InterestGroups

Casa Rossa

October 2025

To send an email to an Interest Group Leader select the group from the Interest group page and fill out the form. It will be forwarded to them .

See the Calendar for a full list of interest groups

BOOK GROUP

The November book is ‘First Steps – How Walking Upright Made Us Human’ by Jeremy De Silva.  Funny, surprising, warm and compelling.
Ros

CYCLING GROUP

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.
We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 20 October ten of us rode from the Evan Pass Rd car park out to Godley Head. It was a fine but windy morning with lovely views out over Sumner and Taylors Mistake. At the reserve we spent time reading the new DOC signage and checking out the coastal defence battery which is one of the top ten NZ coastal defence heritage sites. The Godley Battery consisted of three emplacements, constructed across the crest of the Godley Head, each with individual underground magazines. The gun emplacements feature murals by noted street artist Wongi Wilson, celebrating the men and women who served at the site. 
On Friday 31 October the group rode from Swanns Rd to South Shore. There were 7 members in the group and a nice sunny day, but the southerly was hard work at times.
Mary

Family History

Last month members viewed and discussed progress made with research and presentations of their families’ histories.  A beautifully drawn family tree, photographic records and even records from a WWII concentration camp were shown. 
This month will be our last meeting for the year. It has been a year of interesting discoveries and many surprises. 
If you would like further details of this group which meets on the afternoon of the third Tuesday of the month please contact either Carole or Julia

Garden Visit Group

The Garden group of about 15, visited Casa Rossa.

This beautiful garden has taken 25yrs of the owner’s tender care and gardening expertise to sculpt in to an amazing experience with garden rooms, shady areas, something new at each turn and an assortment of plants. They willingly answered all questions and chatted with us for a while. The temperature did get up to 31degrees.
I could tell you more but perhaps you should go, each experience will be individual, and I think it well worth it.
In December we know everyone is busy rushing around, so we thought we should give you a chance to relax with friends.
So ON Tuesday December 2nd
AT Halswell Quarry
TIME 1pm
MEET near coffee cart.
Bring chairs, picnic blankets, poles for walking if you wish, sun hats and suntan lotion and come relax for an hour or two. Hopefully sitting in shaded area. Don’t forget your picnic too.
Coffee cart will be open and not only coffee but does muffins, toasties, burgers, cold drinks, shakes and ice-cream.
Look for the colourful umbrella.
Come earlier for a walk or stay for a stroll afterwards

History Group

We have completed the course ‘The Shaping of the Modern Mind’ which proved to be very interesting with much discussion and reflection. As this has given us a couple of months before the end of the year we decided on a short course for the month of November ’The Night Witches’, a profile of the women pilots and their role during World War 2 covering women from Russia, Germany, USA and England.
Ros

Photography Group

At our October meeting we looked at photographing the same objects in shade and sunlight comparing the different effects and results, taking photos of flowers plus we reviewed key aspects of composition in landscapes including the rule of thirds and utilizing leading lines.
Our November meeting, which will be the last for 2025, will be 10am on 21st November at 20A Victors Road, Hoon Hay.
Eric

Singing Group

The next session for the Singing Group is on 20 November at 1.30 pm in the usual room at Te Hāpua, the Halswell Library.
Please come with some songs you would like to sing during the session.
Also, there will be some discussion about how this group will run next year as this will be the last session for 2025.

September 2025

To send an email to an Interest Group Leader select the group from the Interest group page and fill out the form. It will be forwarded to them .

See the Calendar for a full list of interest groups

Book Discussion Group

Book this month is ‘All the Broken Places’ by John Boyne

Cycling

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3 rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have ebikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 15 September 10 of us cycled the MacLeans Island Forest Park track. It was a well maintained mountain bike track through forest and very different to our normal rides. It was a 16.5km loop from the car park and took approx. 1 hour of concentrated riding. We had coffee at the café there and some decided to do another loop before going home.
On Friday 26 September we decided to do a ‘Blossom’ ride. We cycled from Halswell along the Quarrymans Trail then turned onto the Nor’West Arc at Pioneer Centre and rode through to the University. From the University we cycled on the Uni-Cycle trail to Hagley Park. We saw some lovely blossom trees on the way but unfortunately a lot of the blossoms in Hagley Park had finished. 8 of us enjoyed our coffee break at the Quad Eatery in the Arts Centre before heading back along the Southern Motorway cycleway to Halswell.

