The lectures are usually, but not always, held on the third Friday of the month (no lecture in August) at 11.00 am in Cinema 4 at the Showroom, Paternoster Row, Sheffield. The Showroom café is open from 9.00 am for coffee, snacks and lunches. Lectures will usually finish by 12.30 pm.
The lectures are free to all members and usually no booking is required. Greeters wearing u3a lanyards are at the door to welcome members and you may be asked for your Su3a membership number.
A voucher, obtainable from the box office, enables half price parking at Q-Park (the Cheesegrater car park) on Charles St off Arundel Gate.
The lectures are organised by Deborah Beetham and Mo Cave. Details of upcoming lectures are shown in both Links magazine and the enewsletter. We will also send out a reminder to all members a few days before the event. You can contact the organisers at chair@Su3a.org.uk
TourTalk system
The Showroom theatre does not have a loop system for hearing aids. However, Sheffield U3A have purchased a TourTalk system that can be used by both people who have hearing aids and others with slight hearing loss. We have a transmitter that is connected to the sound system and individual receivers (14) that can be used with (a) your own headphones, (b) one of our earpieces in one ear only, or (c) with a neck loop which works with a hearing aid ‘T’ position.
If you would like to use one of the devices please report to the stage of Cinema 4 at 10.50 i.e. 10 minutes before the lecture is due to start.
NB If the receiver stops working, please check that the channel number on it is 40, that you have your hearing aid set to the ‘T’ position (if applicable) and that you have adjusted the volume control on the left. To switch on and off hold the bottom right button down for a few seconds. Do not touch the other buttons.
Dates and topics for 2024
| 15 November 2024 | Sweet Remembrance: The Confectioners of Sheffield General Cemetery. Andrew Littlewood. | There are at least two confectioners buried in the cemetery which most of us will know, George Bassett and perhaps the lesser known Henry Dixon. Andrew is a researcher and a volunteer with Sheffield Cemetery Trust. He wrote the book Sweet Remembrances which is available from the Trust bookshop. |
| 13 December 2024 | The Ghostwriter. Neil Hanson. | Last Christmas Neil spoke to us about the trials and tribulations of running Englands highest and most remote inn. This time he’ll be telling us about his experiences being a ghostwriter to celebrities of stage, screen and sport. |
| January 17th 2025 | 5,000 & Counting: Exoplanets. Roy Stewart. | Exoplanets are one of the hottest areas of research in cosmology and currently it seems our solar system is very much the odd one out. |
| February 21st 2025 | Sheffield Artists in the General Cemetery. Helen Brown. | The second talk about who’s who in the general cemetery. |
| March 21st 2025 | The End of Roman Britain. Derek Barker. | |
| April 18th 2025 | Gaudi’s Barcelona Derek Bacon | The “must see” architecture that puts Barcelona on everyone’s bucket list. |
| May 16th 2025 | Bolsover, a castle in the Heart of England. Lynne Blake |
Previous Lectures
There are a number of previous lecture reviews available here.