MONDAY
Click Name to see Bio
9:30
-- 10:30am
-
Zumba
with
A Dance Fitness class mixed with a hypnotic fusion of Latin style music and moves. It's Easy, It's Fun, and It’s Exercise in Disguise. Increase your strength and stamina, your fitness and your energy levels. It's a class with a 'feel good' factor'. Wear well-fitting arch support trainers and comfortable work-out clothing. All you need is a drink and a smile!
Church Hall
ALF 422
Jan 10 - Feb 14
(6 Sessions)
£54
ALF 423
Feb 28 - Apr 4
(6 Sessions)
£54
60min
15 max
10:30
-
Herbal Medicine
with
The Red House
-- 12:30pm
During this three week workshop, participants will work together to develop a deeper understanding and relationship with commonly used medicinal plants. Each week we will explore a number of plants in terms of their contemporary and traditional use, mythology and folklore, experiencing them directly as a group through the making and taking of various herbal remedies. Participants will have the opportunity to gain personal insights into plants they feel drawn to and discover ways in which they may become allies in our quest for improved health and wellbeing. The course will include short sessions in the grounds of The Red House and short walks close to the venue. The course is suitable for both newcomers and those who have undertaken previous ALF courses on herbal medicine.
ALF 424
May 9 - 23
(3 Sessions)
£27
120min
15 max
11:00
-
Stretch & Glow
with
-- 11:30am
A chair based exercise class for those who thought that exercise had passed them by. It can help improve your strength and stamina and encourage a more efficient cardiovascular and respiratory system as well as being good fun. It’s exercise to help you stretch and glow!
Church Hall
ALF 425
Jan 10 - Feb 14
(6 Sessions)
£33
ALF 426
Feb 28 - Apr 4
(6 Sessions)
£33
30min
15 max
12:00
-
Tai Chi
with
-- 12:45am
Tai Chi is gentle exercise that allows you to stretch your muscles, tendons, and ligaments in a natural way, creating a feeling of relaxation and providing real health benefits. This free taster will give an introduction to the Art. Why not give it a go? Wear something loose fitting.
Tim has been practicing Tai Chi for many years and is a qualified instructor.
Church Hall
ALF427a
Feb 28 - Apr 4
(6 Sessions)
£33
45min
20 max
Library
A course that will enable anyone with little or no previous knowledge to acquire enough Spanish for basic communication. The course is structured to cover key topics, from ordering food and drink to getting to know people, with only as much grammar as is absolutely necessary! The classes aim to enthuse and inspire the student in an enjoyable way through activities, including games and role play, which relate to real-life situations.
Being able to connect on a more personal level with the inhabitants of another country can deepen one’s experience of the place and its culture in a way that cannot be achieved through books, television or even the internet!
-
Beginners Spanish
with
ALF 428
ALF 429
Jan 10 - Feb 14
(6 Sessions)
Feb 28 - Apr 4
(6 Sessions)
£54
£54
1:05
-- 2:35pm
90min
12 max
6:00
Library
-- 8:00pm
120min
15 max
-
Mindfulness
with
ALF 430
Feb 21 - Apr 11
(8 Sessions)
£72
Some of us spend time thinking and regretting the past. Some of us constantly worry about the future. Many of us struggled with day to day living because of Covid 19 facing isolation, uncertainty, loss and fear. We lost our familiar way of life and couldn't plan for the future.
Mindfulness can help people be in the present moment. Bringing complete attention to present moment can be liberating. It can enable us to see life's challenges from a different perspective. It can help us to stop and hear a bird sing and notice the beauty of nature around us. The present is all we have, the past has gone and the future is not yet here.
TUESDAY
1:05
-
Conversational Spanish
with
Library
-- 2:35pm
Continue or resume learning Spanish in an interactive way which will enable you to converse with growing confidence and fluency. The course is aimed at those who have a sound grasp of the basics and now wish to proceed beyond the early intermediate stage.
