Hayling Island U3A
This document answers a number of questions about the national U3A organisation and how it relates to you. It includes, for example, some information about insurance cover provided by the national organisation.
It was issued to members in April 2014.
These notes are provided to help Hayling u3a group leaders run their groups. In practice, leading a HIU3A group is not intended to be onerous. Instead we hope you find it a pleasant and rewarding experience.
If you are interested in starting a new group, click/tap here to find out what's involved.
Click/tap any of the following headings to see more information.
Besides help available from the committee and the groups co-ordinator, you can get help by:
Some groups rotate hosting around members who are willing and able to accommodate meetings.
Some groups have found it helpful to appoint a deputy group leader. A deputy is particularly useful if you are ill or away on holiday.
If there's a member of HIU3A willing and able to help you manage your group's pages, you can authorise them to make changes on your behalf by adding them as an editor for your group. They don't have to be a member of your group so you can delegate to a friend, spouse or partner, for example, provided they are a HIU3A member.
There's more information about how to do that here.
If you're stuck, you can ask the Web site editor for help, or to make the change for you.
Our Group Co-ordinator will create your initial group page. You can then update it yourself.
Your group page is important because it:
We've kept your group page as simple as possible. All we ask for is some basic information, a short description for group lists and a more detailed description for the group page.
When you update your group page you'll see a form where you can change:
If you want to learn how to lay out your detailed description, and add links and images, click/tap here.
Log in to the web site and go to your group page (you can find it in the group list). The system will recognise you as a leader of the group (there can be more than one) and you'll see a blue button like this:
Click/tap it to update your group page.
We ask you to keep an up-to-date member list on the web site. That's because:
Log in to the web site and:
If you want to make changes to the list, click/tap 'Manage group membership' or read on for more details...
Click/tap here for detailed step-by-step instructions (with pictures) for adding and removing members.
Note that you do not have to remove retiring members. The site does that automatically for you.
You can keep members up-to-date in various ways. Click/tap any of the following to find out more:
You should always send emails to group members through the web site rather than keep a personal list. The web site ensures you:
You can email:
Click/tap here for more information about how to send emails through the site.
News articles appear in the sidebar on your group page. Depending on what kind of device people use, the sidebar is either displayed on the right or the bottom of the page.
Members of your group can see news items even if they have deleted your emails. Also, news items demonstrate to prospective members that your group is active.
To add a news item to your group page, log in to the web site and:
You then enter a title for your article and the text for your news. If you want to can show the item only to members who have logged in to the site. Use this option only if your item includes personal information that should not be shown to the public.
Click/tap here for more information about adding and updating news items.
Having created your news item, you can send it as an email - that's an easy way to let everyone in your group know about it.
To avoid the group page looking stale, the site periodically replaces older items with a link that allows viewers to see archived items.
Every year, before the start of the HIU3A year begins in April, you will be asked to update your events for the new year. There are two types of event:
Or you can mix the two.
Your events automatically appear on your group page and in our site's calendars.
Click/tap here to find out more about adding and updating events.
Forums are a good way to conduct discussions within your group outside of meetings. For example, the Cycling group uses a forum to discuss destinations each month.
You can opt for the discussion to be visible to the public or only HIU3A members. In any case, people have to log in to contribute to a disussion.
Contact the web site editor if you'd like to set up a forum for your group.
Members can:
You don't have to do anything extra. The web site will automatically include relevant items.
You can also:
If your group generates material that might interest people in the future, you can add it to your group page as an article. There are three types of article:
Ideally, people should be able to read articles without downloading anything. However, they can include links to documents and images. There is a limit to the size of items you can store in our web site. That means you will be unable to upload videos or high definition images. Instead you can link to external web sites such as YouTube or Dropbox. Contact the web site editor if you need help with that.
You have the option to restrict articles to HIU3A members who have logged in to the site, but making articles public might help promote your group and HIU3A as a whole.
Click/tap here for more information about adding and updating articles.
If you need a place to meet, there's a list of venues we use here. You can use links we provide to find out which groups meet at each venue so you can contact relevant group leaders to find out more.