Current Affairs Group

Just a reminder to all U3A members that this group meets at 10.00am on the 3 rd
Wednesday each month -in the same room as the U3A meetings.
The usual format is that a brief background paper on the topic is emailed to the
members -for them to read prior to the meeting. At the meeting there is a summary presentation of that note, a small number of brief you tube clips are shown and there is a discussion of the topic.
If you are interested in becoming a member (we have a few spaces) email Graeme McNally  

History

This month we will be studying the final unit 8 of the course ‘The Shaping of the Modern Mind’ ‘Where are we Now?”
Current knowledge emphasises how our beliefs are influenced by our upbringing in a particular culture. How does this bear on the tension between science and religion?
Where does that leave us today?

Family History

Who are these people? What do we know about them?

What stories have we heard from our families? Last month the group shared their memories of an ancestor they knew of through family stories or from their own research. These records then become part of our own family history.
This month, on 16th October, we will be sharing ideas on future topics as well as looking at some of our research.
If you are interested in joining this friendly group, please contact either
Carole Or Julia

Photography Group Report

At our September meeting we reviewed the taking of photographs in low light situations and went for a wander around the garden to undertake some flower photography deciding whether to focus on either a group of distinctive flowers with an out of focus background or to focus on just one bloom or part of it.
Our October meeting will be at 10am on 17 th October at 20A Victors Road when we plan to do some more photography of static objects, paying special attention to the direction of the natural sunlight.
Eric

Theatre Appreciation

Making up a party to attend Ovation Theatre’s “Godspell” on Friday 17th of this month. Will take names at our upcoming meeting on the 8thOctober.
David

August 2025

Book Discussion Group
The book for September is “All the Broken Pieces” by John Boyne. John Boyne is the author of “The Boy in Striped Pyjamas”
This is noted as an incredible feat of storytelling that revisits characters from the above book and particularly Gretel and what became of her.
John Boyne is the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

U3A Cycling August
We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Friday 1 August we cycled from Fitzgerald Ave to Scarborough on the Rapanui- Shag Rock cycleway and the Te Ara Ihutai Coastal Pathway. There were 10 of us. This was a bonus ride for August.
On Monday 18 August we rode from Lincoln to Motukarara Railway Station. There was low fog over the wetland which didn’t clear completely until we were back in Lincoln for coffee. There were 6 of us on this ride.
On Friday 29 August we cycled from Swans Rd to North Beach for coffee at the
Brighton Beach House then back through New Brighton. We enjoyed seeing the
progress on the Avon River Trail which is being upgraded ( a new bridge is in place due to open in September) and the new development in the New Brighton Mall area. It was a beautiful “almost spring day” which all of us enjoyed.

History
This month we will be reading unit 7 of ‘The Shaping of the Modern Mind
As we adjust to living in a global village, the meeting with other cultures and religions leads to new issues. This unit will focus first on the expansion of Western influence and then on its impact on religious belief.

Scrabble “Plus”
Our Scrabble Group meet twice a month, on the second and fourth Tuesdays. As we meet in private homes our numbers are limited to the 10 current attendees.
Depending on how many turn up, we generally play two games of three people at the dining table and up to four can play at the card table we all pitched in to purchase for $40. We have an agreed set of “rules” which help our games flow better. The table,4 Scrabble sets, dictionaries, etc, travel between the various hosts’ homes. It all seems to work seamlessly.
This is an easy group to manage as the group is so supportive of each other, offering to host when the list of upcoming dates is emailed to them and always ready to help each other out when unforeseen things happen. It is a privilege to be part of such a friendly group whose relationships have spilled over into every-day activities like lunching or spending time together, sharing books and movies we have enjoyed, as well as cards and board games. It’s more than “just Scrabble”.

Singing Group
If you would enjoy singing songs from the Beetles, ABBA, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon and many other favourites please consider coming to our group. We are not a choir, just people who enjoy singing, which is very good for our mental and physical well-being.
Our next scheduled get together will be at Te Hāpua (Halswell Library), at 1.30 pm in the Piharau Room on the 18 September. Please bring a gold coin donation to cover the room hire. Just let me know if you would like to join us.
Lynne Bull

Photography Group Report
At our August meeting we looked at what to focus on in bird photography, settings for low light photography and how to take good photographs of mountains by remembering to use the rising sun, finding an interesting foreground such as a reflection, and the overall composition.

