WEA courses

This is a course designed for learners who have some experience or knowledge of counselling. It is an opportunity to gain more experience in counselling. You will be working with our wonderful Teacher Sasha Dineen. This course is for students to gain more practical counselling experience in triads (counsellor, client and observer) using the ten core counselling skills. To attend this course, it is useful if you have already completed a 6 week counselling skills course or have a Level 2/3/4 counselling qualification.

Come and join this six-week online course. The course offers the opportunity to study a selection of Edward Thomas’s poetry and the contexts that shaped him and his life. Through reading, analysis and discussion we will explore the poems of Edward Thomas as a Hampshire Poet. We will evaluate Thomas’s position as an important poet of the early 20th century.

Go behind the scenes of the Government Art Collection, a less well-known national art collection, with Chantal Condron, a former curator at the Collection. Discover the fascinating origins of its history, and the people and events that have shaped its past. Explore how and why artworks are acquired or commissioned and discover some of the locations where they have been displayed. We explore works across a range of media from paintings to film, by artists from the 16th to the 21st centuries, including Marcus Gheerhaerts the Younger, Thomas Phillips, Bridget Riley, Michael Armitage and recent Turner Prize winner, Jesse Darling.

How do the popular representations of smuggling in novels, songs, poems, paintings and film match up to the reality? We will look at some of the enduring romantic depictions alongside official records to consider the reality of life for people up and down the Essex coast in the 18th century engaged in smuggling or the fight against it.

The American Revolution was a remarkable event. This course will outline how the United States of America came into being. It will consider the implications of the ‘Glorious Cause’ for the inhabitants of the British colonies in North America and look at some of the issues that remained unresolved until another war and another time.

The rural Wessex landscape since 1500 outlines the changes to the landscape of our region over the past 500 years, from the Dissolution of the Monasteries through the ‘Agricultural Revolution’, to the rise of modern agriculture and forestry. While the need to maintain food supply is paramount, the course will outline the impacts on both human society and on the loss of semi-natural habitats such as heathland, ancient woodland, and chalk grassland. There will be a case study of the New Forest that will explore the origins, management and habitats that are to be explored through the New Forest landscape.

Show don’t tell – so often easier said than done – Just how does an idea turn into a script? How much info do I include in a script? Is it really more than just dialogue? In some ways writing a script requires a very different approach from the writer. We gain knowledge and understanding of the differing requirements of writing for the screen, both what works for TV and what approach is more cinematic, as well as writing for the radio. Radio, so often described as the ‘intimate’ medium, plays in a listener’s head offering scope for greater imagination and powerful emotional effect. We will also explore the creative process, just what is the correct format for each of these mediums, where to start, how to develop an idea into a script, allowing it to grow scene by scene (what even is ‘a scene’). The course will also cover writing/developing a TV series, comedy, writing for ‘soaps’ and feature some more general skills on developing story structure and character development of interest to any budding writer. With a mix of group and individual tasks, discussion, analysis of clips as examples, it is hoped that all will dabble and develop some writing whilst on the course. What makes a good script and what is a bad script? This is an informative and fun course, with some key first hand information, not to be missed.

Would you like to improve your core strength? This yoga course will help you to identify and locate the muscles that form the core, and help you to understand that a stronger core stabilises the spine and improves our balance. You will practice a range of accessible postures that help to build core strength in a safe way and also improve core muscle flexibility. Each session will focus on warming up safely for posture practice and a balanced range of postures that help to build core strength and flexibility. You will learn how breathing influences the muscles of the core. Each session will end with a relaxation.

Cooking homemade food doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Learn how to feed the whole family with tasty and affordable meals in this cooking on a budget course. This is a cooking and personal finance course rolled into one. You’ll get practical budgeting tips you can apply in the kitchen. This course is ideal for you if you’d like to learn how to cook homemade meals on a reduced budget. Learn how to select nutritious ingredients to prepare wholesome meals without breaking the bank. Brainstorm recipe ideas with the class to make use of leftovers. Get tips on how to store food properly to avoid wastage. Learn how to save money when doing food shopping and other budgeting tips.

This course explores the evolution of road, water, and rail transport in East Anglia from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. We examine how these developments reshaped the landscape and impacted the lives of transport workers and travellers. Through historical analysis and personal stories, participants will gain insights into the region's rich transport heritage and its influence on East Anglia's social and economic fabric.