Welcome!

Around Chesham by Lalage Smyth, member of the Photography and Digital Imaging Groups

Welcome to the website of Chess Valley u3a

Operating in and around Chesham in Buckinghamshire, we offer a wide range of activities for those in their ‘third age’, when they are no longer working full time and are able to pursue other interests.

Our members take part in activities ranging from Art to Wildlife, with books, dinghy sailing, French, history and a lot more in between.

We also arrange visits to places of interest and, each month, have a General Meeting, open to all members, with a very diverse variety of interesting speakers.

Our next General Meeting is on Thursday 12th August, at 2pm, when William French ('William the Butler') will present Butler to Royalty. William served in the Royal Navy, including on the Royal Yacht Britannia. On leaving the service, he worked as a butler for several families, including the Rothschilds, for Lord Rothermere, for a Saudi prince, for Nicole Kidman and several others. William is donating his fee to Medical Detection Dogs. Our current plan is for this to be a live meeting at the Broadway Baptist Church but this depends on the loosening of government regulations and on what requirements the Church may have.

If you are not currently a member of Chess Valley u3a, and would like to sample a General Meeting and learn more about us, please come along on 12th August and you will receive a warm welcome.

Special arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic

From Monday 17th May, groups of up to six people or two households of any size can meet indoors and this has enabled some of our smaller Activity Groups to resume face-to-face meetings. Larger groups can also meet indoors if they fall into the category of organised sport/exercise. Many of our Groups have continued to meet using Zoom and other social media. More information about what is happening can be found in the ‘Groups’ pages of this website and also in our newsletter, which can be found under the ‘Members’ tab. The government's plan is for these restrictions to be lifted from 19th July but some Groups have chosen to delay meeting face-to-face for a couple of months to see how things settle down.

In the meantime, best wishes and stay safe.

James Cadle

Chair, Chess Valley u3a