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← U3A Chepstow Group

2024-12-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the Year 2024

Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 01 01 2024 To 31 12 2024

~~ee~~ Section A Reference and administration details Charity name U3A Chepstow Group ~~PO~~ Other names charity is known by Chepstow u3a ~~pT~~

Registered charity number (if any) 702771 ~~pO~~

Charity's principal address Riverbank House, Brightlands, Church Road, Newnham

Postcode GL14 1AG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name
Office (if any)
Dates acted if not for
wholeyear
Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee(if any)
~~esee~~
~~ee~~
~~CO~~		 Trustee name
Office (if any)
Dates acted if not for
wholeyear
Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee(if any)
~~esee~~
~~ee~~
~~CO~~		 Trustee name
Office (if any)
Dates acted if not for
wholeyear
Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee(if any)
~~esee~~
~~ee~~
~~CO~~		 Trustee name
Office (if any)
Dates acted if not for
wholeyear
Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee(if any)
~~esee~~
~~ee~~
~~CO~~
Nicola Lee
Chairman (joint)
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~esee~~
~~ee~~
~~CO~~
~~pe~~
Shelagh Davies
Chairman (joint)
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~ee~~
~~CO~~
~~peRe~~
Tony Fishpool
Secretary
January-April
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~peRe~~
~~ee~~
Hugh Hutton
Secretary
May-December
Executive committee
~~Re~~
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
Pat Allard
Treasurer
January-March
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
~~pe~~
Rob Davies
Treasurer
Chepstowu3a AGM
~~ee~~
~~peRe~~
Brian Marshall
Treasurer
March-December
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~peRe~~
~~ee~~
Laraine Golding
Membership Secretary
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~Re~~
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
Sandra Gregory
Committee Member
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
~~pe~~
Pamela Harrison
Committee Member
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~ee~~
~~peRe~~
Jenny Channing
Committee Member
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~peRe~~
~~ee~~
Alison Broughton
Committee Member
January-February
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~Re~~
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
Angela Le Fevre
Committee Member
Chepstow u3a AGM
~~ee~~
~~ee~~
~~pe~~
Derek Shottin
Committee member
March-December
Executive Committee
~~ee~~
~~peRe~~
Rosemary Parkhouse
Committee member
September-December
Executive Committee
~~peRe~~
~~ee~~
Tony Wilson
Committee member
September-December
Executive Committee
~~Re~~
~~ee~~
~~pe~~
Vivien Davies
~~ee~~
~~pe~~		 Committee member November-December Executive Committee

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole Dates acted if not for whole Dates acted if not for whole Dates acted if not for whole Dates acted if not for whole Dates acted if not for whole Dates acted if not for wholeyear
None

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Page 1

None

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

None

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing Constitution dated 3[rd] March 2021 document

How the charity is Unincorporated Association constituted

Trustee selection Elected by members at AGM – all trustees are subject to re-election every year. methods Appointment by the Executive Committee (for casual vacancies) Co-option by the Executive Committee

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

Policies for Induction of Trustees:

You may choose to include 1. Charity Commission’s Charity Trustee – What’s Involved additional information, 2. u3a Advice Sheet on Conduct for Trustees where relevant, about: 3. u3a Induction of Trustees

Organisation

Section C Objectives and activities

Page 2

Summary of the objects of
the charity set out in its
governing document
Summary of the main
activities undertaken for
the public benefit in
relation to these objects
(include within this section
the statutory declaration
that trustees have had
regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit)		 Objectives
The advancement of education and, in particular, the informal education of
older people and those who are retired from full time work by all means,
including associated activities conducive to learning, personal development,
and mental wellbeing.

