Burton Joyce & District u3a

Burton Joyce & District u3a hold a speaker meeting on the first Tuesday of every month in Burton Joyce & Bulcote Village Hall. Our speaker on TUESDAY 12TH MAY 2026 is TIM O’BRIEN, whose subject is “THE LAST POST AT RAF NEWTON”

Newton was one of numerous airfields built during the late 1930s as part of the UK government RAF expansion programme. It was completed in 1938 and at its peak Newton was able to accommodate 1773 males and 304 females. The airfield was a popular posting for those stationed there because of its close proximity to the city of Nottingham. In June 1940 Newton was under the control of No.1 Group Bomber Command and 103 Squadron and 150 Sqn were posted in after their return from France in July. Both squadrons were flying Fairey Battles at the time and they were held mainly in reserve for the expected invasion. They undertook numerous training tasks to prepare for this eventuality but also made a small number of night bombing raids to targets on the continent.

In October 1940 both squadrons were re-equipped with Vickers Wellington bombers. After a period of training on the new type 103 and 150 Sqns were heavily involved in bombing operations against targets, mostly in Germany and France.

Tim details the history of the base from it’s founding through the WW2 period, the post war developments and the squadrons that would call this base home. There are also accounts of the wartime missions and activity right up to it’s closure.

Visitor are welcome and can attend two meetings without any cost or obligation. Visit our website at https://bju3a.co.uk for more information.

A really interesting and entertaining talk on Tuesday 14th April about the charity Guide Dogs by Alan Barnes, who despite being completely blind delivered a 35-slide PowerPoint presentation flawlessly. His talk covered the origin, history, and development of the organisation, its breeding and training programmes, funding and costs.

Most interesting was Alan's personal "Sight Loss Journey". Having lost his sight due to a workplace incident, he was forced to leave full time employment and eventuality to accept his new circumstances and seek help. He was officially accepted onto the Guide Dogs waiting list and subsequently allocated his own guide dog, Windsor (who also attended the meeting but missed some of the talk when he fell asleep!). Alan rounded off the 45-minute talk with a couple of very funny jokes, before answering questions.

As a member of another u3a, Alan couldn't make any charge for his talk, but the audience generously donated a total of £277 to the Guide Dogs charity.

Following the presentation we enjoyed tea, coffee, and cake.

Interested in Burton Joyce & District u3a. Visit our website at www.bju3a.co.uk for more information.