u3a: Their Finest Hour and the u3a. Alun Edwards, 2024. Summary: u3a members around the country have been contributing to “Their Finest Hour”, an online digital archive (funded by the HLF, based at the University of Oxford) of the everyday stories and objects of the Second World War. On 6 June 2024, the free online archive was launched at http://theirfinesthour.org/ as part of the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. u3a members have kept alive important memories of the Second World War by volunteering for digital collection days, and significantly u3a members saved the final University of Oxford day in Liverpool when the venue had to be changed at the last minute,
“By ensuring the success of the event u3a members underscored their commitment to preserving and sharing the stories of the Second World War for future generations. (Dr Matthew Kidd, University of Oxford).”
Members have uploaded their own stories online, and have organised digital collections in their u3as to help their colleagues use the Internet.
“Their Finest Hour exemplifies purposeful, meaningful research and participation by u3a members”, (Maggy Simms, The Research and Shared Learning Projects Coordinator for the u3a).