The North West Region recently held a networking event at the Grand Hotel, Southport, aptly named 'A Grand Day Out'. Of the 1,000 u3a Groups in the UK, just over 90 are in the North West and we were delighted to welcome representatives from 25% of our NW u3as.
The days' objective was to encourage fresh thinking and innovation by sharing ideas between u3as and was run by our North West Chair, Christine Garrity and Southport's Chris Howorth.
Our Events Team welcomed them all and after coffee the activities began. Tables created fictitious Interest Groups, such as Ghost Hunting, Morris Dancing then shared their plans for launching a their groups to tempt members in. The 70s Nostalgia Group was particularly popular. Chorley became hooked on Lego and were dashing back to start the group up, and the inspired Kit Flyers were off looking for balloon trips.
A very interactive morning followed by a noisy lunch swapping ideas between the groups. The afternoon session 'What have the Trust ever done for us?' was lead by Chris, who delved into the vast array of online Learning opportunities and support available to all u3a members and their committees. Many useful contacts were made and they all had their photos taken under the Grand Day Out screen. Their day in Southport was appropriately rounded off with an ice cream - it's rumoured they might want to have NW u3a meetings here again.
Christine Garrity & Christine Howarth