Starting a New Group

If you are proposing to start a new group, if possible please use the form from this page – download, complete, and return it to the Group Liaison Officer.  Email

Note: Make sure to outline in your proposal how your group fits into our charitable objectives of providing educational activities and opportunities for people, in accordance with our affiliation to the Third Age Trust.  If in doubt, please ask the Group Liaison Officer for guidance.

You can see the up to date Groups Listing on Simple Membership to see how others are set up.

New Group Proposal Form ( PDF)

New Group Proposal Form (Word)

Note: if you are about to start a new group you will also need to consult this page for the GC Handbook and other important documents to read.  They can all be downloaded as PDFs.

The process is as follows:

(1) Contact Group Liaison Officer with your suggestion. Discuss possible venue, numbers, day and time; consider whether the Treasurer needs to be contacted if held at a paid venue.

(2) Advertise the group at the Open Meeting and on our web site by asking the Webmaster to add it to the Proposed Groups page. Gather names of interested people. When you have enough (4 or 5+) set up a first meeting. The GLO can help with a venue. At the initial meeting discuss with members how they want the group to develop in future, are they happy with day/time etc.  You could also ask the Newsletter Editor to put a piece in the next edition.

(3) Read through the GCs handbook and all the relevant policies and procedures from the page under the Policies and Forms Menu. These include the Risk Assessment forms which you will be expected to use, and are linked from that page. Do ask for further clarification if necessary.

In order to be an official group and thus covered by U3A insurance, everyone in it needs to be a registered member (see next point).

(4) Ask the GLO for the new group to be set up on the Simple system for you to access, and the Webmaster for an official group email address to use (this uses webmail). Note that if anyone is not registered as a member you will not be able to add them to your group on the Simple system.

(5) Arrange with the Treasurer how you will submit income from meetings.

(6) Make sure to consult the GCs handbook and other resources, including our Policies and Risk Assessments links to follow from other pages, accessed from this page. 

Any further Questions about Groups should sent to the Group Liaison Officer Email