Our Monthly Meetings are the main regular event for all NLU3A members.
The meetings start with an informal gathering over tea and coffee, served from 10.00 am. The main part of the meeting – an illustrated talk by an expert in their area – starts at 10:30 and finishes around noon.
NLU3A Monthly Meetings usually take place on the second Monday of the month and are held at St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, Victoria Avenue, London N3 1BD. View map. The venue is a short walk from Finchley Central tube station, or it can be reached by buses 13, 125, 143, 326 and 460 from Hendon Lane or Regent’s Park Road.
To help manage numbers, please email meetings@nlu3a.org.uk if you are planning to attend, if possible by the Friday before the meeting.
Non-members are welcome to attend one Monthly Meeting to find out more about NLU3A. However, anyone wishing to attend more than one Monthly Meeting is required to join NLU3A.
Forthcoming events
Credit: Forest51690CWikimedia Commons
George Gershwin: Music in the heart of noise
Mon 14 Oct 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
February 2024 marked the centenary of Rhapsody in Blue, the work that earned George Gershwin (1898–1937) the title of ‘the man who made an honest woman out of jazz’. In […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Credit: Simon Inglis/Historic England
Mon 11 Nov 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
Sports and games have always been played in London. For the Tudors, it was tennis at Hampton Court and jousting at Whitehall. The Victorians established a network of sports clubs across the […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Previous events
© Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture, Middlesex University
From flocks to florals: An illustrated history of wallpaper
Mon 9 Sep 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
Often dismissed as ephemera, wallpaper is in fact a crucial contributor to the history of design. The growth of the wallpaper industry encompasses fashion, taste, society, technology – and the […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Bayeux Tapestry Museum/Wikimedia Commons
The life and times of Edward the Confessor
Mon 8 Jul 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
Born in around 1001, Edward the Confessor – England’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king – also had French heritage: William the Conqueror was a cousin. In this talk, historian Eleanor Levy will […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Wikimedia Commons
Mon 10 Jun 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
Anyone who has seen Fiddler on the Roof will have a vivid idea of the shtetl, where the story takes place. On the one hand, the shtetl is remembered sentimentally and with a nostalgic […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Where do novelists get their ideas from?
Mon 13 May 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
Have you ever wondered where fiction writers get their ideas from? In this entertaining and informative talk, Bobbie Darbyshire will explain how the complex world of character, location, plot and […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Photo Diana Clements
Beneath our feet: the geology of London
Mon 15 Apr 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
We rarely stop to think about the rocks beneath the places where we live and walk, but the science of geology can tell fascinating stories about them – from the […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
National Portrait Gallery/Wikimedia Commons
The life and times of Samuel Pepys
Mon 11 Mar 2024
10:00am - 12:00pm
Samuel Pepys lived in turbulent times – witnessing the restoration of the monarchy, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. The lively and honest way in which he […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Alien life – what are the chances?
Mon 12 Feb 2024
10:00am
The concept of alien life, for many years relegated to the realms of Science Fiction, is now mainstream. Rovers on Mars are actively looking for biological signatures, over 5000 planets […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Public domain image (CC0)
Would you like to write your own life story?
Mon 8 Jan 2024
10:00am
Have you ever thought of writing about your life – whether for your children and grandchildren, your own interest, or for posterity – but don’t know where to start? The […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
Safe travels: passport technology and border security
Mon 13 Nov 2023
10:00am
We all want to get through the airport quickly and easily when we travel to another country, but we also expect the authorities to keep the country’s borders secure. So […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
‘Fish got to swim and birds got to fly’: the story of Show Boat
Mon 9 Oct 2023
10:00am
The 1927 musical ‘Show Boat’, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, was based on Edna Ferber’s best-selling novel and covered social issues that were ground-breaking […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD
How did computers get so powerful? (Repeat)
Mon 18 Sep 2023
10:00am
Today, IT is hugely useful – and perhaps even too powerful. However, most of the inventions critical to the success of the computer came about for quite different purposes and […]
Venue: St Margaret’s United Reformed Church, N3 1BD