Make your third age the time of your life

The Third Age is the description of one’s life reached after the First Age of childhood and dependence and the Second Age of working life and home-making. The Third Age is sometimes called the Age of Active Retirement. For many, it is the age of achieving one’s maximum potential after the stresses of the Second Age are past. U3As think of themselves as being universities in the original sense of the term – communities of people who come together to learn from one another, rather than as degree-granting institutions; and so U3A is a learning co-operative of older people. It encourages positive aging by enabling its members to share many educational, creative and leisure and social activities. Members are willing to share their expertise from their life experiences with others, by offering to lead courses.