East of England Trustee Update

Barbara Cordina, Trustee for East of England region, shares her recent visits to two u3as : Maldon & District u3a and Ramsey & District u3a.

Maldon & District u3a

I was very lucky to be invited to share with Maldon & District their 25th Anniversary Celebration in April.

The tea and cakes were delicious and we were royally entertained by a local group of singers who were really excellent. It was an opportunity to meet many members of this very successful u3a and to share their experiences.

Ramsey & District u3a

“Talking about things we like to do” – South Pacific

On my way home from a lovely afternoon with Ramsey & District members, the words of this song from South Pacific were going through my mind.  This is exactly what we had spent the afternoon doing – talking about things we like to do!

I was invited to join Ramsey for their Group Leaders & New Members meeting.  Ramsey is on the Cambridgeshire Fens, a beautiful part of the world.  New members were there to hear about available groups and Ramsey have devised a great way of identifying new members – they are issued with a name badge printed on peach card and known as ‘the peachies’.  When they feel ready to move on from being a peachy, they merely turn their name badge over and lo and behold – that is a different colour.  This appears to work extremely well and helps everyone realise who is new and who is not.  An important point when welcoming new members.

Following a brief history of the u3a itself, by Bruce McDowell, and an interesting review of all the available groups, we moved on to tea and biscuits, efficiently organised, and an opportunity to chat.
After the refreshments several group leaders spoke about what their groups do, whether they had any vacancies, etc, adding some welcome humour to their descriptions.  The informality of these brief talks was a real boost to new members with questions and to a very friendly atmosphere generally.

I left with positive thoughts of Ramsey & District u3a, one of our smaller groups and a very vibrant and proactive one.  It had long been on my list for a visit – and I may well return if invited.