Lostwithiel Area u3a
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Lostwithiel Area u3a Annual General Meeting - 18th May 2015

Another successful AGM, our third, was held on May 18th 2015.

The new officers are :-

  • Chair - Ann Henderson
  •  Business Secretary - TBA
  •  Treasurer - Mike Foxhall

 

The new committee consists of Carol Williams, Veronica Ashworth, Rosemary Phillips , Zara Read, Brenda Mead, Lindsay Southgate, and Keith Southgate.

Minutes from the meeting may be viewed by following this link

 

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT  from Ann Henderson for the AGM MAY 2015

I think this report should begin with congratulations to everybody:

  • our endlessly active and enterprising membership;

  • the committee, who hold all the bits together;

  • the original steering group, who had the imagination and insight to see the need for such an organisation in this area.

We are a success.
Our meetings are interesting and well attended, our membership is 142 and counting, and we have at the moment twenty-one activity groups pursuing a dizzying range of interests. Not all of the interests are academic ones, but pretty well all of them involve people in enjoying the company of others as they discover skills and information they might not have had before.

 

We have enough money.
This is not by any means the only criterion by which to judge our success, but it does help. The subscription we all pay for a year’s membership has to cover the capitation fee to the national body, the admin costs – paper, printing, etc – and the fees for our speakers. Not knowing what our membership figures – if any - might turn out to be, our original fee (£15 for one person and £25 for two at the same address) was rather a shot in the dark, but it has turned out to be an inspired one. Our bank balance has remained sufficiently comfortable for us to be able to:

  • Maintain fees at the same level for yet another year;

  • Allow activity groups to invest in modest amounts of equipment if they need it;

  • Provide slightly posher biscuits at refreshment time in general meetings!

 

We are famous.
Activity groups that have held public events – such as the highly successful exhibition held by the Photography Group just before Christmas 2014 – have attracted the interest of the local press, local councillors and, above all, local people. Everybody I spoke to at that exhibition was surprised at the range and quality of the work. One or two of them were also surprised by our existence, so we might still have a little PR to do. The word is being spread also by the Ukulele Group, which is now being invited to perform for payment, which they donate to charity.

 

One thing is lacking.
Our constitution requires that the committee and its officers can serve for only a limited time, so the elections at each AGM are not just a formality. People do genuinely have to move on and be replaced, and this ensures that the organisation is owned by its members and not by its committee, which can sometimes happen. We are about to embark on our third year and by the end of that year the original officers – Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer – all have to be replaced. They are not huge jobs, though they do have to be done. The committee meets only six times a year, in the months between the general meetings, so it’s not a vast commitment, but we do desperately need new people on the committee to keep the continuity going. Please consider standing. Being on this committee is definitely not a hardship, and this organisation is worth it.

 

Ann Henderson

Chair

April 2015

 

 

Nomination form for 2015 committee members available via this link.

Details of roles and responsibiliites of committee members available to read via this link.