ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees of Dorridge u3a, year ended 31 December 2024
The Trustees of the Dorridge u3a (“the Trustees”) are pleased to present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
1. Reference and Administrative Information
1.1 Charity Name: Dorridge University of the Third Age (“Dorridge u3a”, “the Charity”) Charity Registration Number: 1097335
1.2 Office: 6 Glendon Way, Dorridge, Solihull, B93 8SY.
Email: u3adorridge@gmail.com Website: www.dorridgeu3a.co.uk
1.3 The Trustees:
The following Members, who are trustees for the purposes of charity law, served during the year and up to the date of this report (unless indicated otherwise):
Chair: William Foster Vice-chair & Group Activity Advisor: David Brittin Vice-chair & Membership Secretary: Elizabeth Mansell Treasurer: Stephen Boulton (to 7[th] March 2024) Treasurer: David Archer (from 7[th] March 2024) Secretary: Pat Lawrence Speaker Secretary: Robert Mansell Visits Coordinator: Pat Lawrence (to 7[th] March 2024) Visits Coordinator: Kate O’Hara (from 7[th] March 2024) Website Coordinator: Elizabeth Murray Minutes Secretary: Kay Ashley (to 7[th] March 2024) Minutes Secretary: Elizabeth Murray (from 7[th] March 2024) Member: Joy Harrison Member: Margaret Lilley Member: Jenni Ord
1.4 Independent Examiner:
Christopher Price, 8 Gilbury Close, Knowle, Solihull, B93 8JZ.
1.5 Bankers:
HSBC Bank plc, 34 Poplar Road, Solihull, B91 3AF.
1.6 Website & Crier:
Crier Editor: Peter Derrington Webmasters: Richard Arbuthnot & David Archer
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ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees of Dorridge u3a, year ended 31 December 2024
2. Dorridge u3a
u3a is a UK-wide movement of locally run interest groups that provide a wide range of opportunities to come together to learn for fun. Members explore new ideas, skills, and activities together. The u3a national body – the Third Age Trust – looks after more than one thousand u3as with nearly 400,000 members in the UK, providing educational and administrative support.
Dorridge u3a is affiliated to the national body and has over 500 members participating in over 40 interest groups.
2.1 Objectives and Activities:
The charity’s object (“the object”) is the advancement of education, and in particular the education of older people and those retired from full-time work, using all means including associated activities conducive to learning and personal development in Dorridge and the surrounding area.
2.2 Policies and Values:
The Policies and Values of Dorridge U3A may be viewed by visiting the Dorridge u3a website, or by following this link: Policies and Values - Dorridge U3A
2.3 Constitution:
Similarly, the Dorridge u3A Constitution may be viewed here: Constitution - Dorridge U3A
2.4 Structure and Management:
Dorridge u3a members may be either Individual or Associate members. Both styles of membership enjoy the same rights, but Individual members make financial contributions directly to the running of the u3A national body, whereas Associate members do this via their membership of another affiliated u3a club and consequently benefit from reduced annual subscriptions to Dorridge u3a.
Dorridge u3a is managed by an elected committee of between 5 and 15 trustees who are paid-up members of the Charity and including, as a minimum, the following Officers: Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary & Treasurer. Trustees are normally elected at the Annual General Meeting, but up to 3 may be coopted during the year.
An Annual General Meeting will be called each year, within 15 months of the date of the previous AGM, for the purpose of reviewing the performance of the Charity during the previous accounting period, and for the election of Trustees and Officers of the Charity.
Special General Meetings (“Executive Committee Meetings”) may be called at intervals during the year, at the prerogative of the Trustees.
Other rules & procedures governing the management of Dorridge u3a may be found in the Dorridge u3a Constitution: Constitution - Dorridge U3A
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ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees of Dorridge u3a, year ended 31 December 2024
2.5 Financial, Reserves Policy & Governance:
The trustees of Dorridge u3a are responsible for:
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Safeguarding the assets of the Dorridge u3a.
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Identifying and managing the risk of loss, waste, theft or fraud.
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Ensuring the financial reporting is robust and of sufficient quality.
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Keeping financial records in accordance with the governing document and relevant legislation (e.g. Charities Acts, Companies Acts etc).
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Preparing Annual Accounts in accordance with the governing document and relevant legislation.
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The accounts should show a true and fair view of the state of affairs of Dorridge u3a.
Trustees are jointly responsible for keeping full financial records. These include those of the u3a and all the interest groups, sub-groups etc., where appropriate. To enable the trustees to carry out these responsibilities, the financial procedures detailed below will be followed. A copy of this policy will be given to all trustees on their
election/appointment to the committee and made available to members on the website. The policy will be kept under review and revised as necessary.
2.6 Reserves Policy:
Dorridge u3a aims to keep a level of reserves that will cover six months of day-to-day expenses. This refers to the direct level of Expenses incurred and does include the selffunding elements of the various interest groups.
2.7 Governance:
At the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 7[th] March 2024, the meeting resolved to appoint Christopher Price as Independent Examiner for the year to 31[st] December 2024.
3. Achievements and Performance 2024
3.1 Chair’s Review of the Year:
I have now served three years as chair of Dorridge u3a. Most of the existing committee have served alongside me for those three years and I remain grateful for their support and hard work especially as we are largest u3a in Solihull.
Our membership at 1st March 2025 was 538, our highest March figure for ten years, with the exception of the Covid year. Our overall membership figures don’t change much with roughly an equal number of members joining and lapsing each year. However, we do need to recruit more new members aged 60-70.
We appointed a new Treasurer at last year’s AGM, and we have achieved a seamless transition from the previous treasurer to our new one.
We also appointed a new Outings Organiser last year and she has organised a number of visits which have been well supported. She has built up a good relationship with her counterparts in other Solihull u3a’s allowing reciprocation of spare places.
