The UK CONNEXION

Frequently Asked Questions

Most definitely! We encourage all single persons to join who enjoy socializing with British people. The group was formed in 1987 for the purpose of enabling single, unattached, professionals to meet each other for companionship. We are not a dating club. On January 19th, 2017, we had 684 registered members. About 26% of our members are male and 74% female. If you are about to join, why not ask one or two single male acquaintances to join with you? The age range is quite broad. Most members are over fifty. The short answer is, for the protection of our members. It is an unfortunate fact that at many singles' functions that are open to the public, there are married men and women "on safari." We seek to protect our members from such predators. We believe that our requirement that you give your HOME telephone number and address, helps reduce the chance of our having non bona-fide members. It is true that most clubs charge an annual membership fee. But, we have our reasons for having a $5 levy instead. We think our reasons are valid. Essentially, we are a non-profit self-help group. We don't have paid professional staff to do the chores and we definitely don't charge much. Volunteers organize our events. Some chores in a membership club are very unpleasant. Would you like to tell somebody registering for YOUR event that they cannot come because their membership has lapsed? Do you want to turn away new people from an event because they are not prepared to commit to a year's membership fee? Who wants to have to "police" a volunteer social club! It is possible that the chore of having to collect the $5 levy at each event might discourage a few potential organizers of events.

But, you know, the "proof of the pudding is in the eating", as they say. Just look at our slate of our upcoming events and you can see that the deterrent of collecting our pay-as-you-go membership fee (the levy) is not a problem for most. Besides, some twenty-five years or so ago, we tried a membership fee with disastrous results. Membership declined rapidly to the point that the Executive was contemplating the dissolution of our group and how to handle the return of the funds in the bank account to the members! We no longer have that problem and we are growing healthily. Does this mean that I will have to organize an event for the group? Not exactly! But, it is our HOPE that you will - when you become an established member, known to one or more members of our steering committee. By so doing, you will be rewarded, not by money but by a feeling of belonging. Participation in our group is key. Many are referred by friends but others respond to our promotion campaign. We advertise in the British Canadian Newspaper; Zoomer; Forever Young; Footnotes (Bruce Trail Club); and Justice magazine (Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners) We also have a colourful POSTER for members to post on notice boards. If you'd like a poster or two sent to you, please contact John at jpett@bell.net and leave your name and address. Also, if you have any suggestions of other publications where advertising might attract more men to our group, please let John know the details, with contact person and rates. If we use your suggestion, you will receive 4 free-entry coupons for UKC events. Simply because, for the past few years, more members living in the west have volunteered to organize events than those in the east. This could change at any time. We strongly encourage east-enders to organize. Please remember that we are a volunteer self-help non-profit group. You are not paying for a service. If you'd like to host an event east of Yonge Street please contact CHRISTINE, our Events Director, at christineukc23@gmail.com or 416-256-5851.