You should be able to understand: “¿Te gustó la película que vimos ayer?”. On the other hand, if you find the following easy to understand the course may not be for you: “Si yo tuviera tiempo, iría más a menudo a pescar.”
ALF 431
Jan 11 - Feb 15
(6 Sessions)
£54
ALF 432
Mar 1 - Apr 5
(6 Sessions)
£54
90min
12 max
-
Creative Writing
2:45
with
Library
-- 4:15pm
Do you feel that some of your life experience needs recording for posterity? Maybe there are events or memories you don’t want to lose? Or perhaps you simply feel there is a novel hidden inside and you need help to tease it out? Whatever your reasons for wanting to write, join experienced tutor Annie Edge in a non-pressured and friendly environment, where you can explore creative writing and expressing a story in the most effective way.
ALF 433
90min
Feb 1 - Mar 8
(6 Sessions)
£54
15 max
-
The Medici
3:00
with
Zoom
-- 4:30pm
Florence under the Medici: From Republicans to Royalty
The Medici rose from wealthy bankers to autocratic rulers of the Duchy of Tuscany, linked by marriage to the ruling families of Europe. In this three week course, we will study the Medici patronage of art and architecture from the mid-15th to mid-16th century as a means of charting the change in both subject matter and style and how this in turn reflected a shift in the balance of their power base. We will look at patronage which included works as diverse as Donatello’s David, the frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli in the beautiful Medici Chapel, the mythological works of Botticelli, and the building of the Uffizi.
ALF 434
Mar 15 - 29
(3 Sessions)
£40
90min
20 max
6:30
-
Reading the Past
with
Library
-- 8:00pm
Reading the past in Thackeray and Dickens
This course will focus on two Victorian story-tellers who set their stories a generation or two before the time of writing. We will look at how and why the authors decided to look to the past and what impact this had on the stories they were telling. We will also focus on the effect this might have had on those who read the novels when they first appeared and on the ways we might read and view them through film and television now. The two novels we will look at are William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair and Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. Please read both novels before we begin.
ALF 435
Feb 1 - 22
(4 Sessions)
£36
90min
15 max
-
Human Rights in Today’s World - Freedom of the Press
6:30
-- 8:00pm
with
Freedom of speech is a key tenet of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). Does this mean that our political leaders or the press are free to peddle disinformation? We are living in an age of social media which values the freedom to say just about anything. This issue gets to the heart of our democracy and stress tests trust and resistance to manipulation. We welcome back previous participants and those new to the study of human rights. We will review the background to human rights and the state of human rights both here and globally. There will be plenty of discussion, so come prepared to debate some tricky issues in international relations.
Library & Zoom
ALF 436
Mar 1 - 15
(3 Sessions)
£27
90min
15 max
Library
£54
90min
30 max
6:30
-
Post 1945 Opera in the UK
-- 8:00pm
with
Britten in the shade: post 1945 British opera
The operatic form in Britain in the years following the Second World War was and is dominated by Britten's offerings in the genre. However, many noted and important figures have also made significant contributions to opera. In this course we will examine six works written since 1945 and what they say about the evolving socio-political nature of Britain after 1945, differing musical paths and the role of the operatic form in our own times. Whilst this is not a course on Britten's operas, his oeuvre provides a tether against which others are lauded or derided and reference will inevitably be made to these works. The six (very different) works discussed will be: Vaughan Williams' The Pilgrim's Progress (1951), Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1954), Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage (1955), Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur (1965), Birtwistle's The Mask of Orpheus and Ades' The Tempest (2004). You do not need to be either a seasoned opera-goer, a devotee of 'modern' music or a supreme musical theorist - just an interest in post 1945 British history and an open ear!
