March 2026 Newsletter
We start this newsletter with a quite wonderful painting of Mad Hares by Ken Lockhart. courtesy of the Art & Painting for All group.
The End of Ash u3a
Maybe not quite doom and gloom but a necessary reminder that we will need a new Secretary this year once Eileen retires from the role. If we do not have a nomination Ash u3a will cease to exist at the AGM.
We need someone to volunteer!
A Few Questions
Many of you have already filled in our survey – at last count we have 184 responses. But a few more wouldn’t go amiss. For those who would like to express your opinion this is the link to the survey (opens in a new tab):
The results of the survey will be published in the next newsletter.
Website Changes
Hopefully by now you will all have seen the changes to the homepage. Instead of all the groups we now show all the things members have been up to recently. This seems to be proving popular both with our members and Google. This is helping us attract potential new members which can only be a good thing.
Other changes include a Help and Support page. This pulls together all the content on the site into one place. If something is missing or you feel could be better organised please let us know.
For group leaders we have moved the content of the paper based guide onto a series of webpages. This allows us to keep everything up to date and provide links to associated pages and forms. Your start point is the Group Leaders Guide.
There are a couple of visual features we are experimenting with. On the homepage you will see a random image from the Ash vicinity as a background to the header. On other pages you will also see these images. They probably aren’t the best images but they will suffice for the test. Maybe the Photography Group could provide us with some more iconic images.
As we introduce new features and content we will let you know all about them here.
February Photographs
An interesting set of photographs on the topic of Mystery Objects. Without the captions I’d have been lost as to what they all are.
Hands and Limbs
This month topic from the Art and Painting group is hands and limbs.
Click here to see a sample of the pictures
Healthy Walking
27 healthy walkers headed off just south of the Sands to Britty Woods and Crooksbury Common
Ceaser’s Camp
Just 16 walkers climbed a mountain and lived to tell a tale.
Rowhill Nature Reserve
The amblers visited the Rowhill Nature Reserve for a guided tour and refreshments. Thanks to Jackie and the team for looking after us.
The Sarsen Stones
This month the Thursday Lunchers headed off the Farnborough and the Sarsen Stones. Part of the Martson’s pub chain it’s worth a visit if you close by.
Tai Chi Workshop
An excellent day out at the Victoria Hall with lots of Tai Chi, tea and cake. And a special t-shirt for good measure.
Bayeux Tapestry
Following a historic agreement with France, the 70-metre-long tapestry, depicting events leading up to the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, will be loaned to the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027.
James Dickinson will be giving a talk on this historic artifact at the Monthly Meeting on 26 May. This is likely to be a very popular event so put the date in your diary.
From the Groups Coordinator
Michelle writes:
Just wanted to shout out to all our Group Leaders to say a BIG Thank You for all you do in keeping our community going. We are busy updating some of our processes which means some additional work for them so once again – thanks to all.
Privacy and Data Protection
You are all reminded to never share any login details with anyone that doing do can create a potential data breach with the associated privacy implications. If you need access to Beacon please contact the Beacon Administrator on beacon@ashu3a.org.uk. If you need a login to the u3a website please contact the Website Administrator on chair@ashu3a.org.uk.
Trust and Other News
u3a Survey
Click here to complete the survey
u3a Friends
Read the latest u3a Friends Newsletter
If you want to get regular updates from the u3a you can sign up here.
u3a Festival
The annual u3a Festival takes place this year between 1 and 3 July at The University of York. If you are interested in taking part you can find out more and book your tickets here:
https://www.u3a.org.uk/what-we-do/events/festival-2026
Volunteering Programme at Bookmark Reading Charity
Do you like reading? If so then maybe you can help share your love of books with children aged between 5 and 11.
Some Stats
This month there were 1624 visitors to website looking at 6360 pages.
The top visited pages were the homepage (13.1%), groups (8.3%) and Newsletter (6.6%)
97% of our visitors came from the UK but all these countries took a look: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Iraq, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey and the USA
A question was asked on the Chairs Forum about the sizes of each u3a. Here are the interim results:
With 390 members you can see Ash u3a is right in the middle. Over one-third of all u3as are smaller than us. One u3a has just 40 members!