AGM Wednesday April 22nd
Location: Guildhall, Cheadle
Sign in and refreshments available from 9:30 am until 10:00 am Meeting starts at 10:00 am, ending approximately 11:00 am
AGENDA:
Chairman opens meeting,
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Minutes from 2025 are received for approval, Matters arising addressed
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Review and approve Accounts summaries for 2025 and Budget projections for 2026
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Approve the membership annual fee to remain at £15 for 2027
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Election of new committee members
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Presentations to committee members and group leaders stepping down
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Any Other Business
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•Chairman closes meeting
GUEST SPEAKER: Hypnotherapist, Phil Evans. Phil will be talking on the subject of Hypnosis from 11:00 am until 12 noon and all AGM attendees are invited to attend. Including; • The history of hypnosis • Your personal susceptibility to being hypnotised • How to use hypnosis for pain management.
Cheadle u3a Committee
reg. charity 107236
Chairman’s Report
The past year has been an extremely busy, and eventful one for Cheadle U3A. It has been an honour to be chair of a motivated and talented team. Membership continues to increase, and we have been able to increase the number of groups we can offer.
The gradual movement to a cashless society provided us with the opportunity to introduce our pre-payment cards. This proved very popular with the membership and made life easier for our group leaders. It also made our coffee mornings much busier!
The appointment of a Social Secretary, and a social sub committee, has resulted in more social activities, trips and holidays being offered. All the details are regularly updated, via the e-Newsletter. It goes without saying that none of the above would have been possible without the co-operation of our group leaders.
Treasurer’s 2025 Annual Report
2025 has been another good year and we end the year in a healthy financial position, with reserves at an appropriate level to support ongoing activities and protect against unexpected costs whilst complying with regulations for being a not for profit charity. It has also been a challenging year with the introduction of several new procedures and policy changes that have had to be brought in to ensure we are complying with The Charity Commissions expectations and to keep us up to date with new banking procedures.
Our total income from Group fees was £34,299 (including pre-paid cards used) with expenditure of £31,439 and all invoices are paid up to date.
The introduction of Pre-paid session cards in March 2025 has had a significant impact on the amount of cash we are banking. Total sales of Pre-paid cards amounted to £13251 with £10372 of those sales being used to pay for group sessions in 2025. The residue is earmarked for future premises rental, which we are expecting to increase slightly in 2026, and group expenses. In addition to Pre-paid session cards we have also introduced Card machine payments to two groups which has reduced our cash banking by a further £2444 for the year. Thank you to our Group Leaders and members for helping to make these new payment processes such a success.
Membership also benefited from the introduction of card machine payments at the
Membership Secretary’s Report
We had a steady growth of the membership during 2025 ending the year with a total of 753 members.
The introduction of the card reader has been a great help, convenient for the members and cuts down the amount of cash to be handled. Unfortunately the Post Office no longer accepts the paying in of cheques so these now have to be paid in at a main bank branch. It is still possible for members to pay by cheque, cash or card. The prepayment cards have also been a great success, again convenient for our members and also cutting down the amounts of cash to be handled. The membership at the 1st March 2026 stood at 686 an increase on 1st March 2025 when it was 665. There were quite a number of members who didn’t renew this year hence the drop in total numbers. If anybody has overlooked renewing and they want to continue as members of the u3a they will be able to rejoin with a new membership number. The archiving process doesn’t carry over numbers that haven’t been renewed to the new u3a year. We have reverted to black and white membership cards this year, again we have space for emergency contact details to be added.
Rae Parr Membership Secretary
Group Coordinator’s Report
In April 2025 I had the great pleasure of taking over the role of Group Coordinator and I can honestly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the last year. I have had the immense delight of visiting many of the groups and it never ceases to amaze me how many people are engaging in the numerous activities out there on a weekly basis. I have been warmly welcomed in each one and look forward to continuing to visit this coming year.
The commitment of our Group Leaders is phenomenal as they continue to provide this nurturing, welcoming and warm environment for our members to improve their wellbeing, feel fulfilled and enrich their lives. The committee, and I, are continuously grateful for their dedication.