Family History

July 2025

To send an email to an Interest Group Leader select the group from the Interest group page and fill out the form. It will be forwarded to them

See the Calendar for a full list of interest groups

U3A Cycling July

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.

New members are always welcome.

On Monday 21 July we cycled from Grimseys Rd, near the QEII Drive roundabout, on the Northern Corridor cycleway to the Waimakariri Bridge. This was the second starting point. We then cycled on a dedicated cycleway beside Main North Rd into Kaiapoi stopping for coffee early, at Paris for the Weekend, as it was very chilly. We enjoyed sitting in the sun chatting for quite a while then headed back along the stop banks and Kaiapoi Island tracks to Waimakariri Bridge.

The second ride for July was going to be the same week so we decided to cycle a week later on 1 August.

Current Affairs Group

This group (usually about 25 attendees) continues to meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 10.00am to learn about and discuss a range of current issues.

In July we had a “virtual meeting” -members were provided with a brief note -together with embedded links to a small number of selected articles /You Tube videos- covering two topics relating to “Powering our Future” i.e. Small Nuclear Reactors and Fusion Power.

With the upcoming Local Government elections -our August meeting will focus on “Local Government -its future, its challenges and its issues”.

Family History

Our next meeting will be at 1.30pm on Tuesday 19th August. 

This month we will be sharing memories of an ancestor we remember from our own lifetime before discussing progress (or lack of) with our own research.

If you are interested in coming to this group, please contact either Carole or Julia

Photography Group

The next U3A Photography Group meeting will be on Friday 15 August at 10am at 20A Victors Road, Hoon Hay. New members most welcome.

We will be looking at settings for low light situations, reviewing the use of different camera modes and furthering our discussions on outdoor photography.

June 2025

To send an email to an Interest Group Leader select the group from the Interest group page and fill out the form. It will be forwarded to them

See the Calendar for a full list of interest groups

New Groups to be started as plans are sorted
Singing, Garden Visits, City Visits

U3A Cycling June

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.

New members are always welcome.

On Monday 16 June we cycled from Halswell to Northwood on the Quarryman’s Trail and The Northern Line. The second starting point was Mona Vale. There were 10 of us cycling and we had a pleasant stop at Gloria Jean Café in the Supa Centre at Northwood. On the return we came back to Mona Vale then through the University of

Canterbury on the Uni-Cycle trail, onto the Nor’West Arc to Middleton then the Southern Motorway trail for a short time then through Nga Puna Wai back to Halswell. It was a good outing.

Family history

Last month we learnt of the various occupations of some of our ancestors; cobbler, waterman, wagoner, gum digger were a few and so very different from similar occupations today. However, none of us found any slubber doffers, dog whippers or mule scavengers among them. 
 
There will be no meeting in July. 

If you are interested in joining this group please contact   Either Carole: Julia:

Photography Group

The next Photography Group meeting will be on Friday 18 July at 10am at 20A Victors Road, Hoon Hay. New members welcome.

We will be revising the set up for some new cameras, looking at easy steps in the use of different camera modes and commencing on outdoor photography.

More than just Scrabble  

The U3A Scrabble Group have become a tight knit group of supportive friends.  We have gained a lot more than the companionship of playing Scrabble together. Over the past months five of our members have found themselves in hospital and our lovely group have rallied around in support.  This has been an unexpected outcome of our group and is much more than I expected when I first joined.

As we meet in private homes our membership is closed to the 10 existing attendees.  If you too would like to enjoy the companionship, support and friendship of others through playing Scrabble, our group would happily help you get started – all that is needed is a boxed set or two of Scrabble, a couple of dictionaries, and around three or four people willing to play and host the group in their home.  Get in touch with Judith Densie via one of the committee members to get started.  Happy Scrabbling.

May 2025

To send an email to an Interest Group Leader select the group from the Interest group page and fill out the form. It will be forwarded to them

U3A Cycling May

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.
We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 19 May we cycled from Halswell to the Heathcote Valley on the Quarryman’s Trail, around the river and on the Heathcote Expressway. We had alternative starting places at PMH and The Tannery. There were 15 of us and it was a beautiful autumn day. We enjoyed our coffee at Silos Café.
On Friday 30 May we cycled from Halswell to Rolleston via Lincoln on dedicated cycleways. It was a lovely ride with alternative starting points at Prebbleton and Lincoln. There were 14 of us and it was another beautiful autumn day until the southerly blew 

They all have a back story and that backstory relates to one of our ancestors. These articles remain treasured heirlooms held by this generation and it was very interesting to hear their backstories from varying corners of the globe.

