In December 2024, a small group decided to form a new U3A in Christchurch. This was to meet a growing need in the Mt Pleasant, Opawa, St Martins, Beckenham suburbs where growing waiting lists for other U3As was resulting in people having to wait several years in order to be able to join.The group comprised Yvonne Boulton, Roger Chapman, Vivienne Allan, Caroline Carlton and Lyn Russell. We placed a small advertisement in the local suburban newspaper alongside an article explaining what we intended to do, and arranged to have our first meeting in February 2025 at St Marks Anglican Church on Opawa Road. We had no expectations as to numbers and as a result we were astonished and delighted to see so many men and women arrive and eager to become members. We were assisted by U3As Pegasus and Porthills some of whose members transferred to Ōpāwaho. Within a year we had reached capacity membership, a validation of the founder members’ decision to establish the 18th U3A in Canterbury.