The Main Activities
The central focus of our u3a is our 79 activity groups, offering an eclectic mix of
educational, physical and social activities.
We also offer a range of social events, a monthly meeting, a monthly coffee
morning, a skittles evening, a concert, a wine tasting evening.
In August we hold a picnic in the park with entertainment from our performance
groups, where members can gather with their friends and family to enjoy an
afternoon.
We are a Monmouthshire stakeholder and participate fully in local community
discussions with Monmouthshire County Council and Chepstow Town Council.
We participate in community events such as the Chepstow Festival of Arts, and
we support our performance groups in their community concerts.
Tuesday Live Monthly Meetings
2024 saw a full programme of meetings in the community Drill Hall. Numbers
have slowly grown over the months. In December we invited the Chepstow
Male Voice Choir to entertain us and we opened the Christmas season with
200 of our members.
Saturday Coffee Mornings
These are monthly, and are held at the Chepstow Club. These have been very
successful and regularly attract around 40 members.
Activity Groups
Seventy-nine educational and leisure activity groups meet regularly to explore
their area of interest: intellectual, physical, or creative, for the benefit of our
members. These groups also offer trips to the theatre, various historic and
artistic venues and walking trips of between one day and one week. These are
now attracting maximum numbers. Indeed, the trip to Oxford was so popular
that our AwayDays group ran two coaches.
Apart from some start up grants and help with purchasing capital equipment, all
groups are self-funding.

Communication with Members
We keep members fully informed of all our activities by sending out information
emails and maintaining a web site for those of our members who are ‘on-line’
(currently 95%). We continue to develop our website. It offers an attractive and
easily navigated layout, with many new features including the ability to join
online. We publish a monthly Magazine which is available on our web site as a
flipbook. 200 printed copies are available at Monthly Meetings, Coffee
Mornings, and at Chepstow Library and other community centres.
Public Benefit
Our charity is welcoming and inclusive to anybody within the criteria set out in
our constitution. There are no qualifications needed and we endeavour to keep
the membershipfee as low aspossible andprovide our core facilities,the
Tuesday Live monthly meeting, the monthly Magazine, and the Third Age Trust
magazine (if requested), free to members. The u3a Zoom is available for
groups to use free of charge.

Page 3

The activity groups are made up of our members. Knowledge is exchanged as a process of learning, and groups are particularly conducive to forming friendships, which is part of our objectives.

We take inclusivity and diversity very seriously, and involve all of our Group Leaders to ensure that we are a welcoming, inclusive organisation.

The trustees have ensured that everything our charity has done has helped (or is intended to help) to achieve the purposes for which it is set up, and to no other purpose .

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

Grants

Grants are given to existing groups towards purchasing equipment. Grants are given to new groups to help them to ‘start-up’.

Volunteers

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

All Activity Groups, administration, and support activities are run by volunteers from the overall membership. For example:

Section D Achievements and performance

Page 4

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

Membership : We successfully navigated the Covid years, and membership has steadily grown and now stands at 1045. Membership can now be paid online, by credit/debit card, and still by cash or cheque, although these methods are now a significant minority.

Website : The decision to invest in a new website, which was launched in September 2022, has proved to be a good investment. The website has been very well received and attracts visitors every month. The website is continually updated and improved. We now have the facility to join online, which has proved to be very popular.

Magazine : We have maintained members’ involvement sending in articles and pictures which began during Covid, which has proved to be very popular. The magazine now prints 200 copies per month and is again distributed at our monthly meeting, coffee morning, at the library and other community hubs. The magazine can also be read via flipbooks on our website. This has proved to be very popular, and visits to the magazine page on the website are growing.

Groups : Some groups have been lost this year, but most have grown, and many are at full capacity. We have added 11 new groups this year, supported by our Group Support team. We have consulted with the Group Leaders to ensure that the committee are meeting their needs, and produced a five point plan to move forward.

Social Events : In addition to our monthly Tuesday Live meetings and coffee mornings, we held a summer picnic by the Bandstand where our performance groups entertained us as we enjoyed a glass of Pimm’s. In April we again held a concert which was a great success with well over 100 attending. In October our wine Appreciation groups hosted a very successful wine tasting evening in Mencap’s beautiful Board School. For our Christmas party we were entertained by the Chepstow Male Voice Choir whilst enjoying a glass of mulled wine and Christmas cakes. 220 members came and it was a great success.

The u3a Family : We have been proactive in maintaining activity within the South Wales Network of u3as, via our Zoom. We have also been active in national discussions about the future of the Third Age Trust and the creation of a Council. We continue to work within the national u3a network. We are also an active member of the Chair’s Forum where 400 u3as discuss issues, and share best practice. We continued as members of GAVO (Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations) and became members of the Monmouthshire County Council Volunteer Organisations group. We are an MCC stakeholder.