ALF 437
Mar 22 - Apr 26
(6 Sessions)
WEDNESDAY
10:30
-
Wildflowers & Insects
with
-- 12:30pm
This will be Steve’s seventh year leading courses at Aldeburgh Library on wildflowers, seeds and berries as well as insects. Over the five meetings we will visit various local sites: woodland, heathland and coastal habitats, to identify wildflowers and autumn insects. Students are reminded to dress appropriately for the outdoor visits. (meet at Library) - This Course is repeated on Thursday and Sundays
ALF 438
Apr 27 - May 25
(5 Sessions)
£45
120min
10 max
Library & Outside
033:00
-- 4:30pm
-
Reflections on Art
with
Zoom
-
Art in Vienna 1890 - 1920
This course will explore the important and influential artists based in Vienna, between 1890 to 1920, a time when the city was known as a centre of high culture, wealth and opulence attracting innovators in music, art and philosophy known then as the fin de siècle. We will explore how the work of artists such as Gustav Klimt was rejected by the long established fine art institutions prompting several young artist to set up their group named the Vienna Secession in 1897. These artists and designers including Gustav Klimt and Koloman Moser created modern and challenging new art and design culminating in the Secession building in 1898. We will look at their their work, the Secession movement, the Wiener Werkstatte in Vienna and importantly the eventual move away from the Jugend style typified by Gustav Klimt to the expressionistic approach by Egon Schiele
ALF 439
Jan 12 - Feb 9
(5 Sessions)
£45
-
20th Century Sculpture
This course will explore the work of several important sculptors working in the twentieth century from the stylised figures by Henry Moore to the post modernist work by Anthony Caro; from the organic shapes by Barbra Hepworth to the stylised figures by Alberto Giacometti.
Discussion is encouraged and the exchange of ideas welcomed.
ALF 440
Mar 16 - Apr 13
(5 Sessions)
£45
90min
20 max
06:30
-- 8:00pm
-
Film Forum
with
Zoom
Following a successful pilot, Film Forum will meet by Zoom fortnightly, giving participants the opportunity to study and discuss films – themes, stars, genres, or whatever comes up. The Forum will be led by popular expert Lucy Walker. Participants will have the opportunity to make suggestions for the content of sessions.
ALF 441
90min
Jan 12 - Mar 23 Fortnightly
(6 Sessions)
£54
30 max
06:30
-- 8:00pm
-
Film Talks
with
-
Nuns on Screen.
There is a remarkable number of films depicting nuns and convent life over the decades – from the contemplative The Nun’s Story (1959) to the controversial La Religieuse (1966), from the sentimental The Bells of St Mary’s (1945) to the comedic Sister Act (1992), and from the horrifying The Magdalene Sisters (2002) to the gloriously melodramatic Black Narcissus (1947). And of course the most famous of all: The Sound of Music (1965). We will explore how convent life and religion is depicted in a wide ranging list of films, and consider how these celluloid sisters both conform to and radically differ from conventional representations of women in cinema.
-
Films and Fatherhood
Fathers and father figures in English-speaking cinema offer us a wide range of masculinities – patriarchal, tender, protective, flawed. Fathers are often required to represent some kind of ideal, either living up to it, or causing devastation by failing to. As Stephen D. Graydanus writes, ‘ambivalence about fatherhood is deeply entrenched. Ambivalence, though, is not mere hostility; often it is rooted in a real awareness of the irreplaceable importance of fatherhood, and in melancholy or anger over paternal failure in a fallen, broken world.’ In Films and Fatherhood we will look at numerous examples of fathering, how the role of ‘Dad’ plays out across all the generic forms, and how ‘ideals’ of fatherhood are championed or challenged.
Library
ALF 442
Apr 6
(1 Session)
£15
ALF 443
Apr 13
(1 Session)
£15
90min
20 max
6:30
- 8:00pm
ALF 444
Apr 27
(1 Session)
£15
ALF 445
May 11
(1 Session)
£15
90min
30 max
-
Political Talks
with
-
Palestine and the wider Middle East world.
