We were delighted that our visitors from the U3A (University of the Third Age) went ahead with their visit to the Chippendale School of Furniture last Saturday despite the Arctic conditions.

U3A are self-help, self-managed lifelong learning co-operatives for older people, providing opportunities for members to share learning experiences in a wide range of interest groups and to pursue learning not for qualifications, but for fun. So a visit to see what happens here seemed to prove quite popular.

As Maureen Dalrymple generously said on behalf of her U3A colleagues: “Thank you both once again for making this such a memorable visit and the weather was so beautiful that one lady said to me that she was glad it had snowed because everywhere just looked like a Christmas Card.  After organizing coach trips for the U3A for the last 8 years this is the first time that I have had messages of thanks the day after and much of that was down to you and your wonderful workshops.”

We hope to welcome U3A back again very soon and certainly to the end of year student exhibition on Mon 17 and Tue 18 June from 6-8pm. It’s hard to believe it, but we’ll be serving strawberries and wine, not gluwein or whisky!

You can see more photos of the snow bound furniture school on Facebook.

The ages of our students range from 21 to 70. Some may have taken early retirement, for example from the police, armed forces or desk bound jobs, and always wanted to develop their furniture design and cabinet making skills.