Chairman’s report to u3a AGM 2025
This is my fourth and final report as Chairman of Bradford on Avon & District u3a and is my opportunity to update members on the overall performance of our u3a over the last year and reflect on what we have achieved.
There has been a steady growth in our membership to 563, a significant increase since April last year. New members have been supported by members of the Buddy Group (Sally Ashton, Sally Mather, June Bailey and Jan Court) who have also run a series of very successful new members’ meetings. Further support to help link people into what is going on is available through the Connexions Group coordinated by Mags Harrison and June Bailey. The group is open to all and holds an informal coffee session at The Barge Inn 10.30am on Saturday mornings.
Becky Brown has arranged a varied and interesting program of speakers for the monthly meetings. We are working on the recording of the monthly talks which we hope will be able to make available to members on a secure members-only YouTube channel. Attendance at the monthly meeting has continued to increase and we have now outgrown the safe seating capacity at the United Church. As a result, we have had to change both the venue and times of our monthly meetings. We will be holding our AGM at Holy Trinity Church on Monday 14th July. Our future monthly meetings will be on the second Monday of each month - starting from Monday 8th September.
Gail Plant continues to produce an informative and, I believe, well received monthly newsletter and we have kept members informed with a number of emails. Work is in hand to update our website.
A newly formed Social Committee has arranged a number of successful social events including a Christmas Social, a Beetle Drive, a very successful Murder Mystery. Gail Plant organised the very enjoyable VE Day celebration on May 9th. There is more to follow.
The Outings program has proved increasingly popular- and sometimes oversubscribed,
At the heart of the u3a are the interest groups, which reflect the many varied interests of our membership and which support one of the underlying principles of the Third Age Movement - to promote the values of lifelong learning and the positive attributes of belonging to the u3a.
During the course of the year there have been a number of new interest groups including
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Creative Writing
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Current Affairs
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English Language Past and Present
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French Conversation - Intermediate
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Personal Health
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Play Reading
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Spanish - Basic
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Stage and Screen
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Walking football
• Written word discussion
The Holiday Group who ran a very successful trip to Iceland, with a future trip planned to the Isle of Man.
As a result there are now a total of 51 interest groups - of course we can always do with more.
Sally Ashton, apart from working with groups is keen to forge links with our u3a and the wider community.
Behind the scenes the committee met on a regular basis to provide both oversight and coordination of the activities of the u3a. During the year John Salvat, Patricia Parkes and Sandie Smith stood down from the committee, while Gail Plant and Chris Burgoyne joined, Rebecca De’Ath, Sally Ashton, Becky Brown, Keith New, Barbara Sellors, John Griffin and me as Trustees.
In the last year the committee has made some revisions to the Constitution (which will require approval of our members at the AGM). It has also adopted a number of policies and procedures, as required by the Charities Commission and our parent body - The Third Age Trust. Among other polices, under the leadership of our Treasurer, John Griffin, we have developed and adopted a financial policy with a specific reserves policy. John will present the financial figures during the AGM and subject to the approval of the membership at the AGM, hand over the Treasurer’s role to Chris Burgoyne.
As our u3a grows and the range of activities becomes more varied, it is important that we ensure the organisation is both robust and efficiently run - saving both time and money as well as reducing the workload for committee members. To this end, the committee has made some changes. More trustees now have access to online banking and some financial records are automatically added to the database. Chris Burgoyne has set up a PayPal account for online payments and we can also accept contactless payment.
We encourage all members to use our “Member’s Portal” where they can access contact details for interest groups (no longer publicly available) and renew their membership with a credit or debit card. This streamlines the renewal process, automatically updates our database and generates an acknowledgement email without direct involvement from the treasurer or membership secretary. From April we also started accepting new member applications and payments directly to our database. Not only has this significantly reduced the workload of the treasurer and the membership secretary, but it has also substantially speeded up communications with new members. In due course this will simplify our accounting processes and provide the information required for the u3a, as a registered charity, to successfully claim Gift Aid. Particular thanks for much of this goes to Sally Ashton who is currently our Beacon Administrator, as well as John Griffin and Chris Burgoyne.
Of course there are always on-going challenges. We are currently fortunate that members have come forward to join the committee as Trustees and ensure appropriate succession planning. We are delighted that our membership continues to grow and with the number of new interest groups that have been established over the last year. Nonetheless a significant number of our interest groups are either at or near capacity so we will continue to need members to come together to establish even more interest groups. We are also mindful that Bradford on Avon only has a limited number of suitable venues where meetings can be held and this is particularly true for the monthly meetings.
