Chair’s Annual Report.
As I finish my fourth year as Chairman, I am ready to pass the baton, but I am remaining on the committee in order to support my successor. Although our membership numbers have not yet reached our pre-covid level, we now have over 500 once again and are still attracting new members. Our recent Open Day produced 10 on the day, and several more since who enrolled online. At the time of writing, there were only 69 members who had not renewed, and hopefully most of them will do so soon.
The Trustees agreed unanimously to increase the membership fee slightly to £15 for 2025/6.
We purchased our own projector for use by Groups and at the Monthly Meetings, as the Millennium Centre’s equipment had become unreliable. We do now ideally need someone to come in a few minutes early for the Monthly Meetings to set it up.
For many years we have had an informal reciprocal arrangement with our neighbouring u3as. However, Petersfield withdrew a few years ago, and Haslemere will now followed suit, from August. We have decided not to change the arrangement for their members to come to our activities, as if they were members of Liphook, as the numbers involved are very small.
My thanks as always go to our committee, some of whom are standing down this time, and to all the Group Leaders, without whom we would have no organisation.
Following the sudden and sad loss of Neil MacCuaig during the year, Lyn Cope came forward as the new Membership Secretary and has really hit the ground running.
We currently have 32 individual groups, covering a very side range of activities. Wendy Karban is standing down as both Speakers Coordinator and Groups Coordinator. Our thanks go to her for the varied range of Speakers over the two years she was in post, and she has already booked one for next year. It does mean, however, that we need some more volunteers for these two roles. Gwenda Pate has stood down from her publicity role, and I am glad to report that Chris Earwaker has taken it on. In addition to taking the Minutes, Pauline Murdoch has also opened a Facebook page for Liphook u3a, so hopefully that will attract more members. We have welcomed new committee members, following my earlier appeals, who were initially co-opted and are nominated for election this time.
I must also mention Catherine Oldham and her band of helpers, who provide refreshments whenever they are required. They even managed to keep us fed and watered when she was laid up with a broken ankle.
Peter Ritchie, who manages our website and the generic email addresses, and produces the screen ads for the monthly meetings. He has had a particularly busy year as the Third Age Trust changed the platform for the website, leading to literally many hours of work to get everything transferred.
Finally on this topic, our Secretary, Bill Simpson, is anticipating having some health problems and is very willing to stand down if somebody else would like to take on the responsibility. The role is like a Company Secretary in that it is the main conduit to both Third Age Trust and the Charity Commission. u3a is an organisation run for the members by the members, and the jobs that need doing ‘behind the scenes’ do not necessarily require the person doing them to be on the committee, so please let us know if you would like to offer some support.
THE LIPHOOK U3A - MAIN ACCOUNT Receipts and Payments
For the year ended 31 January, 2025
| 2024/2025 | 2023/2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | |||
| RECEIPTS | |||||
| Groups | |||||
| General | 16557.32 | 15682.07 | |||
| Designated (Social) | 29072.5 | 25645.4 | |||
| Sub-total | 45629.82 | ||||
| Central | |||||
| Bank Interest | 0 | 0 | |||
| Gift Aid | 665 | 922.32 | |||
| Meeting Fees | 2097.7 | 1749 | |||
| Membership Fees | 6067.76 | 7378.33 | |||
| Other Income | 0 | 431.17 | |||
| Sub-total | 8830.46 | ||||
| Total | 54460.28 | 51808.29 | |||
| PAYMENTS | |||||
| Groups | |||||
| General | 19589.16 | 19554.59 | |||
| Designated (Social) | 29999.14 | 24008.23 | |||
| Sub-total | 49588.3 | ||||
| Central | |||||
| TAT(U3A News…) | 0 | 0 | |||
| Capitation | 3205.2 | 2848.62 | |||
| Equipment Grants | 0 | 0 | |||
| Equipment Expenditure | 0 | 723.47 | |||
| Guest Speakers | 940 | 1035.19 | |||
| Hall Hire | 1548.96 | 1137.66 | |||
| U3A Expenses | -289.68 | 2272.41 | |||
| Newsletter | 0 | 0 | |||
| Of, Post, Print | 240.1 | 250.96 | |||
| Refreshments | 0 | 0 | |||
| Miscellaneous | 1063.54 | -249.32 | |||
| Sub-total | 6708.12 | ||||
| Total | 56296.42 | 51581.81 | |||
| SURPLUS(DEFICIT) FOR YEAR | -1836.14 | 226.48 |
THE LIPHOOK U3A - MAIN ACCOUNT Balance Sheet
For the year ended 31 January, 2025
2024/2025 2023/2024 £ £
ASSETS
Fixed Assets
Current Assets
| Cash with Groups | 1641.33 | 2186.54 |
|---|---|---|
| HSBC Current Account | 8815.77 | 9162.95 |
| HSBC No. 2 Account | 0 | 0 |
| HSBC Social Account | 3282 | 4225.75 |
| HSBC Deposit Account | 0 | 0 |
| to go through bank | 0 | 0 |
| Total assets | 13739.1 | 15575.24 |
| REPRESENTED BY | ||
| General Fund | ||
| Previous Year Closing Balance | 15575.24 | 15348.76 |
| Surplus(Reduction) on Year | -1836.14 | 226.48 |
| Current Year Closing Balance | 13739.1 | 15575.24 |
41327.47 10480.82 43562.82 8018.99
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees Ch£1rily Name Liphook U3A On accounts for the year ended 31 January 2025 Charity no (if any) 1093854 Set out on pages Iremeniber to includo the page numbers of additional sheelg) I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust.) for the year ended 3110112025 Responsibilitles and basls of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Indap8ndent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's ststement come to my attention in connection with the examination (otheFthathaÉ diSGIe6810W-) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the accounting records were not kept In accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act., or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records,. or I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Slgned: Date: 22 July 2025 Name: Malcolm J Traviss FCA Relevant professional qualificatlon(s) or body (if any): ICAEW Address: Newtown House 38 Newtown Road Liphook Hants GU30 7DX IER Oct 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts., directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER Oct 2018