Ver-Colne Valley
Chairman’s Report 2023 - 2024
As I look back on my first year as your Chair, I wonder what type of Chair I have been. (I hope not a bad one).
Firstly, I would like to thank my committee for supporting me and guiding me thorough this role and together guiding VCV for another year.
As with all previous years it has been busy starting off with our Annual Dance early in November 2023, organised by Ron Fenn. The turn out was good and a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by those of us that attended.
As usual the year ended with our Christmas Party in December which included some entertainment provided by the Ukelele Sunshine Band, Singing for Fun and our yearly Quiz.
Through 2024 we have had a full diary: Theatre visits which included High Society, Guys and Dolls and Calander Girls to name just a few. The day visits to Winchester Cathedral, a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House and an eventful trip to Ware for a Canal Barge trip were well attended. A talk by Gail Stuart, Eric Morecambe’s daughter, and a return visit form Sarah Slater from the Tower of London were just two of the much-appreciated Speakers who have entertained us over the year.
One of the important things to be aware of in any u3a is the Health and Safety of our members so we have introduced an Evacuation Procedure, which should be on the Notice Board, and we also now have Fire Marshalls, hopefully they will never be used. But, in the unlikely event that they are called upon to act please listen to the instructions given and evacuate the hall as quickly and as quietly as you are able.
I am also proud to have hosted our 15[th] Anniversary Group’s Fair in June. Again, it was well attended and members and also friends and family with approximately 18 groups advertising their groups and hopefully attracting members. We had entertainment mixed with previous Chairs saying a few words A brilliant morning,
The problem with all u3as have is to attract new committee members, without a committee a u3a would unfortunately have to close. To partly solve this problem, we are making an addition to the Constitution, which the attending membership will have a vote on at the AGM in September. The wording of this addition has been given and approved by the Third Age Trust and hopefully you will also agree.
We have on the last count just under 400 members, a healthy amount which enable us to have over 50 groups for you to join.
Finally, a great big Thank you, to you for all the supporting VCV and very importantly for laughing at my jokes.
Let’s keep up the excellent work for the coming years.
Nick Photi
Chair 2023/2024
VCV Treasurer’s Report and Accounts for 2023/24
The General Account is presented in a format that records income and expenditure relating to the financial year. As is customary, the corresponding figures for the previous year are also shown, to provide a useful year-on-year comparison. As mentioned in last year’s report:
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due to TAT’s procedures, the invoice for the bulk of our 2021/22 Third Age Matters magazines arrived in July 2022 and so appears in the 2022/23 figure, inflating it by £381.30.
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similarly, due to late invoicing from GWP, the hall hire for Jan/Feb/Mar 2023 (£383.24) was omitted from the 2022/23 figure and was instead added to the 2023/24 figure.
The end of year Events balance of £5,320.76 includes an estimated £1,645 (eg: venue fees, coach costs) that has yet to be paid out on events for which members have already bought tickets. The true balance is, therefore, around £3,676. This serves as a float for any costs that may have to be incurred prior to the sale of tickets to members, in the coming year. The income for events that took place during the year was £30,988. Once costs are deducted, there was a surplus of £122.72 (0.4%).
Ken Pragnell 4 June 2024
| Receipts/Payments Income 2023/24 2022/23 Member subscriptions 8060.00 8,380.00 Book sales 339.00 254.00 Other 82.73 117.74 Total receipts 8,481.73 8,751.74 Expenditure 2023/24 2022/23 Administration 136.59 156.88 Asset Purchase 23.33 70.94 Beacon 401.00 438.00 Catering 355.49 203.14 Hall hire (GWP) 2051.24 1,205.72 IT costs 32.10 7.50 Miscellaneous 111.76 160.10 Newsletter 126.50 134.80 Speaker fees 1219.70 1,086.60 TAM subscription 496.80 854.99 TAT fees VCV-funded events 1,612.00 1,003.13 1,768.00 589.64 Total payments 7,569.64 6,676.31 Surplus/Deficit(-) 912.09 2,075.43 |
VCV General Account Ongoing Funds B/Fwd from 2022/23 9,094.39 Current a/c at 31/3/24 4,901.37 _plus_Surplus 912.09 Deposit a/c at 31/3/24 5,105.11 Total carried forward 10,006.48 Total at bank 10,006.48 |
VCV General Account Ongoing Funds B/Fwd from 2022/23 9,094.39 Current a/c at 31/3/24 4,901.37 _plus_Surplus 912.09 Deposit a/c at 31/3/24 5,105.11 Total carried forward 10,006.48 Total at bank 10,006.48 |
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| VCV Events Account 2023/24 Opening balance 8,747.84 _plus_Receipts 31,386.25 _less_Payments 34,813.33 Closing balance 5,320.76 |
VCV Group Accounts 2023/24 Opening balance 1,552.74 _plus_Receipts 11,908.48 _less_Payments 11,930.94 Closing balance 1,530.28 |
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| Notes: The General account covers the day to day operations of VCV and is funded by membership subscriptions. It is split between current and deposit accounts, at the bank. The Events account is concerned with events and trips that are funded from payments made by the members participating in those events/trips. Both the above accounts are subject to examination by the person appointed at the previous AGM. Each interest group that involves funding from its members, maintains its own set of accounts. Examination of these accounts is a matter for each group. The figures above are a consolidation of those provided by each group. No monies have been transferred between any of the above accounts in 2023/24 |
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| Receipts adjustment for Charity Commission return Pre-paid subscriptions Net adjustment 6,160.08 -201.92 6,362.00 |
The Income figures above include all subscriptions that relate to the year shown, even though they may have been received in the previous year. They also exclude any pre-paid subscriptions that are for the following year. This is so members can see exactly how their subscriptions for the year have been spent. The Charity Commission return is made in a ‘Payments and Receipts’ form. This means that the figures are determined by the year in which the transactions occur, rather than the year to which they relate. The figures reported to the CC must therefore, be adjusted accordingly. |
Amber Consultancy
11 Ragged Hall Lane, Chiswell Green St Albans, Herts, England. AL2 3LB Tel: +44 (0)7973 338406 Fax: +44 (0)1727 843745 E-mail: amberkeithm@btconnect.com
Auditors Report:
Reference: Ver-Colne Valley — (University of the Third Age) U3A
Registered Charity No: 1156215 Dated: 14 June 2024
Dear Trustees
We have carried out an Independent examination of the Accounts supplied by the VerColne Valley U3A. For the year ending 31 March 2024.
We confirm that the examination of the accounts was carried out under Section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out our examination we have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145 (5)(b) of the Act.
We also confirm that no material matters have come to our attention in connection with that examination. We therefore have no cause to believe that the accounting records were not kept in respect of Ver-Colne Vally U3A as required under Section 130 of the Act.
For and on behalf of Amber Consultancy
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Keith Mae,
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Established: July 1991. Partners: K. M. & D. A. Manning