ANNUAL REPORT OF ROMSEY & DISTRICT U3A 1 APRIL 2020 – 31 MARCH 2021
1. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Purposes: To provide an opportunity for older people who do not work full time to learn, enjoy the company of likeminded people and continue their own personal development.
Main Activities: Members learn from each other, through sharing their knowledge, skills and experience. Activities range from physical activity (e.g. table tennis, pickleball) through languages (e.g. French, Italian, Spanish) to philosophy, art appreciation, industrial heritage, garden visits, music, and others. Full list available: https://u3asites.org.uk/romsey/groups
Public Benefit: The charity exists to encourage and support all members to learn through mutual educational, creative and leisure activities.
2. ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
Romsey & District u3a had 740 members registered at the end of the u3a year in March 2021 and over 55 active groups. The members themselves ran each group. Due to the pandemic, many groups went on hold, but several members of those groups kept in touch with each other. Some groups continued to meet using various IT platforms and the u3a purchased two Zoom licences to support these groups.
Newsletter: A quarterly newsletter was produced and sent to all members, either by email or by post, and was available on the website.
Bulletin: In addition to the newsletter, during the pandemic we created a fortnightly bulletin to keep people in touch and informed of current events.
Monthly Meetings: These took place every month with a variety of speakers over Zoom. Over 100 members still attended monthly meetings.
3. FINANCIAL REVIEW
Our finances were organised into four bank accounts – Main, Reserve and two for groups, on a receipts and payments basis. Due to the pandemic, there was a lower level of activity in the group’s accounts. The Trustees agreed to close the second group account and amalgamate the funds into one group account, and this was actioned in March 2021.
Our main income is from Membership Subscriptions and the claiming of Gift Aid on eligible Subscriptions. We kept the membership rate at £10 even though we had anticipated that the funds received would not cover the expenses. The Trustees agreed that any shortfall, if needed, would come from our Reserves account. However due to many events normally paid from u3a funds not taking place because of the Pandemic, we managed to cover all of our expenses and increase funds in the Current Account. All the bank accounts had an independent auditor examine and authorise them.
Outgoings: The Third Age Trust fees include yearly Membership Fee, cost of the Third Age Magazine (TAM), plus the annual fee to use the Beacon Membership Database. In addition, due to the Pandemic restrictions, we purchased two yearly Licences for Zoom, as well as an additional large meeting licence so that all members could access our monthly meeting. We continued to pay for monthly speakers who were happy to present over Zoom. Our printing and postage costs increased due to the Bulletins and Newsletters sent out to members that could not access the internet.
Main Current Account: The balance at the beginning of the financial year was £1,483.01 and ended with a balance of £4,234.33
Reserve Account: The balance at the beginning of the financial year was £6,284.89 and ended with a balance of £5,948.33
Groups Bank Account: As stated previously we amalgamated the two group accounts. The balance of the two amalgamated accounts at the beginning of the year was £12,335.88 and ended with a balance £9,748.41
4. STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
The management of Romsey & District u3a consists of a committee consisting of trustees whose duty it is to carry out its general policy, and to organise the administration, management and control of the affairs and property of the u3a. Members of the committee are elected at the Annual General Meeting or may be coopted during the year according to vacancies arising.
The Constitution lays out the roles of committee members. The committee meets six times a year. Membership receive the Annual Report and an explanation of the audited accounts at the Annual General Meeting held every May.
5. REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS:
Name: Romsey & District u3a Registration No. 1082501
Address: 6 Mottisfont Lodge, Alma Rd, Romsey, Hants SO51 8AG
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1 CHAIR Janet Payne
2 VICE-CHAIR David Lovell
3 SECRETARY Janet Moody
4 TREASURER Gill Hodge
5 MEMBERSHIP SCRETARY Brenda Sennett
6 PROGRAMME SECRETARY Marion Fowler
7 INTEREST GROUPS CO- Josephine Morgan
ORDINATION
8 ELECTED TRUSTEE Elizabeth Holloway
9 ELECTED TRUSTEE Michael Koscian
10 CO-OPTED TRUSTEE Carole Cox
11 CO-OPTED TRUSTEE Ron Maidment
12 CO-OPTED TRUSTEE David Percival 21/01/21
13 CO-OPTED TRUSTEE Sheila Prangle 01/04/21
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- The Trustees co-opted David Percival and Sheila Prangle onto the Committee prior to the AGM in May 2021 in order to be able to have people in readiness to replace Committee members who were resigning at the year-end.