Our spotlight this month falls on Stephanie who has been a long time member of the U3a since starting in September 2011. Warm and friendly she's perfect to welcome new people from her table at the back of the room where the monthly talk is held. Her sister Frances helps by taking the orders for tea and coffee while Stephanie explains how the groups work and makes new members feel at home.
Stephanie is a wonderful advocate for the U3a group as a way to make friends. The journey for Stephanie all started when she joined 19th century literature (no longer offered) and there she met lots of people which led her to start her first group, which was a second gardening group. The format of this was that there would be a talk followed up by a DVD relating to a particular gardening interest and she carried on with this until Covid came along and stopped everything. She didn't continue with the second gardening group so we are now back to one very large gardening group with some 30 members.
She enjoyed hosting so much she then went on to run a very popular Knit and Natter session with 7 active knitters whom she admits do a lot of nattering too. Then came Rummikub with 4 teams of eager players and now Frances runs the chess group. Despite all this active socialising Stephanie has now taken over Frances's ukulele and has passed from beginner to improver so we'll be meeting up at the class run by Age UK on Wednesdays. (Ukulele players welcome)
I learned a lot from Stephanie about how easy and rewarding it is to run a group from your home. If you're new to U3a it can be challenging to find your feet but starting a group is definitely a good way to meet others. Lesley will advertise your group and help you with any admin necessary. Stephanie tells me that she keeps a register of names and phone numbers/email. She emails a week beforehand to remind people when the session is. People are usually kind enough to let her know if they can't make it. Although the date might be third Thursday in the month, changes can be necessary because of holidays etc. in which case the group rearrange to suit, and sometimes another member will host instead. She provides refreshments and each member pays 50p. So if you have enough chairs/mugs and want some company for a shared activity, it's really not too daunting. It can be anything you enjoy doing. Sitting chatting over a jigsaw could be a wonderfully relaxing way to spend a couple of hours, another knit and natter could be good as knitting rises in popularity, or photography, or cooking, or world cinema or just about anything which takes your fancy.
Please follow Stephanie's example and help make our U3a a welcoming place for newcomers. If someone is on their own go over and say hello.