Past Committee Meetings
Minute of Aberdeen U3A Committee Meeting held on 1 May 2023
Welcome and apologies
The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. There was one apology.
Minute of previous meeting
The minute of the 3 April 2023 committee meeting was agreed and signed.
Matters arising
The amended Accident and Incident Form will be uploaded to our website.
The change in our April monthly meeting date occurred because the BB received a week-long booking for the whole of the premises. Arranging the speaker for April 2024 will be delayed until an enquiry is made about a likely repeat.
Chair's report
A Trust and Trustee Updates section has been added to the Third age Trust website, with a summary of Board actions and assorted financial information. Their 2023 AGM will be held as a hybrid meeting on 18 October.
Two committee members attended the Zoom meeting with Scotland trustee Liz Ervine on challenges in filling committee posts.
The u3a Scotland AGM will be in Edinburgh on Tuesday, 20 June, possibly as a hybrid meeting.
Aberdeen u3a is invited to participate in a Community Interventions Conference on 24 June, which is to bring together community groups, individuals and services to explore how to co-design an Age Friendly City. Further information is needed, particularly as the new committee will then be in place. The chair will pursue the matter with the organiser.
Secretary's report/correspondence
The annual return has been completed and submitted to the Third Age Trust. The direct mailing update has been received, and the treasurer will check the details to be uploaded.
Treasurer’s report and membership
Both the magazine and membership payments have been made to the Third Age Trust. The April and May accounts show mainly expenditure as there is now limited income.
Some of our assets are now listed as zero value. Two older laptops need to be disposed of correctly. The disposal of our old PA system, currently valued at £64, is still to be arranged
The audit is in hand and will be completed by next week.
Social calendar and events
Arrangements for the May meeting were finalised.
A speaker has been arranged for September so the programme for the September to January session is now complete.
Interest Groups
Online Across Scotland – as none of our groups still meet exclusively online, it would not be possible to open these to members across Scotland. A link to Online Across Scotland has been added to our website, together with a sentence on our groups webpage about access to OAS and Third Age Trust online groups.
Write Your Own Story - a planning meeting was held on 17 April and the group will meet on the 1 May and 5 June. The Snug in Ma Cameron’s is a perfect space.
Local Studies – the group plan to meet at the NAC on 11 May and will have a walking tour of Old Aberdeen in June.
French Group - the group returned to meeting at the NAC on 24 April, and the necessary key fobs were re-activated.
Group Activities - group leaders were reminded that anyone wishing to attend group meetings should be a paid-up member of u3a. A request was made for a summary of group activities in the past year.
NAC - any problems with heating should immediately be made known to the NAC contact who can adjust the heating controls remotely.
Publicity and communication
A reminder is to be sent to members about nominations to the committee plus details of the AGM.
Equipment
There were no issues to report. As yet no one has volunteered to provide technical help.
AGM
With ten days to go before nominations close, three nominations had been received, two were pending and a further three were possible. At the AGM, reports will be read in full, and the treasurer will take questions. After the AGM an open discussion will be be held, with questions being put as a starting point. The meeting will be followed by refreshments.
AOB
In order to harmonise membership arrangements with Banchory and Deeside u3a, in particular the matter of associate membership fees and access to groups, the chair will contact the Banchory chair.
Date and time of the next meeting:
Monday, 29 May 2023 at 9.30am via Zoom.
Minute of Aberdeen U3A Committee Meeting held on 3 April 2023
1. Welcome and apologies
The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. There were no apologies.
2. Minute of previous meeting
The minute of the 27 February 2023 committee meeting was agreed and signed.
3. Matters arising
A more up to date version of an Accident and Incident Form was available on the Trust website.
4. Chair's report
The Third Age Trust now routine correspondence twice a month, thus cutting down the volume of emails.
Following an enquiry about non-members trying out groups, it was confirmed that only members can attend groups, and that any trial attendance could only be with the agreement of the group leader.
5. Secretary's report/correspondence
The Trust's annual return request had been received and passed to the treasurer.
6. Treasurer’s report and membership
The accounts had been circulated prior to the meeting.
During a reconciliation of membership numbers, it was established that two members had paid twice. This has now been resolved and we currently have 219 members.
The treasurer has arranged for the accounts to be audited.
The Trust has advised that we overpaid for Third Age Matters magazines this past year and this will be adjusted in the next payment.
7. Social calendar and events
The April speaker had agreed to the change of dates caused by the sudden unavailability of the BB Hall. A reminder about the change of date will be sent to members. Speakers are now being booked for the 2023-24 year.
8. Interest Groups
An email had been received from the lead for u3a: Online Across Scotland, asking if any of our online groups would be willing to link to OAS and open up to members from a wider area. After discussion, it was agreed none of our groups fully met the criteria. As details about the existing Online Across Scotland groups had been included in updates to members, it was agreed to add the link on our website and to include a sentence about online groups and courses on the groups webpage.
The change in leadership of Book Group 2 was noted.
There are four people interested are interested in the Write Your Own Story group so meetings will be arranged for April, May and June in Ma Cameron's.
Beginning in April, the two French groups will hold one meeting a month in the NAC, on the third Monday of the month. The NAC will be asked to activate the necessary key fobs.
9. Publicity and communication
The Third Age Trust will migrate in due course to a new website for u3as.
The newsletter will be digital this year and articles are to be requested from members and group leaders.
It was agreed to extend the Zoom Pro Package for the next two months and thereafter the new committee will agree on how to take this forward.
10. Equipment
There were no issues to report.
11. AGM
The draft timetable for the AGM preparations was agreed by the committee. Two members had shown interest in joining the committee but more nominations are urgently required. Members are to be reminded that under the new constitution previous committee members can stand again.
Date and time of the next meeting - Monday, 1 May 2023 at 10.00am