Groups available at the Ashford, Wye & District U3a.

Ashford, Wye & District u3a offers a range of groups in the arts, sciences and general interest. Many groups operate on a self-help basis with participants contributing their own knowledge. Meetings are often in members’ homes. u3a membership is open to anyone no longer in full-time employment.

The membership fee for all members, which is currently £20, is due annually on 1st June. If you have not already set up a standing order mandate please consider doing so. This helps to reduce the significant workload on our Membership Secretary. If it is not possible for you to set up a standing order, we will accept a cheque, made payable to: u3a Ashford, Wye & District. Please note that we no longer accept cash payments.

If you have any queries regarding u3a membership (including payment of your subscription) please contact Membership Secretary.

Please note, you must be a current member of our u3a to join any group.

Members are welcome to attend monthly coffee mornings with coffee & biscuits and speaker. These are held at Repton Connect Community Centre. The charge of £1 includes coffee and biscuits. Please see the program booklet for details of speakers, dates and times.

Members will receive the quarterly national u3a magazine entitled ‘Third Age Matters’ in the post. If you wish to opt out of receiving ‘TAM’ please contact Membership Secretary.

For details and enrolment for a particular group please contact the Group Leader in the first instance.

In general, there is no charge for joining groups except those taking place in a public hall. There may be small charges to cover costs of materials (such as photocopying) and a contribution to refreshments, if provided, payable to the Group Leader. 

Where groups meet in public venues a fee will be charged as a contribution towards the hire costs. To book a place with a group in a public hall please first check with the Group Leader for full details. Please pay by Bank Payment (BACS) wherever possible. Your Group Leader will give you the details. If members are unable to use internet banking to set up a BACS payment, they can pay by cheque. Please make your cheque payable to: u3a Ashford, Wye & District, and send it to Jenny Jackson, our Treasurer. If you have any queries about paying to join a group, please contact Jenny Jackson.

If you are told a group is full, or have ideas for other groups, please contact the Programme Manager, Cheryl Sims to register your interest. It may be possible to run an additional group or to put you in touch with other members with a similar interest, to start your own.

Latest Group Updates :-

Italian - Is there an Italian speaker amongst our members who would be willing to assist in a Italian group ? If you can help, please contact Cheryl Sims at u3aprogmancfs@gmail.com

Memory Maintenance Group

Barry and Maureen Andrews’ Memory Maintenance Group started in January, and will be meeting on the second Tuesday of every month, 2pm to 4pm. (Next meeting on Tuesday 10th February.) Venue: Ashford Community Church, Francis Road, south Ashford. The aim of the group is to help members understand, prevent and manage everyday memory problems, and also raise awareness of how to prevent and/or reduce the risk of contracting Dementia.

Please email Barry at barry.badger46@outlook.com, if you are interested in joining.

Helen’s next IT drop-in session is this Friday, 8th May at Repton Community Centre. Helen can help you with any problems you have with your mobile phone, tablet or laptop. Don’t forget the change of time: 1pm to 3pm.

Would you like to practise your spoken Italian? An Italian u3a group based near Turin would love to talk to you online in Italian, and also in English ! Please contact Cheryl Sims for more information. 

Are any members interested in Ballroom Dancing or Pickleball? Please drop Cheryl Sims an Email.

The new Ten Pin Bowling Group will be meeting for the first time this week, on Thursday 7^th May, at 5.50pm; then on Thursday 14^th May at 11am; and also on Wednesday 20^th May at 11am.

If you are interested in the ten pin bowling, please contact Derek Himsley.

New Group: Liz Gladstone is setting up a Knit and Natter Group, with a difference. The group will be knitting items for a charity called Knit for Peace, which will pass the items onto homeless shelters, prisons, women’s refuges etc. The group will meet at Liz's home in Ashford every fortnight, on a Thursday at 2.30pm. Please email Liz at liz.gladstone71@gmail.com to register your interest.

Possible New Group: Cheryl has been chatting with a company called Dance Visions with a view to starting a u3a Ballet Group. The group would be taught by a professional (non-u3a) ballet teacher. The one-hour class would be held weekly at Stardust Studio in Quantock Drive, Ashford, and cost £10 per session (for a class of 8 or more students). The day and time of the class has yet to be decided. Please let me know if you are interested, so that I have an idea of numbers, Cheryl Sims.

Possible new language group
If any members are interested in attending a group to learn some basic Nepalese, please contact Phil Sims at u3avcpjfs@gmail.com

Links

• Home based risk assessment
• Venue based risk assessment
• Walk leader risk assessment form
• Group Leaders Handbook 2024
• Visitors Policy