2024-08-31-accounts - Shrewsbury U3A

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 01 Sep 2023 31 Aug 2024

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Shrewsbury U3A

Other names charity is known by None

Registered charity number (if any) 1148657

Charity's principal address c/o Dyke Yaxley 1 Brassey Road, Old Potts Way Shrewsbury Shropshire Postcode SY3 7FA

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Mike Reece	Chairperson
Jonathan Mutch	Past Chair
Russell Game	Secretary	Oct 2023
Michael Masterson	Treasurer
Alwyn Winter
JennyMasterson
Norman Jones
Jan Dale
Patti Cooke
Don Burgess
Keith Winter
Pat Coulthard- Jones
Ian Tanner		November 23
Alison Ford		November 23
Frank Velander		November 23

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Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees) Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution – revised 18 October 2021 Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Trust How the charity is constituted

(eg. trust, association, company)

Officers and other Committee Members are appointed by the membership Trustee selection methods at the Annual General Meeting in October, following year end August. (eg. appointed by, elected by) Trustees may be appointed by the Committee within the year, to fill vacancies and to prepare for taking on a role from a predecessor.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

The Charity’s organisational structure comprises a maximum of 5 Officers You may choose to include (Chair, Vice Chair, Past Chair, Treasurer and Secretary). In addition additional information, where between 5 and 10 other Committee Members can be appointed. On relevant, about: occasion this might be exceeded to provide a change-over of roles. • policies and procedures The charity works with the Third Age Trust, West Midlands U3A Region adopted for the induction and and Shropshire U3A Network. training of trustees;

the charity’s organisational The Chair, Vice Chair and Past Chair shall have a maximum term of 2 structure and any wider years. The Treasurer and Secretary shall have a maximum term of three network with which the charity years. works;
During the financial year the Executive Committee has approved actions to: - Duty of Trustees, and - Expenses Policy
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of - Expenses Policy major risks and the system and procedures to manage Existing policies relating to Data Protection and Privacy of Members data them. continue.

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Section C Objectives and activities

The charitable purpose of Shrewsbury U3A is the advancement of education and in particular the education of older people and those who are retired from full-time work, by all means including activities conducive Summary of the objects of the to learning and personal development, in Shrewsbury and its surrounding charity set out in its locality. governing document

	Objectives and activities
	The charitable purpose of Shrewsbury U3A is the advancement of education and in particular the education of older people and those who are retired from full-time work, by all means including activities conducive to learning and personal development, in Shrewsbury and its surrounding locality.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance *issued bythe***Charity Commission on public benefit)	The charity carries out the following activities in relation to the objects: ➢Monthly Meetings in the Walker Theatre, Shrewsbury or other venue as necessary, with an invited Speaker to which all members are invited. ➢At the end of the year (December or January), the monthly event takes the form of a Social. This might be U3A members performing music, poetry, readings. Alternatively, an Entertainer or key Speaker may be hired. ➢At the year-end there were 1160 members and 114 groups operating within the charity meeting on an at least monthly basis. The groups cover a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities. Members can belong to one Study Group or many more – there is no limit other than their time available. ➢In order to better manage the growing number of groups these have been organised into 8 categories, each having a Category Lead. ➢A monthly Newsletter is circulated to all members (either electronically or in printed form) giving details of the charity’s recent and forthcoming activities. ➢A monthly Coffee Afternoon is organised as a drop-in centre for potential new members and a meeting place for existing members. ➢A Theatre Group offering coach travel to attend a regional theatre production. ➢A Trips Group offering day trips to various historical sites or cities in the UK

Objectives and activities

The charitable purpose of Shrewsbury U3A is the advancement of
education and in particular the education of older people and those who
are retired from full-time work, by all means including activities conducive
to learning and personal development, in Shrewsbury and its surrounding
locality.

Summary of the main
activities undertaken for the
public benefit in relation to
these objects (include within
this section the statutory
declaration that trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued bytheCharity
Commission on public benefit)

The charity carries out the following activities in relation to the objects:
➢Monthly Meetings in the Walker Theatre, Shrewsbury or other
venue as necessary, with an invited Speaker to which all
members are invited.
➢At the end of the year (December or January), the monthly event
takes the form of a Social. This might be U3A members
performing music, poetry, readings. Alternatively, an Entertainer
or key Speaker may be hired.
➢At the year-end there were 1160 members and 114 groups
operating within the charity meeting on an at least monthly basis.
The groups cover a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities.
Members can belong to one Study Group or many more – there is
no limit other than their time available.
➢In order to better manage the growing number of groups these
have been organised into 8 categories, each having a Category
Lead.
➢A monthly Newsletter is circulated to all members (either
electronically or in printed form) giving details of the charity’s
recent and forthcoming activities.
➢A monthly Coffee Afternoon is organised as a drop-in centre for
potential new members and a meeting place for existing
members.
➢A Theatre Group offering coach travel to attend a regional theatre
production.
➢A Trips Group offering day trips to various historical sites or cities
in the UK

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

Section D Achievements and erformance p The membership of the Shrewsbury u3a was markedly affected by the Summary of the main Covid pandemic. In 2019 membership declined from 1000 to 700. A achievements of the charity

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

during the year

major focus of activity from 2020 on was to recover membership. Membership has recovered to better than earlier peaks, and we have had to strengthen the management of groups.

