u3a Bury St Edmunds

A Further Wine Interest Group
2025-10-16 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-20 17:00 - 18:30 (Europe/London) | Member’s Home
Due to ongoing popular demand, a third Wine Appreciation Interest Group has started.
This group is capped at 10 due to it being hosted at a member’s home and to allow everyone to be involved and participate in the discussions during the tastings.
We will sample 6 wines each month, with group members taking it in turn to select, research and bring the wine for the monthly tasting.
Members will each bring their own tasting glasses, and all costs are shared with a cap of £12 per head each month to cover the cost of the wines.

Cribbage
2025-11-05 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-11-12 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-11-19 12:00 - 15:00, 2025-11-26 12:00 - 15:00 | The Manger, The Street, Bradfield Combust, IP30 0LW
Meet up, have a coffee, play several hands of crib (cards and boards provided), have lunch and then go home.
Games can comprise of 2, 3 or 4 players.
We are a convivial group of people who enjoy playing Crib, with life stories to tell/ exchange.
The morning starts with coffee before playing groups sort themselves out, arranging in tables of 3 or 4 players.
Play is much fun and very lively, interrupted only by ample lunch served in quality and quantity.
Never had a dull session yet.
This group is now full. If you would like to be added to the waiting list please email the Group Leader.
When we meet: 12 noon on Wednesdays, fortnightly. (Please contact me for actual dates)

Bridge
2025-11-06 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-13 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-20 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-27 10:00 - 12:00 | The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3FD, United Kingdom
We are a friendly mixed ability group with about 40 people attending each week. We can accommodate a few more people and you do not need to bring a partner as you will always get a game. We meet upstairs at The Apex.
There is no charge but members are encouraged to buy a drink from The Apex Coffee Shop.

Canasta
2025-11-07 13:45 - 16:30, 2025-11-21 13:45 - 16:30 | The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3FD, United Kingdom
Canasta originated in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1939.
Initially, you make melds of 3 cards of the same value which you build on to make a Canasta (7 cards). Cards have different values according to their face value. The purpose of the game is to reach 5,000 points. The more points you score, the more card values you need to put in an initial meld – in other words, you are handicapped. This is what makes the game interesting.
I have a copy of the Canasta card game that we would follow because I know that there are several different ways to play.
Beginners and new members are always welcome.

Chess
2025-11-10 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-17 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-11-24 10:00 - 12:00, 2025-12-01 10:00 - 12:00 | The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3FD, United Kingdom
The chess group is for people of all abilities; from absolute beginners to Russian 12 year olds!
We’re a friendly bunch who don’t take chess too seriously. Instruction/guidance provided if required.
Boards and pieces provided. No fees.
Why not come along and check us out? Just turn up if that suits you

Canasta Group 2
2025-11-10 13:45 - 16:30, 2025-11-24 13:45 - 16:30 | The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3FD, United Kingdom

Scrabble
2025-11-10 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-11-17 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-11-24 14:00 - 16:00, 2025-12-01 14:00 - 16:00 | The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3FD, United Kingdom
There’s not really any organising to do. We turn up with our boards and word books and get on with it!
We gather on Monday afternoons, 2 till 4 on the mezzanine floor at the Apex.
For further information please contact the organiser.

Cribbage Tuesday Group
2025-11-11 12:30 - 16:00 | The Fox Inn, 1, Eastgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1XX, United Kingdom
An oversubscription of this popular interest group triggered the creation of this new Cribbage: Tuesday group
Although now at a different venue, we follow a similar format. organising into groups of 2,3 or 4 to play rounds of cribbage over good food with friendly people. Boards are provided. All are welcome whether novice or veteran.
Please contact the organiser to confirm dates and availability.

