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The Newsletter is published four times a year
Newsletter December 2010 - March 2011
In this newsletter
From the officers (this page)
New Courses and Special Lecture Series
General
Course updates
News from courses and trips
Social
Information from other organisations
We have now occupied our “new” premises for a whole year, culminating in a well-attended, lively AGM on Wednesday, March 16th, when it was encouraging to see members sharing ideas. Our patron, Dr. Nick Coni, chaired the meeting and expressed the hope that more members would become actively involved in the running of the U3AC. There is plenty to do and every little helps!
New initiatives are always welcomed and can be channelled to the council via committee members, so that correct procedures can be followed.
At the AGM Charles Bonney was elected as Vice-Chairman, Peter Woodsford takes over as Director of Studies (Lectures) and Carlos de la Riva takes over as Director of Studies (Courses) assisted by Alan Winfield
New Council Members
The following members were elected to council:-
William Peters
Delia Suffling
Marjorie Sutcliffe
David Waldman
We hope that they will enjoy being part of the team and helping to meet future challenges!
I should like to thank the retiring Members of the Council for their hard work and support, which has been greatly appreciated.
As usual a big thank-you must go to the office staff:- Carol Spong, Louisa Kelly, Gemma Clare and Jane Carmichael for their continued hard work plus their patience and cheerfulness.
This year, having considered the forecast of finances for 2011–2012, we have raised our subscription to £60, which still compares very favourably with other similar organisations.
Finally, we look forward to seeing many of you at 27-28 Bridge Street, attending courses or meetings and also relaxing. Many thanks to all those members responsible for the outstanding displays of photos and pictures in the display area – they have been greatly admired!
Chris Jones, Chairman
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Treasurer's Report
Standing orders
As announced at the AGM on 16th March 2011 due to the large number of errors made by several banks this year, U3AC will no longer be accepting payments for members' annual subscriptions by standing order.
If you have previously paid by standing order, please contact your bank now if you have not already done so and tell them to cancel your standing order which is payable annually on 1st July to prevent any payments being made this year. U3AC has no authority to contact banks on your behalf.
Details of the methods in which you can pay your annual subscription in future will be sent with your application form for courses in July.
Finances
After a full year in our new premises the financial position has become clearer. The big change has been that we now have to pay a full commercial rent for our main premises in Bridge Street. Even if we had moved to smaller premises however, our outgoings would have been much the same as we have been faced with significant increases in the charges for some of the external venues we use. In planning for the future, I have to make provision for a possible move in 2019 when the current lease comes to an end. We do not know if we will be able to renew the lease although that would be the preferred option.
We had hoped that the move to larger premises would lead to a reduction in the cost of hiring external venues, but this has not proved to be the case. In trying to keep those costs within affordable bounds we need to negotiate good deals with managers of external venues. So, for example, if we can use the premises more fully, we can often book a venue for a half-day at little extra cost over booking for just two hours. Most of our contacts have been keen to work with us this way and we now have been able to draw up a list of preferred venues. We are also trying to increase the use of venues close to Bridge street so that members can find it easier to attend more than one course on the same day. A number of members have told us that they like to devote a whole day for U3AC and leave the rest of the week free for other things.
The outcome of the review of our finances has been that we needed to increase our subscription to £60 for 2011/12 and this was announced at the AGM. This should leave us with a small surplus each year to reinforce the reserves we have set aside to meet the costs of a possible future move. As stated above we will no longer accept payment by Standing Order. Last year one third of members’ banks made errors in processing. This by itself created an unwelcome extra workload in the office as each member affected had to be contacted and they then had to instruct their bank all over again (we cannot do this for members). It took six months to sort out the confusion! We have looked into the options for payment by direct debit, credit and debit cards. For direct debit we would need to have a significant portion of our membership using this facility and there are cost and cash flow implications. Whilst we do not feel that in present circumstances we are able to set up such a system, we will keep the matter under review. For cash and debit cards we do not have sufficient turnover to allow us to set up this facility.
Jeremy Clare, Treasurer
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Administrator
Evacuation of Bridge Street Premises
After reviewing the fire evacuation procedure and acquiring an evacuation chair, it has become apparent that we need to be made aware of members who have mobility issues both permanent and temporary. We will be requesting this information on the 2011-2012 membership form. However, those members attending classes/courses or visiting in the summer term, need to contact the office as soon as possible to discuss their personal evacuation plan.
Clem Messenger
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