This page contains short reports of previous meetings previously published in the monthly newsletters.

March 2026
At our March meeting, Rob Rowberry presented the story of Jeff Lynne from his early days in Birmingham with the Andicaps to his international success with The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). A thoroughly enjoyable series of songs showing the evolution of the “Jeff Lynne signature sound” using strings (violin and cellos) to support guitars, keyboards and drums. It was great to hear the Beatles track “Free As A Bird” that was produced by Jeff Lynne and “End of the Line” when he was a member of the Traveling Wilburys. Creeping out of the hall during the final song supposedly to meet his “special guest”, Rob reappeared wearing Jeff Lynne facemask, Birmingham City football scarf and electric guitar – a great finale to the presentation!

February 2025
At the February meeting, Malcolm Hall presented a series of songs by artists from the local area including The Applejacks, The Rockin' Berries, The Fortunes, Slade and Harry Styles (full playlist can be found in the link below). He played a clip from Britain's Got Talent in 2007 where a 6 year old Connie Talbot sang "Over the Rainbow" and was runner-up in the final for that year. He followed that with a video of Connie singing a cover of A-ha's "Take on Me" from 2025 showing her career development since the BGT show. Another well-attended meeting of 65 who enjoyed some classic and new songs.

January 2026
With another record-breaking attendance of 72, the Music in Our Time group celebrated its 10th Anniversary on Monday 12th January. Attendees were treated to a very enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment. In the first half, Steve shared a short history of the group followed by a presentation of a series of songs from the 60’s and 70’s all with a link to the number “ten”. The anniversary cake was enjoyed by all during the refreshment break. In the second half, an acoustic guitar vocal duo, called The Melancholy Brothers, entertained us with covers of well-known songs including Andrew Gold, Toto, Steely Dan, 10cc, Earth Wind & Fire and a couple of their own compositions. My thanks to everyone for making the event such a great success.

December 2025
The assembled audience of 58 were treated to a festive mix of Christmas songs, puzzles, quizzes and a fun raffle with a sing-a-long to the Twelve Days of Christmas. A very enjoyable fun session for all with notable highlights of Norman's portrayal of Emily on the receiving end of the "presents" of the twelve days of Christmas (written by John Julius Norwich) and the playing of his own composition called "The Longest Night". Other artists included Celtic Woman, ABBA, Gary Barlow, Gloria Estefan, The Carpenters and the pop stars of 1984 in Band Aid. A great afternoon's entertainment and the mince pies in the refreshment break were great as well!

November 2025
Another record-breaking attendance of 55 members. With the theme, artists and songs suggested by John Garbett, Steve presented an impressive lineup of female singers covering country, rock, pop, soul and ballads by well-known artists including, Cilla Black, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Shirley Bassey, Roberta Flack, just to name a few. Of course, there was a quiz challenge – to guess the birthplace of the artists. A very enjoyable entertaining session with great feedback from the attendees.

October 2025
With another great attendance, the group was entertained by a presentation of songs originally submitted as part of the “Top Twenty Songs of All Time”. Under the title of “The Ayes (or I’s) Have It”, Steve Prosser had selected those songs with titles that begun with “I…”, such as “I will…”, “I can…”, “I wish …”, etc. Just to add to the afternoon’s enjoyment, Steve also challenged the group to guess the songs based upon emojis and images that contained the title.

September 2025
The Music in Our Time group returned to Webheath Village Hall in large numbers following the August break. A meeting record of 49 attendees enjoyed listening to Norman Wheatley presenting “Female Songwriters of the 20th Century”. Illustrated by record label evidence and songwriting credits, Norman explained how some well-known artists made their songwriting break in the music industry. We heard about Dorothy Fields, Peggy Lee, Carole King, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon and several others. The finale of the presentation was “The Fisherman’s Song” (words and music by Carly Simon) with illustrations created especially for the meeting by one of Norman’s friends, Rob Hooper. An excellent ending to a very interesting and enjoyable session.