All groups need to be self funding. Shared payments towards covering group necessities such as hiring of halls or equipment, sharing travel expenses, refreshments, etc should be mutually agreed by group members. If you expect contributions from members, you should provide details in your group's page (see above) so there are no surprises.
Apart from equipment belonging to HIU3A (see 'Grants for equipment' below) There is no need for your expenses to be audited or declared.
The Visits group has a system for recording its income and expenses which is visible to the HIU3A Treasurer. The group agrees a fixed price to cover all expenses inc. coach, travel, insurance etc, which is presented to and agreed by members when they buy their tickets.
It's important for the health of HIU3A that we use opportunities to expand what we do. A full group indicates scope to do that. There are no hard and fast rules for what to do if your group fills up. Here are a few options:
If there are u3a members who have registered their interest in your group and are waiting to join, you should consider asking any current members, who are poor attenders, to leave and make room for them. It's an obvious courtesy to ask them first, but our committee has authorised you to remove a group member who has missed three meetings without giving a reason.
When you get to the maximum number of group members you can handle, use your group page to change your group’s status to 'Closed to new members'. That will automatically show a message on the page explaining the situation and inviting potential new joiners to register their interest in your group. You will be notified by email of any registrations and you can review them via the ‘Show registrations of interest’ link in your group page.
If someone contacts you directly wanting to join when you are full, you can register their interest on their behalf using the ‘Record an interest in this group’ option on the group page.
This option is most appropriate if there's an obvious way to split the group. For example, the Ambling group split from the Walking group to support members who could no longer walk as far.
Similarly, a games playing group might split between better and weaker players, or advanced and beginners.
This option is most appropriate if there's significant interest in a new group - or if you suspect there might be.
Key is identifying a leader for the new group who is prepared to set it up. Someone who hasn't led a group before - especially if they are a new HIU3A member - probably finds the prospect daunting. You could help them by mentoring them through the process and, perhaps attending the initial meetings - or maybe a member of your group is prepared to do that.
Another option is for a member of your group to become the leader of the new group - with, or without, the eventual aim of handing leadership over.
Members can add their emergency contacts via their profile page. When members log in to the site they can see a link to their profile in the 'Member sevices' menu or at the foot of every page in the site. We also add a link to it from all emails sent via our web site.
Emergency contacts allow you to get in touch with relevant people following an incident. While you can usually contact a spouse or partner via a member's contact number, that might not be useful if:
To reduce the stress of dealing with an incident, you should make sure your members have entered emergency contacts.
Once a member has stored their emergency contacts they are automatically avaliable to leaders of all groups to which they belong. You should not rely on personal lists as they can quickly become out of date and are not visible to other group leaders.
Click/tap here for information about the profile page.
Log in to the site and use menu options 'Member services' / 'Member lookup'.
Use the service to find the member in the HIU3A database.
You will then see their details. Even if the member has specified that information should not be visible, group leaders can always see their emergency contacts.
Useful if you want to:
To see the list, log in to the site and use menu options: 'Member services' / 'Group services' / 'Your group contacts'.
If you lead more than one group, you will be asked to select which group you want.
You will then see a list of members. Click/tap any of them to see their contact details including their emergency contacts.
It's OK for members to offer lifts to other members to attend HIU3A events. Members can accept voluntary contributions, but formal charging is illegal.
Members offering lifts should check their personal insurance, but offering lifts for social purposes is usually covered.
You can request a grant for any equipment your group might need. Contact our Groups co-ordinator in the first instance. As a minimum, they will want to know:
Note that purchased equipment is the property of HIU3A, so:
If you run a group from your home, it's prudent to have a simple first aid kit available. Having said that, it's prudent even if you don't lead a group.
If you run an outdoor group, consider also carrying a space blanket which can keep someone warm while waiting for help to arrive.
If an incident should occur during your group sessions (eg. an injury, damage to property, physical assault), you should complete a u3a Trust Incident Form.
Please notify the HIU3A Chair and Group Co-ordinator within 48 hours of the incident, they will provide support and assistance for dealing with it. You should submit your incident form to them as soon as you can.
The latest version of the form at the time of writing is available here as a Word document and a PDF version (printable without needing extra software).
