Welcome to St Ives (Cambs) u3a Website: https://u3aivo.uk Email: info@u3aivo.uk Telephone: 07458 197372 From the Chair .............................. 2 Payments ......................................... 3 Ethos and Principles ................. 4 Benefits of Membership ......... 5 About St Ives u3a ....................... 6 What’s next? ................................... 7 Other Information ....................... 8

From the Chair On behalf of the committee, I welcome you to our u3a and to our New Members’ Meeting. Being a member gives you opportunities to develop your interests, make new friends and have fun. We hope that you will find things that you'd like to be involved with amongst the range of groups and activities that our u3a members organise. We also hope that you will feel able to contribute to our life together, as everything we do is “by the members for the members”. Much is done by small teams of members working together. We are all volunteers, and “we can only do what we can do”! If there is a subject that is close to your heart that you never had the time for (or if the group you want to join is full), then why not form a new group? Our Group Support Team (gst@u3aivo.uk) will support you in doing this and will publicise your interest. You don’t have to be an expert in the field; it’s all about learning from each other and having fun. If you would like to consider how else you might contribute, why not contact me (chair@u3aivo.uk), or anyone who is already volunteering? This leaflet has information that we hope will be useful to you as a new member. As with everything we do, please feel free to make suggestions as to how it can be improved. Thanks again for joining us and sharing in the joy of lifelong learning! Meet the Chair: 1st Thursdays (not Jan) 3.15-4.15 pm Wetherspoons Learn, Laugh, Live!

Payments Membership Subscriptions Currently are just £13 per year. [If you pay a full subscription to another u3a (not Cambridge U3A) you can be an "Associate Member" for £9.50 per year.] Bank Account for Membership payments “St Ives Cambs U3A,” sort code 40-40-35, account number 41529994 Include as reference: your surname and u3a membership number (if known). Renewals Membership is renewed on 1st April each year, irrespective of when you joined. We do prefer payments to be made by standing order but we are currently reviewing this. Please let us know (eg by emailing membership@u3aivo.uk) if any of your contact details change. Notes If you don’t have access to online banking you can ask your branch to make the payment over the counter using these details. We can accept cheques but the bank charges us for depositing them. We have these two different Bank Accounts. Please try to make payments into the correct bank account! Outings, Trips and Events Always book and get confirmation before paying. Bank Account for Outings, Trips and Events “St Ives Cambs U3A Social Account”, sort code 40-16-08, account number 74557352; Include as reference: your u3a membership number and trip name.

Ethos and Principles The u3a movement is non-religious and non-political. We have three main types of principle: Lifelong Learning: • Membership of a u3a is open to all people who are no longer in full time work. • Members promote the values of lifelong learning and the positive attributes of belonging to a u3a. Self Help • Members form interest groups covering as wide a range of topics and activities as they desire; by the members, for the members. • No qualifications are sought or offered. Learning is for its own sake, with enjoyment being the prime motive, not qualifications or awards. • There is no distinction between the learners and the teachers, they are all u3a members. Mutual Aid • Each u3a is a mutual aid organisation, operationally independent but a member of The Third Age Trust, which requires adherence to the guiding principles of the u3a movement. • No payments are made to members for services rendered to any u3a. • Each u3a is self-funded by the membership. Here in St Ives u3a: • We try to work in teams for convening/leading all our activities, so that the burden can be shared and different skills utilized. • We have teams dedicated to supporting interest group convenors, with practical, website, and systems support.

Benefits of Membership Members’ Open Meetings Members can attend the monthly Members' Open Meetings held on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm in the Corn Exchange. Entry is free for current members but remember to bring your “card for life” with you as it will be scanned to confirm membership (if you forget your card, we do have a way of finding your membership number). Speakers or entertainment are followed by free refreshments. Interest groups Members may also join as many u3a interest groups as they wish, sharing in any costs. (Check with convenors about whether groups are full or not.) AI Club, All about the Art, Art Appreciation, Art Club, Badminton, Birdwatching, Book Club, Canasta, Casual Conversation, Classical Guitar, Country Dancing, Country Walks, Craft in the Conservatory, Creative Writing, Cribbage, Current Affairs ………… ……… Spanish Fiction, Strollers, Swedish Improvers, Table Tennis, Tai Chi, Textiles, The Joy of Travelling, The Painters, Uke-Troupe, Yoga … and whatever else you would like to organise! Other benefits Members may sign up for all our outings, theatre trips, and events, sharing in the costs. Other benefits include our monthly Newsletter/Magazine, the national “u3a matters” magazine (if you have not opted out), and the opportunity to join in national u3a groups, seminars and events. The best place to find out about what is happening is our website: u3aivo.uk

About St Ives u3a From its beginnings in 1981, the u3a movement in the UK has grown to over 1000 u3as with over 400,000 members. Our St Ives u3a was founded in 2011 and since then has grown to a membership of over 900. There is no restriction on age so if you are not in full-time employment then the u3a is for you. Most of the group meetings are held within the St Ives area, including in public venues, members’ homes, and the great outdoors. The Corn Exchange is used for the monthly Members’ Open Meetings and larger events. Other venues used include local churches, cafes and pubs. We currently have over 60 groups covering all sorts of interests. There is always room for more so if there is anything you have a particular passion for do step up and lets get another group up and running. Communications As well as our website (https://u3aivo.uk), we use a u3a system (Beacon) for membership and group records, accounts and sending emails. [To avoid Beacon emails going to your spam or junk box, we advise you to add the Beacon address (noreply@u3abeacon.org.uk) to your safe sender list.] We publish a free Newsletter/Magazine every month, which members receive via email, and can read on the website. For those who prefer, it is made available in printed form. We are on Facebook (stivesu3a). (Note that any member can attend committee meetings which are usually held on the first Wednesday of each month – email info@u3aivo.uk )

What’s next? Use our website (for internet users) The best way to find out what’s available is to go to our website at u3aivo.uk. It is continually being updated, and has information about all the: • Interest Groups • Members' Open Meetings • Outings • Theatre Trips • etc If you want to contact any member of the committee, the Outings or Theatre Trips teams, or a group convenor, then you can do this by finding the relevant page and clicking on the blue envelope. The drop-down menus cover most aspects of our u3a, but the search box (top right) can be useful for finding things. Why not explore the menus at the top, and all the links in blue – you cannot cause any damage! For non-internet users At our Members’ Open Meetings you can pick up printed versions of some of the pages on our website at the Support Desk, and you can also ask questions or register an interest in groups there. The Outings and Theatre Trips teams take bookings from 1.20 and again after the speaker. The membership team can also deal with membership issues then. u3aivo.uk

Other Information Annual General Meeting (AGM) All members are invited each year to our AGM, usually held at the start of our September Members Open Meeting. As a charity, this is where the committee report to the membership, and members get an opportunity to question the committee and vote for a new committee. Our constitution is available on the website (use the search box). Our Charity No is 1147162 Contacts • Chair (Peter Cooper) ............. chair@u3aivo.uk • Vice-Chair (Bob Wilson) (also acting Treasurer) .......... treasurer@u3aivo.uk • Secretary (Sheila Louth)...... secretarystivescambsu3a@gmail.com • Newsletter (Anne Bannell).. editor@u3aivo.uk • Beacon Admin (Joy Cooper) beaconadmstivesu3a@gmail.com • Membership Enquiries ......... membership@u3aivo.uk • Group Support Team ............. gst@u3aivo.uk • General Enquiries..................... info@u3aivo.uk • Telephone number for those without email: ........... 07458 197372