## **CHAIR’S REPORT TO SALFORD U3A AGM, 21[st] FEBRUARY, 2025** I’d like to start with thanks to all of you for attending our AGM and thanks for all your involvement throughout the year. It’s the members that make this such a lively, stimulating and friendly u3a to belong to. ## **MEMBERSHIP** We’ve continued to build on our very satisfying growth post-Covid. Last year, we welcomed 144 new members, ending the year with 490 – a 22% increase on the previous year and our highest membership in our 38 year history. The year end is a high point as numbers reduce in the early months of the year when some members don’t renew for a variety of reasons. Checking the numbers this morning, we’ve had another 27 new members since the beginning of January. We hold Welcome meetings for new members throughout the year, with approx. 50% attending. These are always enjoyable and an opportunity to hear what our new members are hoping to get from their membership, as well as getting over the u3a ethos – by the members, for the members. The u3a depends on everyone doing their bit as we’re all volunteers. Sometimes, we’re seen as a provider of activities like Salford Community Leisure and other organisations with paid staff, so we aim to get over the message that we’re a co-operative, self-help organisation where everyone plays their part. Generally, when members choose not to renew it’s because they have moved out of the area or, for some reason, are unable to continue with u3a activities as previously. There are also a number of members who join but never engage with groups or events, and this year we’ll make a concerted effort to contact members who haven’t joined a group within their first few months, to see if we can involve them in some way. Since 2023, members have been able to join online via the website and well over 80% now take that option. Similarly, the ability to pay renewal fees by bank transfer or by card has proved increasingly popular with over 90% renewing that way for 2025. These have been important steps forward in making our processes more efficient and allowing members to join and renew more easily and more speedily. As well as welcoming newcomers, this year we invited our 15 longest-standing members to become Honorary members. Between them, they have nearly 350 years membership and have made a huge contribution – on the committee, as convenors, leading walks, giving talks and helping and supporting in countless ways we’ll never know about. They are a credit to Salford u3a’s spirit of friendship and sharing. I’d like to thank Andy Scutt for all he’s done in this area in managing our database, modernising our joining and renewal systems, joining me in our Welcome meetings and proposing the Honorary members scheme, which will be an ongoing feature. ## **RECRUITMENT AND PUBLICITY** Word of mouth remains the main way that people hear about us and I’d like to thank everyone for spreading the word. Please keep it up! We’ve also posted flyers wherever we go, led by Andy Scutt, and that’s helped to raise awareness. I’ve brought along a new flyer: this is double-sided so it can be posted on a noticeboard and also has additional information for people to take away. I’m going to ask for your help distributing these to libraries, community centres, shops, churches – wherever you see a noticeboard – and to keep them topped up during the year. Our Facebook posts have a wide reach in the area and have brought in many new members, especially when we have a new group to highlight. Thanks to Debra Charnley for this, and for her work on updating our website in the past year. It would help greatly if we had a volunteer to share Facebook posting with Debra so let me or Debra know if you could help with this. The website is the face of Salford u3a that visitors see – people who are looking for the sort of thing we offer, and to fill a gap in their week when work is no longer taking up all their time. I know I’m biased but I think our website is far more attractive than most of the u3a websites I see. To keep it this way, Debra depends on you supplying updates and photos, so please do think about keeping a record of what you’re doing in your groups and on your trips, for us to share. ## **GROUPS** Groups are at the heart of our u3a, and they tend to be what attracts members. To keep up with our growing membership, we’ve increased our number of groups to 50, adding Craft, Croquet, 3 Curry Clubs, European City Breaks and Pool in the past year. All of these have been initiated by members who had a bright idea and were willing to follow it through. We’ve also had a Pop-up Shakespeare group, linked to a production of The Merchant of Venice at the Lowry and would be very happy to support any ideas for short-term or one-off activities, daytime, evening or weekend. And we have sign up sheets today for three groups: Lunch Club, Walking Football and Let’s Go Together plus more ideas in the pipeline. Many thanks to the convenors who make all this happen, including those stepping down this year, and those stepping up. It’s a very generous commitment to your fellow members, to start or maintain a group. I hope you all have the support of group members and that responsibilities are shared, so that the role of convenor isn’t too demanding. It was great to have afternoon tea with our convenors and other key volunteers in October and I hope we can do something similar this year – though I haven’t spoken to the Treasurer yet! A big bonus this year has been welcoming a Groups co-ordinator, after that role had been vacant for far too long. Diana Tyldesley is getting to know existing groups and will particularly focus on developing new groups and supporting new convenors. Feel free to let Diana know if you have ideas for a new group, especially if you could help to run it – if there’s something you’re interested in, the chances are that someone