WEA courses

Are you approaching retirement age? Navigating the lifestyle change that retirement brings can be tricky. This retirement planning course aims to prepare you and your family for the changes that retirement brings. Its objective is to help you through the transition with ease so that you can enjoy this new phase of life. This short course will also help you gain an understanding of retirement planning services that exist to help you. This retirement planning training course covers personal planning and financial planning. Understand the emotional and personal changes that retirement brings. Consider how to plan your time and manage your relationships to maintain your emotional well-being. Is retirement really what it’s cracked up to be? Are you ready to retire? Research suggests that many people struggle to adjust to retirement although they may have been looking forward to it. How can we prepare ourselves effectively for this new phase of our lives? You may be someone who has always hankered to pursue a new career, volunteering or developing a new interest and would like the opportunity to fine tune and test out your ideas. We will be looking at your views about retirement, what some of the pitfalls might be, where you might start to look for financial planning advice, health, work and volunteering opportunities. Join us to explore this wonderful opportunity to have the time of your life!

Discover the wonderful world of the sewing with this advanced sewing course. It will help you to develop your craft in textile and fashion. Whether you have studied sewing before or you are completely new to it, you will find value in this intermediate sewing course. On this course, you will develop your skills in advanced sewing. This course is aimed at confident sewing students. You will develop higher level sewing and textile skills and be able to choose, document and finish your own sewing projects to a professional level under supervision. You do not need any special tools to attend, just yourself and some enthusiasm. Start your sewing journey today by registering for this course.

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of air frying as a versatile and health-conscious cooking method. Participants will learn the principles of air frying, including temperature control, air circulation, and cooking times, to create a variety of delicious dishes with minimal oil. Through a combination of theoretical instruction, practical demonstrations, and hands-on cooking sessions, students will develop proficiency in using air fryers and discover innovative recipes and culinary techniques. Emphasis will be placed on health-conscious cooking, flavour enhancement, and the adaptation of traditional recipes to suit air frying.

Learn the essentials of social media and marketing with our Social Media and Marketing for Work course. Understand how to use social media platforms to promote your business effectively. Ideal for individuals looking to enhance their marketing skills for professional purposes.

The 1950s saw exciting new developments in the British novel; a more democratic postwar spirit is in evidence and many new, influential writers make their first appearance. We begin with Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women, and end with Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. We’ll be able to share and debate interpretations, sharpen our critical and appreciative faculties, understand what fiction can tell us about the society and culture that produced it, and, hopefully, be inspired to read other works by the writers featured on the course. This course is funded by Greater London Combined Authority.

This course is put on in partnership with West Bromwich job centre. It is suitable with learners who wish to improve their English to get ready to apply for a job, who are unemployed and looking for work and who also have English as a second language. Learners with English as a second language, who are looking for work and receiving benefits and aged 19 plus are eligible. If you are in receipt of work related benefits, speak to your work coach at the West Brom Job Centre. Subject to eligibility, travel expenses can be paid. For further information call 07881 358679. There is an information and registration day planned and your advisor will let you know. This course is funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority. This course is being delivered at The Gap Centre, Hargate Lane West Bromwich B71 1PH

If you wonder how people uncover information in the public interest that would usually remain in the dark, this course on investigative journalism is for you. This introductory course highlights the skills needed by investigative journalists when they conduct public interest investigations. Participants explore ways of reporting and editing stories, especially those which usually go unreported. The course will cover definitions of investigative journalism; how to find and plan an investigative story and which sources might be available. It gives a brief introduction to some of the legal and regulatory aspects of journalism.

Discover selected paintings, sculptures, works on paper and new media works from the National Portrait Gallery in London. Marking the relaunch in summer 2023 of this national collection after a three-year refurbishment, this course offers an opportunity to discover new or less well-known artworks; and to re-visit familiar portraits that epitomise aspects of British history. We explore ideas around the function of portraiture; and the range of approaches and styles that artists have employed through history to express individual and national identity. Artists featured include Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Joshua Reynolds, Angelica Kauffmann, Pauline Boty, Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake.

The reasons behind founding an artist community in the UK, from identifying some of their famous residents to the subject matter and art movements they are associated with. This course will cover the art communities in St Ives and Newlyn in England, Kirkcudbright and Cockburnspath in Scotland, Betws-y-Coed in Wales, Northern Ireland Muralist in Belfast and Londonderry, and ending with the Black Art Movement and the growth of online art communities.

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.