Monthly Open Meetings
We are pleased to announce that we are back with face-to-face meetings at Y Ganolfan in the Glaslyn Room after the pandemic and subsequent maintenance work, including plans to have more in-person guest speakers. Thank you to all those involved in the online meetings and our temporary home at the Criccieth Memorial Hall. Please note, we have changed to the last Monday of each month due to booking clashes, same time 2 o'clock.
Tony
Note: Limited parking is available outside the hall and on-street, but you are advised to arrive early and use the paid-for Car Parks by the Park, behind Cariad Gelato, or behind Wilko's (as was).
| Subject | Lighthouses of Wales |
| Date | 30th March 2026 at 1:45 for 2:00 |
| Speaker | Warran Kovack |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
Warren has a mixed genre of talks, many Anglesey specific this session will be focused on the Lighthouse of Wales to go alongside a new book that is due for release in November 2025
| Subject | Anglesey Bees |
| Date | 27th April 2026 at 1:45 for 2:00 |
| Speaker | Dafydd |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
Dafydd is a Bee keeper and will speak to us about the secret life of Bees 🐝
| Subject | AGM |
| Date | 18th May 2026 at 1:45 for 2:00 |
| Speaker | AGM |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
Your Porthmadog u3a Annual AGM
Group Leaders please attend to showcase your group
General members please attend and have your say
Many Thanks
The committee
| Subject | |
| Date | 29th June 2026 at 1.45-2pm |
| Speaker | TBC |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
| Subject | Summer Holidays break |
| Date | 27th July 2026 |
| Speaker | N/A |
Enjoy your Summer
| Subject | Summer Holiday Break |
| Date | 31st August 2026 |
| Speaker | N/A |
Enjoy your SUMMER
| Subject | Wild Swimming |
| Date | 28th September 2026 at 1.45 |
| Speaker | Mark Pedley |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
Mark was running a Technical Textile company in Manchester, working in Material Science, when he moved to Abersoch. He jointly invented a sensor system using yarn-knitted directly into undergarments that could measure Heart Rate, Pulse, Temperature and Respiration movements. All data sent to a smartphone app, giving constant updating and performance insight.
Turning yarn and threads into intelligent sensors- helping to pioneer personalised monitoring.
Mark created a material in 2011/2012 that could harvest energy from Solar, Wind and Rain. Called Enertrees
Mark was one of the founder of the Abersoch Dunkers commenced during Covid with 6 members. This group has now grown to 20/30 regulars
Abersoch Dunkers meet every single day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They meet on the beach, in the hills and in rivers.
There Facebook page today has over 1,100 members Mark was inspired to start the Dunkers Podcast. As editor and host Mark states “it has been one of the most enjoyable, entertaining and gratifying roles I’ve ever undertaken
| Subject | Storytelling |
| Date | 26th October 2026 at 1.45 |
| Speaker | Sid Stephenson |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
Sid Stephenson is a former educationalist and international manager of aid and higher education programs who has worked across continents, building partnerships and navigating the complex realities of global development. His professional life marked by diplomacy, high stakes negotiations, and frontline experiences has provided him with a rare perspective on people politics and power.
Now a published author novelist and screenwriter Sid brings his wealth of experience to his fiction. His thrillers are gritty lad psychologically tense reflecting his fascination with morals, dilemmas human resilience and the shadowy intersections between justice and revenge.
Experienced in managing multi country initiatives and complex negotiations. Educational leadership, former educationalist with expertise in higher education strategies international partnerships and curriculum development. Creative writing and storytelling in transitioned into fiction writing and screenwriting crafting crime thriller and suspense driven narratives that combine pace with psychological depth.
| Subject | Details to-be-confirmed |
| Date | 30th November 2026 at 1.45 |
| Speaker | TBC |
| Venue | Y Ganolfan, Porthmadog |
Details to be confirmed