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Welcome to West Oxford U3A
The West Oxford branch of
the U3A, (the University of the Third Age), was created
in 1995. The U3A exists for a group of people to get
together to do things with everyone taking equal responsibility.
We meet on the 2nd and
4th Mondays except for July, August and December. Our year begins in September and ends in June, with the AGM being held
at the second meeting in May. Once the
membership fee is paid there is no further charge, although visitors make a
donation. Membership of West Oxford U3A does not cover membership of
Oxford U3A or Headington U3A.
The meetings take place at Dean Court Community Centre, Pinnocks Way,
Botley. The proceedings start at 2.15 pm and (fairly short)
notices are given before or after a talk as set out on your
programme. Tea and biscuits are always served after the talk. Please stay and use this time to
get to know new people and meet friends.
What’s happening? Recent & Upcoming
events.
2025 AGM
At our
AGM on 9th June Members elected a new Management Committee. Beverley Birmingham
stood down as Chairman after three years’ unbroken service (the legal maximum
allowed by our constitution). She was succeeded by Inga Martin. Elizabeth
Stevens also stood down, having served for many years – first as Secretary and
more recently as Newsletter Editor.
The
meeting elected three new members – Voirrey Carr, Pauline Simpson and Alex
Brown. The remaining members – Lis Froggatt, Russell Ansell, Liz Jones and Ruth
Finar – were re-elected.
The
meeting received the audited accounts for the year ended 31st March 2025. It
was agreed that the annual subscription rate would remain at £20.00 for the
year commencing September.
Afterwards
Vivien Sieber recounted the story about her Grandmother Paula Ticho, as told in
her book entitled ”Kino & Kinder: A Family’s Journey in the Shadow of the
Holocaust”. The photo shows the new
Chairman with Dr Sieber.
Thirteen
members of the Churches & Pubs Group visited the Church of St Mary the Virgin in
Charlbury on 6th June. This is a most impressive church, parts of which date
back to the 12th century.
Our
guide was Mike Summers, who gave us a talk about the history of the village and
the church, with particular emphasis on a major restoration project carried out
in the 1990s. 
Visitors and guide in the beautiful Church of St
Mary. Also in the picture is local flower arranger Sarah
Charlbury is a beautiful
village, but the restrictions on car parking are such that it took quite a major
exercise to transfer the visitors between the church and Woodleys, Woodstock, where we had lunch at The Duke.
The
next group visit, on 4th July, will be to Rycote Chapel, Albury, Thame.
Contact Person: Lis Froggatt – l.froggatt66@gmail.com
The Lunch
Group made a return visit to The Maybush, Newbridge, on 2nd June. We all enjoyed our menu choices and all (well
nearly all) had dessert.
The group will next meet at The Doghouse,
Frilford, on 7th July.
Contact Person: Beverley Birmingham
– beverleyu3a@gmail.com The intrepid members of the Walking Group continue to brave the elements. Their most recent walk
was around Farmoor Reservoir, on a rather blustery day. 
Contact Person: Mary Chait – smchait@gmail.com
SIGs
A list of the Special
Interest Groups (SIGs) is on your programme and they are open to anyone who would like to
join. Just contact the person referred to as arranging the
meetings. If there is a group you would like to start then, if you
think the Committee can give you some help, please ask. For information about each SIG, please see the Groups section.
Newsletter The
membership fee
entitles you to the West Oxford U3A Newsletter which is sent out three
times per year, by email or (for those without an email connection) by
post. The
Newsletter is also published on this website under the 'News' section.
It is full of information about forthcoming events, both those
arranged
by this branch and also those organised by Thames Valley
Network. Please
be certain to look at the notice board at the back of the meeting room
for additional
details of outings and study days and also on www.u3atvnetwork.org.uk as
well as this website.
u3a National A membership
subscription is paid annually to the National U3A office. You
are entitled to attend the Summer Schools and other events. Details and costs
are on the National U3A website.
Queries Do raise any queries when
attending the meetings or contact the appropriate person in the 'Contact Us'
section. To join
West Oxford U3A or to renew your membership:
The
current annual subscription is £20 and subscriptions are due in September
each year.
We
recommend that you use our online membership facility
which can be
found in the Membership section.
However,
you may prefer to complete a paper membership application form which can be
obtained by email or post or will be available at meetings. If you do not
have a form please contact the membership secretary listed in the 'Contact
Us' section. Each
year new members are invited to a 'welcome lunch', which
gives them a chance to meet each other, the leaders of the Special
Interest Groups, and other volunteers.
Gift Aid on Membership Subscriptions Maximising our net income,
for the benefit of members, is a consideration in everything we do.
One way a member can help us
achieve this is by Gift Aiding their membership subscription. This enables
WOu3a to reclaim the tax portion of the payment (25p for every £1 donated) from
HMRC. To be eligible for Gift Aid, the member must:
· be a UK tax payer; and
· have paid an amount of tax
(income and/or capital gains) in the current tax year which is not less than
the Gift Aid claimed on this and any other such donations. The
relevant declaration and consent box is included in the online
Application Form which can be found in the Membership Section.
To send
an email to West Oxford U3A - please select the appropriate contact from the
'Contact Us' section on this website.
More information about how the U3A started, its benefits and services,
and other useful links can be found in the 'Links' section on this website.
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