We are delighted that Jenny Harper will be our guest speaker on Tuesday 14 April. Jenny is the former Director of the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. She retired in 2018 after 12 years during which she watched the gallery being overtaken by Civil Defence and the Earthquake Recovery Authority as the only building that had the foundation strength and capacity in the inner city to withstand the ongoing earthquakes. Jenny has spent a large part of her working life involved in the arts. She spent 12 years at Victoria University where she developed the art history department, becoming head of a larger school of art history, classics and religious studies in 2000 and Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Academic) in 2003. Jenny has always been an ardent supporter of Aotearoa New Zealand’s exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, and was appointed commissioner in 2009, 2011 and 2013. This year, Creative New Zealand has commissioned the Christchurch Art Gallery to develop and effectively present New Zealand's installation at the Biennale. It is an exciting project involving New Zealand artists. Jenny says, she understands as well as anyone, the ‘crazy challenges and great rewards of presenting art in this amazing city.’ This year, the Biennale will run from 9 May to 22 November and will be the highlight of the Venetian summer.
Our guest speaker is Professor Richard Jones who will talk to us about the importance of sleep. Richard is 'mostly retired' but remains an Adjunct Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Professor in Psychology at University of Canterbury. Until December last year, he was Director of the Christchurch Neurotechnology Research Programme based in the NZ Brain Research Institute. He was also a biomedical engineer & neuroscientist in Medical Physics & Bioengineering at Christchurch Hospital, and also a Research Professor in Medicine at University of Otago, Christchurch. His research interests and contributions fall largely within neural engineering and the neurosciences, particularly within: Human performance engineering – Computerised tests for quantification of upper-limb function, cognitive function, and driving ability, particularly focused on brain disorders such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and stuttering. Lapses of responsiveness - Microsleeps and attention lapses - Adverse effects on brain of Obstructive sleep apnea - Forensic brainwave analysis
Our speaker for our first meeting in 2026 will be Caroline Harvie-Teare, Chief Executive of Venues Otautahi. She will talk to us about the new stadium which is due to open in April and what events are planned for that venue during the year.
Jane Mahoney talking about the movie "Maurice and I". As this is likely to be a very popular event we will need to know numbers to assist with catering so please click on READ MORE to reserve your seat.
The rebuild of Christchurch South Library will be of interest to everyone who is currently getting their library books from the Colombo Centre, and who is looking forward to a new building to house everything that was there before and more, including the cafe, meeting rooms and children's corner. Rosie Levi will bring us up to date with all these changes. Rosie has been the acting Head of Libraries & Information since May 2025, with overall responsibility for leading the planning and delivery of public library services for Christchurch City and Banks Peninsula. She has 15 years of experience in Libraries and has been in various roles during those years, including leading Programme teams and embedding the services on the Auahatanga floor in Tūranga. Her most recent highlight has been working together with council colleagues to deliver the popular Matatiki Hornby facility. Until May 2025, Rosie Levi was the Community Libraries A Manager, the libraries in her portfolio included: Linwood, Matuku Takotako: Sumner, Spreydon, Te Hāpua, Hornby, South, Upper Riccarton, Lyttelton, Little River, Akaroa and Diamond Harbour.
Our guest speaker was well known Christchurch physiotherapist Antony Bush. His topic was ‘Movement is Medicine – the Importance of Movement and Activity on Pain, Happiness & Longevity.’ A previous NZ Winter Olympic Team Physiotherapist, Antony has treated Olympic Gold Medalist rowers, alpine skiers, world championship triathletes and members of the All Blacks. He is a passionate advocate for getting people away from their smart phones and computer screens and moving about in the great outdoors. He poses the big question: ‘why is back pain the world’s greatest disability? How does movement and strength affect our pain, happiness and mortality.’ Antony attracted a large audience and he encouraged us all to begin with 10 squats as part of his introduction. He used slides and quotes to illustrate the importance of maintaining a good level of fitness while recognising and appreciating that most of his audience was over 70. 'Life, he said, quoting Albert Einstein, ' is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.' Backpain is recognised as the leading cause of disability throughout the world. One of the reasons is our lifestyle, mindset and behaviour. Movement, Antony says, is medicine.
We are privileged to welcome landscape photographer Andris Apse as our guest speaker on Tuesday 9 September. He is legendary among Kiwi photographers, produced several books and held many exhibitions of his work. During a career spanning more than thirty years, he has won many prestigious international awards and is acknowledged as one of the finest wilderness photographers in the world. His work has been reproduced in the New York Times, National Geographic, New Zealand Geographic, Time and Newsweek, among many other publications. In 2010, he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for his work. Andris has also published an array of books, including the phenomenally successful New Zealand Landscapes which has sold more than 150,000 copies, Pounamu - The Jade of New Zealand (with Russell Beck and Maika Mason), Spirit of the South, a stunning tribute to the South Island, and most recently, the pocket-sized Southern New Zealand Landscapes. There will be an opportunity to purchase his books if you would like to. Andris’s approach to his photography is possibly unique in this digital age. His method is very interesting, as are the risks he takes to get what he wants. We are delighted that he has agreed to talk to us about his adventures, and to see his beautiful images is an absolute treat not to be missed.
