News
This page is where committee members, group facilitators and other u3a members can make everyone aware of groups' news, members' news or other items of interest that may be useful to the membership in general.
Send your contributions to the Secretary (see the Contact page).
Follow the Newsletters link (right) to read our latest newsletter (in PDF format) plus previous editions and recent National and Scottish u3a newsletters.
See the Events page for details of what's coming up.
Interested in volunteering? We now have a dedicated page for volunteering opportunities.
Spring messages from the Chair
Celia, our chair, has published her spring report which looks forward to an active next few months and the hope that members will participate in and contribute to the events this summer. She also adds a plea for members to help fill the role of Business Secretary, which remains vacant. Click the spring 2024 report link to read the whole message.
She has also published a thank-you to facilitators for their essential contribution to the running of our u3a.
u3a in Scotland Summer School 2024
This year the summer school runs from Tuesday 20th – Thursday 22nd August 2024 and is being held in Stirling. Click the links for the Summer School 2024 overview, Summer School 2024 courses, and the u3a Scotland web page for synopsis of the courses on offer and booking details.
Welcome to our 200th member
Press release, 25th August 2023 - Wigtownshire u3a celebrates double numbers with its 200th member.
The Wigtownshire branch of the University of the Third Age is a local success story. Since Covid it has doubled in numbers and this week celebrated the enrolment of their 200th member. The u3a provides the opportunity for those no longer in full time work to come together and learn for fun. The Machars boasts a wealth of expertise and knowledge and mixed with big helping of enthusiasm makes for a dynamic programme of events run by and open to all members such as: art appreciation, astronomy, local history, Spanish conversation and table tennis to name a few of the 26 activities run by members for members.
“Thanks to our Group’s Coordinator and his team of volunteers at the Wigtown Show for bringing in our 200th member. Covid set us back but we are on the road to recovery. Many thanks for a successful year”. Celia Heller, Chair
(August 2023)
Booking your holiday through Riviera Travel?
U3A members booking holidays with Riviera Travel are eligible for a 10% discount provided the person booking mentions Wigtownshire U3A at the time of doing so. Riviera will donate this 10% of the total basic cost of all travellers included on the booking, as a charitable donation to the Wigtownshire U3A.
Monthly Committee Minutes
The full minutes of committee meetings are to be found on the Contact page. You'll need the password to access them, available from the Secretary.
Save your plastic bottle tops
Local member Glenis is still collecting plastic bottle tops for charity. The re-use of these tops becomes ever more important for our environment as well as for the disabled children that the charity helps. Carry on collecting and hold on to them for now. Glenis will pick them up next spring at the monthly meetings in Wigtown or contact the Webmaster.
Save your used postage stamps
Do you know that The South of Scotland Wild Life Hospital collect used, old and foreign stamps?
If possible please keep and send them stamps from your Christmas cards etc. Barony College Grounds, Parkgate, Dumfries, DG1 3NE
Banking scam warning
We have been warned that u3a's are being targeted by phone calls purporting to be from their bank's Fraud Department. A number of other u3as have reported similar attempted scams. As a result, we are removing all personal details from the website. Please use the contact forms throughout the site to email committee members.
If you are suspicious about a phone call, the safest thing is to hang up. There is information about staying safe online under Keep Safe.
The Davy Notebooks Project - get involved
A message from Dr Andrew Lacey, Senior Research Associate in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing at Lancaster University.
The Davy Notebooks Project is currently doing some exciting research, with the help of the public, that may be of interest to your members. We and an international community of over 1400 volunteer transcribers are currently transcribing, using the people-powered research platform Zooniverse, Sir Humphry Davy's (1778-1829) handwritten notebooks (around 70 in all), many of which have never been transcribed before. Davy was the leading chemist of the early nineteenth century, but also a poet, moving in the same circles as Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Wordsworth. His notebooks contain not only chemical notes and poetry, but also material encompassing philosophy, medicine, geology, mathematics, astronomy, and more. Anyone interested in any of these topics, or science or history more generally, will surely find the much of the material we're making freely available - in most cases for the first time - stimulating.
We'd be very grateful if you'd please circulate this amongst your local members, and help us to spread the word by whatever other means you think appropriate (e.g. social media, newsletters items, mailouts). Contributing transcriptions to our project is entirely free, both interesting and rewarding, and no prior experience is necessary - we provide full guidance on the transcription process on our Zooniverse page, and the project team is on hand through the Talk forum feature to answer any queries.
If you have any questions, please just email davynotebooks@lancaster.ac.uk, and a member of the project team will respond. We can provide further promotional materials (e.g. newsletter item text, images) if you'd like them.