Unfortunately, we have seen 2 groups close due to the retirement of the group leaders: Gardening - Val Palmer & Melody Makers – Peter Walker. In 6 groups, new Group Leaders have taken over from retiring Leaders to ensure the groups continue to run: Affinity: Pauline Ord has taken over from Peter Lamb and the group will now run every week of the year; Verse or Worse – William Greig is now leading after Alan and Barbara Lewis stepped down from their 21 year reign from the group’s inception; Scrabble and Table Top Games - Fran Castle has replaced Val Cooksey; Conversational French – Lesley Durose continues in a solo role following the retirement of John Long; Bridge for Pleasure – Maria Turley is now guiding the players after Pat Read stepped down.
We would like to recognise and extend our thanks to the many years our retirees have given to their members and to Cheadle U3A.
There has been the addition of 5 new groups over the year so we now have 51 groups: Line Dancing – Linda Wooliscroft; Book Ends - Amanda Lewis; Page Turners - Amanda Lewis; British Sign Language – Roy Scott; Creative Writing – Roy Scott. We are thrilled with the success that these groups have enjoyed under the guidance of these Group Leaders.
We also have 2 more groups proposed for the very near future: A History group to explore various themes subjects and events and an extra Pickle ball session on Thursdays.
It is great to report that our activity list is ever increasing giving our members a more diverse choice of groups and hobbies to pursue and I would like to reiterate that the invitation to commence new groups is continuously open. Therefore if anyone should have even just the seeds of an idea then the support and encouragement to see that grow into a fully fledged group is readily available and actively encouraged. Please contact me at group-coordinator@cheadleu3a.org.uk
CHEADLE (STAFFS) U3A
ANNUAL ACCOUNTS TO 31[st] DECEMBER 2025
Balance brought forward from 2024
| Barclays Bank | £11,654.94 |
|---|---|
| Lloyds Bank | £9,749.67 |
| Leek Building Society |
£16,748.87 |
| Float for Membership Secretary | £50.00 |
| £38,203.48 | |
| INCOME | |
| Group fees | £23,927.49 |
| Donation - Cofee Mornings | £1,712.72 |
| Pre-paid session cards | £13,251.00 |
| Memberships | £6,899.50 |
| Interest (Leek United) | £446.70 |
EXPENDITURE
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Group fees | £23,927.49 | Course Expenditure: | |
| Donation - Cofee Mornings | £1,712.72 | Group expenses | £485.66 |
| Pre-paid session cards | £13,251.00 | Hire of Premises | £30,953.45 |
| Memberships | £6,899.50 | Payments for publicity, fund raising, administration & meetings: | |
| Postage | £142.15 | ||
| Interest (Leek United) | £446.70 | Stationery | £474.97 |
| Photocopier |
£189.53 | ||
| Printing | £443.50 | ||
| Publicity (inc website & E-News) | £67.51 | ||
| Grants | Internet/Telephone charges | £209.94 | |
| Donations | £90.00 | Almoner | £119.65 |
| Tax Rebate (Gift Aid) | £2,841.92 | Licence to Perform/Zoom/Subscriptions |
£220.99 |
| Third Age Matters | £152.00 |
Insurance | £0.00 |
| Travel Expenses – Committee members | £31.29 | ||
| Sumup charges |
£280.33 | ||
| Afiliation fees - Third Age Trust | £2,764.00 | ||
| Third Age Matters | £196.00 | ||
| Meetings: | |||
| Group Leaders Meetings |
£459.59 | ||
| AGM expenses | £479.23 | ||
| Committee Expenses inc. Room hire | £315.00 | ||
| Capital equipment purchases | £1,834.98 | ||
| Refund for faulty laptop |
-£269.99 | ||
| INCOME | £49,321.33 |
TOTAL EXPENDITURE |
£39,397.78 |
| BALANCE | £48,127.03 | ||
| Balances carried forward to 2026 | NOTE | ||
| Barclays Bank | £20,063.28 | Total pre-paid Session card sales | £13251.00 |
| Lloyds Bank | £9105.46 | Pre-paid session cards used | £10,372.00 |
| Leek United Building Society | £18908.29 | PPC Income carried forward to 2026 |
£2879.00 |
| Float | £50.00 | ||
| TOTAL | £48127.03 | Accounts prepared by:G Birks(Treasurer) | Date: 13/02/2026 |
I have examined the accounts records and Bank statements of the Cheadle U3A for the financial year ended 31st December 2025. According to these and to the explanations given to me it would appear that proper records have been kept and they give an accurate picture of the financial affairs of the organisation. Mark A. Baxter, F.C.C.A. J C Barker & Co 6 Richmond Terrace Shelton Stoke-on-Trent STI 4ND 21st April 2026