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The Newsletter is published four times a year
Newsletter December 2009 - March 2010
A Message from the Chairman
Premises
We are making progress in the search for new premises, as many of you will know from recent copies of the Bulletin. We are hopeful that we have found an attractive new city centre home for U3AC. Almost all of the premises we have looked at have been open plan office space, and none on the ground floor, as city centre ground floor premises have retail potential and therefore command a much higher rent than do premises at higher levels. We did not rule out the possibility of purchasing property but no appropriate premises were available. The building we are now considering is occupied on the ground floor by Brasserie Chez Gerard. It has a lift and the space we are looking at is on the first floor with a bright outlook and has been refurbished in recent years. We have agreed the terms of a contract with Magdalene College, the owner, and are now making a planning application for change of use from office to educational. This has to go out to consultation and will take some weeks. Work will need to be done, at our expense, to convert the available open space into classrooms, offices and common room areas. The rent will, as expected, be substantially higher than our present rent, but we are happy to report that the lease we have negotiated is for 10 years with a rent review at 5 years. Council has agreed that conversion costs be funded from reserves. This will be a substantial amount. The current scheme for the layout and equipping of the premises includes the provision of lockable storage space, IT infrastructure and good sound insulation between classrooms. There will also be the need for new IT equipment and additional furniture. We plan to have five classrooms and some of these will be larger than any we currently have. This means that more courses can be accommodated in house, which makes both economic and practical sense. We are in negotiations with a company specialising in fitting out office space whose expertise is proving very useful. There are still a great many details to be finalised, but we hope that the necessary conversion work will be done early in 2010 so that we can move in the late Spring. Council has agreed that the Annual Subscription will have to go up and details about this will be sent out prior to the AGM. I will keep the membership informed over the next weeks and months.
Council Elections
At the end of this Newsletter is a sheet on which you are asked to make nominations for Chairman, Vice Chairman and up to 6 members of Council. Please take this seriously and give thought to approaching those you know in U3AC who impress you with their organising abilities. We need good volunteers to offer to serve on Council in order to ensure that our organisation continues to thrive. The constitution dictates that ordinary members may only serve for 3 years and there is therefore a healthy turnover in Council membership. The implication of this, however, is that annually new members need to come forward. Also it is usual (although not essential) for future Officers to be recruited from Council members and if there is a good number of new recruits to Council each year this is likely to happen. Officers may serve for more than 3 years and this provides continuity. I will be standing down at the AGM in March.
Staffing
We have recruited a third member of the office staff, Christine Proctor, to replace Lily Seear who is no longer working for us.
Janet Edwards, Chairman
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