OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2025-11-30-accounts

MKu3a Annual Report and Accounts Year Ending 30[th] November 2025

Committee Members

Chair Lesley Sparks Vice Chair Wendy Barrett Treasurer Diana Sears Secretary Deb Hodges Membership Secretary Tim Hadden Groups Facilitators Tina Griffiths Hazel Spencer Communications Colin Williams until June 2025 Webmaster/Datum Dave Barratt, Non trustees Shirley Dewar

Team Support Members Sue Giordano Finance Administration Janet Thompson Finance Administration Yvonne Ashmore Membership Administration Len Barrows Assistant Webmaster Colin Williams Newsletter Editor until June 2025

PURPOSE, STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE

u3as in the UK are autonomous, self-help organisations run by the voluntary efforts of their members. All u3a’s are members of the Third Age Trust (a registered charity) which is our national support and advisory body.

MKu3a is here to encourage and enable people of Milton Keynes and its surrounding locality, who are no longer in full time paid employment, to help each other to share their knowledge, skills, interests, and experiences.

As MKu3a is a registered charity, the Committee members are Trustees of the Charity as set out in Section 2 of our Constitution.

Report from the Chair

The AGM 2025 was well supported, with departing Trustees thanked for their support and new nominated Trustees being appointed. We welcomed them all.

All Trustees and other members of the management committee were thanked for their time, knowledge and expertise in ensuring the smooth running and good order of MKu3a.

In line with the notification at the AGM in 2024 all documentation for the following AGMs will be available on our website and the membership will be notified where to find them well in advance of the meeting.

The Management Committee had three main areas of focus in the year, firstly to support our members and groups in all aspects of maintaining ongoing commitments, secondly to stabilise and grow our membership, thirdly to continue to celebrate u3a day. It is considered all three objectives were met.

The u3a UK AGM was again held in Milton Keynes and the Management Committee members volunteered to support the smooth running of this event. This was appreciated by those from Head Office.

We have now increased the use of square readers to take group and other attendance monies and they continue to have a significant effect in reducing the workload for the finance team and the group coordinators.

Our 1-year bonds which matured this year have been reinvested to maximise our income.

We are continuing to produce our newsletter quarterly and to use our email system to send out pertinent notifications between these publications. This has reduced our printing and postage costs.

We have been informed that the rental costs for our office in Margaret Powell House in Central Milton Keynes will be increase significantly when our agreement ends at the end of January 2026. We have therefore taken the decision to move again and have negotiated a reduced office space with Age UK MK in Peartree Bridge and will be relocating at the end of January 2026.

MEMBERSHIP

Membership Numbers

We continue to be encouraged by the interest in 2025. Our membership has increased steadily throughout the year. At the end of November 2025 our membership stood at 1402 compared to 1339 members at the end of November 2024). This represents an increase of just under 5%.

268 new members joined during the year (227 in 2024). This included several members who re-joined after a period of absence. During the same period, we lost around 190 members including those who moved away or did not renew.

At the end of November 2025, we had 43 Life Members; a further 6 having been added after being members for 25 years. This was balanced by 6 life members who unfortunately passed away during the year.

Online Renewals and Joining

We continue to reach most members electronically, allowing us to send out renewal invitations by email, although a small number must be sent by post. It is worth noting that only 2 people joined in 2025 who did not register and email address.

Similarly, most new members continue to join online, but postal communication is still available to those who prefer it. Note that only 3 applications were processed from paper forms in 2025.

Subscription renewals were mostly paid through bank transfer and PayPal, although a significant number of renewals are made by post using cheques (usually between 1 and 6 each week), including those from a significant number of members who have email addresses. The processing of these cheque payments takes longer due to the lag between posting and banking usually being 1-2 weeks. Electronic communication and payment are much appreciated as they considerably reduce administrative workload and bank transfers can usually be processed within 24 hours, whilst PayPal Card payments are instantaneous.

Welcome Meetings

A total of 6 New Member Welcome meetings were held during the year at the Great Linford Parish Council Offices. Attendance has varied from as low as 10 to as high as 21 with the average around 15. However, out of a total of around 300 members who were invited only 87 attended, the take up rate being around 29%.

