General News
This page contains news of general U3A interest and announcements about our special interest groups.
u3a National Office (The Third Age Trust)
Welshpool and District u3a is affiliated to the u3a National Office.Members can access the U3A National Office website via www.u3a.org.uk
NEW INTEREST GROUPS
If you are interested in starting a new group in an area that we do not cater for already please contact our Chairperson.ALL INTEREST GROUPS
Would Group Leaders please remember to let the Groups
Co-Ordinator and Website Manager know as soon as they have any
changes to report (e.g change of name, venue etc.) so that they
can be updated on BEACON and on this website.
email: Groups@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk
Webmaster@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk
OUTINGS
Members are reminded that any member can propose an all-U3A outing to any place they would like to go. However, that member would need to organise the outing and invite others - announcements can be made at monthly meetings and the details can be put on this website.
On the subject of outings or visits made by individual groups in cars, the Committee suggests that, if people want to share cars and contribute to the costs, a figure of 20p a mile to be split among all in the car, would be appropriate. Thus a round-trip journey of 84 miles (e.g. Welshpool-Barmouth-Welshpool) would cost £16.80 to be shared by all in the car.
TEA & COFFEE AT MONTHLY MEETINGS
Will those people who have put their names down to do the teas/coffees please turn up at 9.30am, so that you can be well prepared before the hordes arrive.
PLEASE NOTE:
If you cannot fulfill your rota commitment please ensure that you
contact a committee member AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so that a
substitute can be found or see if you can find a substitute.
Please sign-up for one general meeting a year or the teas and
coffees will stop being served!
THE COMMITTEE
Click or hover on the committee member for a brief biography of them.
-
- Alan Smithers, Chairperson 01938 501451
Info@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk - Annette Dawe, Vice Chairperson 01938 580766
- Alan Smithers, Chairperson 01938 501451
- Ian Thompson, Treasurer Ian Thompson - Treasurer I moved with wife Karin and Border terrier Scamp to live in Hope near Welshpool in 2016 after a protracted search for a change of residence. We had lived in a small village near Swindon beneath the Ridgeway for 19 years and reluctantly concluded that we needed to escape the sprawl of new development encroaching upon us. I am from West Cumberland originally, but to all intents and purposes left there to go to university in '69. My professional career was in local government, initially as a trainee accountant with Humberside County Council but after qualification moving to work for Northamptonshire, Berkshire and latterly Swindon Borough Council. Karin and I have three offspring (but none between us) and 5 grand-kids spread between Northampton, Oxford and Bristol so Welshpool's good communication links ticked one of the boxes when we were house-hunting. It's been a good move for us. Finally, I'm trying to learn to speak Cymraeg but my progress is best described as 'glacial'. 01938 555774 Treasurer@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk
- Vince Howells, Secretary Vincent Howells – Secretary
1949. The year the transistor was invented, a device that
shaped the modern world we live in – for good or bad – and
the year I was born. The transistor featured prominently in
my life as I went on to work in the electronics industry for
many years and saw the transition from the valve era to the
transistor and computer age. Remarkably last year 1.15
trillion transistor-based components were produced and there
are still not enough! As well as working in the electronics
industry I spent the last 20 years of my working life in
various Government roles in Wales including two years in
Cardiff. Just to add a bit more work, I served 26 years as a
magistrate in what was then known as the Montgomeryshire
Bench. It was a real honour to be trusted by the community
to undertake the duty and I never forgot when sentencing
defendants, to what had life changing impacts on them and
their families, that they still must be treated with
fairness and consideration. However, retirement in 2015 did
not see a slowing of pace with three adult children (you
never think they grow up) and three grandchildren life still
seems busy. Retirement has provided more time for various
interests, Photography, Music and HI FI systems, railway
history – mostly the steam age and electronics in the form
of computers, of which several are distributed around my
house all joined by a gigabit network and my own design of a
mesh WI FI system with various network drives attached. My
early interest in electronics has never gone away and as a
20 years old starting a career in electronics I could never
have imagined the profound impact it would have had on all
our lives. 07906 091316
Secretary@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk - Sarah Lees, Membership Secretary Sarah Lees – Membership Secretary I am a very new member of U3a and I am enjoying the drawing group and the dog walking group so far. My working background was in the NHS with a variety of jobs including social transport and then invigilating once I retired. I moved to this area in 2021 from Ceredigion and enjoy the proximity of my two children and their families now numbering three grandsons, various dogs, cats and horses. My husband and I enjoy travelling, gardening, eating out and baking. (I bake he does quality control apparently!) I’m looking forward to meeting more members, possibly joining more groups and hearing from anyone with any queries about Welshpool and District u3a that I can share with the other committee members to resolve. 07785 768642 Members@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk
