Productive away day for Wells u3a Group Leaders

Wells u3a recently held its Away Day to support group leaders in their roles. Publicity Officer Ann recounts the day.

More than half of Wells u3a attended an Away Day in a village Hall not far out of Wells. The aim of the event was to give group leaders the opportunity to express and discuss any problems they have running a group - and it proved to be a very successful day.

After everyone was introduced the group leaders were divided into tables of four where they were given topics to discuss. In the first session they were asked:

• what they liked about their role
• the difficulties encountered such as finance
• how they managed new members enquiries.

A representative from each table gave feedback on the key points and notes put on a board so that these could be examined after the event to try and resolve the problems.

A second session after coffee talked about how the group leader’s role could be improved and how the main committee help. They discussed succession to their position - do they have a deputy who might cover holidays. A big problem is the use of the website as many of the group leaders required training to update their pages and not leave it to the web master. The chairman summarised all the key points raised which will be discussed by the main committee of Wells u3a at their next meeting.

Each person was given a copy of Wells u3a Group Leaders Guide which goes into great detail of running a group from communicating with group members, finance, equipment & resources to health and safety. It also includes Wells u3a policies such as Data protection policy through to Disciplinary procedure policy.

It wasn't all work though - we had a delicious buffet lunch and enjoyed a very amusing and informative talk by Edgar Phillips, a stained glass artist who is the artist in residence at the Bishop’s Palace in Wells. He was in transit to install a giant glass dragon at the Glastonbury Festival which will be set up at every festival in the future. 

Edgar showing photos of his artwork at Glastonbury Festival

Everyone who attended found it a most helpful day and a chance to meet up with other group leaders who in many cases had never met before.