GROUP FACILITATORS TEAM

We currently have 92 groups. Throughout this year we have started seven new groups. The groups that have begun this year are Football Kickabout, MK Striders, Singing for Fun/Karaoke, Keep Fit 4-Chair Exercises, Ukelele 2, ETHEL-Exploring the English Language and Sunday Lunch Group 1, which was resurrected.

Unfortunately, we have closed five groups, these were Cymraeg – Welsh, Gardening and Environment, Get on and Sew, Knitting and Painting for Pleasure. Some of these were closed due to lack of numbers and some were due to the Group Coordinator resigning from the role and an inability to find a replacement.

The Group Coordinator for the Family History group sadly passed away but we were able to find a new Group Coordinator and the group now meet at a new venue in Westcroft.

We still have the same problem whereby many of the more popular groups have waiting lists, however, when we have tried to start up a second group, nobody seems willing to take on the role of Group Coordinator.

We continue to arrange for New Group Coordinators and those who are starting to help with admin duties to be given a training session on how to use the website.

We sent out an email to all Group Co-ordinators to request that group membership and waiting lists were updated which proved successful.

We arranged for risk disclaimers to be completed by the physical exercise groups such as Tai Chi classes.

We held our Annual lunch for the Group Coordinators to thank them for volunteering to run the groups. We used the Gift Aid claimed back from the Inland Revenue to fund this event. We are pleased that this event continues to be popular with many of the Group Coordinators attending who enjoy the food and company.

Webmaster/Datum

The topic that has dominated, above all others regarding technology, during the past 12 months has been how to avoid being fooled/scammed by unscrupulous individuals who are attempting to separate you from your hard-earned money…a phenomenon known as Phishing (with a “ph” instead of an “f”.

In April 2025 this was the subject of our monthly Open Meeting, following a number of instances when MKu3a members had been contacted by email, text message or telephone, by individuals pretending to be a friend or trusted organisation, when they were actually anything but. The subject was so relevant that we were asked to repeat the presentation to other MK based organisations.

The occurrences did not reduce during the year. We continue to intercept attempts to gain access to MKu3a systems, and we would urge all members to remain vigilant.

Communications

We continue to monitor and respond to messages left on our mobile phone answerphone facility. To ensure that email messages are sent to the trustees with responsibility for each area we have included additional email addresses on our website. This allows queries to be managed speedily and is appreciated by our members.

Thames Valley Network (TVN)

We have scaled back out commitment to TVN as the venue is too far away to attend regularly. We still advertise all their events to our membership.

Open Meetings review 24-25

Our 10 Open Meetings this year again had a range of diverse subjects (see list below), but it was a little disappointing that only one talk was provided by a u3a member. Thank you to Dave Barratt for his very enlightening "Don't Feed the Phish". We’re hoping to improve that number next year and are always happy to talk to members who may consider sharing knowledge, anecdotes or insights with the rest of us. Please contact us on openmtgs@mku3a.org, to chat through your areas of interest and what you could bring to an Open Meeting in the future.

Open Meeting Subjects for Financial Year 25-26

Jan 25 - The Red Deer of Rum - Behaviour of Red Deer

Feb 25 - A walk through West End Musicals

Mar 25 - On foot through the intelligence zone – the Voices of Bletchley Park

Apr 25 - "Don't Feed The Phish" - Internet safety Do's and Don'ts

May 25 - Passports, Assassins, Traitors and Spies

Jun 25 - Operation Pied Piper - World War II evacuation of Children

Jul 25 - A Photographers Tale, 30 Years in the Business

Sep 25 - My Life in the Music Business - 30 years as a sound engineer and tour manager

Oct 25 - The Art Of Trickery: How Magicians are seen in Paintings, Prints & Cartoons

Nov 25 - The Absolutely True Story of That Event We Call the First Thanksgiving

Our average attendance was again 75 per meeting, currently these are free to all MKu3a members and £2 for guests. The highest attendance was 92 for the combined AGM and Open Meeting in March; and the lowest was 63 in July when many members are providing holiday childcare for their families.

We again had great feedback about both the range of subject matter and our speakers themselves. Our June meeting ended with a standing ovation from the audience when Pat Fawcett spoke about “Operation Pied Piper”. Our speakers all appreciate the feedback we give them, so please do write a few words when Jean Beaver circulates after the talk to gather your responses. Thank you to all our volunteers who come along each month to set up and put all the chairs away; check members in and provide all the refreshments. Without them, the Open Meetings just couldn’t happen.

ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

u3a Day

This year we held a special event to celebrate the annual U3A Day. Our Third Age Players group devised a Murder Mystery Play called ‘High Tea laced with Murder’ where attendees were provided with an afternoon tea between acts and encouraged to guess the murderers! This event was well attended, with members being asked to come suitable ‘dressed’ if possible. They were welcomed with a non-alcoholic aperitif which they enjoyed as they found their seats for performance. Thanks to the TAP Group was expressed by many who attended the event.

Choir

Our mku3a choir continue to thrive and has held two concerts, one in December 2024 and the other in June 2025. These concerts have been advertised to both our members and the public as fund raising events for local charities. They have been

extremely well supported. In the Autumn the long-standing Group Coordinator stepped down and a new mini committee was formed to ensure the continuation of this popular group.

Short Breaks and Holidays

These successful breaks continued this year with a trip to Warner’s Gunton Hall Suffolk in February and a return trip to The Kynren in September. Further breaks for 2026 are in the pipeline. Payments for these breaks are made directly with the tour companies, but we do advertise them for the benefit our members

Outings

A full programme of outings for our members was organised this year

Social Events Team

Our newly formed Social Events Team organised a varied program of events for our members to enjoy. These events were very well organised and thanks must be sent to this new team.

Future Plans

Finance

We will continue to roll out square readers to Groups who collect attendance fees.

National u3a Day

We will continue to celebrate u3a day later in the year. Planning will begin early in 2026

Datum

Further developments and enhancements to our management systems are planned for the coming year.

Volunteering within MKu3a

This year we will continue to actively seek further volunteers to help in all aspects of running MKu3a. A recruitment coffee morning is planned

Groups

Refresher training for existing Group Coordinators will be organised to ensure all practices and procedures are being followed. We will also endeavour to keep in touch with new and existing Group Coordinators on a regular basis to ensure that they are happy with all aspects of running the group and managing their responsibilities.

- Review Of Financial Actvites For 2024 2025 Annual Report

Overview.

The 2024-2025 accounts continue to reflect a financially strong, active and growing u3a.

Income

Income is slightly down from last year by £1,975 to £115,553 from the previous year

of £117,528.

Members have continued to support MKu3a with subscriptions enjoying a small increase over last year of £1,030.

Groups income has increased to £70,286 an increase of £8,526 showing that our groups are still strong and growing. The general fund income rose slightly on last year with an increase of £2,739 (includes membership). The other increase this year was the members continued support of the Social Events, with a small income of £1,040, although this is not income driven exercise and expenditure greatly outweighs income. Other income is from closed groups and donations.

Income was derived from:

Expenditure

Groups expenditure increased by £4,922 to £64,056 whilst general fund expenditure has risen slightly to £23,776, giving general fund a yearly overall surplus of £6,540.

We have used £984 from the bequest funds this year to support our monthly Open meetings and the fund now stands at £35,889.

We continue to pay Third Age Trust Subscriptions and Third Age Matters costs from our membership fees along with all office and running cost and required licences. Trustees have agreed not to increase membership fees but to absorb any increase to expenditure by utilising where necessary our reserves.

Expenditure key aspects were:

Other key financial events have been:

Use of Square Card Readers

Although the cost of using card readers could be seen as a high price to pay, their use does cut down on the numbers of transactions going through our bank accounts, which means less bank charges. It also means that our GC’s have less to do as money is transferred directly to our bank accounts as one amount meaning they do not have to go to banks or carry large sums around. We are very happy with the way a number of groups have taken up the offer of using card readers and we are now at 18 groups enjoying this way of paying. If you would like to discuss this further, please get in touch.

Accounting and Control

The accounts are based on a Receipts and Payments principle with unrestricted and restricted funds to reflect the activities of a u3a. They are prepared in accordance with the Charity Commission requirements, and they have been independently examined. MKu3a’s range of financial activity is now relatively complex and a certain level of skill, discipline and control is important with the need for on-going training for all users.

Assets and Liabilities.

Our inventory of sundry equipment is less than £25,000 at replacement cost. Our principal assets are cash balances. There are no known significant liabilities.

Reserves

The General Fund £77,665.91 is an increase of £6,121 This is mainly due to bank interest received from our fixed deposit accounts. The overall level of reserve more than meets the 50% of anticipated expenditure that is the advised Charity Commission parameter. It should also be noted that MKu3a is not a high-risk organisation.

