Mid-Bucks (Aylesbury) u3a Monthly Meeting talks

19th November 2026 – Sara Shelby – 10 Years Inside

Sara Shelby is an ex Metropolitan Police Officer. She joined the Police Force in 1976. She was born in Islington and was posted locally to Bethnal Green in the East End. Since leaving the Police Force Sara has been a teacher, been in the prison service and has run her own business and much more. We shall look forward, once again, to her particular insights, this time about her time as a prison officer, not as a prisoner!

17th December 2026 – Sun Jester – A Christmas Entertainment

Sun Jester is a family business that offers a range of informal talks and entertainments for groups of all interests. They have been working in the field of Heritage Education for over 25 years.

We will be provided with a feast of anecdotes and music on a seasonal theme. Live performances of classic Christmas songs from the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals combine with humorous stories about the artistes.  Sun Jester will also look at the origins of some of our Christmas traditions, and how one of them was (and still could be) illegal.

21st January 2027 – Dr Helen Fry – The Man who saved MI6

Dr Helen Fry has authored and edited over 25 books covering the social history of WW2, including British Intelligence and the Secret War. She is renowned for her focus on the 10,000 German and Austrian Jewish refugees who served with British forces during World War II. She is an authority on the ‘Secret Listeners’ and possesses deep knowledge of 20th-century espionage.

Beyond her authorship, Helen extends her expertise as a consultant to television and documentary production companies. She is also an ambassador for the National Centre for Military Intelligence and serves as a trustee of both the Friends of the Intelligence Corps Museum and the Medmenham Collection.

Helen’s talk will consider Thomas Joseph Kendrick, who was one of the British Secret Service’s most senior spymasters. From tracking Communist agents in the 1920s to Nazi spies in the 1930s he became MI6 head of station in Vienna where he entered the world of double agents. He was denounced by a double agent and arrested by the Gestapo, but under interrogation, refused to give up the Secret Intelligence Service network and went on to orchestrate the longest spying operation against Nazi Germany. We will look forward to what Helen has to say.

18th February 2027 – Jeremy Holmes – Rags to Riches to giving it all away – Andrew Carnegie, the world’s richest man

Many years ago, Jeremy went from a grammar school to Oxford, where he won a Scholarship and took a Double First in English Literature. He then spent a decade in the advertising industry and ran an international economics consultancy, before becoming CEO of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. He subsequently had a senior position in UK Higher Education.

Jeremy is now semi-retired and is a trustee of various charities which benefit from some of his speaking engagements. He was also a trustee and of the Carnegie UK Trust for many years.

Jeremy’s talk will consider the life and times of Andrew Carnegie. He came from a slum in Dunfermline, Scotland, made his fortune in America as a ruthless steel magnate, then at the start of the 20^th century gave it all away by setting up philanthropic foundations all over the world.  In his day he was worth more than Bill Gates and earnt so much interest on his wealth that he couldn’t give it away fast enough.  This talk explains his rise, his motivations and his unique personal story, in the context of the dramatic industrialisation of America.  We will look forward to hearing what Jeremy has to say.