness tablets for the voyage of a lifetime.

Nick Cook worked as a research scientist for more than twenty years and was press-ganged into health and safety.  To his surprise he enjoyed this even more than the research (maybe something to do with the pleasure we all find in studying work rather than actually doing it).

Now retired from Kodak Nick spends his time lecturing (recently rated “outstanding” by his college), speaking and writing.  Topics include creative writing, memoir writing, Greek mythology, the social history of health and safety and storytelling for adults.

He also works as a part-time consultant for the same callous company that originally press- ganged me into health and safety all those years ago.

Tuesday 13^th May 2025

V.E. DAY 80^TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBATION
With refreshments

Speaker: Andrew Baker

Talk:  Winston Churchill; man, politician, leader.

Churchill is seen as the man who won the war. This vivid portrait considers his decisive leadership but also his early life, marriage; wit; friendships; enthusiasms; moods and, not least, his stature as a human being

Andrew Baker taught in Grammar Schools for over 40 years and is the author of a best-selling book on Contemporary British Politics.  Drawing on his experience of over 22 years as Headmaster of Westcliff High School for Boys, he recently published a further volume on Education and the Pursuit of Values: A Headmaster’s Reflections. He now works as a freelance lecturer.

Tuesday 10^th June 2025

This meeting is the AGM commencing 2.15pm

Speaker:   Dr. Martin Holmes
Talk: Boris Johnson a reputation revised

 

Dr Martin Holmes is a Member of the Senior Common Room at St Hugh’s College Oxford where he was Lecturer in Politics for over 20 years. An expert on British and European political history he is the author of seven  books the latest of which is FROM THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES TO THE TREATY OF MAASTRICT: CONFLICT, CARNAGE AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 1918 – 1993 (Routledge 2022). A strong supporter of life – long learning he is a regular U3A speaker and has enthralled our members on previous occasions.

The subject of Martin’s talk, Boris Johnson, would probably be described by each member of Haddenham u3a in a different way.  Whatever your take on “Boris” this talk will be enlightening and entertaining,

 

Tuesday 8^th July 2025
Speaker:   Dr. David Jones

 

Talk:    From primordial soups to primates  in suits – the evolution of all life on Earth

Life evolved more than 3.5 billion years ago, and today humans share the planet with around 12 million other species. David has set himself the difficult challenge of telling the story of the evolution of all life on earth in 1 hour. Can he explain the origins of life in the oceans, the evolution of millions of species, the extinction of millions more, and the rise to dominance of Homo sapiens, in just 60 minutes?

Dr David Jones works at the Natural History Museum in London, and lectures at Imperial College. He is an entomologist specialising in rainforest insects and soil ecology. He has done fieldwork in 18 countries including Indonesia, Gabon, Madagascar and French Guiana. He has published more than 50 research articles in scientific books and journals. David is a multi-award-winning public speaker, and frequent after-dinner speaker. He has won the annual Toastmasters’ UK & Ireland Impromptu Speech championship five times.