Beeston U3A

September 2019 Newsletter

Groups Co-ordinators’ News

What Happens if I Email groups@beestonu3a.org.uk?

When you send an email to this address, either Anne Pinnock or Kathy Shipway, Beeston U3A’s Groups Co-ordinators will receive it.

If it is a general enquiry about Beeston U3A’s Interest Groups, Anne or Kathy will reply to you.

If it is a query about a specific interest group, they will normally forward it to the relevant group facilitator.

Over-subscribed Groups

We are attracting new members every month and hope to attract even more at the groups fair in October. It is very disappointing if they apply for a group and find that it is full. So, in the Autumn we will be starting a campaign to encourage existing members of popular groups to start a second, third etc group. Leading a group is not a one-person job as the tasks of group facilitator can be easily shared between several people. We hope that members who have benefited from a group will be willing to share this experience with more members.

Groups That Are Full

Have you ever wanted to join a particular group only to be told that it’s already too full and names will have to go onto a waiting list? It’s frustrating for people, particularly new members, who have their choices diminished by this.

The solution is to open new groups, e.g. medium walks 2 and 3 etc but it’s not always easy to get people to help run the new groups. Being a kind and sociable U3A means helping new groups get started and supported to continue into the future. There may be existing members who would help make another group become viable by switching groups or helping a new group get established.

However, if some members are on the membership list of more than one of the groups, which means that there are no places available for others, it would be helpful if they are actively helping to start up new groups as well. Let’s all do our bit to help groups thrive and get new groups off the ground so that all members have the widest choice available to them.

Email Contacts for Interest Group Facilitators

The committee has decided that all the email addresses on our website will be generic rather than personal, to protect group facilitators email addresses from Spammers and Fraudsters. This means that any one enquiring about a group from the website will be contacting groups@beestonu3a.org.uk. This email will be opened by one of us, Anne Pinnock or Kathy Shipway, the joint Groups Co-ordinators. We will forward queries to the relevant group facilitator or answer them ourselves if appropriate.

New Groups News

We, Anne Pinnock and Kathy Shipway, are introducing ourselves as your new Groups Co-ordinators.

Beeston U3A now has about 80 interest groups, so hopefully, there should always be something that you like the idea of trying out.

However, we are always keen to hear from you about any suggestions you have for setting up new groups. Once a new group idea has been approved by the committee, the next step is to advertise it on the monthly rolling notices, in order to start compiling a list of interested people. We then usually organise a meeting for those people to get together to discuss the best way forward to get the group up and running. We always try to encourage a team approach to running a group, so that the responsibility doesn’t fall on to just one person.

If you have a suggestion for a new group, please email us at groups@beestonu3a.org.uk

Stop Press information on Groups – Possible New Groups  and Established New Groups.

Our established groups are:

Ambling, American History, Architecture, Art gallery visits, Art history appreciation 1&2, Badminton, Beeston real ale group (BRAG), Birdwatching, Murder book group, Book group 1, Book group 4, Between the covers, Book group 5, The 5th chapter, Book group Readers’ rendezvous, Bowls, Bridge, Buddies, Canasta, Calligraphy, Chess, Cinema & film, Craft, Croquet, Exploring spirituality, Family history/genealogy, French conversation, Garden visits, German conversation, German for beginners, History, International dance, Italian, Jazz appreciation, Knit, crochet & natter, Latin, Latin for beginners, Lunch groups 1&2, Mah-Jong, Music, Philosophy & religion, Photography, Play reading, Poetry appreciation, Practical art, Practical gardening, Psychology & sociology, Quiz, Recorders, Rummikub, Science, Scottish country dancing, Scrabble, Self help art group, Singing for fun, Shakespeare (formerly Let’s Right Shakespeare), Spanish conversation, Table tennis 1,2,3 & 4, Theatre outings, Ukelele 1&2, Understanding the landscape, Walks long, Walks medium 1&2, Walks short, What the papers say, Whist, Wine appreciation 1,2&3, Writing for pleasure, Yoga.

For the full list of Groups and when and where they meet look on the Groups page. 
Continue reading →

New members’ coffee morning on the second Thursday of the month now at the Flour Brewer, Chilwell Road at 10:30am. Meet members of the Committee and learn more about the Interest Groups.