Daniel is the Managing Director of ITStuffed, a Christchurch IT consultancy business that focuses on online security. He will speak about internet scams, security online and the things we can individually do, to recognise and reduce our online risk. Daniel gave a great presentation alerting us to the pitfalls of being online; the various scams currently circulating and advice on what to do if we fall victim. He has also included some useful reference points in his slideshow for us.
Our mid-winter lunch will be a time to enjoy good food and good company, to celebrate our first six months as a new U3A group in Christchurch, and to make plans for the remainder of the year. We look forward to seeing our members at the Club Redcliffs.
Professor Ryan has a strong national and international research involvement in the sub-disciplines of sports history and the social history of alcohol in New Zealand. He is recognised as a leader in advancing the discipline of sports history in New Zealand and is now developing a similar niche within the history of alcohol. In late 2023 he published a major history of beer and brewing in New Zealand. Prior to that, with a co-author, he published the first substantial academic social history of sport in New Zealand. He is the Managing Editor of The International Journal of the History of Sport and on the editorial boards, and reviews for, other leading international journals. His talk to our U3A will be on the history of alcohol in New Zealand.
Mark Soltero is an artist living and working in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. Mark holds an MFA – Dunedin School of Art, a B.Design – Ara Institute of Canterbury and a PGDipTchg, Art & Art History – NZGSE. Mark is a member of Art Associates Aotearoa collective. He was awarded the inaugural Head of School Award for Excellence in Post-Graduate Drawing from the Dunedin School of Art in 2014. He has been a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards three times, twice a finalist in the Adam Portraiture Award. Mark has exhibited at the Centre of Contemporary Art (2009, 2018-2019), ArtsPost Waikato Museum (2011), Chambers Art Gallery (2019, 2021, 2023) and Ashburton Art Gallery (2021).
On Tuesday 8th April we welcomed Diane Turner. Diane is the Director of the Office for Seniors. 'We are all ageing. It matters to all of us that New Zealand is a place where we have the opportunity to age positively and well.' Diane holds a BSC (Waikato) and an MBA (Massey). She spent two years with CERA as Deputy Chief Executive of Recovery Strategy and then three years with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Her address attracted a large audience keen to learn more about the Office and its work. Diane explained her role and that of her 11-member team which is currently working to implement the 'Better Later Life' strategy 2019-2034. The five elements are: Achieving financial security and economic participation, Promoting healthy ageing and improving access to services, Creating diverse housing choices and options, Enhancing opportunities for participation and social connection, Making environments accessible. Diane also talked about the UN designated Decade of Healthy Ageing 2021-2030 and the key components: Combatting ageism, age-friendly environments, integrated care and long-term care. Many of the Office of Seniors' strategies are complementary to the UN's goals.
On Friday 4 April, we welcomed the Minister for the South Island Hon James Meager who gave an address on his portfolio and the work that needs to be done to highlight and promote the southern regions. He was invited by our Current Affairs Group which has a mandate to discuss and debate everything from politics to religion and everything in between. Importantly, the Minister stressed the population gap between north and south and at the same time the level of exports particularly agriculture (including horticulture and viticulture) that come from the south. His 20 minute address included some of the key issues including the poor state of some of the bridges particularly on SH1 and the amount of time it takes when detours are required. Part of his brief is to meet with local authorities and runanga to discuss their issues and what they perceive the solutions to be. His presentation is included in the link below.
This month's speaker is Roger Chapman who will present a pictorial view of what our blood looks like. He trained as a Medical Laboratory Scientist in Pathology at Christchurch Hospital specialising in Haematology. On qualification he worked in Melbourne for 5 years before returning to the private pathology sector in Christchurch working at Medlab South. Later in his career he changed his focus from lab testing to managing lab IT systems. In semi retirement he has provided IT Management services in the Intellectual Disability sector as well as being an Operations Manager for the CDHB during the Covid-19 response. He has been a member at U3A Pegasus with a committee role of IT advisor until the formation of U3A Ōpāwaho.
Christchurch Deputy Mayor, and City Councillor for the Heathcote Ward which covers from Waltham to Taylor’s Mistake. She holds the Council’s Climate Change Portfolio and her areas of interest are sustainability, climate change and enabling communities to connect and strengthen for long term wellbeing and resilience, which in many ways, are the key aspects of U3A.