Page 5

Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

To keep between £3,000 and £4,000 in reserves or about 3 to 4 months of operational costs to meet any unforeseen expenditure that may occur.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

None

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

The majority of our cash flow relates to funding by the members of individual group activities. Apart from some central seed-funding, these activities are essentially self-funding. For all other expenditure:

Principal sources of funds

  1. Members’ subscriptions – about 85%

  2. Gift Aid – about 12%

  3. Grants & Donations – about 2%

  4. The source of all our funds is England or Wales.

  5. Main areas of expenditure are:

  6. Subscriptions to the Third Age Trust

  7. Providing a monthly Magazine which is free for u3a members. This also acts as publicity at our marketing events and is normally freely available to the public at Chepstow library.

  8. Direct mailing of the national Third Age Trust magazine, free to u3a member households who have opted to receive it.

  9. All of our expenditure takes place in England or Wales.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Page 6

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (e.g. Chair, Secretary, etc.) ~~betul~~ a. Date Shelagh Davies Nicky Lee Hugh Hutton ~~eeee ee~~ Chairman Chairman Secretary ~~eeee ee~~ 4[th] February 2025 4[th] February 2025 4[th] February 2025 ~~esee ee~~

Page 7

CHEPSTOW U3A CHARITY # 702771 ACCOUNTS For the period: 1st JANUARY 2024 to 31st DECEMBER 2024 SECTION A : RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS

A1 : RECEIPTS
2024
£
Group Activities
62,156
Membership Subscriptions
12,815
Gift Aid
1,971
Grants
0
Marketing
0
Bookstall
0
Coffee Morning
70
Donations
70
Diaries
59
Walking Week
0
Open Day
0
Interest
0
Administration
0
Social Activities
997
Summer and Christmas Parties
0
Monthly Meetings
174
Third Age Matters
0		 A1 : RECEIPTS
2024
£
Group Activities
62,156
Membership Subscriptions
12,815
Gift Aid
1,971
Grants
0
Marketing
0
Bookstall
0
Coffee Morning
70
Donations
70
Diaries
59
Walking Week
0
Open Day
0
Interest
0
Administration
0
Social Activities
997
Summer and Christmas Parties
0
Monthly Meetings
174
Third Age Matters
0		 2023
£
53,466
12,390
1,742
0
0
0
0
20
51
30,614
150
0
0
85
0
80
1040
Sub Total
78,312		 99,638
A2 : ASSET AND INVESTMENT SALES
0		 0
TOTAL RECEIPTS
78,312		 99,638
A3 : PAYMENTS
Group Activities
63,143
Admin
162
Beacon System Subscription
1053
CLA License
132
Coffee Mornings
70
Convenor's Meetings
799
Diaries
39
Donations
0
Grants
0
Magazine Expenditure
2,385
Marketing Expenses
171
Membership
0
Membership Fee to TAT
3,932
Monthly Meetings Expenses
1,476
Open Day Expenses
Paypal commission
12
Speakers Expenses
200
Social Activities
1074
Xmas and Summer Parties
444
Third Age Matters
578
U3A Meetings (New Members etc)
0
Zoom Licence
156
Walking Weeks
0
Web Site
499		 52,064
324
960
0
29
725
48
150
125
2,206
48
74
3,604
1714
562
0
530
130
623
1,325
183
144
31494
285
Sub Total
76,325		 97,347
A4: ASSET AND INVESTMENT PURCHASES
Sum Up Credit Card Reader
New Laptop Computer
New Projector for laptop		 150
TOTAL PAYMENTS 76,325 97,497
NET OF RECEIPTS/PAYMENTS
A5: TRANSFER BETWEEN FUNDS
A6: CASH FUNDS LAST YEAR END
CASH FUNDS THIS YEAR END		 1,987
0
26,583
28,570		 2,141
0
24,442
26,583

Page 8

SECTION B: STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT END OF PERIOD

