Chairman’s Annual Report for 2024 to the AGM on 9 June 2025
My report looks back at the year 2024, from January to December. January saw a flurry of activity with both membership renewals and new Groups starting. I am pleased to report that membership has remained steady throughout the year and as of today stands at 589 members. The new Groups were Leisurely Walkers, Gospel, Journeys through Philosophy, Recorders, Wine Appreciation plus more recently, Delve into Dante and Italian Conversation certainly a very varied set of Groups! I have often wondered why people join u3a – is it the Interest Groups, the monthly meetings, the chance to meet new friends or to learn new skills and gain knowledge – or simply having a routine? I guess it is a mixture. Hopefully, in our u3a, ‘learn, laugh, live’ encapsulates the reasons. In February, the Third Age Trust launched its biggest ever consultation with Members, about changes to the structure of the Trust. This became known as ‘Fit for the Future’ and your Committee and a group of Members listened to various online presentations about the changes before sending in comments about the proposed new structure – and we even got a reply! As we know, it was then agreed at the Trust’s October AGM to move to the new structure of a smaller Board of Trustees, with regional representatives making up the new Council. This new structure is now in place, although it is very early days. In last year’s report, I mentioned our frustrations with communications between the old Board, National Office and grass roots Members, so hopefully things will now improve. Our two East Midlands reps on the new Council are John Lewis and Barry Appleby, who will be supported by a team from the different Networks in the East Midlands.
In March, we entered a u3a team in the Macmillan quiz at Glapthorn and came 2[nd] ! It is good to know that the brain cells still work! In the same month, Members took advantage of some ICT support from the students at Oundle School, and this is still being offered.
In April, we co-opted Carolyn Traynor to the Committee and she was elected at last year’s AGM. She has now taken over as Programme Secretary from Gill Phillips, booking our speakers. Gill kindly took over as Web Manager when Barry Lee retired from the Committee. With the move to a new website, this was certainly a baptism of fire for her (and for me) since training in the vagaries of the site proved time consuming and, at times, confusing. The good news is that we now have a much better website, so I do hope you look at it from time to time. Please remember that you can send photos or information (about your u3a activities!) to Gill for uploading to the site.
All of our u3a policies are on the new website and are updated as necessary.
We have tried to keep Members informed about local issues which we feel are relevant, so we have advertised the Community bus and other cultural events in which our Members are involved.
On the hottest day of the year, August 12[th] , we held a Quiz instead of our usual monthly meeting. Though attendance was low (no doubt because of the heat) the quiz was hotly contested, despite some fiendish questions. In September, we co-opted two new Committee members - Jane Fenton and Carolyn Henshilwood. Jane has now taken over Publicity from me but unfortunately Carolyn withdrew from the Committee recently due to family commitments.
October has become our regular month for the Committee to host our Group Leaders at Barnwell Village Hall, giving them a chance to chat over tea and cakes, ~~and~~ to discuss relevant issues and enable the Committee to pass on any new information from TAT, or from the Committee. This year, 36 GLs attended and, since some of them run more than one Group, this was a very good turnout. Items we discussed included Risk Assessment and Emergency contact details. We are very grateful to our GLs for completing these, giving them another task to do but a necessary one in these times. I would like us to remember Xxxxx Xxxxxxx, a former leader of Gardening Group.
Throughout the year, we enjoyed some highly entertaining talks on a wide range of subjects - Postcards, Oundle birds - both of these from our u3a Members, Pop music and Keeping Faith at the Front.
In December, we held our Christmas Extravaganza - for the third year in a row. New talent was on show, as well as regular contributors, and a good time was had by all. Before you start thinking or worrying about this year’s entertainment, we have decided to have something completely different for the December meeting – but you never know for 2026! Last year we had several successful outings – an evening with Fascinating Aida, a live screening of Carmen, a day in Ely, Sense and Sensibility at Tolethorpe, a visit to Houghton Hall and the Hallé Christmas concert in Nottingham. This one ran at a loss as we were unable to fill the places. Getting sufficient people to sign up in advance has become more of a problem, so reluctantly we’re taking a break and ~~we~~ have disbanded the Group.
As we know, the u3a is a self-help movement and without volunteers to ‘get stuck in and organise’, it wouldn’t exist. So my thanks go to all who offer to do something extra – Xxx for taking over the tea rota from me, Xxx for helping to deliver Newsletters to those not on email, those who reply to my questions or pleas in the Newsletters, and to Group Leaders especially, for all that they do ~~Th~~ ank you too for inviting me to visit – I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Camera and Composition, the Local History Group as we walked round Wadenhoe and more recently, the Line
Dancers. So please don’t be shy, what about giving a vote of thanks to the speaker at a monthly meeting??
