Review, research and setup guide

1. The three drafts

Every sign-up records which draft it came from (a hidden “variant” field) and any UTM tags in the link, so you can compare drafts once the form is live.

2. Review of the original pack

Kept from the original: honest framing (no invented members, prices, testimonials or scarcity), votes described as preferences rather than bookings, no ABTA or ATOL badges, good accessibility basics, and the pilot logic of interviews and one small gathering before any spend.

3. The name: findings and recommendation

• A disability-rights campaign uses the phrase. Not Dead Yet UK describes itself as a national, grassroots disability-rights group. It opposes assisted-dying laws and campaigned against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in 2025, including “Kill the Bill” materials and demonstrations (Not Dead Yet UK, Kill the Bill (easy read, June 2025)). That Bill ran out of time in the House of Lords in April 2026 (doctors.net.uk, Assisted dying bill runs out of time in House of Lords (24 April 2026)), and a new Bill was put down in the Commons on 17 June 2026 (The Pharmaceutical Journal, Assisted dying Bill reintroduced to Parliament (18 June 2026)). The phrase is likely to be in the news throughout the club’s launch period.
• A company already has the exact name. Companies House lists NOT DEAD YET CLUB LTD (company 17341019), incorporated 15 July 2026, registered office in Wilmslow, nature of business 93290 “Other amusement and recreation activities not elsewhere classified” (Companies House, NOT DEAD YET CLUB LTD (17341019)).
• The phrase is common. Other registrations include NOT DEAD YET LLP and NOT DEAD YET MEDIA LIMITED, both active (Companies House search, "not dead yet").

Recommendation

1. Confirm whether NOT DEAD YET CLUB LTD belongs to the owner. If it does not, rename before spending anything on brand: a company in the same line of business holds the exact name.
2. If it does, the name can stay as the club’s personality, provided the promise leads. The drafts are built that way: no headline depends on the name, and the descriptor “Good company for your adventurous years” carries the meaning.
3. Either way, before commissioning a logo, search the UK IPO register in classes 41 (club and event services), 39 (travel arrangement) and 45 (social networking), and check the domain and social handles.
4. In interviews, show the name before explaining the club and ask what it makes people expect. Listen for two readings: “about death” and “a disability campaign”.

Why it matters: a club designed mainly around active people, sharing its name with a disability-rights slogan, could be read as insensitive. That is a reputational risk rather than a legal one, and it is far cheaper to settle now than after launch.

4. Audience evidence, fact-checked

These are UK age and life-stage figures, not a measured market for this club. Each was read from its source on 30 September 2026.

Corrections to the original guide

• Ofcom’s current figure is 13% of people aged 65 and over without home internet (Online Nation 2025). The original described it as households, via a parliamentary answer.
• The ABTA city-break finding is on page 7 (55% of 55 to 64-year-old holidaymakers) as well as page 19.
• The other ABTA figures, the platform prices and Squarespace’s “Preview in Safe Mode” advice were checked and are correct.

Still unknown (only interviews and a first event will tell you): local demand, an acceptable membership price, typical trip budgets, the mix of solo members and couples, appetite for flying abroad, willingness to use a new app, and reactions to the name.

5. Positioning, language and legal points

• Lead with good company. Let adventure prove it. Let the owner make it trustworthy. Each draft follows that order, with a different emphasis.
• Qualify by interest and pace, not age or health. Every idea carries one of three labels: easy-going, up for it, big thrill. Every real activity gets a plain description of what it involves. People choose for themselves, and nobody is labelled.
• Words to use: early retirement, stepping back from work, your own pace, good company, founding circle. Words to avoid: seniors, elderly, OAP, golden years, silver, active agers.
• What to capture from the owner: a natural portrait (brief on the page); a 60-second video covering who the club is for, why she cares and what the first get-together will feel like, with captions and a written version; two or three lines of her own story; one line on her connection to Poland.
• The three promises on the pages (a personal reply within two working days, being at every first get-together, full prices before anyone commits) only stay if she can keep them.

Legal points in plain terms (not legal advice)

• An age focus is lawful. An association can restrict membership to people who share a protected characteristic, including an age group (Equality Act 2010, Schedule 16, single-characteristic associations). A separate exception covers pre-arranged holidays limited to an age group, such as over-50s, where bringing that group together is an essential feature (Equality Act 2010 (Age Exceptions) Order 2012, explanatory note; Government guidance: age-related holidays exception (July 2012)).
• Disability. The club cannot refuse someone because they are disabled, and its duty to consider reasonable adjustments covers people who might wish to join, not only members. It is not required to make adjustments that would fundamentally alter its purpose (EHRC, Guidance for clubs, societies and associations). In practice: publish what each activity involves, talk about adjustments privately, and keep health questions off the sign-up form.

6. The offer and the funnel

Measure per draft: visits (Squarespace analytics), sign-ups (the “variant” field), attendance at a first get-together, and paid joins. With small numbers, compare what people say and do, not percentages alone.

Form and consent

• Marketing emails normally need consent; consent must be a positive action, so no pre-ticked boxes; and every later message needs a simple opt-out (ICO, How do we comply with the PECR electronic mail marketing rules?). The drafts use an optional, unticked email-updates box.
• Replace [Link to privacy notice] with a real notice before any live test.

Make the form live

Each draft’s form tag contains data-endpoint="". Left empty, the form stays in preview mode and sends nothing. Put a form-handling address inside the quotes and the page sends each sign-up there as standard form data, then hides the preview notes.

