U3A Diary Project - Living History

Subect Advisers Jennifer Simpson (Shared Learning Projects) and Jo Livingstone (Living History) talk about the U3A Diary Project.

U3A members are being asked to help craft a shared learning project where they create living history of this extraordinary time. This project is a living history of members’ experiences during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

We are currently living through an unprecedented period, due to the coronavirus and everyone’s daily lives are being affected. The situation is impacting on people in lots of different ways and you will all have your own experiences, thoughts and reflections on what this time is like for you and how it is affecting you, both on a practical and on a psychological level.

We would really like to capture all of this as part of a UK wide living history project.

Why are we doing this? The more members that undertake the project the more information we will have about what this period has felt like. As well as being an interesting and engaging piece of work, it could also add value to planning should this type of extraordinary situations ever face the country again.

Who should get involved? Everybody who is a member of the U3A!

What sort of information are we looking for? Please make a note of the date you are sending your contribution and you may also like to consider the following to give some context to your thought for other people.

Do you live in a town or village. Is this an urban or rural location? Are there usually lots of people about? What’s your household like? Do you live alone or with a partner or other family? Have you got people who are still working living with you? How are you managing your days? What activities are you doing? Are you trying to stick to a routine? What did you enjoy? What good things happened? Was there anything you did which you wouldn’t normally have had the time to do? What was difficult? How did you manage this? How did you feel and what impacted on this? Who did you speak to or see and how? What do you think was the most important bit of the day (whether this was something you heard on the news, or a contact you made or an activity you discovered?)

Do I have to share my name and details publicly? No you do not. When any information is shared publicly about this project – you do not need to be identified if you do not wish – we will anonymise any submissions.

What do I need to do? Please write you contribution (or you are free to use other media such as pictures) and send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will use a selection on the website and via our communications channels.

Please let us know whether you are happy for us to get back in touch with you if we would like to discuss it further. Many thanks for sharing your stories!