Minutes for the 10th Annual General Meeting Held in the
Southwell Leisure Centre
At 10 am on 4th August 2015
1. Apologies
No apologies had been received.
2. Chairman’s Opening Remarks
The Chairman welcomed the members to the meeting, mentioning the necessity of 20% membership in attendance, which appeared to be the case.
3. Minutes of the AGM held on 7th August 2012.
The Minutes of the meeting held last year had been displayed on the Southwell U3A Website for a full year, and the Chairman asked for proposals that these were a true record. There being no questions from the floor, these were accepted unanimously and signed as a true record. Proposed by Roger Bennett and seconded by Marian Smith.
4. To Receive and Adopt the Statement of Accounts for 2014/15
Howard Godfrey gave a general report to the meeting a summary of which is as follows.
1. Turnover and expenditure was up on 2013/14 in line with increased activity
2. The surplus on the General Account was £1,081 - largely due to lower than expected expenditure on speakers.
3. End of year reserves were £18,598, but this includes sums in the Groups Account and Social Account which are ring-fenced. The total sitting in the General Account was therefore £12,379. There is a need to hold some reserves to cover for periods of negative cash flow during the year and to cover for risk. It is considered that £10,000 to be adequate for these purposes. There are therefore some surplus funds (around £2,300), and the committee will be considering the options for these funds in due course
4. Membership fees to remain at £20 (full) and £16.50 (associate)
5. The U3A finances are in a strong and healthy state.
He finished by asking for a vote of thanks to John Elkington, Sue Baines and Keith Marklew for their support over the year.
There being no further points the adoption of the Statement of Accounts was proposed by Sue Barry and seconded by John Davies and accepted unanimously by the members present.
5. To Appoint an Independent Examiner of Accounts
The Chairman stated that we were unable to deal with this point as we are actively seeking nominations for the post of Examiner.
6. To Receive and Adopt the Annual Report
I write this report at the conclusion to my three year term as the Chair of Southwell U3A.
Membership of Southwell U3A has increased more slowly over the past year compared to the two previous years. This year we have gained 94 new members while 54 people have left. This represents an increase of about 6% compared to around 8% in the previous two years. Total membership is now just over 700.
Interest groups are the life blood of the U3A and its raison d'etre. Eleven new groups have started in the past few months and two will commence in the autumn. The 75 groups that we had in August 2014 has grown to 82. This is a healthy rate of increase and is commensurate with our growth in membership.
Many interest groups are now expanding their horizons to include trips to places further afield and several have included overnight stays. In order to fully protect both organisers
and participants of trips, the committee have asked that they be notified before any plans are implemented. One committee member now has responsibility for keeping a diary of these events and this ensures that the trip does not clash with other events.
Social events, including day trips to places of interest, continue to be popular. In the current calendar year there are 10 such events. I thank the Social committee for their continued hard work and organisation of these events.
The general meeting, run on the first Tuesday of each month continues to be popular for thesharing of information about up and coming events, meeting friends and listening to the invited speaker. It is also a useful event for new members to come to and see what is on offer. There are a host of people who help to make these large meetings a success and we thank them all.
Newline will be on offer by e-mail from next September. These changes have been trialled over the past few months. Over the last 12 months, our web site, www.southwellu3a.co.uk, has been revamped and brought up to date. In a similar vein, the committee and in particular the membership team introduced a system for paying your subscription on line. This is up and running and offers you an alternative method of payment. This brings our communication network closer into line with current technology.
This is my last annual report and I would like to thank all the dozens of people who contribute to the running of our U3A.
The adoption of the Annual Report was proposed by Lynn Wallace and seconded by Mary Perry and accepted unanimously by the members.
7. To Elect the Officers and Committee of the Association
The nominees for the officers and committee had been published in Newsline for the member’s information and the Chairman asked for proposers. Roger Bennett proposed the motion which was seconded by M. Clough and the members voted unanimously to appoint the Officers and Committee.
The available elected officers and committee members were then introduced individually.
8. Vote of Thanks for Retiring Members.
The Chairman then proposed a vote of thanks to the retiring committee members Howard Godfrey, Carolyn James, Annette Durand and of course Peter James, to which the members responded with a round of applause.
