Our next monthly meeting will now be held on Friday, 26th September, 10.30am in the O Fiaich Library, Moy Rd, Armagh. We have had to postpone the meeting as many members will be unable to attend due to a funeral on the 19th.

There will be the usual coffee and biscuits (£1 in the basket please).

The guest speaker will be a representative from Air Ambulance NI.

A collection will be taken for this very worthwhile charity at the meeting.

We are exploring the possibility of restarting an Italian class but this would be dependent upon attracting sufficient numbers. If you are interested please let a committee member know at the meeting.

Our June meeting ( the last one before summer break during July & August) will be held in the Cardinal O’Fiaich Library, Moy Road, Armagh on Friday 20th June at 10.30am. 

Our speaker will be Clive Wright, poet and native of Armagh who now lives in Scotland.

Clive Wright was born in Armagh in 1954 and his career as a poet dates from 1971. A past prize winner at the Irish Writers Week in Listowel, his work has been published in a wide variety of journals and periodicals in Britain as well as Ireland.

He was closely associated with the Chester Poets and having moved to Scotland he was appointed Makar of the City of Stirling, leading
to the publication of his collection Faces of the Rock. He has had a number of series of lyric poems set to music by composers to create song cycles (Tom David Wilson, Dorothee Eberhardt – Lutz) , and these have been performed in venues such as Stlrling Chapel Royal, the Younger Hall St Andrews and also in Germany in Augsburg.

These poems of Clive’s are collected from his life as an Irish poet , and the works reflect not only his native Ulster but all parts of the island. He wishes the reader as much pleasurein the reading of them as he has had in the writing.

SUBSCRIPTION 2025/2026 – The U3a subscription for the year 01/04/25 –31/03/26 is now due in the sum of £20 per member.

This can be paid by cheque, online bank transfer or in cash. Payment can be made in person at the AGM or if paying by Bank Transfer here are the details: 

Ulster Bank Ltd  Account name:- ARMAGH & DISTRICT U3A 

Ac No 12890474 

Sort code 98 01 90   

Remember to add your name to the payment reference to allow us to identify who the payment is from.

 The committee has decided that due to the Easter Holiday there will be NO meeting in April. The AGM will now be held on Friday 16^th May at 10.30 in the O’Fiaich Library.

There are vacancies on the committee. If you would like to be considered for election to the committee you need to be proposed and seconded by any existing members of Armagh U3a (an email will suffice). Please send (email) replies to armagh.u3a@gmail.com by the 25^th April and if you have any queries I’m happy to help.

The Speaker for our monthly meeting on Friday 21st March at 10.30am in the O Fiaich Library will be Professor Leanne McCormick who is Co-Chair of the Truth Recovery Independent Panel which is looking into the workings of Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalen Laundries and  Workhouses. She will speak about the history of the various institutions as well as the work of the Panel.

You will recall that Professor McCormick, along with her colleague, Professor Elaine Farrell, gave a talk on ‘Bad Bridget’ which was both informative and entertaining.

You can find out more about the work of the panel at: https://www.independentpanel.truthrecoveryni.co.uk/

We are happy to announce that the collection taken up at last month’s meeting for the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust raised £715.

We are holding our regular February meeting in the Cardinal O’Fiaich Library, Moy Road, Armagh on next Friday, 21st February. 

Coffee and biscuits will be available from 10.30 onwards (£1 inthe basket please!)

Our speaker will be by Colin Bell, from the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust.

For more information about the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust see their website at https://kbrtrust.com/about-kbrt/