Annual Report from the Chair. Southwell U3A
Peter James August 2015
I write this report at the conclusion to my three year term as the Chair of Southwell U3A.
What has happened in the previous two years is documented in my annual reports of 2013
and 2014 and I will summarise the progress made during 2015 in this report.
Throughout my time as Chair it has become obvious that there are continuing challenges
that will not go away. These need to be tackled by proactive methods. The difficulties
mainly involve persuading members that we are a self help group. To operate effectively
we need members to become actively involved in the running and organising the various
aspects of membership. Central to this is first the committee and secondly, but just as
importantly, the interest groups. Without committee members and group leaders we do not
have a U3A!
During the past year your committee, with the help of others, has taken active steps to help
alleviate these problems. First, with the help of an ex committee member, Eddie Burch,
we have instigated a programme of new groups by asking members to make suggestions
and then proceeding with the most popular. This has helped enormously in maintaining
the number of groups on offer. Secondly, the committee have an embryo strategy for
finding new committee members. This enabled us to find a group of members who would
consider taking on the role and has been a success this year. While succession will
always be a thorny problem, more work on this during next year may help to ensure
smooth running of our U3A. I understand from the Chair elect that both these programmes
will be enhanced and integrated into our management strategy.
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. As we approach the
tenth year of our U3A it is inevitable that older groups are starting to fold – 6 during the last
year. These groups feel that they have run their course and that the U3A will be best
served by new groups that will have the impetus of youth. Different interests will come and
go with the passing of time and some topics may well be resurrected in the future. Eleven
new groups have started in the past few months and two will commence in the autumn.
Taking all this into account, 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. Sometimes these activities have been
offered to other members who are not part of the interest group and this is proving to be
popular. 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 calender year there are 10 such events. I thank the Social committee for their
continued hard work and organisation of these events. Allied to this, are the continuing
season of trips to the Nottingham Concert Hall. We hope to introduce a more diverse
range of social events in the next year and one member of the committee has
responsibility for this programme.
The general meeting, run on the first Tuesday of each month continues to be popular for
the sharing 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. Speakers this year have included such diverse subjects as 'Bonsai Trees',
'Renewable Energy at Home', and a portrayal of 'King Charles II'. There are a host of
people who help to make these large meetings a success and we thank them all.
We are, at present, reorganising the delivery of Newsline, our primary source of
information to members. The current system of printed and addressed copies delivered to
every member was becoming unmanageable. An army of members were spending hours
each month walking the streets in making these deliveries. We thank them for all their
efforts and tell them that they can stand down in September 2015. We therefore decided
that we would move to a system that places the emphasis on getting your Newsline on
each individual member. In order to keep up with current distribution methods it was
decided to offer e-mail delivery. This has proved to be popular with nearly 50% of the
membership electing to use this method. It is to be hoped that more and more members
will use e-mail as it is both more ecological and in line with current technology. It is
understandable the some of our older members do not have the technology and we will
maintain a system that ensures that they get their copy.
Over the last 12 months, our web site, www.southwellu3a.co.uk, has been revamped and
brought up to date. There is a wealth of useful information in it and I would encourage all
members to make better use of it. Groups can enter information and photographs of their
activities; pictures taken on outings would be most welcome too. Please see Newsline for
how to contact the Webmaster.
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 that is both quicker and involves a lot less paper. We would
like to encourage as many members as possible to move to this system.
This is my last annual report and returning to the theme of self – help and participation, I
would like to thank all the dozens of people who contribute to the running of our
organisation. There are far too many to name, but in particular I would like to thank all
those members who help to keep the interest groups ticking along from month to month;
additionally all those members who organise and run trips, whether as a group or for the
whole U3A; finally I thank all the various members who have volunteered to be committee
members during my time as Chair, without them my task would have been far harder.
Ours is a thriving and vibrant U3A, it will remain so as long as members continue to take
on responsibility for tasks large and small. Each job is part of the jigsaw that makes this
organisation special. It has been a privilege to be your Chair for the past three years and I
wish the next incumbent every success.
