"The starting point was that older age should be looked on more positively"
A conversation between Eric Midwinter, one of the co-founders of the u3a movement, and Liz Thackray, it's current Chair, has just been released.
Eric Midwinter helped set up the u3a movement in the UK in 1982 and Liz Thackray has been Chair of the Third Age Trust since 2021. The conversation explores how the u3a movement came to be, its original purpose and how it has since developed.
Within the conversation, Eric discusses how u3a was always intended to give older adults a voice. He says, "The starting point was the sense that older age should be looked on more positively, and obviously less negatively.
"I find it difficult sometimes now to believe how bad the imagery of older age was in the 1970s, even amongst medical people. There was a sense of older age being over the hill and oldness was very much identified as illness."
Liz Thackray responds, "It really was stark how much differentiation and lack of awareness there was that, the fact that people were a given age did not mean they had no contribution or nothing to give or to learn or to do."
Watch the full conversation on the u3a YouTube channel.
2022 is the 40th year of the u3a movement which was set up in 1982 by Eric Midwinter, Peter Lazlett and Michael Young. This conversation is part of the movement's anniversary celebrations. Read more about how u3a members have marked this year on the 40th Anniversary page.
u3a is a UK-wide movement of locally-run interest groups that provide a wide range of opportunities to come together to learn for fun. There are 1,000 u3as across the UK - Join us.