History of Balsall Common u3a In July 2023 our Membership Secretary, Sandra Heard, and I caught up with Peter Driffield, one of the founder members of this u3a. After nearly 17 years, we thought it would be a good time to record how it all started! Peter had moved to Balsall Common, together with his late wife, Aileen, in 2005. They wished to live nearer to their son (who then worked at the University of Birmingham) and their recently arrived grandson. Peter saw a notice in the village, posted by the late Anne Santos, advising that she wanted to start a u3a group. Peter and his wife had previously been involved in various projects and voluntary organisations, so were interested in joining to integrate with the local community. Anne had already recruited Peter Westlake and they approached the President and Secretary of Dorridge u3a to get some information about the wider u3a organisation. Our founder members were Anne Santos (Chair), Peter himself (Secretary), Aileen Driffield, Peter Westlake (Treasurer) and Gill Westlake. "It was obvious that you had to take the initiative to start a group," said Peter. Notices were placed in the village and 13 people came to the first meeting in October 2006. The original enrolment fee was £10, so £130 was available to start the first year. The officers were originally committed to a maximum of 5 years' service, which is still in our constitution today. Premises in which to meet were originally secured via the priest at The Blessed Robert Grissold Catholic Church. The first committee meeting was held on 24th April 2007. The committee members at that meeting were: Anne Santos, Sheila Burdett, Peter Westlake, Peter Driffield, Godfrey Cheshire, Martin Richards and Kevin McGovern. A copy of the minutes of this meeting is available on our website. Word of mouth quickly increased membership and meetings were soon moved to The Village Hall. When Peter had completed his term as Secretary in 2011 there were 220 members. In 2017, with over 300 members, meetings were moved to St Peter's Hall. One of the first groups to be started was the Ramblers — Peter explained that this originally entailed a one-mile walk to a local pub — this later expanded into today's format of separate Ramblers and Shorter Walks groups. The Luncheon group, History, Philosophy and Bridge Groups quickly followed. The Speaker programme at the monthly Core Meetings was started within six months of the first meeting. The website was first created in 2010 by Peter Calver following a request by Anne Santos. Robert Zhilmor, the current webmaster, took over in 2022. Anne Santos remained as chair until the 2011 AGM, Mary Dawson was elected and retained the position until 2015 when she was succeeded by Jim Melville. I took over in 2021. The first publication for the membership was The Balsall Common u3a Newsletter created and edited by Peter Calver from 2012. Later, Len Tomnie took over as editor and changed the name and style to "The Sentinel". Bringing us right up-to-date, we are now recognised as one of the most vibrant u3as in the West Midlands region and, with approaching 400 members and 40 Interest Groups, we are the second largest of the 15 u3as in the Solihull area. Matthew Stephens Chair 2024 Peter Driffield and Sandra Heard in July 2023   Return To Top

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