An analysis of how and why Palestine lost its land after WW2, a look at the solutions and ponder if there can ever be peace
-
Elected Mayors and East Anglia.
Elected mayors appear to have come of age in the pandemic. Yet they have no presence in Westminster. East Anglia thanks to the Cambridge science parks now has the ear of Government but as yet the idea of an elected mayor has not found favour. If not an elected mayor what?
Library with Z00M option
THURSDAY
-- 12:30pm
ALF 438
(5 Sessions)
£45
-
Wildflowers & Insects
10:30
with
-- 12:30pm
This will be Steve’s seventh year leading courses at Aldeburgh Library on wildflowers, seeds and berries as well as insects. Over the five meetings we will visit various local sites: woodland, heathland and coastal habitats, to identify wildflowers and autumn insects. Students are reminded to dress appropriately for the outdoor visits. (meet at Library) - This Course is repeated on Wednesday and Sundays
Library & Outside
ALF 446
120min
Apr 28 - May 26
(5 Sessions)
£45
10 max
2:30
-
Philosophy Discussions
with
-- 4:00pm
-
THE PHILOSOPHY OF EXTREME IDEAS
This course introduces a selection of the strangest ideas that philosophers discuss. What about, for example, the ethics of artificial wombs? Or should humans give up having babies altogether? Do we only die because we believe we will? Or could we experience an afterlife as an uploaded programme in a simulated universe? We will also look at how we can deal with extremist views in our society. We won’t always find the answers but it will be fun asking the questions!
-
PHILOSOPHY – A MIRROR OF NATIONAL CHARACTER
How does national culture ‘colour’ thought? German philosophy has had a different character from English thought and French thought is different again. Drawing on the lives of great philosophers such as Kant, Schopenhauer, Pascale and Sartres, we will identify the distinctive ‘flavours’ of thought of each philosophical tradition.
ALF 447
Feb 17 - Mar 17
(5 Sessions)
£45
Z00M
ALF 449
May 12 - 26
(3 Sessions)
£27
Library with Z00M option
90min
15 max
2:30
-
Feisty Women of the Renaissance
with
-- 4:00pm
Clever, beautiful or deadly dangerous? A Renaissance woman could be all three! Here, we will encounter great queens, like Catherine de’ Medici or Mary Tudor; remarkable beauties like Lucrezia Borgia; villainesses like Mary Frith and some who just defy description! There is plenty to intrigue and astonish us today.
Library with Z00M option
ALF 448
Apr 7 - 21
(3 Sessions)
£27
90min
15 max
06:30
-
Music Colloquia
with
Zoom
-- 8:00pm
Each week we focus on a particular musical 'work' and examine its composer, reception history and wider context - as well as 'lifting the bonnet' on how the music itself works. The sessions start as curated lectures but the intention is to share ideas, views and experiences in the manner of a musical 'book group'. No specific musical knowledge or experience is required, just a passion for music and a willingness to develop deeper listening. Participants have a say in the musical choices and, thus far, we've examined works by Monteverdi to Stravinsky and Bach to Britten.
ALF 450
ALF 451
90min
Jan 13 - Feb 17
(6 Sessions)
£54
Mar 3 - Apr 7
(6 Sessions)
£54
30 max
FRIDAY
09:00
-
Further Italian
Zoom
--10:30am
This group consists of students who have reached lower intermediate level, having a sound grasp of the present and of the 'passsato prossimo' and some awareness of the imperfect. Topics covered so far by this group include holidays, home life and work.
ALF 452
ALF 453
90min
Jan 14 - Feb 18
(6 Sessions)
£54
Mar 4 - Apr 8
(6 Sessions)
£54
12 max
1:05
-
Photography
with
Library and outside
-- 2:35pm
Want to get your camera off auto? This course will teach you how to fully control your camera, take better pictures, and get more from your photography. Some classroom, lots of out-and-about practice. Suitable for absolute beginners, and those with some experience. Numbers will be restricted to ensure attention to individual needs.