Southwell Leisure Centre
At 10 am on 4th August 2015
1. Apologies
No apologies had been received.
2. Chairman’s Opening Remarks
The Chairman welcomed the members to the meeting, mentioning the necessity of 20% membership in attendance, which appeared to be the case.
3. Minutes of the AGM held on 7th August 2012.
The Minutes of the meeting held last year had been displayed on the Southwell U3A Website for a full year, and the Chairman asked for proposals that these were a true record. There being no questions from the floor, these were accepted unanimously and signed as a true record. Proposed by Roger Bennett and seconded by Marian Smith.
4. To Receive and Adopt the Statement of Accounts for 2014/15
Howard Godfrey gave a general report to the meeting a summary of which is as follows.
1. Turnover and expenditure was up on 2013/14 in line with increased activity
2. The surplus on the General Account was £1,081 - largely due to lower than expected expenditure on speakers.
3. End of year reserves were £18,598, but this includes sums in the Groups Account and Social Account which are ring-fenced. The total sitting in the General Account was therefore £12,379. There is a need to hold some reserves to cover for periods of negative cash flow during the year and to cover for risk. It is considered that £10,000 to be adequate for these purposes. There are therefore some surplus funds (around £2,300), and the committee will be considering the options for these funds in due course
4. Membership fees to remain at £20 (full) and £16.50 (associate)
5. The U3A finances are in a strong and healthy state.
He finished by asking for a vote of thanks to John Elkington, Sue Baines and Keith Marklew for their support over the year.
There being no further points the adoption of the Statement of Accounts was proposed by Sue Barry and seconded by John Davies and accepted unanimously by the members present.
5. To Appoint an Independent Examiner of Accounts
The Chairman stated that we were unable to deal with this point as we are actively seeking nominations for the post of Examiner.
6. To Receive and Adopt the Annual Report
I write this report at the conclusion to my three year term as the Chair of Southwell U3A.
Membership of Southwell U3A has increased more slowly over the past year compared to the two previous years. This year we have gained 94 new members while 54 people have left. This represents an increase of about 6% compared to around 8% in the previous two years. Total membership is now just over 700.
Interest groups are the life blood of the U3A and its raison d'etre. Eleven new groups have started in the past few months and two will commence in the autumn. The 75 groups that we had in August 2014 has grown to 82. This is a healthy rate of increase and is commensurate with our growth in membership.
Many interest groups are now expanding their horizons to include trips to places further afield and several have included overnight stays. In order to fully protect both organisers
and participants of trips, the committee have asked that they be notified before any plans are implemented. One committee member now has responsibility for keeping a diary of these events and this ensures that the trip does not clash with other events.
Social events, including day trips to places of interest, continue to be popular. In the current calendar year there are 10 such events. I thank the Social committee for their continued hard work and organisation of these events.
The general meeting, run on the first Tuesday of each month continues to be popular for thesharing of information about up and coming events, meeting friends and listening to the invited speaker. It is also a useful event for new members to come to and see what is on offer. There are a host of people who help to make these large meetings a success and we thank them all.
Newline will be on offer by e-mail from next September. These changes have been trialled over the past few months. Over the last 12 months, our web site, www.southwellu3a.co.uk, has been revamped and brought up to date. In a similar vein, the committee and in particular the membership team introduced a system for paying your subscription on line. This is up and running and offers you an alternative method of payment. This brings our communication network closer into line with current technology.
This is my last annual report and I would like to thank all the dozens of people who contribute to the running of our U3A.
The adoption of the Annual Report was proposed by Lynn Wallace and seconded by Mary Perry and accepted unanimously by the members.
7. To Elect the Officers and Committee of the Association
The nominees for the officers and committee had been published in Newsline for the member’s information and the Chairman asked for proposers. Roger Bennett proposed the motion which was seconded by M. Clough and the members voted unanimously to appoint the Officers and Committee.
The available elected officers and committee members were then introduced individually.
8. Vote of Thanks for Retiring Members.
The Chairman then proposed a vote of thanks to the retiring committee members Howard Godfrey, Carolyn James, Annette Durand and of course Peter James, to which the members responded with a round of applause.
| minutes_for_agm_aug_2015.pdf |