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ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees of Dorridge u3a, year ended 31 December 2024
We performed another successful panto this year – Ali Baba – with two capacity audiences. This is usually a highlight for many of our members.
Last year we asked activity group leaders to attend the AGM and to make themselves available around the hall to talk to members thinking of joining a new group. This proved to be highly successful, and a number of groups successfully recruited new members. We plan to repeat this exercise in future AGMs
3.2 Speaker Secretary’s Report:
Dorridge U3A always seeks to engage good quality speakers for our general meetings of which we have two per month, in total we usually book twenty-two speakers, with two of the dates being kept for the AGM and an in-house quiz. We regularly have an attendance of 70 to 80 members for the general meetings, which is back to where it was pre-Covid.
It has become noticeable since the Covid lockdown that speaker costs have started to rise, with a number of speakers now charging £100 plus, additionally more speakers charge travel expenses on top of their fee. Our anticipated speaker costs for the current year (2024) will be in the region of £1600, although the cost for one of the talks (21st November - £150) will be paid out of the Louisa Jakeman bequest.
3.3 Treasurer’s Report and Financial Statement:
2024 concludes another successful year for Dorridge U3A, my first as Treasurer since taking over from Stephen Boulton at the AGM in March 2024.
Our General Fund (i.e. excluding Group Funds & Legacies) showed a small overall increase in Income (£8,708 compared with £8,696 in 2023), even though subscription income was slightly reduced, this being the result of increased bank interest.
Expenditure was broadly as forecast other than Equipment Purchases which includes the purchase of one new Cornilleau 500 Table Tennis Table (£616.50). The Committee also authorised a loan to enable the purchase of a second table; this loan has been repaid in full by the TT members, with excess funds being carried forward to 2025. Overall, our General Funds showed a small surplus of £177 compared with £506 in 2023.
The various group have all been very active with all but one showing a positive balance at the end of the year. Worthy of comment are the Outings Group which included visits to Bletchley Park, Hampton Court, the Military Intelligence Museum and Waddesdon Manor @ Christmas and, of course, the Panto Group, which put on another successful production (Ali Baba).
Net General Fund Reserves £7,381.60 (compared with £7,204 in 2023)
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ANNUAL REPORT of the Trustees of Dorridge u3a, year ended 31 December 2024
The budget for 2025 was based on the following assumptions:
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a) Membership as per 2024 (495 full members, 36 associate members.
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b) 5% increase in Third Age Trust subscription, Third Age Matters and Beacon Licence fee.
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c) General Meeting speakers’ fees as provided by the Speaker Secretary.
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d) Modest increases in line with inflation elsewhere. No capital expenditure.
To achieve a balanced budget in 2025, our forecast indicated that we needed a small increase in annual fees. The Committee considered this in October 2024 and recommended an increase to £17 for Full Members and £11 for Associate Members. This has been implemented.
Our current reserves (£7,382) are significantly higher than the minimum 50% of annual day-to-day expenses (£4,265) suggested in our Finance Policy, and for this reason it is proposed that we retain the above membership subscriptions for a further year (2026), namely Full Members £17, Associate Members £11.
The Treasurer offers his sincere thanks to the following:
Christopher Price for his role as Independent Examiner.
Stephen Boulton for his period as Treasurer, also for his assistance during the hand-over period and in the preparation of the 2024 Annual Accounts.
The various Group Leaders for their punctuality in payments of their funds. Chairman William Foster and other Members of the Dorridge u3a Executive Committee.
The Chair recorded his thanks to Stephen Boulton, David Archer, and Chris Price.
Approved by the Dorridge u3a Committee on 28[th] April 2025, and signed on its behalf by:
William Foster Chair
David Archer Honorary Treasurer
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| ACTIVITY GROUP BALANCES 01-Jan-24 Receipts Payments Art Group 125.20 282.00 -384.00 Ballroom Dancing 43.00 339.00 -381.00 Bridge 271.57 320.00 -350.00 Choir 110.00 405.00 -441.00 Film Group 117.00 632.00 -627.00 Gardening History Group 32.00 IT Group 676.11 182.00 -459.00 Musicals -42.00 726.00 -684.00 Opera 30.41 184.00 Panto Group 657.14 1,261.57 -1,493.99 Pickleball 0.90 Racket ball 34.40 455.00 -455.00 Science 236.00 437.00 -459.00 Short Mat Bowls 855.00 -916.50 Table Tennis 1 1,344.00 -1,344.00 Table Tennis 2 40.00 2,312.00 -2,304.00 Table Tennis 3 1.20 1,102.80 -1,104.00 Table Tennis 4 27.15 2,420.85 -2,400.00 Table Tennis 5 40.00 2,456.00 -2,448.00 Table Tennis 6 2,352.00 -2,352.00 Table Tennis 7 40.00 2,408.00 -2,352.00 Table Tennis 8 40.00 2,456.00 -2,496.00 New TT tables fund 20.00 855.00 -664.67 TOTALS 2,500.08 23,785.22 -24,115.16 Outings 366.86 6,778.25 -6,664.90 CHARITY COMMISSION REPORTING FIGURES 2024 Income £8,708 Legacies Groups £23,785 Outings £6,778 Total Income £39,271 Expenditure £8,530 Legacies £150 Groups £24,115 Outings £6,665 Total Expenditure £39,461 |
31-Dec-24 23.20 1.00 241.57 74.00 122.00 32.00 399.11 214.41 424.72 0.90 34.40 214.00 -61.50 48.00 48.00 48.00 96.00 210.33 2,170.14 480.21 2023 £8,696 £21,850 £5,413 £35,960 £8,191 £20,106 £5,583 £33,880 |
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