Retirement Rebels

Retirement Rebels is a community group for people aged 55 and over in Newbury and Thatcham. It was started in 2024 by Rob Donnelly, who spent nine years in the RAF and thirty-two in IT before retiring, and who wanted something that was about the life side of retirement rather than pensions or financial advice.

The group meets on the second Monday of each month at Newbury Racecourse, with a guest speaker, and fills the weeks between with walks and coffee. Its message is simple: retirement is not the end of something, it is the start of what's next.

The group had grown through a Facebook group, which is fine for members but invisible to the people who most need to find it: someone recently retired, perhaps recently widowed, searching for things to do in Newbury.

The website had to be welcoming to people who are wary of joining things, make the practical details obvious (when, where, how much), let people book, and show what a meeting is actually like.

Digital House built a bright, friendly five-page website on Joomla. The home page leads with the group's four themes, connect, explore, be inspired and make it yours, and the practical facts of the monthly meeting. An About page tells Rob's story and the Meetings and Join Us page handles bookings through TicketSource.

A Previous Meetings section gives each month its own round-up with photos, the agenda and the speaker's slides, so a newcomer can see exactly what they would be walking into. A newsletter sign-up, contact form, Facebook link and a page for the Christmas do complete it.

Retirement Rebels now has a front door that works for people who are not on Facebook, with everything a newcomer needs on one screen.

Small community groups do not need big websites, they need clear ones. This one is clear, warm and easy for the group to keep up to date.

It joins Living Positive with MND among the community websites Digital House has built this year.