Exmouth Matters
Here are some more details about the new non-political community organisation, just launched by a couple of u3a members:
Exmouth Matters aims to provide a simple way in which all those who are interested in the future development of Exmouth can give their opinion about proposed projects. It enables the results to be recorded and analysed at an early stage to assess support (or otherwise).We need to know the level of support for the Exmouth Matters process and this needs to be a significant part of our population. So we have decided to launch this with a trial project which is a revived version of the Exmouth Gateway project.
We have an Exmouth Matters website at https://www.exmouthmatters.org and an Exmouth Matters Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/exmouth.matters, as well as our own email address exmouthmatters@gmail.com. We ask you to visit the website please as this explains both the process and the project in more detail, together with a basic two-item questionnaire to gauge opinion.. Taking part is very easy, it does not cost anything, you do not have to join anything and you do not have to give any personal information. There is also an article about this in the Exmouth Journal - see https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/26215967.exmouth-matters-launches-new-public-opinion-initiative/
So please go to our website at https://www.exmouthmatters.org now, and pass this message on to as many as you can - family, friends, workmates, clubmates, etc. Success depends on large numbers - and your opinion really does matter. So please add Your Voice to Our Voice. Thank you.
Research study on adults aged 65 and over who have been affected by fraud or deception by someone they knew or trusted
My name is Shannon Edwards and I am a Trainee Clinical Psychologist on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme at the University of Leicester. I am currently conducting doctoral research exploring the experiences of adults aged 65 and over who have been affected by fraud or deception by someone they knew or trusted, such as a partner, family member, friend, or professional. This research aims to improve understanding of how these experiences affect older adults, inform clinical practice, and support the development of services and safeguarding strategies.
I am writing to ask whether your members may be interested in taking part. Participation involves a confidential interview lasting up to 75 minutes, which can be conducted in person (East Midlands) or online via Microsoft Teams. All identifiable information will be removed to protect participants' identities. I will happily send a recruitment poster and social media banner with further details, which could be shared via email, newsletter, or social media if appropriate, along with the Participant Information Sheet for your reference. Importantly, I am not asking you to disclose any personal or identifiable information about the people you support, all contact with any potential participants would be entirely optional and initiated by them. I am also happy to attend any groups to discuss this research, although depending on location this may require the use of MS Teams or Zoom.
This research has been reviewed and approved by the University of Leicester Research Ethics Committee, and a distress protocol and safeguarding procedure are in place, in line with University policy. I understand that it can be difficult to trust that emails are legitimate these days. Therefore, to verify myself and my research, please see:
• My LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-edwards-843721107
• My supervisor's university profile: https://le.ac.uk/people/noelle-robertson
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to discuss this further. With thanks,,
Shannon Edwards, Trainee Clinical Psychologist (Year 2)
She/Her
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
College of Life Sciences
University of Leicester | University Road | Leicester | LE1 7RH | UK
Email: se220@leicester.ac.uk
Research study on concern about falling in older adults
We have received information about a research study the University of Leicester is conducting on concern about falling in older adults. The study aims to understand whether witnessing or hearing about other people falling (e.g., friends, family members, or others) influences individuals’ own concerns about falling. Dr Matt Hill says:
"Participation is entirely voluntary, anonymous, and confidential. Members can access the survey online at their convenience, and there are no right or wrong answers – we are interested in participants’ experiences and perspectives. If you are willing to assist, we can provide you with the study information sheet. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the study. Thank you very much for considering this request. Your support would be invaluable in helping us understand concerns about falling and informing future falls prevention strategies - https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/leicester/how-seeing-or-hearing-others-falling-affects-older-adults-worri
Dr. Matt Hill
School of Psychology and Vision Sciences (SoPVS)
University of Leicester
Email: mwh20@le.ac.uk
Hospitality Day at Newton Abbot Races - Wednesday 28 October
Dee McVey from Okhampton u3a via the South West Region Network u3a says she has agreed another Hospitality day at Newton Abbot Races for Wednesday 28th October ... £40pp reduced from £95.
She has a room with balconies overlooking the finish line, tea and coffee all day. Finger buffet followed by cream tea mid afternoon. A member of the Tote will come in to take your bets and/or you can go outside to place your bets with the Bookies. If you'd like to come please email her directly at dee@swreventsu3a.org.uk (01837 658590) with your name, phone number and u3a you're with. She'll then send details of how to pay the £10pp non-refundable deposit, balance due nearer the time. You can see a resume of the meeting in May at southwestregion.u3asite.uk under 'News'.
Cyber Crime Article
We have been sent from the u3a South West Region network an article copied from a leaflet distributed by an area’s Cyber Protect Officer which provides some very helpful information about cyber crime. To see this, click or tap on this link - Cyber crime article
The role of the National Council
We have been sent from the u3a South West Region network a paper on the role of the Council of the Third Age Trust (the national u3a). You can read this by clicking or tapping here: The role of the national council
A follow-up to the Monthly Meetings on Brain Health held in October 2024 and June 2025
At our October 2024 and June 2025 monthly meetings Jonathan Hanbury from the Ness Care Group gave us some really interesting presentations about brain health and dementia. You can see a recording of his talk on our u3a YouTube channel by clickng or tapping on this link - Jonathan Hanbury presentation (or on the image below). In addition he has now very kindly produced a 2-page information sheet for us, and you can read this and/or download it by clicking or tapping on this link: Top Tips to Stay Mentally Agile
If this is something that interests you and you want to know more, Professor Sir Muir Gray has given a presentation on a similar topic as part of the national u3a's Future Lives initiative, and a video recording is available for anyone to see. The current topic on our own u3a's Connect & Learn website (at https://sites.google.com/view/connectandlearn) is 'Live Well Longer' where there are a number of useful resources, including Muir Gray's presentation. Here's an extract from our u3a Connect & Learn website which gives the links:
- Sir Muir Gray's presentation on 'Reduce Your risk of Dementia' offering from the national u3a's Future Lives initiative. This is something that does or could affect us, our family and our friends and so is well worth a watch. You can see this by tapping or clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-L5dMklbGk&ab_channel=u3a
- Slides from a presentation from Patrick Holford, Founder of the Food for the Brain Foundation on 'Upgrade Your Brain' have been posted on the national u3a's Future Lives webpage - see https://www.u3a.org.uk/our-impact/future-lives/future-lives-past-events and scroll on down to see this.
