u3a in Scotland is a Scottish Charity (SC 030370). All u3as in Scotland are members. We work with member u3as to organise Scotland Assemblies. We run a Summer School every two years with our next one planned for in 2024. This will be held in Stirling. We aim to hold our All Scotland Events at different locations around the country to even out travel accessibility for members. These are basically training events on a number of topics of interest to u3as, but also provide a valuable opportunity for swapping experience and ideas. We liaise with the Trustee for Scotland who attends our meetings by invitation and provides an important link to the Board of the Third Age Trust. The Third Age Trust also provide some funds to help our events.
The Third Age Trust Board of Directors has an elected representative (Trustee) from each of 12 Government Regions in the UK: 9 Regions of England plus the three nations, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Scotland Region is the largest geographically in the UK. It now has 54 member u3as including the new Banchory & Deeside and Glasgow South. New u3as are being considered in a number of areas, mostly the Central belt. We work with our Trustee (Liz Ervine) to help encourage the creation of new u3as. We also offer a small start up grant (currently £100) to new u3as in Scotland. Due to our geography, networks have been slow to start in the region as travel and communication can be a challenge in some areas.