Peter James August 2015
I write this report at the conclusion to my three year term as the Chair of Southwell U3A.
What has happened in the previous two years is documented in my annual reports of 2013
and 2014 and I will summarise the progress made during 2015 in this report.
Throughout my time as Chair it has become obvious that there are continuing challenges
that will not go away. These need to be tackled by proactive methods. The difficulties
mainly involve persuading members that we are a self help group. To operate effectively
we need members to become actively involved in the running and organising the various
aspects of membership. Central to this is first the committee and secondly, but just as
importantly, the interest groups. Without committee members and group leaders we do not
have a U3A!
During the past year your committee, with the help of others, has taken active steps to help
alleviate these problems. First, with the help of an ex committee member, Eddie Burch,
we have instigated a programme of new groups by asking members to make suggestions
and then proceeding with the most popular. This has helped enormously in maintaining
the number of groups on offer. Secondly, the committee have an embryo strategy for
finding new committee members. This enabled us to find a group of members who would
consider taking on the role and has been a success this year. While succession will
always be a thorny problem, more work on this during next year may help to ensure
smooth running of our U3A. I understand from the Chair elect that both these programmes
will be enhanced and integrated into our management strategy.
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. As we approach the
tenth year of our U3A it is inevitable that older groups are starting to fold – 6 during the last
year. These groups feel that they have run their course and that the U3A will be best
served by new groups that will have the impetus of youth. Different interests will come and
go with the passing of time and some topics may well be resurrected in the future. Eleven
new groups have started in the past few months and two will commence in the autumn.
Taking all this into account, 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. Sometimes these activities have been
offered to other members who are not part of the interest group and this is proving to be
popular. 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 calender year there are 10 such events. I thank the Social committee for their
continued hard work and organisation of these events. Allied to this, are the continuing
season of trips to the Nottingham Concert Hall. We hope to introduce a more diverse
range of social events in the next year and one member of the committee has
responsibility for this programme.
The general meeting, run on the first Tuesday of each month continues to be popular for
the sharing 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. Speakers this year have included such diverse subjects as 'Bonsai Trees',
'Renewable Energy at Home', and a portrayal of 'King Charles II'. There are a host of
people who help to make these large meetings a success and we thank them all.
We are, at present, reorganising the delivery of Newsline, our primary source of
information to members. The current system of printed and addressed copies delivered to
every member was becoming unmanageable. An army of members were spending hours
each month walking the streets in making these deliveries. We thank them for all their
efforts and tell them that they can stand down in September 2015. We therefore decided
that we would move to a system that places the emphasis on getting your Newsline on
each individual member. In order to keep up with current distribution methods it was
decided to offer e-mail delivery. This has proved to be popular with nearly 50% of the
membership electing to use this method. It is to be hoped that more and more members
will use e-mail as it is both more ecological and in line with current technology. It is
understandable the some of our older members do not have the technology and we will
maintain a system that ensures that they get their copy.
Over the last 12 months, our web site, www.southwellu3a.co.uk, has been revamped and
brought up to date. There is a wealth of useful information in it and I would encourage all
members to make better use of it. Groups can enter information and photographs of their
activities; pictures taken on outings would be most welcome too. Please see Newsline for
how to contact the Webmaster.
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 that is both quicker and involves a lot less paper. We would
like to encourage as many members as possible to move to this system.
This is my last annual report and returning to the theme of self – help and participation, I
would like to thank all the dozens of people who contribute to the running of our
organisation. There are far too many to name, but in particular I would like to thank all
those members who help to keep the interest groups ticking along from month to month;
additionally all those members who organise and run trips, whether as a group or for the
whole U3A; finally I thank all the various members who have volunteered to be committee
members during my time as Chair, without them my task would have been far harder.
Ours is a thriving and vibrant U3A, it will remain so as long as members continue to take
on responsibility for tasks large and small. Each job is part of the jigsaw that makes this
organisation special. It has been a privilege to be your Chair for the past three years and I
wish the next incumbent every success.
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