- Elaine Trott, Groups Co-ordinator
- Graham Moore, Programme Secretary Graham Moore – Programme Secretary I have been a resident of Welshpool since Christmas 1978, when I moved up here from Sussex where I was born. I have two grown up children who were both born in and grew up in the area. I worked for Powys Health Service for around ten years in their Engineering Department, before a change of direction in my career path when I became the County Street Lighting Engineer in early 1990. After some 9-10 years with Powys County Council, I moved over to a Consultancy Firm who was operating the Street Lighting Contract for Shropshire Council and I remain with them until I retired at the end of May 2019. I was involved with Welshpool Air Cadets for 14 years which I thoroughly enjoyed. Through this organisation I had the good fortune to travel to many RAF Stations around the UK and also one in Germany in around 2001. As a spin off from that role I have also been asked to be Parade Marshall for Welshpool Royal British Legion and Welshpool Town Council for the last 20 years or so, where you may have heard my tender voice bark out the Parade Commands for both the annual Remembrance Day Parades as well as the Mayor Sunday Parades. I have a number of interested which include my Family Tree, local history and a new one for me which is bird watching, which I am grateful to the U3A for presenting me with a nice friendly group to become involved with. In the coming years I hope to explore some of the other U3A Groups which we are lucky enough to enjoy in Welshpool. 01938 554069 Speakers@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk
- Brian Lyness, Website Manager Brian Lyness – Website Manager Originally from Northern Ireland my wife and I lived, worked and brought up our two sons in the Thames Valley area (Windsor, Crowthorne and Wokingham) from 1975 until 2012. I worked in IT and for the final 20 years of my work life I was freelance. On retirement we decided we wanted to move to a quieter area of the country and so we initially rented a house in Monmouthshire and then for a short period in Tenbury Wells, before moving to Welshpool in April 2014. We love living here, it is so good to get out of the rat race and back to the small town environment that was familiar to me growing up. We have two small grandchildren, living in London who we visit and help to look after quite often. My interests include gardening, volunteering with the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT), swimming, pilates (before my arthritic knees gave up on me), motoring and travelling. 07941 144638 Webmaster@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk
- Brian Lyness, Beacon Membership Admin. 07941 144638
Beacon@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk - Annette Dawe, Publicity Officer
Publicity@WelshpoolAndDistrictu3a.org.uk Jacqui Thompson – Membership (Deputy) Meeter and Greeter Married to Brian Thompson since 2001. I have two sons, one married and living in Germany with my two grandsons and one in Reading. Moved to Virginia in the US 2007-2016. Moved to Abermule (in hills not village) and subsequently joined Welshpool u3a in 2017. Like most of us who are in the u3a, I was looking to meet up with people and find new or continuing interests. Pre-March 2020 Welshpool was key to that and I am delighted that despite the pandemic, Welshpool seems not only to have survived, but now is flourishing with new groups and new group leaders. I look forward to contributing to the work of the committee and continuing as a group leader of a lovely drawing group. - Maggie Townsend, Committee Member Maggie Townsend – Coffee Rota. I have lived in Welshpool since 1975, when my husband Chris became one of the partners in the Welshpool Medical Practice. We brought our three year old daughter with us and our son was born in Welshpool Hospital and became a Welshman! After a childcare break I resumed my nursing career. First as a Midwife in the hospital and local community and then I retrained in Health Visiting. I have loved living in Welshpool. Particularly during the last two years I have realised how privileged I am. The pandemic would have been so much more challenging away from our rural lifestyle. I discovered U3A a few years ago. I have enjoyed the monthly meetings very much, but it is the special interest groups which amaze me. There is so much talent among our members and they are so willing to share it. I have been a member of a number of groups and have learnt and continue to learn from the experts. I'm afraid I don't have any special skills to share, but am happy to serve on the committee to give something back. 01938 552479
- Tricia Newsome, Committee Member
- John Williams, Committee Member
Group Information
Group Programmes
- Bird Watching
- Digital Photography
- Dog Friendly Walking
- Everything Textiles
- Film Group Monty
- Knit and Natter
- Local History
- Lunch Group
- Medieval History
- Philosophy/M&C
- Psychology/NLP
- Strolling
- Walking
- Wine Appreciation
Affiliated to the
Third Age Trust