ALF 454
Apr 29 - May 27
(5 Sessions)
£65
90min
8 max
2:30
-
Anglo Saxon Life & Culture
with
Library
-- 4:00pm
Come along and find out about another world! The world of the Anglo-Saxons… and investigate their social structure and hierarchy, their way of life, families and spirituality. Who were their gods? What gave meaning to their everyday lives? How did they celebrate? Did they have law and order? What is their legacy? This three-week course explores these questions using primary sources and discussion. We will discover the Anglo-Saxons of Suffolk and place them in their broader context of the kingdom of East Anglia and the formation of England. No previous study is necessary.
ALF 455
90min
Mar 4 - 18
(3 Sessions)
£27
30 max
3:00
-
Refresh your iPad skills
Library
-- 4:30pm
iPad skills
These sessions will cover how to use Pages (the Apple equivalent of Word), how to stream TV, radio and music and a few other things along the way. Students who have not attended previous classes will not be at a disadvantage.
ALF 456
Feb 4 - 18
(3 Sessions)
£27
90min
8 max
3:00
-
Demystifying 'the Cloud'
Library
-- 4:30pm
Storing and accessing data and programs over the internet instead of your computer's hard drive is becoming increasingly important to our lifestyles. In response to requests Wendy will be explaining in simple terms what we need know to ensure you're getting the most from your Cloud storage - covering backups, file storage, sharing and accessing from different devices.
This course will be split into 3 sessions, users only need to attend the session(s) for the provider they use
-
iCloud for Apple users *
-
GDrive for Android and Google users
-
BT Cloud for BT Internet customers.
* If you are an Apple user and using Google's GDrive cloud exclusively, come to the Google session.
ALF 457
Apr 29
(1 Session)
£15
ALF 458
May 6
(1 Session)
£15
ALF 459
May 13
(1 Session)
£15
90min
8 max
SATURDAY
3:15
-
Geopolitical topics
with
Library
-- 4:45pm
-
The Politics and Geopolitics of the Climate Crisis
Our news is full of stories about the “climate crisis”. Almost everyone seems to think that something should be done, but every year our world gets hotter. In this first of three discussion-led sessions, we will thrash out the big questions of environmental politics at home and abroad. Are democracies equipped to deal with the climate crisis? Who is responsible for it, and who should pay to make things right? And what will our domestic politics look like in a time of existential crisis?
-
Democracy in the Internet Age
The internet might have provoked the most seismic shift in our information world since the invention of the printing press. What are the consequences for democracy? In this second of three discussion-led sessions, we will tackle some of the biggest questions that face our politics. Can we combat fake news and conspiracy theories? What does it mean for foreign countries to “interfere” in elections via Facebook? And what constitutes a “free choice” in the quiet of the voting booth?
-
China and America in Global Politics
For all but the oldest among us, we in Britain have spent our entire lives living under an American international order. Some people predict that we will soon live under a Chinese one. In this final discussion-led session, we will examine the complex relationship between the United States and China, speculate about what a Chinese international order might look like, and ask how Britain might navigate between these superpowers in the coming decades.
ALF 460
Jan 22
(1 Session)
£15
ALF 461
Feb 26
(1 Session)
£15
ALF 462
Mar 26
(1 Session)
£15
90min
30 max
SUNDAY
-
Wildflowers & Insects
10:30
with
-- 12:30pm
This will be Steve’s seventh year leading courses at Aldeburgh Library on wildflowers, seeds and berries as well as insects. Over the five meetings we will visit various local sites: woodland, heathland and coastal habitats, to identify wildflowers and autumn insects. Students are reminded to dress appropriately for the outdoor visits. (meet at Library) - This Course is repeated on Wednesday and Thursdays
Library & Outside
ALF 463
120min
Apr 24 - May 22
(5 Sessions)
£45
10 max