President’s Message
May 2026
Today is the middle of a week of lovely autumn weather. Long may it continue. Our April meeting, on April 20th was attended by 134 members and a number of visitors, all of whom thoroughly enjoyed the proceedings.
Our one mini speaker for April was Gay Williams talking about her group, Dollars and Sense, which sounded very interesting, and has, I think, vacancies.
After morning tea, we heard from our main speaker Rob Campbell CNZM, a very well-known public figure and commentator, one of New Zealand’s leading professional directors, Chancellor of AUT and former chair of Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand. The title of his talk was “Our place in the future world”. Rob started off by talking about his journey, from academia to unions, then commerce and governance, and then the changes in universities, where online lectures and distance learning mean that a student may graduate without ever setting foot on the university campus. He then discussed
New Zealand’s changing demography, especially in Auckland, and our failure to internalise the facts of our geography and our trading relationships – South Pacific, not North Atlantic. When talking about New Zealand’s difficulties with effective government, “obedience and compliance, not principles and innovation” he mentioned that intelligent, educated, successful, engaged older people, such as the members of U3A Meadowbank, can and should still play an active part in politics
and policies.
Among other places, Rob Campbell often writes to Newsroom. A link to a recent article by Rob was supplied by Greg West-Walker https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/20/rob-campbell-politicians desperate-effort-to-avoid-the-real-tax-debate/
John Goodman
How We Operate
Monthly Meetings
At our monthly meetings we get together to listen to a speaker of note. These people are chosen from a wide variety of backgrounds – historians, social scientists, representatives of voluntary organisations, scientists from a wide variety of backgrounds, and from many other disciplines. We also have updates from representatives from our interest groups and from time to time hear from other community representatives to give a short update on their activities
Interest Groups
We currently have many interest groups covering a wide variety of activities. Activities include a number of walking groups, reading groups, a memoir writing group, musical interest groups history and wine studies groups and many others. The complete list can be seen on the Interest groups page. From time to time we have new groups formed, and others cease their activity
Newsletter
Our monthly newsletter is our main means of communication with our members. Most of our members received their newsletters by email. We also post newsletters covering the last two years on our website for those interested in our activities. The website is updated monthly to ensure the most recent newsletters are always available.
Interest Groups
are the heart of U3A Meadowbank.
Our Interest Groups are the key to learning in more depth about a wide variety of topics and activities. They are at the heart of what U3A is all about and we strongly encourage all of our members to actively participate in at least one group. We also welcome ideas about new areas of study or activity from our members
We are a part of a Global Network
U3A is a global movement encouraging mature people to keep their minds active and share their knowledge. It began in France in 1972 as a means of enabling older achievers to continue learning and share their knowledge under the banner “University of the Third Age”. The movement spread widely throughout Europe.
In 1981, U3A reached the United Kingdom, which developed a model based on peer-to-peer learning, away from academia. This same approach was adopted in Australia and New Zealand. The first U3A in New Zealand was U3A Remuera, established in 1989. U3A St Heliers followed in 1992. There are now over 80 U3As in New Zealand, including 27 in the Auckland region. Further Information can be found on www.u3a.nz.
We are part of a local Network
Each U3A association is autonomous, organising its own programme, governance and affairs, but adhering to the principles on which U3A was founded. In summary, these are the guidelines that shape our activities and collegiality.
- Learning and teaching are mutually enhancing. We are all learners and teachers and are encouraged to be actively engaged in discovery, discussion, research and exploration of topics of collective interest.
- We are all recognised as having something of value to bring to the Association. We acknowledge the wisdom and depth of experience that members bring and the potential for new learning and new challenges as we age.
- All of our work is voluntary – no one gets paid for their services (except perhaps a koha for outside speakers). Leadership is shared and rotated, so no-one holds on to office beyond an allotted term.
- There are no admission requirements other than paying the annual membership fee. No entry qualifications are required, no award or recognition given of learning undertaken.