Chair’s Report for AGM 2024Anne Pinnock
It has been yet another exciting year for Beeston u3a, as numbers continue to grow. We finished the year 2023/24 with just over 1100 members. Although numbers will fall temporarily as the inevitable resignations are processed, May 2024 will be the first time that we have started a new year with over 1000 members. One advantage of this is that we have been able to maintain a relatively low annual subscription, and still have enough in reserve to support interest group activities through grants and loans when needed.
Successful Volunteer Recruitment
The only reason that our u3a continues to go from strength to strength is because of the loyalty and hard work of all the volunteers who make things happen. As we explain at every monthly new members’ coffee morning, the only things that happen within Beeston u3a are the things that one of our members has volunteered to help to organise.
Firstly, an enormous thank you to our committee, who work tirelessly for the benefit of the u3a. Two of our longstanding members reach the end of their terms of office this year- Celia Billau (Communications Officer) and Kathy Shipway (Groups Coordinator). They will both be very much missed. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Ivan Jones, Speaker Seeker last December because of ill-health; thank you to him for his work over the past few years. Fortunately, we have people waiting in the wings to be elected to the committee in May- and want to welcome Susan Krause, Dee May and Roberta Pearson. I am pleased to say that all other committee members are standing for election for another year.
Now that Beeston u3a has such a high membership, it has been essential to explore new ways of making sure that it is sustainable for the future. Our committee is still responsible for setting the direction of the u3a through discussion and policy making, as well as taking on the responsibilities required of all charity trustees. However, committee roles have been reviewed to help manage time commitment. We are well on the way towards enabling more sharing of roles, which will help with succession planning, and decrease the challenge of covering a role when illness strikes, or a much-needed holiday has been planned.
A big change this year has been our work to encourage more volunteers to take on some roles that have traditionally taken by the committee. Because of this we have been able to double our Groups Coordinators’ team in size and now have four people supporting the work of interest groups and their facilitating teams. Some administration work is now beginning to be taken on by volunteers, and our new Beeston Events and Awaydays team has just got up and running. Recently, several members have become involved in support for IT in groups and open meetings. We are delighted with the number of people who have come forward to take on additional tasks and are very grateful for this support for both these new tasks, as well as continuing with traditional roles to help with Meeting and Greeting and Refreshments.
Actvites
With over 100 interest groups, we hope that everyone is able to find something that they enjoy. Thank you to all the facilitating teams who make these groups possible. Physical activity groups seem particularly popular with recently joined members, and, for example, we are thrilled that Pickleball, which was only set up in January this year has been such a success, in no small part due to the enthusiasm of its facilitator.
Several other new groups have been set up and we thank everyone involved in the organisation of these groups, as well as acknowledging our long-standing facilitators, who continue to run such successful groups year after year. Some groups have needed to find new facilitators to keep their group running, and we are grateful to everyone who has stepped up to do this.
A programme of one-off monthly events is now firmly established: some based around practical lifeskills and some “taster sessions” for leisure activities. The following are examples of what has taken place:- Driving Tips, First Aid, Loneliness, Footcare, Recycling, Online scams avoidance, Croquet and Middle Eastern Drumming. Unexpected bonuses of these one- off activities have been enabling members to mix with people not in their regular interest groups, without a large time commitment as well as hopefully, supporting people to feel part of the whole u3a, rather than always being fragmented out into small groups. I myself have very much appreciated attending these as a way of meeting a larger cross-section of members.
Many of these activities are only possible because of our supportive local venues. Karen, office manager at Beeston Methodist Church always goes out of her way to help us in any way she can. Her flexibility and understanding are much appreciated, and even though costs have needed to rise for room hire this year, they are still reasonable and manageable compared with other commercially run local venues. The upcoming refurbishment programme planned at the church will no doubt create challenges for us, but we know that we will find ways of working around this, with Karen’s support.
Numbers attending monthly open meetings have increased greatly in recent months, following a post-Covid decline. There is always a very lively atmosphere in the Methodist Church Hall at these meetings, and the option to listen in via Zoom is now regularly offered for those members who are unable to attend in person, now that volunteers have come forward with skills in hosting hybrid meetings. Our plan of offering a broad range of speakers at these continues, thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of Karen Attwood, who volunteered to take over this role on committee at very short notice.
Events
Large events such as Fine Wine, “Not the fine wine”, a Ceilidh and Quiz have taken place, involving a lot of hard work by the committee. It hasn’t been easy to attract the numbers needed to make outings by coach economically viable. So, a new programme of local outings is just starting- the first being a tour of Nottingham Council House and a visit to Stonebridge City Farm a month later. This programme will mainly be accessible via public transport where possible and involve only minimal costs to attendees. Thank you to recent member Sue Gregg, who has powered forward with these, supported by a small team, which we hope to grow further over the coming year.
A disadvantage of the rapid growth in numbers is that some of our traditional events have become unmanageable. We held a very successful Groups Fair last autumn, but the organisational challenges of doing this for over 100 groups at the same time, mean that we need to find new ways of showcasing the work of our groups for the future.
January’s Group Facilitators’ lunch was also very much appreciated by attendees and we are determined that this will continue. However, we are very aware that we also need to find ways of ensuring that our growing band of additional volunteers are appreciated, and are working on new ways to do this.
