The full Monthly Newsletter is emailed to members.
Welcome to a new year of u3a How time flies! Seems only a couple of days ago I quite suddenly found myself elected to be the new chairman and now here we are, Christmas and Hogmanay been and gone, and I’m writing the introduction to the new year’s first newsletter. My intention is to come out and meet as many of you as I can in your groups, getting to find out how u3a works for you and possibly how, hopefully in a small way, it doesn’t. By the time of the meeting, I should have learned some local history in Castle Douglas and be about to witness line dancing in Kirkcudbright. At our first meeting of the year Alistair Alcock and Wayne Whitaker will be talking about the mammoth task they have taken upon themselves in restoring Arbigland, a large house between Carsethorn and Southerness on the west side of the Nith estuary. 
My own interest in this is that we Beach Cleaners often go to the beautiful beach, often marred by human detritus, which is at the bottom of a driveway from the house at Arbigland. We get the double joy of restoring the beach to its natural self and then of convincing ourselves that the haul up the drive back to the house after a couple of hours of litter picking is doing our cardio-vascular system the world of good. Enough of plugging the beach cleaners! My wish is that you all find being a member of u3a a fulfilling experience, but remember that the organisation is, at heart, a self-help group and that without those of you who offer your help nothing would happen. I am particularly grateful to those members who offered to become part of the Executive Committee, making up a full complement this year. Maybe you could make a difference in your group or even enthuse others to follow you own interest. Looking forward to meeting you all on the 27th.
Rob Mitchell, Chair