U3A members are uniquely placed to research and publish information and recollections of their locality, as the banner above from the excellent Brighton and Hove U3A Local History website illustrates. Whether it is a record of past personal experience, such as on the Timewitnesses website or a more general history of the locality.

The Brighton bus company give their buses names of famous local residents (the anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Aubrey Beardsley, Dame Clara Butt for example), and this U3A website serves as a wonderful showcase of local art, portraits of notable worthies such as Rudyard Kipling (left) and photography.

The Wellcome Book Prize 2018 was won by Irish author Mark O’Connell for his extraordinary debut To Be a Machine: Adventures among cyborgs, utopians, hackers and the futurists solving the modest problem of death.

It is the first full-length exploration of trans-humanism, a movement that seeks to cheat mortality and use technology for human evolution.

Mark O’Connell was selected from a shortlist of six to win the prestigious prize, which celebrates exceptional works of fiction and non-fiction.

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft and published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, was announced as winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2018.

It is a novel about travel in the 21st century and human anatomy. It includes the story of Chopin’s heart as it makes the covert journey from Paris to Warsaw, stored in a tightly sealed jar beneath his sister’s skirt. Flights guides the reader beyond the surface layer of modernity and towards the core of the very nature of humankind.

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U 3rd Age (University of the Third Age) started in 2012 with a small group of 20 members, we now have 3,000 members (called ‘Friends’ who are subscribers) and we are still growing. As a not-for-profit organisation with no membership fees, we encourage later life learning among Seniors on a peer learning community platform.

'Training-the-Trainers' Workshop was conducted in Singapore on 17 May by Dr Poul-Erik, who is from the Pass It On Network, Aarhus, Denmark. Dr. Poul-Erik Tindbaek of En3Karriere shared his 'transition from working life' which allowed third agers (retired and pre-retired) to train others on finding their third careers. The 30 plus participants gave good comments, and many are taking up the challenge to be trainers in future ToT Workshops. See more photos here >>>

Falls are a leading cause of injuries. When it comes to remaining independent and physically active, fall and injury prevention is a top priority for most seniors and caregivers, especially among post-menopausal women who may be more susceptible to fractures. Fear of falling can cause seniors to avoid activities they once enjoyed and without regular exercise, older adults can become sedentary and frail. If seniors are afraid of falling, they may withdraw socially and risk losing their ability to care for themselves and live independently.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, more than 18 per cent of the Dutch population is over the age of 65 and falls account for a significant number of deaths among seniors. Courses to tackle fear of falling among elderly adults are popping up across the Netherlands. Seniors are instructed how to navigate in a safe environment, they learn how to fall correctly and a better way to stand up and sit down, reducing the risk for injury. Learn more here >>>

Roll up, roll up for Compton Verney’s Marvellous Mechanical Museum! A rare opportunity to see an exhibition devoted to kinetic art and the history of automata.

The exhibition traces the history of the early automata shows and androids alongside work by contemporary artists – much of which has never been exhibited publicly before or has been created especially for the show.