To achieve this: - In 2021 and again in 2023 the public brochures were redesigned to better inform interested parties of the activities and groups available, with contact information.
- In 2023 we selected present a special speaker (Iolo Williams) in the main auditorium of Theatre Seven. We shared this with Shropshire Wildlife Trust. The event sold out with 650 tickets. This was in place of the earlier u3a Open Day events.
- While the heat did affect footfall at the flower show, post-event analysis did show strong growth of membership that well re-paid the costs of these events.

The other major activity of the Shrewsbury u3a was to stabilise and enhance management information system: Arda. In 2021 this became unsupported. Through 2021 and into 2022 the Management Committee has rebuilt the support and made enhancements. This continued through 2023

The finances of the Shrewsbury u3a continue to be healthy. Below is an extract ot the Treasurers Report to the AGM:

Extract:

The headline income and expenses as reported to the Charity Commission and available to the public are £32,406 and £28,770. However, these numbers include the Groups: Trips, Theatre, Calligraphy and Golf/Croquet. For most of this report I will comment on the accounts of Shrewsbury u3a, with a note on Groups at the end.

So, looking at Shrewsbury u3a (below) it can be seen that the u3a continued in surplus, even though we did budget a deficit as we hoped to complete some enhancements to Arda, our IT management suite.

suite.
u3a	FY 23 24	FY 22 23
Income	£19,500	£17,500
Expenses	£18,000	£15,300
Surplus/ Deficit	£1,500	£2,200

With subscriptions being constant, it is membership that drives the u3a income. This year has seen a continued growth in membership from the decline of the pandemic. Membership is now 1160, from 1050 last year, and well above pre-pandemic membership.

Many expenses are also driven membership, but in this year there has also been more cost inflation than in 22 23. This would account for approximately £1,500 of the £2,700 increase. However, some expenses should be noted:

Speaker room hire was increased as we had to use Shrewsbury Town Football Club on three occasions: £500.
- We needed to spend £1,000 on equipment, having not spent anything in the previous year. That was un-naturally low.

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

IT remediation (Arda enhancement) was £500 lower than in 22 23 as our supplier was not able to complete the work. - Our publicity spend recovered from the low spend of 22 23: £300.

The reserves of the u3a remain strong: £21,000 excluding groups, equivalent to roughly 10 months of our anticipated spend in the year to come.

Consequently, the Committee is recommending that the Membership Subscription Rate should be unchanged at £15 per member.

Groups: The requirement is that groups must be self-funding. So, income should match or exceed expenses. It can be seen that this is the case.

Mike Masterson, Treasurer.

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

Section E Financial review

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Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

In order for the charity to manage the variable timing of income and expenditure, a reserve sum equivalent to 6 months income will be maintained. At the financial year end 2023-2024 the reserves held were nearly the equivalent of one full year. Even allowing that ongoing enhancement of Arda may cause deficits, we consider that the reserves are strong, and do not anticipate a need to change or lift subscriptions.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

None

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

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Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date
	Mike Masterson
	Treasurer
	11 Sept, 2024
	11 Sept, 2024

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U3A SHREWSBURY

Receipts and Expenditure for the Year En	ded 31 August 2	2024 £ 17,601.50 (363.48) 17,238.02 1,865.87 330.00 63.72 12,909.20 32,406.81 4,176.00 2,232.28 3,678.00 920.00 497.80 1,421.25 1,263.00 480.00 337.27 894.00 178.69 1,073.78 259.40 236.98 342.60 10,778.85 024	2023 £
U3A £ 17,601.50 (363.48) 17,238.02 1,865.87 330.00 63.72 19,497.61 4,176.00 2,232.28 3,678.00 920.00 497.80 1,421.25 1,263.00 480.00 337.27 894.00 178.69 1,073.78 259.40 236.98 342.60	Groups £ 12,909.20 12,909.20 10,778.85
			15,505.40 (307.18)
			15,198.22

			1,841.73 300.00 128.82

			9,443.14

			26,911.91

			3,688.00 2,119.30 2,878.80 828.00 494.00 1,404.10 1,174.00 238.79 354.00 1,428.00 75.04 0.00 479.11 47.00 69.96

			8,428.13

17,991.05	10,778.85	28,769.90	23,706.23

1,506.56 19,447.78 20,954.34 14,618.21 5,089.51 100.00 1,146.62 20,954.34 0.00 0.00 20,954.34	2,130.35 1,804.75 3,935.10 3,935.10 3,935.10 3,935.10	3,636.91 21,252.53 24,889.44 18,553.31 5,089.51 100.00 1,146.62 24,889.44 0.00 0.00 24,889.44	3,205.68

			18,046.85

			21,252.53

			15,744.12 5,025.79 100.00 382.62
			21,252.53

			0.00

			0.00

			21,252.53
			17-Sep-24 17-Sep-24
count books an	d receipts

Susan J Tarr

Independent examiner's report to the trustees on the unaudited financial statements of Shrem'sbury U3A. I report on the accounts of Shrewsbury U3A for the year end¢d 31 August 2024. Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner As the chartty's irustees: you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("Ihe Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust"'s accounts carried out under section 14) of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have folloTh'ed all the applicable Directions given b5, the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of ihe Act. Independent examiner's Statemellt I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have come to my attention in connection H.'ith the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. Ihe accounting records were not kepi in accordance M'ith section 130 of the Charities Act. or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or the accounts did not comply '1th the applicable requirements concerning the fonn and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than an>" requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other mallers in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawl in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Susan Ta Bsc ACA Date.. 16 September 2024