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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. The speakers at our meeting on 28th October, Giles and Mark of Two
Spoons Tea, were brilliant: knowledgeable, professional and very funny.
Giles and Mark, AKA “Big Spoon” and “Little Spoon” respectively, with
their Master Tea-Taster Spoons, awarded
after five years of rigorous training.
MEETINGS
IN NOVEMBER
On
11th November, we will
have a presentation about Great Ormond Street Hospital
(GOSH), one of the world’s foremost specialist hospitals for
the care and treatment of children with major medical conditions.
GOSH Children’s Charity conducts extensive fund-raising
campaigns to support and enhance the work of the facility.
The
talk will be given by Clive Mear, one of their volunteers, who has a personal family
connection with the hospital.
At
our meeting on 25th November Caroline Jackson-Houlston will
give a talk entitled “Fungi in Your
Garden and Further Afield”.
Caroline,
who teaches at Oxford Brookes University, is a student of literature, a
botanical artist, and a student of fungi. In this talk she shares with us
insights into the amazing world of fungi - in your garden and further afield.
This is one of Caroline’s wonderful photographs West Oxford u3a took part in Oxford’s
Older People’s Day 2024 which was held on 1st October in the Town Hall. It was a great event, with a huge number of organisations
– public and private – presenting their services. We shared a table with the
Oxford and Headington u3a branches, and had a nice time chatting to potential
new members and future speakers. 
Twenty-one
members of the Churches & Pubs Group
visited the Church of St Kenelm in Minster Lovell on 4th October. Graham Kew, who has lived in Minster Lovell
since the age of six, spoke to us about the Church, the Village, and his own
experience of residing there. We learnt about the Lovel Family, in particular
William, the seventh Baron Lovel, whose tomb is in the transept, and his
Grandson Francis who fought on the side of Richard III and, probably, came to a
sticky end.
The Church, which
dates from the 15th Century, has only one tiny stained glass window, the
rest probably having been destroyed
during times of trouble. 
Some of the visitors in the chancel of the beautiful St Kenelm at Minster Lovell
The next visit will be on 1st November, to St Mary Magdalen, Woodstock,
with lunch at The Turnpike in Yarnton.
Contact Person: Lis Froggatt – l.froggatt66@gmail.com
On
10th October, the Lunch Group visited The Windrush Inn in Witney, which is a
great place, with friendly and attentive staff and delicious food. We all
enjoyed our lunch and most of us found the dessert menu irresistible.
The
Group will meet again on 4th November, in Bella Italia, Marriotts Walk, Witney.
Contact Person: Beverley Birmingham
– beverleyu3a@gmail.com
The weather has been so dreadful that our
intrepid Walking Group have had to cancel several of their scheduled Friday
walks. However, things improved and on 11th October they were able
to take a lovely walk in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. 
Freedom at last!
The Gardening Group held a garden party to celebrate having completed 50
‘group events’ (visits, outings etc) since it started in 2016. Contact Person: Mary Gregory – mary@nandmg.me.uk
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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