As I come to the end of my four years as Chairman of BoA u3a I want to thank all those who have worked so hard to support all the very many and varies activities of the u3a as well as those who have helped me discharge my responsibility as Chairman. In particular I want to thank all members who in any way help make our interest groups so successful, the team led by Mary Nutt who ensure that there are refreshments available at this and every monthly meeting, and all the members, both past and present, of the committee who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure our u3a continues to thrive.
Finally, I also want to thank Rita Shotton for volunteering to take on the role as ~Chair for the next three years, I wish her well and hope she has as much fun as I have done.
Stephen Illingworth June 2025
Summary of Receipts & Payments
01 Apr 2024 - 31 Mar 2025
| RECEIPTS Membership Subscriptions Groups (see schedule) Outings (see summary) Social Events (see summary) Donations Monthly Meetings Excess Payments over Receipts PAYMENTS Donations Monthly Meeting U3A Capitation U3A Direct Mail Groups (see schedule) Outings (see summary) Social Events (see summary) Beacon Equipment purchase Examiner of Accounts Gratuities Licences Misc Meetings Online Communications Postage, Copying & Printing Publicity/Promotional events Remembrance Day Wreath Surplus/Deficit on General Account |
£ 10,075 13,463 9,694 3,569 757 1,314 - 38,873 430 997 1,551 2,096 14,087 9,241 2,654 519 23 70 20 67 304 296 195 28 25 32,604 6,269 38,873 |
|---|---|
Bank Reconciliation 31 Mar 2025
General Account £ Statement Balance 31 Mar 2025 13,123.08 Balance as shown in Financial Summary 13,123.08
Financial Summary
£
Accumulated Funds @ 31 Mar 2024 6,853.98 Plus surplus receipts 01 Apr 2024 - 31 Mar 2025 6,269.10 Less deficit on receipts 01 Apr 2024 - 31 Mar 2025 0.00 13,123.08
Represented by :
General Account 13,123.08 13,123.08
Accounts prepared by John Griffin, Treasurer (as at 31 Mar 2025)
I have reviewed the accounting records, a sample of transactions and sought explanations from the Treasurer of the matters arising. As a result, I am satisfied that these accounts show a true and fair reflection of the financial position of the Bradford-on-Avon & District U3A for the financial year ended 31 March 2025.
(signed) Brian Gatward 02 Jun 2025 Independent Examiner
Summary of Receipts & Payments
Social/Outings Account 01 Apr 2024 - 31 Mar 2025
| OUTINGS Beaulieu Kelmscott May Weymouth Kelmscott August GWSR Ross Hinton Ampner SOCIAL EVENTS Dog & Fox VE Day 2025 Beetle Drive Xmas quiz Murder Mystery Balance @ 01 Apr 2024 Plus Receipts Less Payments Balance @ 31 Mar 2025 |
RECEIPTS 0 1,962 791 1,747 1,488 2,687 1,020 9,694 668 379 955 694 874 3,569 1,871.62 9,694.00 11,565.62 9,241.40 2,324.22 |
PAYMENTS 88 2,227 814 1,895 1,505 2,612 100 9,241 665 59 635 550 745 2,654 |
+/- (88) (266) (23) (149) (17) 75 920 453 3 320 320 144 128 916 |
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Summary of Receipts & Payments
Group Activities 01 Apr 2024 - 31 Mar 2025
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Group Receipts Payments +/-
Architecture 449 449 0
Badminton 522 686 (164)
Scottish Dancing 674 672 2
Science 1,376 1,152 224
Art Club 50 80 (30)
Bridge 444 426 18
Current Affairs 94 142 (48)
Digital 3 10 (7)
Drawing & Painting 953 1,153 (200)
French 170 140 30
Garden 528 554 (26)
Geology 62 60 2
History of Art 308 240 68
Photography 613 560 53
Pickleball Monday 1,449 1,672 (223)
Pickleball Tuesday 108 143 (35)
Pickleball Wednesday 570 690 (120)
Pickleball Friday 1 1,278 1,223 55
Pickleball Friday 2 1,170 1,163 7
Playreading 27 54 (27)
Ukulele 1,543 1,656 (113)
Table Tennis 1,073 1,164 (91)
Totals 13,463 14,087 (624)
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