HGS U3A Monthly Talks

Our monthly talks are held at the HGS Free Church, North Square, London NW11 7AG. Doors open at 14:30, and the talk begins promptly at 15:00, concluding at 16:00. The venue is fully accessible, with disabled toilet facilities available. We look forward to welcoming you.

Group Activities

For information about regular group activities, please see the A-Z list of groups and groups listed by day.

  • And The Cello Came Too — A Story of Survival

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Award-winning journalist and broadcaster Robin Lustig discusses his new book And The Cello Came Too, in which he tells the story of his German Jewish family, starting with his earliest ancestors in 14th century Nuremberg, taking in rabbis and scholars in the nineteenth century, their persecution under the Nazis and the family’s eventual rebirth after …

  • Monthly Talk: A Beginning, a Muddle & an End—Where do Novelists Get their Ideas?

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Drawing on the experience of many well-known authors, in an entertaining, informative talk, Bobbie Darbyshire will explain how, from a few sketchy initial ideas and the wide variety of inspirational sources available to us all, invention gradually stimulates more invention to produce a novel. Readers and non readers will gain new insight into the creative …

  • AGM & Monthly Talk: Food and Nutrition to Optimise Healthy Ageing

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Please join us for our Annual General Meeting followed by an engaging, down-to-earth talk, designed especially for an older audience. The formal notification, with the agenda, and resolutions to be voted on can be downloaded here. You must be a current member of HGS u3a to attend the AGM. Please register your intention to attend …

  • Monthly Talk: The Magic of Entertainment: Fun, Wonder and Surprise

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Discover the enduring appeal of magic as a performing art in this lively and entertaining talk. Explore how magic has captivated audiences through the ages, remains popular in modern entertainment, and can also support learning, therapy and personal development. Expect insight, enjoyment and a little wonder along the way. Harold Straker is an award-winning magician …

  • New Members Tea

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Please join us for our New Members Tea at the HGS Free Church in North Square, a friendly gathering to meet fellow members and chat to organisers and find out more about u3a events and activities. You are welcome to come even if you are not a new member. To help us know how many …

  • Monthly Talk: How Artists Change Art History

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Photo credit: Cristina Schek This engaging talk by Estelle Lovatt unlocks the ideas and creative methods behind some of the world’s greatest artworks. The talk explores how master artists reshaped art history—period after period, “ism” after “ism”—from the Renaissance to Contemporary Art. Expect Leonardo, Rembrandt, Manet, Picasso, Rothko and Tracey Emin, among others. It also …

  • Monthly Talk: Artificial Intelligence: Your Free, Expert Digital Assistant

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Already in your life — and easier to use than you think AI is already reshaping your world — and you've been using it longer than you think. Now, free tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini put extraordinary capability at your fingertips: planning holidays, solving household technical problems, for some, even optimising your energy bills. …

  • Festive Tea

    Alyth North Western Reform Synagogue, London, Select, United Kingdom

    Join us for our annual Festive Tea and enjoy a warm and welcoming afternoon of entertainment and seasonal cheer. It’s a lovely opportunity to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and share in the festivities together. If you would like to attend the Festive Tea, please fill in the following form:

    £5.00
  • Monthly Talk: Ocean Liner Adventures — A Teenager’s Life at Sea in the 1950s in Photographs and Stories

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    At just 16, Ivan Berg left the drab streets of post-war London to join the British Merchant Navy. Armed with a camera, he recorded his adventures at sea. Seventy years later, he restored those remarkable photographs, bringing to life the glamour of ocean liner travel in the 1950s. Ivan Berg is an author, journalist and …

  • Monthly Talk: Where You Eat is Who You Are

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    A History of Restaurants with a Serving of Snobbery, Theatrics and Insolvency Restaurants have never been just places to eat. Steven Fogel examines what dining rooms reveal about ambition, class, hierarchy, celebrations, power and the English on display. From post-war austerity to Michelin stars, he takes a wry look at front-of-house snobbery, staff hierarchy, tipping, …

  • Monthly Talk: Whatever Happened to Our Language?

    HGS Free Church North Square, London

    Clichés, platitudes, absence of meaning and poor delivery in today’s spoken communication Why is it that those involved in public speaking, particularly those whose job it is to present programmes on radio and television, as well as those taking part, tend to fall into patterns of largely meaningless language? The talk looks at these patterns, …