The Structure

Romsey Archway u3a is one of over 1,000 u3as across the United Kingdom, with a combined membership of over 430,000.

While each u3a is an independent charity, with its own constitution and policies, the Third Age Trust (TAT) provides a central advisory service regarding the legalities of running a charity. TAT also organises shared services, including Public Liability Insurance, a membership management system (Beacon), website tools and hosting (SiteWorks), and other central services that an affiliated u3a can use.

The Third Age Trust issues a magazine, u3amatters and a national website to provide information and items of interest to visitors and members, coordinates subject advisors and special interest groups, and runs workshops for members. The Third Age Trust Trading Ltd (TATTL) is TAT's trading arm.

Each Region, we are in the South East Region, appoints its Trustee who sits on the u3a board and acts as a representative for that Region. All u3as across the UK are part of a Regional group. In addition, Romsey Archway is also a member of the South West Hampshire Network, as is our close neighbour, Romsey and District.

Guiding principles of the u3a.

The Third Age Principle

• Membership of a u3a is open to all in their third age, defined not by a particular age but by a period in which full-time employment has ceased.
• Members promote the values of lifelong learning and the positive attributes of belonging to a u3a.
• Members should do all they can to ensure that people wanting to join a u3a can do so.

The Self-help Learning Principle

• Members form interest groups covering as wide a range of topics and activities as they desire; by the members, for the members.
• No qualifications are sought or offered. Learning is for its own sake, with enjoyment being the motive, not qualifications or awards.
• There is no distinction between the learners and the teachers; they are all u3a members.

The Mutual Aid Principle

• Each u3a is a mutual aid organisation, operationally independent but a member of The Third Age Trust, which requires adherence to the guiding principles of the u3a movement.
• No payments are made to members for services rendered to any u3a.
• Each u3a is self-funded with membership subscriptions and costs kept as low as possible.
• Outside financial assistance should only be sought if it does not imperil the integrity of the u3a movement.

The Benefits

When you join Romsey Archway, you also join the wider u3a family with regional and national events and face-to-face or online activities. It may be fair to say that many u3a members will not be aware of these. The Third Age Trust runs many activities and events that any u3a member can participate in, many of which are free. Some of these events are on a first-come first-served basis, while others are open to all.

The following is a list of activities you are encouraged to join or participate in....

• The National Programme showcases a wide range of learning activities for members to get involved in - from challenges and projects to competitions.
•  Learning for Everyone provides many free learning initiatives and events nationally. The programme changes regularly.
• The u3a also has a u3a Radio podcast which is available on a variety of podcast platforms. If you subscribe or follow it, you will receive a notification when a new episode is released. Here are u3a Playlists on YouTube.
• If you already run a group for Romsey Archway u3a and would like some fresh ideas or if you have been considering running a group, but are not sure where to start, the u3a nationally has a team of over 70 volunteer Subject Advisors who can help and advise you.
• The National Events page lists major events.
• u3a offers a variety of educational events on a first-come, first-served basis. Many online events are being delivered via the Zoom platform. You can also subscribe to get early email notifications of upcoming educational events.
• The Interest Groups Online offer online activities to any u3a member or non-member, for a fee of £12:00 per year, and is part of the national learning provision.
• To subscribe to the national u3a Newsletter email, scroll to the bottom of the u3a main page of the u3a website and complete the registration information.