Chairman’s Annual Report 2017
It hardly seems possible that another 12 months have elapsed and I have completed 2 years as chairman.
I am blessed with a very cohesive and hard working committee to whom I am indebted for their help and input.
.
Our aim as a committee, has been to continue to offer
Our trips or outings have increased so that there is a trip somewhere most months. Our Trips committee is to be commended and greatly appreciated for all their efforts. It is not easy arranging coach loads of people to be at the same place at the same time.
Our new holiday group is in place and we look forward to having holidays together.
Our current membership is 755 which is a net increase of 25. There has been a gradual slowing of net increase in current members We are sorry to have lost members over the year some of whom have been founder members and who contributed so much in the early years of our U3A..
This relatively small net increase means that we have no need for concern about our numbers becoming too large.
Our interest groups continue to flourish with us now having well over 80 groups.
Newsline has become much more colourful as our expenditure on printing has dropped owing to the number of people having it emailed to them. I must thank the team who put it together, Vivien Scorer who collates the calendar so ably and for so long now and the team of collators who collect all the copy.
Thank you to the teams of people who are the vital part of our monthly meeting. Welcomers and refreshment providers are all essential to the smooth running of our monthly meeting and the membership team whose hard work is evident at the meeting particularly Carol Fitzgerald and Keith Marklew whose professionalism and diligence ensures that things do not go wrong.
At this point I must also pay tribute to Beryl Rimmer and the staff of the Leisure Centre for their care in helping and resolving situations where one of our members has been momentarily taken ill.
The most important team at our monthly meeting are our “Techies” who put together our PA system every month, hauling large speakers round the hall and ensuring that all is well with whatever ‘gizmo’ our speaker may turn up with. Also for teaching me to use a microphone and how to put on a head set!! We must also thank Roger for his efforts in running the loop every month which has all the information you need as well as many photographs taken by our group members.
We have been very lucky with our treasurers in U3A Howard Godfrey got us into fantastic shape and Tony Key has done even more to ensure that we stay within the Charity Commission’s rules. When your committee is elected we all have legal forms to sign which state that we understand that as Trustees we are liable for any discrepancies in the finances of U3A and so if the rules are not adhered to all 12 of us could be penalised. So when we appear to being a little pedantic about accountancy procedures it is because we are liable for any thing that goes astray.
W e do have two retiring members from the committee and I would like to pay tribute to both of them. Bob Hayes has been a wonderful web master and it is only through difficulties with his eyesight that he has decided to give it up. He saw us through some awkward patches with the website and we are very grateful to him.
Carol Fitzgerald has also decided to retire from the committee and we are indebted to her for all her hard work in keeping the membership on track. Both of them have been incredibly supportive to me and to the rest of the committee and we shall miss them.
Lastly my thanks must go to all of you, particularly Group Leaders who are the backbone of our organisation and to the rest of you whose enthusiasm is the life blood of Southwell U3A
Lesley Elkington
It hardly seems possible that another 12 months have elapsed and I have completed 2 years as chairman.
I am blessed with a very cohesive and hard working committee to whom I am indebted for their help and input.
.
Our aim as a committee, has been to continue to offer
- Interesting speakers from all sorts of different walks of life.
- We have introduced workshops on
- We have had several social events
- A website which is now of the 21st Century, easy to use and to find things.
Our trips or outings have increased so that there is a trip somewhere most months. Our Trips committee is to be commended and greatly appreciated for all their efforts. It is not easy arranging coach loads of people to be at the same place at the same time.
Our new holiday group is in place and we look forward to having holidays together.
Our current membership is 755 which is a net increase of 25. There has been a gradual slowing of net increase in current members We are sorry to have lost members over the year some of whom have been founder members and who contributed so much in the early years of our U3A..
This relatively small net increase means that we have no need for concern about our numbers becoming too large.
Our interest groups continue to flourish with us now having well over 80 groups.
Newsline has become much more colourful as our expenditure on printing has dropped owing to the number of people having it emailed to them. I must thank the team who put it together, Vivien Scorer who collates the calendar so ably and for so long now and the team of collators who collect all the copy.
Thank you to the teams of people who are the vital part of our monthly meeting. Welcomers and refreshment providers are all essential to the smooth running of our monthly meeting and the membership team whose hard work is evident at the meeting particularly Carol Fitzgerald and Keith Marklew whose professionalism and diligence ensures that things do not go wrong.
At this point I must also pay tribute to Beryl Rimmer and the staff of the Leisure Centre for their care in helping and resolving situations where one of our members has been momentarily taken ill.
The most important team at our monthly meeting are our “Techies” who put together our PA system every month, hauling large speakers round the hall and ensuring that all is well with whatever ‘gizmo’ our speaker may turn up with. Also for teaching me to use a microphone and how to put on a head set!! We must also thank Roger for his efforts in running the loop every month which has all the information you need as well as many photographs taken by our group members.
We have been very lucky with our treasurers in U3A Howard Godfrey got us into fantastic shape and Tony Key has done even more to ensure that we stay within the Charity Commission’s rules. When your committee is elected we all have legal forms to sign which state that we understand that as Trustees we are liable for any discrepancies in the finances of U3A and so if the rules are not adhered to all 12 of us could be penalised. So when we appear to being a little pedantic about accountancy procedures it is because we are liable for any thing that goes astray.
W e do have two retiring members from the committee and I would like to pay tribute to both of them. Bob Hayes has been a wonderful web master and it is only through difficulties with his eyesight that he has decided to give it up. He saw us through some awkward patches with the website and we are very grateful to him.
Carol Fitzgerald has also decided to retire from the committee and we are indebted to her for all her hard work in keeping the membership on track. Both of them have been incredibly supportive to me and to the rest of the committee and we shall miss them.
Lastly my thanks must go to all of you, particularly Group Leaders who are the backbone of our organisation and to the rest of you whose enthusiasm is the life blood of Southwell U3A
Lesley Elkington
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