Bridlington U3A’s website receives a revamp ahead of double anniversary celebrations this year

Bridlington U3A, which has more than 1,000 members, will be celebrating the national organisation’s 40th anniversary – and the local group’s 15th year since inception.

The group has organised two events at Bridlington Spa to celebrate the landmarks with the first one being an open day on Monday, June 20.

This gathering will showcase the various clubs run by Bridlington U3A with members of the public invited to find out more.

The second event will be a Tea Party, held exclusively for members, to recognise 15 successful years of learning opportunities for people across the Bridlington area.

Bridlington U3A is based at the Business Centre on Bessingby Way although groups and meetings and activities take place at various venues.

It currently runs 85 groups, ranging from sporting activities to crafts, music, discussion, languages through to a motorbiking group.

Ahead of these events, Bridlington U3A has revamped its website to make it easier for people to navigate.

Bridlington U3A chair Terry Benstead said: “The U3A has rebranded nationally this year so it was a good time to change our website.

“As part of the anniversary celebrations we thought it would be good to revamp our website. What we particularly wanted to do was to put links in there for online learning and Zoom classes. A lot of the events are being run at home so we wanted to reflect this as there are people out there who are still reluctant to mingle.

“We want to make as many activities as possible available to members. Our membership has bounced back from 800 during lockdown to 1,015, which is great and we now have 85 groups in operation.

“We have new leaders and activities and are on the up again.

“We have two events planned to mark the two anniversaries. In June we have an open day event at the Spa where all the groups will come together.

“In September we will be holding a tea party with the Excelsior Brass Band for our 15th anniversary.”

Go to www.u3abridlington.co.uk to find out more about Bridlington U3A.