Learning in this season is rarely about a qualification. It is usually about curiosity that has been waiting its turn for thirty years.
Starting again, without the pressure
Adults are often reluctant to be beginners. We have spent decades being competent, and it is uncomfortable to be the person who does not yet know how.
Here, being a beginner is the point. There is no assessment, no pace to keep up with, and nobody minding whether you are any good yet.
Skills that travel well
Some things are worth learning simply because they make the years ahead richer: a language you have always wanted to speak, an instrument you gave up at fifteen, woodwork, watercolour, photography, bread, gardening, writing.
Others are more practical: understanding your pension, navigating the health service, using the technology that everyone else seems to take for granted.
Learning with others
Most of what happens here is informal. A member who knows something teaches it to a handful of others. A small group works through a book together. Someone shares what they learned the hard way.
If there is something you would like to learn, say so. Somebody in the community almost certainly knows how, or knows somebody who does.
What you will find here
- Short courses, workshops and one-off sessions
- Skills you can pick up in an afternoon
- Reading lists and recommendations
- Languages, music, making and writing
- Members willing to teach what they know
Tell us what you would like to learn next, and we will see who can help.