A launch meeting is taking place to discover whether the people of Royston are keen for a University of the Third Age to come to the town.

The self-help organisation provides people who are no longer in full-time employment with educational, creative and leisure opportunities in a friendly environment.

The meeting – which takes place in the Town Hall’s Heritage Hall at 2pm on Tuesday – will measure the level of demand in the town for a U3A to supplement the organisations already in place in Melbourn and Buntingford.

The U3A movement pursues a range of academic, practical and recreational topics including art, languages, computing, crafts, photography and walking.

Buntingford U3A chairman Dave Austin said: “U3As are great for retired and semi-retired people to come together and learn together, not for qualifications but for its own reward – the sheer joy of discovery!”

A typical U3A has about 250 members but can be as small as 12 and as large as 2000.