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Nationally run events and more
There are many different online learning events and other activities, run by the national u3a movement, that are available to you as a member of Tonbridge u3a. Further details of what is available currently can be found on the national u3a website - https:// www.u3a.org.uk/.
Please send any comments using the e-mail secretary@tonbridgeu3a.uk
Free Online event
Thursday 22 October • 11 am - 12 pm
David Hockney as I knew him
The world of David Hockney, a bright star of British art - a talk by Peter Webb.
I first met David Hockney when I invited him to lecture to my students at Coventry College of Art about his work in 1968 as I felt they needed access to a bright new star of British art. He spoke brilliantly for well over an hour to a packed audience until the caretaker arrived to end proceedings. I kept in touch with him when I moved to Hornsey College of Art in London and often watched him at work on paintings like Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy and Portrait of an Artist-Pool with Two Figures, or attended his tea parties. He made an original etching for the Collectors’ Edition of my book The Erotic Arts in 1975 and later drew my portrait. In 1989 he agreed to my publishing the first book on his life and work, Portrait of David Hockney.
This event is for u3a members only.
Not a member? Find out more and join here
Free Online event
Thursday 22 October • 2 - 4 pm
The US constitution vs. unitary executive power
How is presidential power reshaping US democracy? Explore Project 2025, executive authority and the 2026 midterm elections.
This presentation examines the constitutional foundations of the United States government and explores how its system of separated powers and checks and balances was designed to prevent the concentration of authority in any one branch.
It then analyzes Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy blueprint for a conservative administration, focusing on its objectives to expand presidential authority, restructure the federal bureaucracy, and reshape key government institutions. The presentation reviews the extent to which these proposals have been implemented during the first eighteen months of the current administration through executive actions, personnel changes, regulatory reforms, and agency restructuring.
The final section examines the administration's approach to the 2026 midterm elections, including election-integrity initiatives, executive actions, and public messaging concerning election security. It presents both the administration's rationale and the concerns expressed by election experts, constitutional scholars, and critics regarding their potential effects on public confidence in democratic institutions.
Rather than advocating a political position, the presentation encourages informed discussion by distinguishing documented actions from competing interpretations and invites the audience to consider the long-term constitutional implications of expanding executive power and preserving democratic governance.
This event is for u3a members only.
Not a member? Find out more and join here
Free Online event
Thursday 29 October • 2 - 3:30 pm
Art deco days
Discover the glamour and innovation of 1930s Scotland through its striking Art Deco architecture, design and culture.
We shall embark upon on a tour of Scotland in the 1930s, exploring all things Deco; we’ll admire the best Moderne buildings which embraced the style, lounge at the lido, take some streamlined transport here & there; and wonder at the cinema. We’ll conclude our long look at this stylish decade; with a visit to The Empire Exhibition of 1938, perhaps the epitome of the era?
This event is for u3a members only.
Not a member? Find out more and join here.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-deco-days-tickets-1998492929149?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true
Free Online event
Friday 6 November • 2 - 3:30 pm
Melancholy as a creative force: Joni Mitchell's Blue album
Explore how Joni Mitchell’s Blue transforms melancholy into a creative force, opening a path to self-awareness and self-possession.
A series of talks by Professor Christopher Dowrick, illustrating how the creative arts, including literature, poetry, music, sculpture and painting, can enhance our wellbeing.
Melancholy is a longing to create new ways of being. In her 1971 album Blue, Mitchell confronts and conveys the lived experience of melancholy, engaging with the process of sitting with pain until it offers self-awareness. The album is a sign not merely of sadness, but of self-possession.
This event is for u3a members only.
Not a member? Find out more and join here
For further details including how to book your place on the above events, please go to the national u3a website - https://www.u3a.org.uk/events/u3a-week
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