WEA courses

One of the most fascinating aspects of the history of ideas is learning how ideas have a life of their own, influencing society and culture through successive generations in different ways. In this 10-week course we’ll focus on an different important and influential question each week. We cover philosophy, literature, science and history. We’ll read and discuss selected extracts which will be circulated beforehand. The course covers a sweep of over 2000 years, from the ancient Greeks to modern times.

This course will present an overview of painting and drawing in connection with inspiring examples in art history. It will help you learn classical techniques, and contemporary artists (such as David Hockney, Gerhard Richter or Anselm Kiefer). If you would like to have a fresh view of painting and drawing and learn how to achieve expressivity by carefully combining techniques, this course will offer you an overview and will inspire personal artworks of great subtlety and sensitivity. A variety of media will be explored, from acrylics to watercolour or pastels and more. You will need to bring your own art materials.

All our Care2 courses are completely free for unpaid carers (or those who have previously been carers). You do not need to receive a carer's allowance to qualify. If you are unsure, please contact our call centre advisors who will be able to assist you. When you are constantly busy, stressed, overwhelmed, emotionally and energetically drained, yoga is quite possibly the last thing you feel like doing! But did you know that rather than taking more energy, the practice of yoga actually gives you more? It’s a great way to rest and revive, relieve the feeling of overwhelm, and work out the tension from your body that’s keeping you in a state of stress? Just a few minutes of gentle movement coordinated with your breath helps to calm the nervous system, quieten the mind, and allows all the systems of your body to work more efficiently. Most people don’t realise there are over one hundred different styles of yoga, so if you’ve tried a class before but felt it wasn’t for you, here’s your chance to try another! Chair yoga is a great way to enjoy many of the benefits of a mat-based practice without the need for equipment and props, or the ability to get up and down from the floor. It is a safe way for anyone living with a disability, or managing an injury or condition such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or arthritis to improve balance, mobility, circulation, and energy, without putting strain on joints or vulnerable areas of the body

From the zenith of the Qing Empire in 1796 we trace the decline of China’s imperial reach through the 19th century. Western incursions and humiliations, the role of religion and opium, wars, reforms and rebellions will all be covered up to the fall of the dynasty in 1912 and the formation of China’s first republic. Major personalities such as the Empress Dowager Cixi, Sun-Yat-Sen, the Last Emperor and many more will be considered. We will consider the nature of court rule, the development of society and the economy as well as art, literature and philosophy.

Discover the wonderful practice of yoga with this introduction to yoga philosophy course according to Patanjali’s five foundational philosophical concepts (YAMAS) in the traditional text, THE YOGA . Whether you are seasoned yogi or just initiating an interest, you will love this course. This is a friendly course providing a nourishing blend between physical practice and theory. The aim is to help you discover how the practice of yoga can deepen your spiritual practice and bring more awareness to your life while practising having the self confidence to express yourself. It is ideal for those who want to keep physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually fit. It will offer you guidelines, like helping hands, to move you deeper into your own authenticity and into a life that is richer and fuller, simply because you are living with more skill. This course is ideal for people who like to contemplate how to live more skilfully as individuals and as a community.

Religion has played a highly important part in the lives of human beings. The principal claim of the great monotheistic religions of the world is the following: God exists. This course considers this claim. It considers to begin with some of the traditional arguments for this claim: an ontological argument; some cosmological arguments; some design arguments; and an argument from the religious experience of God. It then considers (briefly) the principal argument against this claim: the problem of evil. It proceeds rationally and rigorously. No prior specialist knowledge is required to attend this course.

Are you fascinated by art and how it developed, and would like to know more? Humans have always expressed their spirituality through art, from the earliest cave drawings to contemporary installations in cathedrals. This course concentrates on how European art has depicted the Christian faith, but also looks at the art of Islam and the Indian art of Buddhism and Hinduism. Beginning with cave art around the world, we look at some of the earliest artistic expressions of humanity’s search for the beyond. Buddhist and Hindu art from the centuries before Christ is discussed, as is art from the earliest roots of Islam from the seventh century onwards.

Western philosophy begins with the ancient Greeks in the 6th century BCE. This course considers some of the key elements in the thought of the three greatest philosophers of the ancient Greek period: Socrates; Plato; and Aristotle. It considers Socrates on questions of ethics It then considers Plato on the soul and its immortality in the Phaedo and, in particular, on the perfectly just city-state in the Republic. Finally, it considers Aristotle on among other things language and logic in the Organon and on change and cause in the Physics and on “happiness” in the Nichomachean Ethics. No prior specialist knowledge is required to attend this course.

This second of two courses on modern Chinese history concentrates on the history of China from 1912 to 1992 a time marked by profound transformations, including the fall of the imperial system, the rise of the First Republic, the Warlord Era, the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, and major upheavals of war, rebellion, revolution and geopolitical alignment. We trace the political social, cultural and economic development of China in the 20th Century. We consider the events, ideas and personalities that shaped this extraordinary national story. Throughout, we draw parallels with our own time and how we got here.

This course will help you develop further watercolour techniques interrelated with drawing skills, and in connection with inspiring examples in art history. It will help you learn classical techniques in a subtle way, by relating them to examples by various masters of drawing and watercolour (such as Dürer, Turner or Cezanne) and contemporary artists (such as David Hockney or Anselm Kiefer). If you would like to have a fresh view of watercolour painting and drawing, and learn how to achieve expressivity by carefully combining techniques such as glazing, graded wash or cross-hatching, this course will offer you an overview and will inspire personal artworks of great subtlety and sensitivity It will also encourage you to create your own original artworks based on the techniques learned and it will bring a fresh perspective on known techniques and styles, if you have already practised them in your own paintings. You will need to bring your own materials, paints and paper along for this course. The tutor will let you know what to bring