It is good to learn

It is great to learn new things, when you are retired or no longer work full time. It is priceless to be able to share your knowledge with others and get their knowledge in return.

The University of the Third Age (U3A) is an international organization whose members are retired people who educate themselves in an enjoyable way. There are many U3As across Europe, notably in the UK, France, Holland and Belgium. In the UK approaching 240,000 members belong to 700+ individual U3As across the country.

It works through peer group teaching and discussion in a range of subjects. The U3A in East Suffolk also has monthly speakers on a whole variety of subjects from the changing nature of The Queen Elizabeth 1st portraits to architecture, from asylum seekers to natural history and law.

In addition to the popular interest groups which are as diverse as creative writing, languages, science, bridge and walking U3A members from East Suffolk also run 4 different groups on current issues, but "we do not have a lecturer, so we talk about political, social, philosophical issues ourselves", says Peter Dawes, who is currently vice-chair of U3A in Suffolk. "We were pleased to find out that one of our MEPs could sponsor a visit to the European Parliament".

Patricia Dowding, who is the secretary of the U3A in East Suffolk and tutors a course on "Family History - tracing your ancestors" says, "Even though I travelled across much of the Western Europe, I feel I know so little about the European Parliament. The Press in the UK is cynical about it, there is a belief in the UK that the British implement EU rules, but they ignore them in other countries. So I wanted to understand what it actually did and what difference it makes to our lives". 

When the U3A group arrived, they were told that their lecturer was stuck in the train and couldn't be there in time. Did that mean they were left without an introductory lecture? When their sponsor MEP Andrew Duff showed up, he saved the day.

Andrew Duff MEP has been a Member of the European Parliament for 10 years, so he was quite capable of giving the introductory lecture, but also "He talked a lot about what he had done, explained that we have 7 MEPs, who represent our part of the world", says Peter. Richard Howitt MEP also joined a bit later. "They were very open and frank with us".

"Because one of the MEPs talking to us was Liberal Democrat, another - Labour, we asked them about the political groupings. We are used to having one majority party, so European groupings seem rather unusual to me", recounts Peter. "We asked questions about the finances of the European Union. Its accounts do not get signed off, so we have concerns about corruption", mentions Patricia.

"Andrew Duff told us that British MEPs are often those raising the biggest concerns about the misuse of EU funds". He also explained that it is the main source of British negativity towards EU and one of the most important issues, which has to be addressed very quickly.

The U3A students at the European Parliament

They noticed that the MEPs are good at explaining, that they are enthusiastic about what they are doing.

Part of the visit enabled the members of the U3A in East Suffolk to listen in at a plenary session, on this occasion it concerned the Greek crisis. Most were amazed with the simultaneous translation. Peter says he was struck "how effectively you could listen to the debate, even though there are people from different countries speaking".

It was encouraging for the U3A members to find "how many younger women MEPs there are". Is that a good sign? They thought so. "This visit made us rethink some things. When we left we had a more positive view of what and how the European Parliament does things. Now we feel in a better position to discuss initiatives", says Patricia. She suggested that they will be focusing more on news about the European Parliament, but from a range of different sources.

The membersof the U3A in East Suffolk were very impressed with their visit. First, because it was interesting to visit Brussels. Second, it was a social outing: they got to learn not only about the EU institutions, but also more about each other. Now they are looking for an MEP to sponsor a second visit in 2011 as other members are keen to find out more about the European Parliament. 

Kristina Moskalenko