Keen to set up a Italian conversation group for rusty Italian speakers like herself, under the banner of the U3A, Crossways resident Desdemona Freeman was stuck for both a venue in Monmouth and help to keep the group on track with their Italian. She is extremely grateful to Mirko Usai, the owner of Rustica, who has stepped in and offered his charming trattoria, next to The Savoy, as a venue as well as his support as a native speaker.

“We couldn’t have gone ahead without Mirko’s generosity, we are so grateful, to convene in an authentic Italian restaurant is such a bonus,” she told the Beacon.

Mirko added: “It’s a real pleasure to support an initiative like this. Language, food and conversation go hand in hand, and Rustica is exactly about sharing Italian culture in a warm and informal way.”

Monmouth U3A’s success is a reflection of the town and surrounding area’s vibrant older community. This new group brings the number of activities available through the U3A Monmouth to over a 100 and with over 1,000 members and growing, this is set to increase.

The U3A is a UK-wide charitable network of over 1,000 local, volunteer-run groups providing educational, creative, and leisure opportunities for people no longer in full-time employment. Averil Macdonald OBE, Chair of Monmouth U3A comments “I’m delighted that Desdemona has set up the new Italian group. We are always looking for new ideas to keep our members happy and this one is already very popular!”

Monmouth u3a is part of the National u3a, a 400,000 strong organisation comprising 1,035 u3as in the UK (see National u3a). All u3as share the ethos to promote lifelong learning and social interaction and each u3a provides opportunities, organised by members for members, to come together to discover, learn, make friends and have fun.