Group Convenors
On Thursday 4 November 2021 the group convenors got together for the first time in nearly two years.
The meeting was opened by our Chair, Jane Barker, who then handed over the running of the meeting to Lesley Bedford, the Chalfonts u3a Group Coordinator.
The purpose of the meeting was to talk about a number of topics and for all of the convenors to participate in a discussion for the celebrations that are taking place for the u3a in April of 2022.
The meeting lasted for around ninety minutes. Afterwards, the convenors were invited to stay for a two-course lunch as a thank you for the work and dedication they give to their groups.
Jane Barker
Lesley Bedford
This link will take you to a page that shows the photographs taken on the day.
The annual get together of our Group Convenors and the RUG's (Really Useful Group who help when some help is needed) met on Thursday 18 July 2019. The meeting had more than forty of our members who help us to run Chalfonts u3a and this is the photograph we took of the occasion.
This photograph was taken of our Group Convenors in July 2018.
We do have lots more Group Convenors… unfortunately gathering them all up for a group photograph is more difficult than you can imagine; they do stuff like go away on holiday to exotic places!
Ask Not...
Nothing happens unless like-minded people come together to make things happen. To paraphrase John Kennedy's famous observation;
"Ask not what your u3a can do for you, but what YOU can do for your u3a!"
Advice To Group Convenors Documents
The link below that opens up our latest Advice To Convenors document. It will open up in a new tab/window (depending how your own browser is set up). You can then either save this pdf (Portable Document File) to your hard-drive or, if you prefer, you can print it off.
The Really Useful Group (RUG)
We are always looking for volunteers to help out during the monthly meetings and other events.
If you are able to help please send a brief message to our Group Coordinator and we will get back to you.
About Beacon…
We now have a superb system called Beacon for managing our Interest Groups. It is a database that contains all of our member records. This means you can add/delete members in your group easily. It will help you communicate effectively with your group members.
It is much more efficient than trying to manage your meetings using your personal email account, and we urge all of our Group Convenors to find out more and to use it. It really will make your life easier once you have received some training on how to use it effectively. If you do not currently use it we would ask you to consider finding out more and then seeing the benefits of how it can help you.
The Beacon Administrator is Vince Barker. (If you don't want to use the contact form you can write to Vince directly via the email address below, from your own email account provider).
beaconadmin@chalfontsu3a.org.uk
Role of Group Convenor
Group convenors are individuals or several individual members of a group who take on responsibility for its operation. Sometimes there may be one Group Convenor, though experience suggests that at least two such persons work more efficiently; sometimes the leadership may vary, pass from one member to another or be shared among a number of members.
The Group Convenor role includes:
- Acting as a contact point for the group, both for the existing members and prospective new members
- Attending Convenor meetings and occasional social events
- Deciding (with the group members) the nature and scope of the group and its programme of activities
- Holding regular planning meetings of the group to review how the group is going and to decide on future activities
- Liaison with the group coordinator to discuss any issues with the group
- Providing updates on the group’s activity for the newsletter
- Promoting and publicising the group to attract new members
- Collecting any fees due for room hire or other expenses and keeping records of all money received/spent
- Maintaining an up-to-date list of group member's contact details
To see a list of the Group Convenors and their details please open the latest newsletter.
Would You Like To Help Convene A Group?
To provide our members with a range of interesting and thriving Interest Groups we welcome any member to take on the role of a Group Convenor.
Is there a particular interest you have that is currently not provided?
Please use the Contact Form below to register your interest if you would like to help.
Useful Documents & Forms
Documents in Word/Excel Format
(Note: These documents can be downloaded and saved to your hard-drive)
Documents in PDF format
(Note: These documents will open up in a separate window, and can then be downloaded to your hard-drive)
Convenor Meeting Notes
Notes from the previous Convenor Meetings