Introducing Angie Grain as the new Chair of Ilkley U3A

The website team asked Angie to pen a few words on taking up the Chair of Ilkley U3A

It was with great trepidation that I accepted the invitation to return as a Trustee and take on the role of Chair; following the excellent example and achievements of Sue Butler, I knew this would be a real challenge. However, as I am such a believer in the U3A and all it stands for, I decided to accept the opportunity and have now taken on the role as the new Chair of our U3A.

I am confident that we have a vibrant, friendly and innovative U3A here at Ilkley and District and my regional experience has shown me that many other U3As would envy our dynamism and wide-ranging activities. This will only continue if we avoid complacency and keep striving towards keeping our U3A such a great organisation to belong to. One of my aims is to keep our U3A a friendly and supportive organisation for all, adapting to the challenges as we meet them.

We are fortunate to have an excellent team of Trustees, who give up many hours and work hard to manage all the Action Teams that are necessary to keep a complex organisation like ours thriving and moving forward. As an ‘educational co-operative’ with no paid staff, this can only be done by the help, support and involvement of all our members. I do believe that everyone can contribute in some way – it may be on a small scale within a group, or taking on more involvement in other ways; there will be plenty of opportunities to get involved in the future.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in the future and trust that we will all continue to enjoy and benefit from this wonderful organisation which (to use an old cliché) has to be ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ for all retired people – let’s hope we can keep it that way!

We asked for a photograph.  This took a bit of persuasion but here it is:

We also thought it might be a good idea to get Angie to tell us a bit more about herself

I have a daughter, a son and a toddler grandson, who can keep me very busy at times.

My career background started as a secondary school teacher in south Bradford, teaching Geography, Economics and PE. After having my family, I worked for a while in local government in Leeds and then for fifteen years I worked in University management at the University of Leeds, working in student- and School-support.

I joined the U3A shortly after retiring and have enjoyed membership of a wide range of Interest Groups. I now co-ordinate the Art Appreciation group, a role that I thoroughly enjoy as we have a great group with loads of members’ participation and some very lively discussions.

In 2011 I became a trustee with responsibility for External Communications, moving on to the role of Groups Co-ordinator and finished that term of office in 2017. Since then I have been a committee member of the U3A’s Yorkshire region, helping them to organise various events and also trying to promote networks in the area. I am also one of the U3A’s National Volunteers, which can involve helping to set up a new U3A plus trouble-shooting where required.

I love to travel and hope to continue with this. On retiring, I wanted to take up a completely new interest and joined an art group, though I have little talent and don’t give it enough time (one day perhaps I will make time to improve). I also do other volunteering with the Yorkshire Dales National Park, Otley Courthouse and Oxfam.