B1 : CASH FUNDS 2024 2023
£ £
Treasurers Main Account(General) 943 1,829
Treasurers Activities Account(Designated) 14,469 13,698
Membership Subscriptions Account(General) 12,988 9,210
Walking Week Account(Designated) 143 1,843
COIF Main Account 0 0
COIF Activities Account 0 0
Paypal 23 0
PettyCash 3 3
TOTAL CASH FUNDS 28,569 26,583

B2 : OTHER MONETARY ASSETS

B3 : INVESTMENT ASSETS

B4 : ASSETS RETAINED FOR CHARITY'S USE

Hi Fi System Electronic DrumMachine Lectern Portable Hard Drive Extension Leads Webcam Laptop PC External Sound Card Portable Microphone System Remote control "clicker" for laptop Amplifiers Behringer Portable PA system PK110A 2 Microphones Mixer Behringer Xenyx 802 2 Loudspeakers 3 Behringer XM1800S Microphones Yamaha Sound Mixer Microphone Stand CD Player x 3 Microphone Stand Tray Electronic Keyboard 5M 6-way Mains Lead Projector for connection to PC 10M Mains Lead Hot Water Urn USB Hub U3A Banner Ground Loop Isolators 3 Notice Boards Miscellaneous Cables Projection Screen Awaydays Labels and Lanyards Bluetooth Speaker Badminton Equipment Trolley Bridge Equipment 2 Flip Charts Dance Hats, Skirts and Canes A1 SilverSnap Frame A Board Table Tennis Tables x 4 2 Speakers Sheet Music - Various Large Teapot Sum Up Credit Card Reader x 2 Coffee Flask Pickleball Equipment B5: LIABILITIES Fund Amount Due £ Outstanding Rent Activities Outstanding Credit Card Invoice Activities 64 Group Expenses Activities CLA Licence Main SIGNATURE OF TRUSTEE: NAME OF TRUSTEE ROBERT DAVIES POSITION TREASURER DATE OF APPROVAL 21st January 2025

Page 9

sdfsfsfs CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Rèport Report to th• trustee• u3a CHEPSTOWGROUP On accounts for the y￿r ended 31 DECEMBER 2024 Charity flo ' 702771 (if any) S•t out on p•ge• I report to the trustees on my eXamInatA￿ of the counts of tr above charty (￿e Trust-l for the year ended A6 the charTtls Iruslees, you are ￿ponsIb￿ for Ihe preparation of the counts in accordance wilh the requirements of the Charrt￿3 Act 2011 rihe Ad.). Re8pon81bllltig• arml bas1• ot r•port I r•port in resp•ct of my examinaon of the Tntsfs ￿￿Unts carried Lxjt under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in Carying out my examinatKJn. I have fo￿8d all the aFrll￿b￿ Directions gNen ty the Charty C(xnmi8sh under $8thon 145(5Kb) of tho A¢L Indepandent éxamlnerfs 8tatoment I have compSeted my examinatw. I confmi that no material matters have Come to my attent￿n in ￿nneth0n with Ihe examination leth8fr1 whwth gtves me caus8 lo telieve that in. any malerial the acuuntsng rwds were not kem in XC0rd•￿ with secb¢)n 130 ol the Charities Act, or the ac4yJunts dKI nol ac¢ord wth the accounting records: or the accounts not comply with Ihe applicable requrements concyming ihe fom and content of acn)unts set wt in the Char￿.85 (Accourrts and Report5) RgJuMM)ns 2008 other ihan any requireffnt that It￿ a(uunts gi¥t a true and taif. vthich is not a matt conswJereAI as part of an independent examinat￿n. I have no c￿￿m3 arKI have come ams no othw matters in ¢onrne(*￿n wrth the examinati￿ to whKh attentK￿ should be drawn In Ihts rerth in order to enabl8 a FKoper under8tsnd￿g of th8 accounts to be r8xhod. ' Pl8ase delet• i Ihe È)rackets rflhey do not ap￿y. Dat0= 4 February 2025 Tony Wilson R•I6Va￿ prof•88lonal quallflcatlon{s) or body Retired Chartered Accountant (If any): Ty Twr, Shirenewton, Monrnuthshire. NP166RG Page 10