Introduction

Limebrook u3a’s History Group has now been running for eight years and has almost 50 people on its mailing list. We usually get between 12 and 20 people on our visits to places of historical interest in the surrounding area. Depending on the trip we usually travel by car share; if feasible and appropriate we also use public transport.

We seek to organise interesting trips to new venues and, where sufficient time has elapsed for our current membership, to ‘old favourites’ too; we prefer venues where we can have a private, guided tour - indeed, some venues may not normally be open to the general public.

Our trips over the past couple of years (organised by our predecessor, Mike) have included (in the London area) Apsley House, Inner & Middle Temple, Trinity House and Crossness Pumping Station (preserved in its Victorian era splendour in the middle of a modern-day sewage treatment works!).

Closer to home we have visited the Purfleet Museum and Rainham Hall, Braintree Museum and Textile Museum, Landguard Fort at Felixstowe, Prittlewell Priory and Southchurch Hall (Southend), New Hall School (Chelmsford), and Little Hall, Lavenham.

This year (2026) we are again underway with a full programme of visits, our first having been to Colchester Castle (a location which, despite its proximity to Maldon, several members had never visited), and to the Essex Record Office, where we were treated to a guided tour which included inspection of archive documents and maps from the Maldon area.

We have firm arrangements to visit other venues of historical interest this year, and others currently ‘in the pipeline’ will take us into 2027. We circulate information to members who are on our History Group mailing list - if you are not already a member you will find up-to-date information on proposed trips in the monthly newsletter and on our board at the monthly meetings which, we hope, will tempt you to join. 

To contact us please use the link at the top of this History Group page or track us down at a monthly meeting.

We look forward to your interest.

Paul, Susan and Jill

Limebrook u3a History Group Co-ordinators

In addition…

We keep an eye open for information on history-related talks which might interest you. These are arranged by other organisations, i.e not Limebrook u3a, so please make contact directly on an individual basis with them. Some organisations and their weblinks are:

The Historical Association, Essex branch, which organises talks in the Autumn to Spring period:

• Their Essex branch: Essex Branch Programme / Historical Association and
• Their national website: Historical Association 

The Essex Record Office (ERO) runs a programme of events and talks:

• Their events webpage: Essex Record Office   

The Combined Military Services Museum runs a monthly, varied programme of talks:

• Their ‘Tea and Talk’ webpage: Tea & Talk Club 2026 – Dates for your diary – Combined Military Services Museum  

Some photos from our recent trips: