Love to learn with the WEA

Our languages and culture courses span the length and breadth of England and Scotland, with the option to study online or in person at a time that suits you. Whether you’re looking to learn a new language and immerse yourself in another country, or you simply wish to indulge in your love and fascination of film, we have the course for you. 

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Our creative writing courses will nourish your inner writer, providing you with a platform to develop your love of poetry, non-fiction or script development. If literature courses are more your kind of thing, then you’re in luck too, as there are a wide range of topics to choose from.  

Literary greats and great periods in history

Our language courses offer you the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in a completely new culture, developing your skills so that you can speak confidently in countries right across the world. German, Italian and Greek are just a few examples of the language courses we have to offer, with many others taking place throughout the year.  

As you’d expect, literary greats such as Agatha Christie and Shakespeare feature regularly. There’s also the option to examine other time periods in English literature too, helping you develop your critical reading and analysis skills - perfect whether you’re a beginner or more experienced in the subject.  

If you prefer history then you’ve got a choice too, from courses on subjects you’d expect such as the first world war, or art history and studying the works of iconic painters such as Salvador Dali. 

Support and guidance

Whatever course you choose, you'll learn in a supportive environment where the class sizes are small, ensuring you get the attention you deserve, with an experienced and qualified tutor on-hand to guide you through your learning too.  

A lot of our cultural learning is delivered by our branch network: learn more here.

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Art Along the South Bank - Walking Tour

Art Along the South Bank Walking Tour stops at the public sculptures along the South Bank which arrived on the riverside since the Festival of Britain in 1951. As well as the sculptures mounted on plinths in alcoves commissioned to adorn the exterior of the London County Hall, now a major tourist attraction. Discover one of London’s hidden gems, a totally un-curated sculpture park stretching from Westminster Bridge to the Royal Festival Hall. The meeting point is The South Bank Lion on Westminster Bridge Rd, and the walking tour will end on the Riverside Terrace at the Royal Festival Hall.

Course Information

Dates:
Sun 20/07/2025 -
Sun 20/07/2025
Times:
3:00pm - 5:00pm
Duration:
1 sessions
Location:
Meeting Point: Copper Box Arena
Waterden Road
London
London
E20 3BS
Tutor:
Jolanta Jagiello
Course code:
Q00019136
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £12.60

Summer Writers Online Retreat

Promised yourself writing time this summer? Get it in early with this stimulating writing retreat! Over 5 consecutive days, you’ll set an achievable goal, immerse yourself in 45 minutes of writing and get feedback from the tutor and peers when you share. Imagine the amount of work and momentum you’ll build over 5 days.

Course Information

Dates:
Mon 28/07/2025 -
Mon 28/07/2025
Times:
10:00am - 12:30pm
Duration:
5 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Nicola Torode
Course code:
Q00021165
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
0 places remaining
Status:
Waiting list (Waiting list)
Fee range
Free to £46.25

Literature: Crime through Time

For the last century, crime fiction has been the most popular and lucrative of literary subgenres. But this commercial success belies a formal inventiveness and experiment, a constant drive to ‘make it new’, which has long been central to the genre. In this course we will read six crime novels (and three short stories) which chart the development of crime fiction. As well as considering each of these novels in isolation from week to week, we will also use the eight week course to ask ourselves: how has crime fiction changed through the years, and how has it remained the same? No previous knowledge of crime fiction is necessary – everybody is most welcome!

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 17/09/2025 -
Wed 12/11/2025
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
9 sessions
Location:
Emmanuel Church Aylsham (Aylsham)
Cawston Road
Aylsham
NR11 6BX
Tutor:
Joseph Williams
Course code:
Q00023210
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £128.00

Art Appreciation: Early Italian Renaissance Art

Exploring amazing artworks is central to this course, and we look at fascinating and beautiful paintings by Giotto, Masaccio, Masolino, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna and more. We look, too, at 15c sculpture, including the first ever sculpture competition. Other themes include patronage (crucial for artists to make a living) and the process of making art, including the great skills of fresco and of bronze casting.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 17/09/2025 -
Wed 22/10/2025
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
6 sessions
Location:
Billericay Reading Rooms (Billericay)
73 High Street
Billericay
CM12 9AS
Tutor:
Rosanna Eckersley
Course code:
Q00022308
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £96.00

WEA Membership

WEA membership is changing: more information is coming soon!

