Dear Members,

As always at this time of year, the committee has been looking at our finances for the year ahead. We are pleased to tell you that once again there will be no increase in our annual membership fee for 2025-26.

However, we have decided that with effect from our 4th April monthly meeting we will be asking those attending to pay £2 rather than £1.

The £1 that members currently pay for our monthly meeting covers the cost of hiring the village hall, and of our refreshments, but there is very little – if anything – left over to cover the costs of our speakers. We are determined to continue to offer high-quality speakers, but they can come at a price once their fee and any travel expenses are taken into account. From time to time, of course, we are lucky enough to have one of our own u3a members as our speaker, and they do not charge (on the u3a ‘self-help’ principle of learning by the members for the members) - and we hope that the combination of mixing paid and volunteer speakers, and this slight increase in the amount that we pay at the meeting, will allow us to more-or-less break even across the year.

So, please remember that from April the charge (cash please) for our monthly speaker meeting will be £2.

Thank you.

Pete Wardle