WEA courses

Transform your financial habits with "From Skint to Savvy: Improving Your Relationship with Money." This course helps you understand money management basics, develop budgeting skills, and make smarter financial decisions. Effective budget planning can make you feel like you’ve had a pay rise. Organising your personal budget and understanding your outgoings is the first step towards healthy financial well-being. And the good news is - budgeting is a skill anyone can learn. This budgeting course is right for you if you want to improve your financial well-being. Whether you’re trying to cope with the cost of living crisis or just want to plan your finances better, this course can help you.

This course will explore four novels: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James; Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame; Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence; The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, and the work of one poet, Thomas Hardy, specifically Poems 1912-1913, a record of his reactions to the death of his first wife. We will discuss the end of Empire, the rise of Modernism and Feminism and psychological study, and the political situation leading up to 1914 and changing perceptions of individual and national identity. There will be ample opportunity for discussion and a chance to reassess what may in some instances be familiar texts.

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. If you suffer from stress, physical or emotional trauma, this may well be the course for you. This short non-accredited course will guide you through how you can apply Emotional freedom techniques (EFT) as a complementary treatment to support you in dealing with physical pain and emotional distress. It is also referred to as tapping or psychological acupressure. People who use this technique believe tapping the body can create a balance in your energy system and treat pain. This course offers interactive discussion and easy to learn practical techniques that millions of people use every day. With regular practice you may be surprised at how you can make a difference to your health and wellbeing.

This course will examine the publishing phenomenon of Nordic Noir, locating its roots in the early twentieth century, before exploring four contemporary novels from the genre. Our texts will be Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Soderberg; Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg; The Bird Tribunal - Agnes Ravatn; The Flatey Enigma - Viktor Arnor Ingolfson and Missing - Karin Alvtegen. These texts will take us inside the mind of Nordic Noir and we will evaluate the common features of the genre and its relationship with crime-fiction, horror and recent forms of Gothic literature. There will be ample scope for lively discussion in our sessions

Are too many too quick to dismiss the fantasy genre as pure entertainment and/or escapist spectacle? Are there varying degrees of fantasy on screen, rendering the term fantasy film as something rather too broad? We examine a selection of five films, all using elements of fantasy to tell their stories. In Orlando, adapted from literature, elements of fantasy are used to highlight inequalities within society. Young Einstein, a film derided by critics in the U.S, makes use of alterative history and elements of surrealism to both entertain and arguably present some deeper comments regarding humanity and innovation, does its fantastical approach help or hinder? Labyrinth offers a unique screen vision by immersing the viewer in a vivid fantasy world earning itself cult status to this day but is it for children, adults or both? Spirited Away makes use of animation to comment on the modern world, here, the fantasy element is fundamental to its approach. More recent films such as Barbie prove fantasy can be big at the box office, using a variety of different approaches to both entertain and relevant social comment. Are all these fantasy films as much if not far more than meet the eye? Are there any reoccurring themes approaches? And is fantasy an ideal medium for the screen? Orlando (1992), Young Einstein (1988), Labyrinth (1986), Barbie (2023), Spirited Away (2001).

Isolation includes solitude (choosing to be alone for contemplative or other good reasons) and social isolation (real or psychological separation from others, which can result in loneliness). Some artists need solitude to explore the world around them or to remove external pressures. Others use their work to express feelings of loneliness, whether from societal causes, unrequited love, illness, or other circumstances. Our speaker, Roger Wotton, will discuss a range of paintings that express, for example, the solitude found in nature, or the loneliness in urban living. He will consider, too, the most common example of isolation shown in art: the Crucifixion of Christ.

From Beethoven to Blur, or Metallica to Mongolian voices, music can lead us from one state of mind and body to another. This course looks at the power of music and how it can be used as a source of energy to improve our overall health, self-esteem, and wellbeing. You will be given the opportunity to explore your own personal relationship with music, considering the impression music had on you when growing up; including how you feel about singing and why? There is extensive research supporting the psychological, social, and behavioural benefits that happen when an individual finds their voice. We will consider this and how the benefits of singing, song writing, and voice exploration can give us a feeling of belonging. By experimenting in a group, you will experience what it feels like to be part of something that is bigger than yourself!

Transform your financial habits with "From Skint to Savvy: Improving Your Relationship with Money." This course helps you understand money management basics, develop budgeting skills, and make smarter financial decisions. Effective budget planning can make you feel like you’ve had a pay rise. Organising your personal budget and understanding your outgoings is the first step towards healthy financial well-being. And the good news is - budgeting is a skill anyone can learn. This budgeting course is right for you if you want to improve your financial well-being. Whether you’re trying to cope with the cost of living crisis or just want to plan your finances better, this course can help you.

Transform your financial habits with "From Skint to Savvy: Improving Your Relationship with Money." This course helps you understand money management basics, develop budgeting skills, and make smarter financial decisions. Effective budget planning can make you feel like you’ve had a pay rise. Organising your personal budget and understanding your outgoings is the first step towards healthy financial well-being. And the good news is - budgeting is a skill anyone can learn. This budgeting course is right for you if you want to improve your financial well-being. Whether you’re trying to cope with the cost of living crisis or just want to plan your finances better, this course can help you.

Transform your financial habits with "From Skint to Savvy: Improving Your Relationship with Money." This course helps you understand money management basics, develop budgeting skills, and make smarter financial decisions. Effective budget planning can make you feel like you’ve had a pay rise. Organising your personal budget and understanding your outgoings is the first step towards healthy financial well-being. And the good news is - budgeting is a skill anyone can learn. This budgeting course is right for you if you want to improve your financial well-being. Whether you’re trying to cope with the cost of living crisis or just want to plan your finances better, this course can help you.