Exmouth & District u3a AGM - 2025
Last year's AGM was held at The Ocean on Thursday 8th May 2025 at 10:30 am. The agenda and other documents for the AGM were sent direct to members in April and all of the papers are also in the Documentation section on this website for members to see – members need to be logged in to see these. John Smith stepped down from his responsibilities as Groups Coordinator and Steve Gibbs is taking over. All of the other officers and members of the committee were re-elected, with Pippa Gibbs also being elected as a member of the committee. Details of our current committee are in the About Exmouth u3a section. It was also agreed that the annual membership fee would increase from £12 to £14 next year.
Devon Communities Together: 2024-25 Impact Report - Connecting Communities and Creating Change
Devon Communities Together is an independent charity that connects communities and creates change across Devon. They are a rural community development organisation, supporting rural and coastal communities and working with communities and its partners to reduce rural and health inequalities on a place-based level. If you would like to read this report, you can see it by clicking or tapping on this link - https://www.devoncommunities.org.uk/case-studies
Previous Monthly Meetings
Our monthly meeting on Thursday 13 February 2025 in The Ocean which was a celebration of our u3a Groups. There was table-top information & displays of work from a selected range of our splendid activity groups, plus live music, singing & latin line dancing. More details are at Celebration of our Groups. We have created 25 short videos of various performances and you can see them on our Youtube channel via this link - https://www.youtube.com/@exmouthu3a/videos. They include a short highlights video which you can see by clicking or tapping on the image below. We have also selected 55 photos taken at this event which you can now see on our Event Photos webpage.
Our monthly meeting in January 2025 was a talk from Jane Birdsall on ‘A La Ronde’, our local National Trust property. This talk covered the recent renovations to the house and garden and the representation of it. If you would like to learn more about A La Ronde, you may wish to take a look at its website - https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/a-la-ronde and especially https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/devon/a-la-ronde/exhibition. The good news is that Jane allowed us to record her talk and you can now see this on our u3a YouTube channel. Just click or tap on this link to view it - A La Ronde presentation
A Dozen Words for Sixpence
u3a member and local author Leonora Wilson has recently published a novel called A Dozen Words for Sixpence. Her story is based on an event in her grandparent's lives in South Wales, when in 1923, in the great depression, her grandfather tried (unsuccessfully) to find work in London - and decided to emigrate to Canada without telling her family. Further details are at https://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/24634988.exmouths-leonora-wilson-new-book-dozen-words-sixpence/ and on the Amazon website - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dozen-Words-Sixpence-historical-separation/dp/1068762209
Pickleball webpage
A welcome addition to our website from Nigel Day is the Pickleball webpage. This gives an introduction to the game and an outline of the basic rules and regulation, together with a number of useful links to further information. It also provides direct links to all of our u3a's pickleball groups and the latest local u3a pickleball news. You can see this by clicking or tapping on Pickleball information in the Groups list or on this link.
Video - Guided tour of our new website
The minutes of the u3a committee meetings held up until January 2026 have been published, together with the Members' Code of Conduct, the Accessibility policy, the Equality & Diversity policy and the IT policy. They are in the Documentation section on this website for members to see, and members need to be logged in to read these.
April blossom on one of our u3a 10th Anniversary trees
To see the wonderful photos of these trees taken by Christine Chittock, please click or tap here - April blossom
Photos and photographers wanted
We are continually looking for suitable photos for this website. We can always utilise photos of venues that we commonly use and groups undertaking their usual activities. What we could really do with though are general photos of older people talking, socialising and generally enjoying themselves. When you peruse this website, what kind of images would you expect or want to see? Please get in touch via the Website link in the Contact Us section.
Latest news from the u3a nationally (The Third Age Trust)
You can read the latest news from the u3a nationally at The Third Age Trust's news page. The latest edition of its podcast is available at National u3a radio podcast. In addition you can sign up for the u3a National Newsletter for Friends of u3a at Sign-up for u3a national newsletter
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Room Hire – Ness Hub, Exmouth
The Ness Hub, 89 Withycombe Village Road, has conference and meetings rooms available to hire. For further details, click or tap on this link to its poster – Room Hire – Ness Hub, Exmouth
Travelworld - Travel show on 10 October
Travelworld are a local, family-owned travel agency based in The Strand in Exmouth, and we're looking to raise awareness of our business within the local community. We specialise in a wide range of interest-based holidays, including walking, wildlife, cultural, cookery, and art holidays, which we think may appeal to your members. We are hosting a Travel Show on Saturday 10th October at Woodbury Park to which u3a members are invited. Call to reserve a space - details at https://www.travelworldexmouth.co.uk/