For the last six years I have been a Group Leader of one interest group and closely involved with the organisation and administration of three others. Three of these groups have 20-30 members and one has over 70. I have been using Beacon very successfully for over two years.

Instructions are straightforward and easy to follow and Beacon allows me to use information directly from the main list of members avoiding a huge amount of time consuming data input. This provides data protection and helps to avoid mistakes, particularly with input of email addresses.

Using Beacon I can check for members who have not enrolled at the start of a new u3a year. I can summarise group information and contact all or any of my groups by email. I can print registers simply by transferring data from my list of group members and view and deal with, any waiting list which occurs.

It has made group administration much easier, although, it does require basic computer literacy and confidence and regular use to improve efficiency.

I have guided two other Group Leaders in its use, one, with very limited computer knowledge, who now is using it with only occasional support.