The very latest version is available from the members' area of the u3a Trust web site. It's unlikely to change significantly, however.
We've asked for direct, permanent links to the u3a Trust web site, but apparently that's too difficult.
To get to the forms, you have to:
That takes you to a page that provides various documents. Insurance documents are in the Insurance section. Incident forms are in the 'u3a Policies and Procedures' section.
There will be occasions when, for many different reasons, a group's leadership will need to change. The group will need to agree on who they feel will best take over the role.
If you have appointed a deputy, and you are unavailable, they will either oversee the transition, or take over leadership.
It helps if at least one member of the group, besides the leader, knows how to manage aspects of the group that are not obvious. For example:
The prospective, new group leader should be directed to the 'Guidance for group leaders' page (the page you are reading now) in the Articles section of our site to find out what is involved. They should take further advice from our Group Co-ordinator if necessary, before making their decision to take on leadership of the group.
As current group leader you can update the leadership of the group yourself.
The new leader must be a group member. If not, you will have to add them to your group. See 'Keeping track of your group's members' above.
To change your group's leader, log into the site and:
If you remove yourself as leader your ability to manage your group's information on the web site is automatically revoked. You might want to consider retaining a leadership role for a while so you can help the new leader.
A change of leadership is a good opportunity to review the group's page. See 'Creating a helpful group page on our web site' above.
Our Group Co-ordinator and Web site editor can make changes for any group.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact our Group Co-ordinator who will be happy to help.
Constitution of the Hayling Island University of the Third Age (U3A), a member of the Third Age Trust as an unincorporated association, formally adopted on 29th March 2006.
As amended
Click any heading below to see the relevant section...
The name of the charity is Hayling Island University of the Third Age hereafter referred to as ‘The HIU3A’.
Subject to the matters set out below, The HIU3A and its property and other assets shall be administered and managed in accordance with this constitution, by the members of The Executive Committee.
The charitable purpose of The HIU3A is:
In furtherance of the charitable purpose but not otherwise, The Executive Committee may exercise the following powers to :
Provided that in the case of proposed expulsion at the end of a disciplinary procedure, the individual concerned shall have the right to be heard by The Executive Committee accompanied by a friend acting in their personal capacity who may also speak, or make written representation before a final decision is made.
A retiring Chairman shall become Honorary President of The HIU3A. Any current President shall become a Honorary Past President.
The management of The HIU3A shall be vested in The Executive Committee, which shall be the governing body of The HIU3A and its Board of Trustees for the purposes of Charity law. The Executive Committee shall be responsible for the strategy and policies of The HIU3A, may exercise all the powers of The HIU3A and shall deal with the administration, management and control of the affairs and the property of The HIU3A.
And the listed Committee posts:
All of whom shall hold office from the conclusion of the AGM at which they are elected.
In addition a web-site manager shall be appointed who will report to the Chairman. The post-holder will not be a member of The Executive Committee and shall have no voting rights but might from time to time be invited to The Executive Committee when detailed matters relating to the web-site are being discussed.
No person may be proposed for appointment or serve as an Officer or a non-officer member of The Executive Committee if they are currently serving as an Officer or non-Officer member of The Executive Committee of any other U3A.
The proceedings of The Executive Committee shall not be invalidated by any vacancy among their number or by any failure to appoint or any defect in the appointment, election or co-option of a member.
A member of The Executive Committee shall cease to hold office if he or she:
The Executive Committee shall comply with its obligations under charity law and observe applicable time limits in the case of obligations to file items with the Charity Commission, with regard to:
The Executive Committee may call a Special General Meeting of The HIU3A at any time and if at least 20% of the members request such a meeting in writing stating the business to be considered, the Secretary shall call such a meeting.
The Executive Committee shall authorize the formation of interest and activity groups and the appointment of Group Leaders as sought by members of the Hayling Island University of the Third Age in so far as the interests and activities fall within the charitable purpose of The HIU3A.
The Executive Committee shall publish “Guidance to Group Leaders” for the proper governance of group activities.
The Executive Committee shall ensure a copy of any amendment made under this clause is promptly sent to the Charity Commission if The HIU3A is registered.
Click here to download a printable version of the above.