General Quiz
2025-11-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Oddfellows Hall, Whiting Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1NX, United Kingdom
This is a very sociable group which meets every month.
Ordinarily, you work in a small team. No prizes. No losers. Just light-hearted sociable fun with 10 rounds of quickfire questions and answers.
98% of all questions are answered by someone so don’t be shy; come and check us out.
If you’ve got the answers to most of the questions and you’ve had fun then I’ve done my job.
The quiz format has been changed somewhat, so you should see some improvements, it’s still all fairly light-hearted fun!
Please be sure to allow time to buy a drink before we start at 10am.
We meet at the Oddfellows Hall, on Whiting Street, Refreshments available. Admission is free although we do ask for a voluntary donation to Parkinsons UK.

Lunch Group 2
2025-11-18 12:30 - 14:00
A second Lunch Group has been set up for people who enjoy socialising and eating!
We plan to visit venues in Bury St Edmunds and its surrounding areas, not too far out of town. We may car share to some venues.
Locations of meetings will be notified to group members.
The group is now full please contact Jill to be added to the wait list.

Archers Appreciation Group
2025-11-19 10:00 - 11:30 | Member’s Home
We are a friendly social group bonding over a Radio 4 programme woven into British culture for 75 years and which continues in popularity.
There are an abundance of storylines and topics discussed in our coffee morning style format. We laugh, speculate about plot lines and characters. We share our experiences where themes from the programme overlap our lived experience.
We are currently fully subscribed. A waiting list will be maintained.

The Other Wine Group
2025-11-19 16:00 - 18:00 | Member’s Home
Due to popular demand a second Wine Appreciation Interest Group has started.
This group is now full. Please contact the group organiser if you’d like to be added to the waiting list. Plus you can complete the form on Joining a new group of the same subject, click here. Join another wine group
We have capped the group at 12-13 to allow everyone to be involved and contribute in the discussions during the tastings.
We sample wines from the primary styles of wine to the more unusual from the top wine producing countries to the lesser known from around the world.
We sample 6-7 wines each month. We take turns to volunteer (if they want) to research and bring the wine one month and guidance on groups of wine to sample can be provided.
All costs are shared, and we each pay £12 per head covering the cost of wines.

Photography
2025-11-20 14:30 - 16:30 | Thomas Clarkson Centre, Hospital Road, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3JT
Open to all levels of experience. The desire to improve your photography skills could range from the desire to capture memories through to learning more artistic or creative techniques.
Are you interested to learn along side each other or have an interest in a particular form of photography, whether it be for your holidays snaps, or landscape, portrait, family occasions, animals, pets, wildlife, insects, buildings, objects, flowers, street, sport, black & white, macro, or just to feel more confident taking photos?
Come along regardless of the type of camera you have whether it is on your mobile phone, instant, bridge or SLR camera.
There is no expectation that anyone is an expert who has to teach the others, the philosophy behind u3a is that we learn from each other – and preferably have fun too.
New members with any level of experience are welcome.
There is a small cost to each member to cover the cost of the room hire at £10 per 3-month term (£3.33/month).
Browse through a selection of our members photos with our newly created viewing platform
Plus a field trip once a month – usually the first Thursday of the month. Please contact the Group Leader for details.
New members are welcome to come along and check us out at at no cost.

Cryptic Crosswords
2025-11-24 14:00 - 16:00 | The Apex, Charter Square, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3FD, United Kingdom
We are a group exploring and developing our skills in Cryptic Crosswords. Solving abilities in the group range from the novice to more experienced solvers.
The group is led by John Moody, an experienced cryptic crossword solver, blogger and compiler. John is a Times Crossword Championship semi-finalist, leader of the crossword blogging site “Times for The Times” and founding compiler and editor of the Weekend Quick Cryptic Crossword series.
People who are keen to learn are as welcome as those who have some existing knowledge. Please contact the organiser if you would like to join us.

Lunch Group 1
2025-11-25 12:00 - 15:00
We are a group of people who enjoy socialising and eating!
We meet on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 12.00 at a previously agreed venue for lunch. The venue for the following meeting is decided by those present giving everyone a chance to participate and introduce us to new places. It is planned that venues will be in Bury and surrounding areas not too far out of town.
The group is now full please contact the group organiser to be added to the wait list.