Recommendation: for the test period, use a form service that accepts browser submissions, such as Formspree (check its current free allowance). Sign-ups arrive by email and can be imported into HubSpot later. Send one real test sign-up from each draft and confirm it arrives before counting anything.

Next addition: a one-page “Why not?” list of 30 ideas, from gentle to bold, using the same pace labels, as a thank-you for signing up. It suits colder traffic, and needs writing before it can go on the pages.

7. Community platform

• Why WhatsApp first: this age group already uses familiar apps daily (section 4), so nobody has to learn anything new. Communities support topic groups, announcements, events and polls (WhatsApp Help Center, About communities), which covers the first months: introductions, get-together plans and votes.
• Why Circle for the paid club: members’ spaces, events, a member directory, polls, payments, a custom domain and apps, in a calm, organised layout (Circle pricing).
• Why not Skool as the home: it is built around courses, with points, levels and leaderboards, and a plain look. It is cheap, but the gamified, course-first layout suits a learning business better than a warm social club (Skool pricing).
• When to move: at around 30 paying members, or when the WhatsApp groups become hard to follow.

Checked 30 September 2026 (Circle pricing; Skool pricing; Mighty Networks pricing). Prices exclude tax and payment processing and may depend on the billing cycle.

Set-up notes

• WhatsApp privacy: in a community’s announcement group, members’ numbers are hidden from other members (The Quint, WhatsApp phone number privacy for communities (July 2023)); in chat groups, members can usually see each other’s numbers. Check the current settings, tell people before they join, and offer email-only to anyone who prefers it. Approve new members, keep short house rules, and have the owner moderate.
• Circle: start with five spaces: Start here, Say hello, Get-togethers, Trip ideas, Have your say. Add a weekly email round-up.
• Before paying: ask five members to join a trial space on their own phones, post a hello, find an event and answer a vote. Watch where they need help.

8. Trips and activities

The drafts suggest two Poland trips: Kraków and the mountains (old town, a gentle raft through the Dunajec Gorge, the Tatra foothills) and Gdańsk and the lakes (the waterfront, then sailing and swimming on the Masurian lakes). Białowieża Forest, Warsaw and Wrocław are marked on the map as extras.

Before selling any trip

• Entry rules: the EU Entry/Exit System started on 12 October 2025, with full implementation due by 10 April 2026 (Fragomen, ETIAS and EES launch status (17 March 2026)). ETIAS, the online travel authorisation, is not yet running: in July 2026 the EU removed its late-2026 target and said it will announce a start date several months ahead (ETIAS.com, ETIAS drops 2026 date (16 July 2026)). A €20 fee has been proposed (Euronews, ETIAS delayed until 2026 (updated 21 July 2025)). Check both before publishing trip details.
• Healthcare: a UK GHIC covers necessary state healthcare in EU countries, including Poland. It is not travel insurance.
• Insurance: arrange public liability cover for club events, and ask members to check their travel insurance covers each activity; skydiving and some water sports are often excluded or need extra cover.
• Selling combined travel: combining transport, accommodation or other services can make the club a package organiser, with insolvency protection duties, and ATOL where flights are included (GOV.UK, Package holidays: complying with regulations). The government announced reforms in January 2026 (DWF, Government response to package travel consultation (January 2026)). Take specialist advice, or partner with an established operator, before taking any money. Show ABTA or ATOL logos only if they genuinely apply.

What to publish for every activity

What it involves (distance, terrain, steps, time on your feet), the swimming ability needed, the operator’s limits (age, weight, medical), what is and is not included, an easier alternative nearby, and who to talk to.

Example, tandem skydiving in the UK: minimum age 16; everyone completes a medical declaration (form 115A); anyone unable to self-certify needs a doctor to complete form 115B; maximum weight is typically 15 to 16 stone (95 to 100kg), varying by centre (British Skydiving, Minimum requirements for skydiving in the UK).

9. Squarespace setup

1. Pages, Not Linked, add a Blank Page. One page per draft.
2. Page settings, SEO: hide the page from search results. Add a page password if the test should stay private; “Not Linked” alone does not protect a page.
3. Add a Blank section: width Full, height Small, spacing at minimum, no background image.
4. Add a Code Block and drag it across all 24 columns. Mode HTML, Display Source off.
5. Open the draft’s squarespace-block file in a text editor, copy everything, paste it into the block, and save.
6. Test logged out or in a private window. Squarespace may not run scripts while you are logged in; “Preview in Safe Mode” in the block also shows the embedded version.

What the block does: hides the site header, announcement bar and site footer on that page only (to keep them, find the rule starting body:has(.nd-blk) #header and delete it); lets the Fluid Engine section grow to fit the content; and loads the draft’s Google Fonts.

Placeholders to replace

Use find and replace across each file: [First name], [A line or two about you: …], [Your story in two or three lines: …], [A line about why she loves travelling in company, and her connection to Poland], [Add a line about your own connection to Poland], [number, for example 100], [Link to privacy notice] and [club email address]. The yellow highlight disappears once the brackets are replaced.

Fonts

01 uses Fraunces, 02 DM Serif Display and 03 Figtree for headings; all three use Source Sans 3 for body text and Caveat for handwritten notes. To change them, edit --nd-display and --nd-body for the draft’s colour set at the top of the style block, and the Google Fonts link.

If something looks wrong

JavaScript in Code Blocks needs a Core, Plus, Advanced, Business or Commerce plan (Squarespace Help, Code blocks). Full-width blocks in Fluid Engine: Will Myers, FAQs on Squarespace’s Fluid Engine.

10. The next four weeks