After the AGM, a special edition of our newsletter will be published, highlighting the work of our volunteers and celebrating their achievements.
Finally…
In conclusion, Beeston u3a has had a very good, though busy year. There are always going to be challenges and we need to keep finding ways to overcome these. However, as long as members continue to support by volunteering to take on roles, as well as come forward with suggestions for continuing to improve, I have every confidence that Beeston u3a will continue to grow and further develop its place as a vibrant hub of the community.
APPENDIX A1
Charity Name Beeston u3a
Recei ts and p
| For the period from | Period sta 1-Apr- |
|---|---|
Section A Receipts and payments
| Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Restricted | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| funds | funds | |||
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | ||
| A1 Receipts | ||||
| GroupAccounts | - | - | 26,687 | |
| Social Account | - | - | 16,122 | |
| Subscriptions | 16,638 | - | ||
| Visitors | 52 | 52 | - | |
| HMRC Gift Aid | 2,355 | - | ||
| Miscellaneous | 131 | - | ||
| Inierest | 427 | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| 19,603 | 42,809 | |||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| table). | ||||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| Sub total | Sub total | |||||
| **Total receipts ** | 19,603 | 42,809 |
A3 Payments
| GroupAccounts | - | 25,995 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Account | - | 15,406 | |
| Administration | 1,691 | - | |
| Affiliation Fees | 3,802 | - | |
| Third Age Matters Publication | 2,639 | - | |
| Operating Costs | 6,632 | - | |
| Equipment | 25 | - | |
| Expenses | - | - | |
| Miscellaneous | 192 | - | |
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| Sub total | 14,981 | 41,401 |
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (see table) | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Sub total | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| **Total payments ** | 14,981 | 41,401 | |||||
| **Net of receipts/(payments) ** | 4,622 | 1,408 | |||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | - | - | |||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 34,047 | 6,773 | |||||
| **Cash funds this year end ** | 38,669 | 8,181 |
APPENDIX A2
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of t
Categories
Details
B1 Cash funds
HSBC Current Account
HSBC Savings Account HSBC Social Account PayPal Account Group Accounts
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))
Details
B2 Other monetary assets
Details
B3 Investment assets
Details
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
Details
B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signature
No (if any) 1152882
a ments accounts p y rt date Period end date To -23 31-Mar-24
CC16a
| to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - Endowment funds |
Total funds to the nearest £ 26,687 16,122 16,638 52 2,355 131 427 - 62,412 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|---|---|---|
| - | 26,687 | 21,532 |
| - | 16,122 | 12,284 |
| - | 16,638 | 15,234 |
| - | 52 | 25 |
| - | 2,355 | 2,099 |
| - | 131 | 277 |
| - | 427 | 34 |
| - | - | - |
| - | 62,412 | 51,485 |
==> picture [354 x 128] intentionally omitted <==
----- Start of picture text -----
- - -
- - -
- - -
- 62,412 51,485
----- End of picture text -----
| - | 25,995 | 20,936 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 15,406 | 12,284 | ||
| - | 1,691 | 1,533 | ||
| - | 3,802 | 3,624 | ||
| - | 2,639 | 2,346 | ||
| - | 6,632 | 4,376 | ||
| - | 25 | 50 | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | 192 | 275 | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | 56,382 | 45,424 |
==> picture [354 x 174] intentionally omitted <==
----- Start of picture text -----
- - -
- - -
- - -
- 56,382 45,424
- 6,030 6,061
- - -
- 40,820 34,759
- 46,850 40,820
----- End of picture text -----
the period
Unrestricted funds to nearest £
Restricted Endowme funds nt funds to nearest £ to nearest £
29,977 8,481 211 - 38,669
OK
Unrestricted funds
to nearest £
-
Fund to which asset belongs
4,699 3,482 - 8,181
OK
Restricted funds
to nearest £
-
Cost (optional)
- OK Endowme nt funds
to nearest £
-
Current value (optional)
| Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|
|---|---|---|
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - |
Fund to which asset belongs
Cost (optional)
Current value (optional)
| Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|
|---|---|---|
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - | |
| - | - |
Fund to which liability relates
Amount due (optional)
When due (optional)
-
Print Name Date of approval
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerf5 Report Report to the trusteesl members of Beeston U3A On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 Charity no (if any) 1152882 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the al)ove charty {Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 3110312024. Responsibllllles and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in accordance wrth the requirements of the Charities Aot 2011 {Yhe Acr). I report in resped of my examination of the Trust's accounts carrted out under section 145 of the 2011 Ad and in carying out my examinats'on. I have folli)wed the applicable Direthons gtven by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)Ib) of the Art. I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with Ihe examination which gives me cause to kelieve thal in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance wtlh section 130 of the or the acGounts do not a¢cord with the accounting records I have no Con$ and have come across no other matters in connection th the examination to which attention should be drawn in order lo enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete the words in th8 brackèts rfthey do not apply. Independent 8xaminorf8 Statement Signed: Date: Narno: Bernard Whelan Relevant professlonal qualiflcation{s) or body (rf any): NIA Addr$." 194 Meadow Road Beeston,Nottingham NG9 1JR October 2018
Section B Disclosiire Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (se8 CC32, IrKlependent examination of chanty accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). None Glve h•re brfef d•tails of any items that tho •xamlnar wi8ho8 to dl8clo8e. IER October 2018