Prepared by – Diana Sears

Independent Examiner – Peter Answer

Declaration:

The Trustees declare that they approved the report and attached accounts.

Signature………………………………………………. Chairman Lesley Sparks

Signature………………………………………………. Secretary Deborah Hodges

Date ………………………………………….25[th] March 2026

The Peartree Centre, 1 Chadds Lane, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes MK6 3EB Tel: 07521 218903 Email: info@mku3a.org Web: www.mku3a.orgAge UK Registered Charity No. 298693

Year to Date: 30/11/2025

MKU3A Receipts & Payments Summary and Assets & Libabilities 2024-2025

B/Fwd 01.12.2024
eipts:
Members Subscriptions
Group Fees
Bank Interest Received
Gift Aid
Social Events
Other
Total Receipts
ments:
Group operating expenses
Third Age Trust
1
AGM/Meetings/Exps
2
Social Events
3
Communications/Web/Datum
4
Admin/Postage/Office Costs
5
Online/Readers/Bank Charges
6
Other
7
Total Payments
Surplus/Deficit for the Year
Year End Adjustments/Accruals
C/Fwd YTD
ds
General Fund
GF
al Groups Fund
LG
ngs Group
O
n Meetings
OM
uests
BQ		 General
Bequest
Groups
Outings
Open Meetings
Total
Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Restricted
Restricted
Restricted
2024-2025
2023-2024
71,241.66
36,873.60
23,135.74
765.53
30.00
132,046.53
119,753.86
20,070.00
20,070.00
19,040.00
70,285.75
14,891.65
85,177.40
84,236.90
4,626.71
4,626.71
3,610.60
3,423.10
3,423.10
3,281.82
1,040.00
1,040.00
0.00
1,157.07
59.00
1,216.07
7,359.15
30,316.88
0.00
70,285.75
14,891.65
59.00
115,553.28
117,528.47
64,055.99
13,224.82
1,313.10
78,593.91
86,419.33
8,929.20
8,929.20
7,841.52
2,766.23
2,766.23
3,027.87
3,564.20
3,564.20
0.00
2,741.28
2,741.28
3,134.53
2,872.88
2,872.88
1,753.79
738.87
738.87
530.35
2,163.64
984.10
-984.10
2,163.64
3,062.74
23,776.30
984.10
64,055.99
13,224.82
329.00
102,370.21
105,770.13
6,540.58
-984.10
6,229.76
1,666.83
-270.00
13,183.07
11,758.34
-419.33
-419.33
534.33
77,362.91
35,889.50
29,365.50
2,432.36
-240.00
144,810.27
132,046.53
Assets Represented By:
6,548.17
Metro Current
6,762.93
Metro Current 2 acc
104,536.41
Metro Savings
3,332.11
Co-Op Current
65.74
Co-Op Savings
30.00
Open Meetings Float
Unrestricted, records all receipts and payments relevant to the general running of the charity.
1,711.16
Cash Held by Groups
Restricted to individual groups covering all their direct activities
1,823.75
PayPal
Restricted, records all receipts and payments for the Outings Group and their operating costs
20,000.00
Redwood Bank
Restricted, records all receipts and payments for Open Meetings and their operating costs
144,810.27
Restricted, records all receipts and payments against bequests received.

Receipts:

Payments:

Funds

u3a General Fund Local Groups Fund Outings Group Open Meetings Bequests

Prepared by Diana Sears

Independent Examiner - Pete Answer

C:\Users\dsear\Dropbox\MKU3A Treasury\Year End\2024-2025\Final Accounts 2024-2025

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of MILTON KEYNES U3A (UNIVERSITY OF THE THIRD AGE) On accounts for the year ended 30 NOVEMBER 2025 Charity no (if any) 298693 Set out on pages I report to the trustees C￿ my examination of the accounts of the above charity (llhe Trust") for the year ended Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordan￿ wtth the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under seclion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity CoMmi￿10n under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in cyjnnection wtth the examination which gives me (ause to believe that in, any material respect: aC(￿UntIng records were not kept in accordance section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the ac(x)unting records Independent examinerfs statement I have no concems and have come auoss no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper undeT5tanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: Name: Peter David Answer Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 11 Atherstone Court Two Mile Ash Milton Keynes MK8 8AE Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of con￿rn (see CC32, Independent exatnination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018