Limber up with Joan, Relax with Michele

Joan Conran and Michele Ryan

• 📅Monday, April 28, 2025
• 🕥10:30 - 12:00
• 🏟Zoom Meeting(map)

Join Joan and Michele with your weights, mats, resistance bands and water in the comfort of your own home each Monday at 10.30 a.m. These online weekly classes are proving hugely popular with so many of our members. Classes ceased for the summer months, but they have resumed since 30th September 2024. A Zoom link will then be sent each week to all paid-up members.

Let us know by email at u3alimerick@gmail.com if you want to be a member. The annual membership fee is €20 per person. Membership is from 31st August to 1st September. Membership is currently closed (January to September 2025) and we are creating a waiting list. The contact for paying is Maura Turner at maura.turner1@gmail.com. If you have difficulty finding the €20, just let Maura know.

Joan Conran, a U3A member, is an experienced fitness instructor and qualified to work with older folk. She will work on issues of mobility, strength and balance designed to ease your limbs and muscles safely into action.

Michele Ryan, another U3A member, is an experienced Yoga teacher and will offer a guided deep relaxation to complement the physical exercises. For this you will need somewhere comfortable to lie or sit on.

Donal Ryan, Acclaimed Irish Writer

• 📅Wednesday, May 14, 2025
• 🕥14:30 - 16:00
• 🏟UL Access Campus, Unit G, LEDP, Roxboro Road (map)

Guided Tour of Spike Island

• 📅Thursday, May 22, 2025
• 🕥12:00 - 16:30

Prepare to be transported back in time as you navigate through centuries of Irish history. Located in the heart of Cork Harbour, Spike Island holds a significant place in Irish history, having served as a military fortress and a notorious prison.

Discover the stories of the captains and convicts, sinners and saints who once inhabited the island. Join a guided tour with one of the expert storytellers, explore interactive museums, exhibitions and immersive experiences.

Spike Island boasts breathtaking natural scenery, providing a stunning backdrop to our visit – embark on the scenic walking trails around the island taking in unparalleled view of Cork Harbour.

The M.V. Plassey Shipwreck

Michael Kirwan

• 📅Wednesday, June 11, 2025
• 🕥14:30 - 16:00
• 🏟UL Access Campus, Unit G, LEDP, Roxboro Road (map)

The MV Plassey or Plassy is best known as the wreck seen on the foreshore of ‘Craggy Island’ in the TV comedy, Father Ted. But how did this cargo ship in the Irish Merchant Service, operating during the 1950s end up a wreck on Inisheer, Aran Islands.

Michael Kirwan will tell the intriguing story of the vessel’s history, to how she ran into Finnis Rock on her last voyage in March 1960. What cargo she was carrying at the time, who were the men on board and who rescued the entire crew from the stricken vessel.

Michael Kirwan. Qualified as a Radio Officer in 1974 at the Marine Radio School, Limerick. He spent six years at sea in the Merchant Navy traveling around the world. After that he spent thirty-seven years working in air traffic communication on the North Atlantic for the Irish Aviation Authority.

This talk is for U3A members only and we ask that you arrive at 2.15 to ensure a prompt start at 2.30. Don’t forget your ‘keep cup’ for the cuppa and chat after the talk…..

Visit to Japanese Gardens and National Stud

• 📅Thursday, June 19, 2025
• 🕥11:30 - 15:30

Our wonderful Events committee are planning another exciting outing for U3A Limerick members…….a tour of the Japanese Gardens and National Stud on Thursday 19th June next. Keep the date in your diary for details of the outing.

THE JAPANESE GARDENS

Are renowned throughout the world and the finest of their kind in Europe, are far more than simply a treat for the eye. They also provide comfort to the soul, achieving exactly the objective that was set out when the gardens were created between 1906 and 1910. Devised by Colonel William Hall Walker, a wealthy Scotsman from a famous brewing family, the gardens were laid out by Japanese master horticulturist Tassa Eida and his son Minoru. Their aim was, through trees, plants, flowers, lawns, rocks and water, to symbolise the ‘Life of Man’.

That plan was executed to perfection and Eida’s legacy is now admired by the 120,000 visitors who soak up the peace of the gardens every year. Very much representative of Japanese gardens from the early 20th century, Eida’s work traces the journey of a soul from oblivion to eternity and portrays the human experience of its embodiment as it journeys by paths of its own choice through life. Birth, childhood, marriage, parenthood, old age, death and the afterlife are all brought to mind as the gardens, a seamless mixture of Eastern and Western cultures, are explored.

THE IRISH RACEHORSE EXPERIENCE

Since the Irish began telling stories horses and horse racing have been at the heart of our culture. The enduring question has always been who has the fastest horse?

Journey through the history of horse racing. Brought to life like never before. The Irish Racehorse Experience takes the visitor on a journey through the rich history and heritage of the Irish thoroughbred sector, from the world’s very first steeplechase in Cork to today’s commercial success story where Ireland and the Irish diaspora continue to lead the world in breeding, training and racing.

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Sean Curtin, Limerick Author

• 📅Wednesday, September 10, 2025
• 🕥14:30 - 16:00
• 🏟UL Access Campus, Unit G, LEDP, Roxboro Road (map)

RELIVING memories of the past is something of an expertise for photographic author, Sean Curtin.

The Limerick man has released volume 22 of his ever-popular series, A Stroll Down Memory Lane.