The June meeting will find us looking at various occupations that our ancestors may have had, occupations that no longer exist or have changed dramatically over the years.
Our next meeting will be on 17th June at 1.30pm. If you are interested, in joining our meetings please contact either 
Carole & Julia

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

The photographers special interest group next meeting will be on Friday 20 June (Matariki) at 10am at 20a Victors Road Hoon Hay. We will be continuing on with discussions on getting going with new equipment and close up photography. Eric

Family History

March 2025

To send an email to an Interest Group Leader select the group from the Interest group page and fill out the form. It will be forwarded to them

BOOK GROUP
Our next book is ‘Meet Me at the Museum’ by Anne Youngson. A novel of self- discovery and second chances. Written entirely in letter form between two individuals.
Ros

CURRENT AFFAIRS GROUP
We have secured a presentation/discussion session with Andrei Moore -our local City Councillor.
However, because of Council commitments, he can only attend on the 4th Wednesday (instead of our usual 3rd Wednesday). As there is a small number of our regular members who can’t attend on that date, we will have a few places(up to 6) for other members of U3A.
Should you be interested in attending (first come first served) – contact Graeme McNally

CYCLING GROUP
We have two organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.
We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has two start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of members. Most members have e-bikes. New members are always welcome.
On Monday 17th of march we cycled from Honby to Halswell, around Broomfield to Church Corner (South Express Cycleway) thento the Pioneer Centre (Nor’West Arc Cycleway) then to christchurch adventure Park where we had coffee. It was a hot NW day so lovely stop for our 8 members to enjoy a good chat. We headed back to Halswell on the Quarryman’s Trail.
On Friday the 28th of March we cycled from Halswell into the CBD (Quarryman’s trail) then to Mona Vale where we joined the Northern Line to Northlands. From there we cycled on the Papanui Parallel to Meshino’s where we had coffee. The 7 of us enjoyed our chat then continued onto Bealey Ave and the CBD. We followed the Promenade to the Boat Sheds then headed back to Halswell on the Southern Motorway cycleway.
As you can see we are on cylceways for almost all of every ride.

FAMILY HISTORY GROUP
Our last meeting, on the worst day of March weatherwise, was centered around the topic of what images should be included in our family histories and what images should be put into albums. Also discussed was the importance of sorting and labelling photos.
We meet on the third Tuesday of the month at 1.30pm.
If you would be interested in joining in our meetings contact either Carole at
or Julia

HISTORY GROUP
We will be studying Unit 3 of The Shaping of the Modern Mind – A New Heaven and a New Earth, covers the 17th Century and how Science proves to be immensely important

MOVIE GROUP
Usually about ten of us enjoy a movie at the Academy Gold Theatre in Colombo Mall every fourth Tuesday of the month. New faces are welcome! The choice of film is varied and often no choice as I just book whatever is showing on a Tuesday morning! No disasters yet as mostly the entertainment has been pleasing to all. Afterwards everyone is happy to share a coffee or eats at one of the cafes in the mall or we walk around to the Just Desserts in Wordsworth St for a change. We are a friendly group and please join us!!
Gill

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP
The photography Group had a good meeting on Friday 21st February when we discussed close-up photography and the use of extension rings to achieve the same result as a macro lens. Then we practised using various camera extension rings and exchanged experiences on their use.
We also tried a few close-up shots and discussed possible camera settings. At the next meeting we will continue with exploring close- up photography options and settings plus any other topics raised.
Because of Good Friday and ANZAC day are on Fridays in April, our next meeting will be Friday 2nd May at 10am at 20A Victors Road Hoon Hay. Additional members very welcome.
Eric

THEATRE APPRECIATION GROUP
Members of our group are looking forward to a visit to the latest Elmwood Players performance of ‘Hold the Arsenic’ later in April. We will then be booking seats for Repertory’s production of ‘Killer Boobs’ a month later. If any U3A members would like to join our party, please let me know. Note that our regular meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of each month at 1.15pm. Again let me know if you would like to be included.
David

February 2025

U3A Cycling February

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday. We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.
New members are always welcome.
On Monday 17 February we cycled to Lincoln from Halswell on the Little River Rail Trail and came back via Tai Tapu. 
On Friday 28 February we cycled from Swanns Rd to New Brighton on Te Ara Otakaro (Avon River Trail) and then continued around South Shore spit. We rode on some of the new ‘City to the Sea’ pathway and saw lots more areas being developed.
We had good weather on both days and had 7 and 11 riders respectively.
Mary

FAMILY HISTORY GROUP

Last month’s meeting found the group discussing useful sources of information when recording their families’ histories. This month our topic will be ”sorting which photos should be included’.  As always there followed an interesting time catching up with any new discoveries made by members and any mysteries that had been solved. 
If you are interested in joining this group, please contact either Carole or Julia

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

The first meeting of a small photography group was held on Friday 21st February and after introductions, coffee and discussions on topics of interest we looked at photographing flowers. We also discussed what cameras we each had and the downloading of photos onto computers.
We decided our next meeting would be on Friday 10th March at 10am, again at our place a 20A Victors Road, Hoon Hay when our main topic will be on close up photography. A few more members would be most welcome.
Eric

January 2025

TRAVEL GROUP

Is there anyone or group of members who would like to run this group for 2025?

URBAN EXPLORERS

At this stage, two members are prepared to run the Thursday Group, but they are unable to cover the Tuesday group. We are hoping a couple of members of that group will step up.

CYCLING GROUP  

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. Most members have e-bikes. New members are always welcome.

On Friday 31 January we cycled from Halswell to Raspberry Café, Tai Tapu then around the block past Otahuna Lodge and Cossars Winery back to the café for coffee. Eleven of us met up for a pleasant chat over coffee outside.

Family History Group

This group meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 1.30pm. Our first meeting for this year will be on Tuesday 18th February.

We are interested in tracing our families’ ancestors, discovering their stories and something of the times in which they lived. 

If you are interested in finding out more about  this group please contact either Carole or Julia

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP

Eric Livingston is keen to start a photography Group. If you are keen to participate, contact Lynne u3a.southwestchch@gmail.com

November 2024

BOOK GROUP

Book Group – current book is ’The ‘Mother’.  A thriller that is a compelling twisty pageturner.  

CYCLING GROUP U3A Cycling November

On Monday 18 November we rode along the Summit Rd east of the Sign of the Kiwi café to Mt Pleasant. There were 8 of us and it was the first time we had organised a ride along the Summit Rd. We had lovely views out over the city and the coastline. We had coffee at the Sign of the Kiwi café.

On Friday 29 November we met at the Roto Kohatu Reserve and rode through to Clearwater and the Groynes on the Otukaikino Trail and onto the Waimakariri River before joining the Northern Cycleway back to Belfast for coffee at Loef’s Bakery & Café.  We headed back to the Groynes along the Waimarie Cycleway and onto our cars. There were 9 members on this ride with an alternative start point being the Dog Park at the Groynes.

For December we are planning a potluck lunch for members of the cycling group.

We have 2 organised rides each month, on the 3rd Monday and the last Friday.

We ride mainly on dedicated cycleways. Each ride has 2 start points to accommodate distance and speed preferences of the members. It seems to be working well. Most members have e-bikes.

New members are always welcome.

FAMILY HISTORY GROUP

HISTORY

History Group is in recession until the new year

SCRABBLE GROUP

Thank goodness for the supportive group of Scrabble players we have developed into since we started.

Pre-Christmas we had two members in hospital and one whose elderly parent passed away.  Much aroha, virtual hugs and love are currently keeping us all going.

My thanks go to a wonderful group of people who make this all happen.  Merry Christmas everyone.  See you in 2025.  Judith  

TRAVEL GROUP

This group is no longer running unless there is someone else prepared to take it over. Thank you to Karen and Grant for running this group each year. They had to contend with lock downs over the Covid period when we not permitted to travel. Not an easy task when the group focused on the travels of the members.

URBAN EXPLORERS

Season’s Greetings to all.  The time has come for new leadership of the walking group.  I will not be continuing my role in Urban Explorers but will offer support to those who take over.  It is my suggestion that a committee be formed to spread the planning.  I have enjoyed our explorations of the city and surrounding areas – and learnt a lot!  Thank you for your support. Ngaire