Finally, my thanks to the rest of the Committee - a lively and enthusiastic bunch! We have frank and animated discussions, which is as it should be and I hope you know that we work hard on your behalf to ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible for the benefit of our Members. I would particularly like to thank Barbra Ding for her hard work as Treasurer over the past nine years. Finally, I give notice that, if I am re-elected as Chairman in a few minutes, this will be my last year on the Committee. I joined the Committee back in 2015 and have been Chair since just before lockdown in 2020, so it is definitely someone else’s turn to enjoy this privilege! Thank you.
Gill Potts Chairman 09.06.25
Oundle District U3A Financial Summary and Balance Sheet
07/07/2025
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| Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 | Oundle & District U3A Financial Summary& Balance Sheet 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Activity | Balance Sheet at December 31st | |||||||
| Total 2024 | Total 2022/23 | December 31st 2024 | October 31st 2023 | |||||
| Incoming Resources | Fixed Assets | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||||
| Subscriptions | 9,130.50 | 13,386.00 | ||||||
| Meetings | 309.00 | 509.00 | Current Assets | |||||
| Theatres and Outings | 5,331.00 | 5,924.00 | Debtors | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| Social Bridge | 1,081.00 | 1,003.00 | Bank Balance - Nat West | 17,166.98 | 15,188.95 | |||
| Quilting Group | 158.00 | 231.00 | Cash in Hand | 4.00 | 22.50 | |||
| Payee Errors | 9,499.00 | 565.87 | Funds held by Interest Groups | 431.43 | 449.41 | |||
| Returned cheques | 0.00 | (30.00) | Total Assets | 17,602.41 | 15,660.86 | |||
| Total | 25,508.50 | 21,588.87 | ||||||
| Current liabilities | ||||||||
| Direct Expenditure | ||||||||
| U3A Capitation | 2,268.00 | 2,208.00 | Total Current Liabilities | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| U3A Magazines | 1,205.04 | 1,317.36 | ||||||
| Beacon | 587.00 | 578.00 | Net Assets - liabilities | 17,602.41 | 15,660.86 | |||
| U3A Miscellaneous | 131.41 | 75.00 | ||||||
| Speakers | 711.93 | 706.01 | Retained Funds Oundle U3A | 17,602.41 | 15,660.86 | |||
| Hall Hire | 2,212.12 | 2,531.50 | ||||||
| Theatre & Outings | 5,361.20 | 5,798.50 | ||||||
| Special Events (Dec & GL meet'gs) | 607.91 | 835.34 | ||||||
| Stationery and Printing | 686.41 | 540.69 | The Accounts were approved by the Trustees on 3rd February 2025 and signed on their behalf by the Treasurer: |
|||||
| Equipment | 34.96 | 883.62 | ||||||
| Audit/Ex gratia payments | 267.99 | 266.88 | Barbara J Ding (Trustee) | |||||
| Payee Error Refunds | 9,279.00 | 531.82 | ||||||
| Subscription Refunds | 109.00 | 150.00 | ||||||
| Trips Refunds | 68.50 | 261.00 | ||||||
| Total | 23,530.47 | 16,683.72 | ||||||
| Net incoming resources | 1,978.03 | 4,905.15 |
Oundle District U3A Financial Summary and Balance Sheet
07/07/2025
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| Adjusted Net Income | 1,978.03 | 4,905.15 | ||||||
| Total 2024 | Total 2022/23 | Oundle and District U3A Registered Charity Number: 1183800 | ||||||
| Total funds brought forward | 15,188.95 | 10,283.80 | ||||||
| Cash in Hand | 4.00 | 22.50 | ||||||
| Funds held by Interest Groups | 0.00 | 449.41 | ||||||
| Total Funds carried forward | 17,170.98 | 15,660.86 | ||||||
| Balance at Bank | 17,166.98 | 15,188.95 | ||||||
| Bank error cheque | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||
| U/P Cheque as at 31 Dec | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||
| Balance at Bank | 17,166.98 | 15,188.95 | ||||||
| Cash in Hand/Float | 4.00 | 22.50 | ||||||
| 17,170.98 | 15,211.45 | |||||||
| Funds held by Interest Groups | 431.43 | 449.41 | ||||||
| Total Funds | 17,602.41 | 15,660.86 |
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