July 2025
At our July meeting, Rob Rowberry presented a wide selection of songs associated with sport and sporting events. The first video was the opening music from the 2012 London Olympic Games, the theme from ‘Chariots of Fire’ by Vangelis, with Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) playing a comical lead role on the keyboards. It was not long before football anthems were the topic for presentation. Having declared his support to Aston Villa (and his many AV team shirts) and having played ‘Hi Ho Aston Villa’ from the terraces at Villa Park, he paid respect (and played ‘A Little Respect’ by Erasure) to other teams especially Birmingham City! We heard a version of their anthem ‘Keep Right On’ sung in some underground caves in order to test the acoustics. There was a short quiz to identify other football teams from short clips of their anthems. Several other sport-linked songs were played and the meeting was concluded by Roy Harper’s ‘When An Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease’. It was a very enjoyable and entertaining session!

June 2025
Following some detailed research by Roy Vickers, Steve Prosser presented "The Story of The Moody Blues", the second in the series "What's the Connection", and explained how various musicians from Birmingham came together to form the legendary band. Another good attendance enjoyed hearing about some late 50's / early 60's bands around Birmingham including The Saints & Sinners Skiffle Band, El Riot & the Rebels, The Krew Kats and Denny Laine & the Diplomats. There were many videos of their performances from their early days to more recent times showing how their music evolved.

May 2025
Norman Wheatley presented "Songs With A Story Revisited" where he provided an interesting insight into the ideas and creative process behind some well-known songs. The meeting kicked off with some community singing to "After the Ball" which was delivered with surprising enthusiasm. The attendees were treated to the stories behind several songs including Hound Dog, Que Sera Sera, Strawberry Fields Forever, My Sweet Lord, Greensleeves and As Time Goes By to name a few. Great stories, professionally presented and enjoyed by all present.

April 2025
Steve Prosser described the early days of rock and roll music in 1950's America and played some well-known classics from that era including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Bill Haley. The presentation answered various questions including: Why was it called rock and roll? Who first coined the phrase rock and roll? What was the first rock and roll record? Why was it disliked by parents? An entertaining afternoon of 1950's music.

March 2025
Malcolm Hall presented an assorted collection of songs with accompanying videos. He explained that some recording artists and their agents spend a great deal of time, effort and creativity making videos to support their chart hopefuls, the cost of production sometimes outstripping the cost of the recording. It is fair to say that the assembled audience of 37 were amused, entertained and in some cases totally perplexed by the supporting videos. Another very enjoyable meeting. Check out the playlist above to download the videos.

February 2025
Rob Rowberry presented a mix of songs with links to The Emergency Services. We heard from The Police, ABBA, The Shadows, Commodores, 10cc, Tina Charles and The Beatles to name a few. Check out the playlist above for the full list of songs. There were also a number of fun quiz questions during the meeting. Another great attendance of 35. A very enjoyable and entertaining afternoon session.

January 2025
At our first meeting for 2025, Steve Prosser presented the complied list of the Redditch u3a Greatest Songs of All Time. It was great to see so many attending the meeting (44 in total) – our highest attendance ever! My thanks to everyone who shared their list of twenty songs. I received 657 votes covering 507 song titles. Where songs received an equal number of votes, they were put in alphabetical order in the final list. This also meant that there was a top 26 rather than a top 20.

December 2024
A festive mix of Christmas Music presented by Norman Wheatley and Steve Prosser. Another great turnout of 35 members enjoyed some traditional songs, some songs from lesser-known artists and some very different songs. This, together with the stories behind some of the songs (now we know why it is Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer!), made a great afternoon's entertainment. The mince pies in the refreshment break were great as well!

November 2024
John Cartmell presented “Just a Few Notes” where he challenged the bumper turnout of 34 members to recognise a tune from just a few notes played on his keyboard. There were also some interesting stories behind some of the songs and a flash mob rendition of Funiculi, Funicula (to celebrate the opening of a railway up Mount Vesuvius). A great meeting enjoyed by all present.

October 2024
Steve Prosser presented “A Halloween Story” where a group of u3a members took an imaginary journey around Redditch and their adventures were described through various songs with a ghostly, spooky theme. Some not so often heard songs included “The Purple People Eater”, “Dem (Dry) Bones”, “Monster Mash” and “My Friend the Witch Doctor” together with some classics such as “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky”, “Werewolves of London” and “Spirit in the Sky”. Some great songs, contrived links between songs and much laughter!

September 2024
All the stars were out for a musical afternoon at the Oscars! Norman Wheatley guided us through the decades of Oscar winners, some that did win and others that didn’t but really should have. The talk contained many stories behind the songs, the writers and the artists which helped to understand why certain songs didn’t win. It was a very enjoyable and entertaining afternoon which received great applause from our ever-increasing number of attendees.