else among our members will be, too. ## **MONTHLY SOCIAL MORNINGS** We have had an interesting and varied programme of speakers and regular high attendance at our monthly meeting. We routinely have 80+ attending, with highs well over 100. The acoustic problems seem to have reduced this year, fortunately. Many thanks to Carolyn Siddall, our Speakers’ Secretary, for managing these meetings and for finding a great variety of speakers. She is always open to recommendations. Thanks also to our Friday support team for the welcome they offer and for helping everything run smoothly. It has proved helpful to reserve a table for newcomers, where they can sit and talk with an established member and have their questions answered. We appreciate that these meetings can feel very crowded and we encourage your comments and feedback: we’ll aim to resolve any problems under our control. ## **SOCIAL ACTIVITIES** It’s clear that you love an outing, a holiday or any social get together. In the past year, members have enjoyed a holiday in Germany, a short break in Cambridge and Ely, and day trips to Shrewsbury and to Ulverston, arranged by our Social Secretary, Janet Ball – the Ulverston trip being popular enough for two coaches. We always hear fantastic feedback about these events, with every day being packed with activities and experiences, so they’re great value for money as well as an opportunity for members to spend time together and get to know each other. Our thanks to Janet Ball for the time and attention she puts into running these events, and also to Ken for his support to Janet. Several of our groups organise outings for their members – Local History, Plants and Gardens, Family History; many thanks to the members who help with organising them. And, of course, we have our regular ‘out and about’ groups – Birdwatching, Exploring Greater Manchester and Art and Culture. Another event in last year’s calendar was our Lancashire Day supper. This came about from a couple of members, Susan and Leonie, mentioning the idea during the annual lunch. We were very happy to work with them to put together an enjoyable and entertaining evening. If anyone has suggestions for anything similar, especially if you’re willing to help with the organisation, please let us know. This year’s annual lunch is being planned and details will go out to everyone on 1[st] March. ## **NEWSLETTER** I’ve been putting together a monthly newsletter for 4 years, and have decided it’s time for a change. I receive very few contributions – the notable exception being Sheila Thomas who sends something every month – and it’s a big commitment of time and energy. Plus, everything needs refreshing after a while. We’ll have a final newsletter in its present form in March. After that, I’ll send out a monthly bulletin on the 1[st] of each month, and aim to compile a quarterly newsletter, with an update from each group. It’s clear that many of our members are only active in their own groups and aren’t aware of everything that’s on offer in Salford u3a so I hope this new approach will help. Of course, the quarterly newsletter will depend on updates from each group. This doesn’t have to fall on the convenor. If every group had a designated photographer and someone willing to write a brief update quarterly, that would be a huge help. ## **FINANCES** I won’t say much about finances as David Jenkins will be giving his report. Just to say that everything we do is underpinned by sound finances and David’s regular reports have enabled us as a committee to be on top of the finances. Given the popularity of online payment, David set us up with the TryBooking system for our Lancashire Day Supper – a bit like EventBrite, for those who haven’t seen it. There was a good uptake so we’ll be using this for future events, starting with this year’s Annual Lunch. We will encourage online booking as it simplifies things for those who are organising events and it cuts down on queues at these monthly meetings, but we will always have an option for other ways of paying. As you know, we’ve been able to reduce the membership fee. At £10, and £16 for joint membership, I think you’ll agree it’s a bargain. Thanks to David Jenkins for all his work this year. ## **CLOSE AND LOOKING FORWARD** Before I close, I’d like us to remember those members we have lost during the year. Several of them made major contributions to Salford u3a, serving on the committee and as convenors, and in the friendships they made and the support they offered. We are where we are today because of the contribution of our past members. We’ll miss them and remember them with affection. ## **LOOKING FORWARD** I hope you’re all feeling positive about the year ahead. We on the committee certainly are, and we need your support and input. As you can see, we’re a small bunch and we take on a lot of responsibility between us. I haven’t mentioned Jean Martin: as well as being Minutes Secretary, Jean manages incoming emails and helps turn them round promptly. We could do a lot more with a couple of members to fill key roles – Secretary and Publicity/Events Co-ordinator. If you’d like to know more about those roles and whether you could help us, please get in touch with me. We also need people to shadow committee roles, and to help with the running of the u3a in non-committee roles. We have our 40[th] anniversary coming up next year and that deserves a big celebration. I’m looking for a planning group to organise events, big and small, for us to enjoy ourselves and to raise our profile and blow our own trumpet. So far, I’ve had one volunteer. Who else will join us? A final thanks to my fellow committee members for all the work they put in and for their support to me as Chair. And thanks to you all, whatever contribution you make, it is appreciated. Here’s to a positive 2025. 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