Membership Information

Duration:
12 months
Fee:
£15

Art Appreciation: St.George in Renaissance Art: England, Italy and Germany

With Guest-Tutor Alison Barker we will examine how the image of St George crossed boundaries and was disseminated across Europe. St George’s status as a chivalric hero and Christian martyr made him uniquely qualified to cross boundaries, especially through the networks of courts and court culture.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 17/09/2025 -
Wed 01/10/2025
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
3 sessions
Location:
St John the Baptist Church Meeting Room
55 Main Road
Danbury
CM3 4NG
Tutor:
Guest Speaker
Course code:
Q00022312
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £48.00

Creative Writing Workshop: Be Inspired by Fiction, Poetry, Memoirs & All Forms

This friendly workshop will cover all forms of writing – fiction, including novels, short stories and plays, also poetry and autobiography and memoirs and will foster the use of imagination The aim is to help develop and channel your writing ability, whether as a hobby or for publication. We will discuss many aspects of writing, including getting started, short stories, novels, poetry, memoirs and plays. You will be invited to read your work in a constructive and friendly setting. We will have short writing projects in class. The emphasis is on individual development. For improvers and beginners. All you need is an interest in developing and enjoying your writing skills.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 17/09/2025 -
Wed 19/11/2025
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stella Stocker
Course code:
Q00022370
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £160.00

Creative Writing: Creating Five Poems

This five week course will enable you to create five poems, and will provide inspiration to you each week to generate subjects and approaches to different styles of contemporary poetry. Guidance with be given by Stephen Smith, Bloodaxe poet and winner of a major Eric Gregory Award, who has experience of teaching and working as a writer in residence in schools and prisons. All examples of poems will be provided on Canvas, but the course will concentrate on developing your voice through stepped writing exercises, in which you will be supported and encouraged. You will be encouraged to develop your own critical eye, responding intellectually and emotionally to what you see and feel as you negotiate today’s world. At the course’s end you will feel confident about taking your discovery of poetry further.

Course Information

Dates:
Sat 20/09/2025 -
Sat 18/10/2025
Times:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Duration:
5 sessions
Location:
Online
Tutor:
Stephen Smith
Course code:
Q00023018
How you'll learn:
Online
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £80.00

Literature: A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov

In A Hero of our Time, his only novel, Lermontov explores a life quite parallel to his own, lived in the wild, still untamed Caucasus mountains. Grigory Pechorin, the ironically-designated hero, becomes progressively disillusioned with the society that courts him, with the love of women, and with military glory. Pechorin becomes the Outsider, destined to live by nothing more than the contradictory truths of his own feelings and the dooms these create. The novel quickly outlived its early notoriety to become one of the greatest of all Russian texts, matching Pushkin and Turgenev in the exploration of the "superfluous man" who finds no meaningful connection to the world around him.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 23/09/2025 -
Tue 21/10/2025
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
5 sessions
Location:
URC (Danbury)
Little Baddow Road
Danbury
CM3 4NS
Tutor:
Adrian Eckersley
Course code:
Q00022296
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £80.00

Art Appreciation: 20th Century British Art and Design

British 20th century art is as complex and contradictory as British history, responding to international art, retreating to the English landscape. Course themes include responses to the horrors of two World Wars, quirky English Surrealism, art made by women, and elegiac Neo-Romanticism. We end with Lucien Freud’s painterly nudes and David Hockney in 1960s America.

Course Information

Dates:
Tue 23/09/2025 -
Tue 02/12/2025
Times:
10:30am - 12:30pm
Duration:
9 sessions
Location:
Writtle Village Hall (Writtle)
The Green
Writtle
CM1 3DU
Tutor:
Rosanna Eckersley
Course code:
Q00022586
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £144.00

Art Appreciation: Exploring Art and design between 1890 to 1960: Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Modernism

This exciting course explores and encompasses three very prominent art movements from 1880 to 1960.

Course Information

Dates:
Wed 24/09/2025 -
Wed 03/12/2025
Times:
2:00pm - 4:00pm
Duration:
10 sessions
Location:
Billingshurst Community and Conference C
Roman Way
Billingshurst
RH14 9QW
Tutor:
Kerry Van Der Schraft
Course code:
Q00022318
How you'll learn:
In venue
Availability:
10+ places remaining
Status:
Available
Fee range
Free to £176.00