General - Setting up a New Group

The Group Support Team are responsible for supporting groups who need their help, especially new groups. They will guide you through the procedure for setting up a new group, and may be able to attend and even run your first few meetings. The following checklist contains items to consider when launching a new group.

  • Use the website, social media and the newsletter to invite anyone who is interested to leave their contact details at David’s Bookshop.  Provide an email or telephone number for William /prospective group contact as an alternative.
  • Decide who will run the group after the setting up period. You need a Group Contact to act as at least an information point. It might help to note down the key elements of the role.        
  • Consider how many members are needed to make the group viable. This will vary.
  • Ask prospective members how often they’d like to meet, and daytime, evening or weekend? Try to avoid overlap with other similar groups unless they are already full.
  • Identify a potential venue and check availability. See Finding a venue for some ideas.
  • Work out costs and a charge per meeting. The group will need to be self-financing and the constitution prohibits an extra subscription charge by groups.
  • Ask leaders of similar groups for advice.
  • Make sure you understand and apply data protection rules.
  • Draft a programme for the first few meetings. 
  • After the first couple of meetings, ensure that all participants are paid up members of LALG.
  • Consider having a dedicated bank account if significant monies are changing hand on a regular basis. See All Finance Guidance.
  • A generic group email address will be set up which automatically forwards emails to one or more designated group members, which usually includes the Group Contact. This avoids the publication of private email addresses which should not be used on the website. This process is initiated by the Support Group Team and implemented by the Web Editing and Web Technical Teams.