Coquetdale

Annual General Meeting 2023

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at the Jubilee Hall, Rothbury at 10.30am on Monday 17 April 2023

PRESENT

Approximately 40 members were present.

1. Welcome and Introductions

2. Apologies:- Pam Campbell (business secretary), John Rutherford (groups coordinator), Siobhan Sheehy, David Roche, Derek Whiteman, Anthea Wilbie-Chalk Nigel and Gill Hindmarch.

3. Minutes of the last AGM on 25th April 2022 – these had been e-mailed to all members. They were accepted as a correct record. There were no matters arising.

4. Chair’s Report -- we have had an excellent year, with face-to-face meetings every month. We have had the following speakers: --

May, 2022:- Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England, by Ian Brown, and Annie Lloyd.
June 2022: -- Garden party at Three Wheat Heads, with Graham and Rosie Stacy’s summer songs.
July 2022 :- Developments in Orthopaedic Surgery since 1970s, by me, as Clive Wilkinson had Covid. September 2022:- Presentation by the Photographic Group of our U3A. October 2022:- Thai Burma Railway, by Wing Commander Kevin Dillon. November 2022, Annual U3A lecture:- Development of the National Memorial Arboretum, by Sir Henry Every, Deputy Lt. of Derbyshire.
December 2022:- Christmas Quiz, with Christmas quizmaster Pete Burrow. February 2023:- the Aln Railway, Then and Now, by Roger Jermy. March 2023: -- Positive Ageing, by Jemma James.

We have an interesting program speakers arranged for the rest of this year. The programme details our on our website, which should enjoyable.

Many members of our Coquetdale U3A committee will be retiring this year, after many long years of faithful service, for which we all owe them a great debt of gratitude. These are: Pam Campbell Business Secretary past 3 years. She has recently become a grandmother for the second time, and we all send our very best wishes to her, and to all her family. Lesley Patterson, Treasurer for the past 6 years, Averil Fendley, Membership Secretary for the past 6 years, John Rutherford, Groups Coordinator for the past 6 years, Pete Burrow, Social Activities Secretary for the past 6 years & myself (Tony Henry), Chairman for the past 2 ½ years. David Willoughby our Webmaster, will be continuing on the committee.

We’ve had some excellent nominations for these vacant positions on our U3A committee, which our president Clive Wilkinson, has kindly said he will introduce to this AGM, for election. I hope that they will all be elected at this AGM, and I send them all my very best wishes. Tony Henry 13/4/2023.

Members were pleased that our good wishes had been sent to Pam Campbell & family, on the birth of her grandson Rupert.

5. Treasurer’s Report (with membership information) After two unsettled years 2022-2023 finally saw a return to normal service.

Member subscriptions, our main income, were restored to the pre pandemic level of £10 per member after two years of nil or halved subscriptions, reduced due to our inability to hold physical meetings.

A nil income in 2020-21 and reduced income in 2021-22 has not affected our overall financial stability. All countrywide U3A groups have to ensure that they keep sufficient contingency funds for unforeseen circumstances and to pay any expected invoices and for this reason Coquetdale U3A has been able to pay all annual fees due to the Third Age trust. These fees cover Insurance and membership of a support network for help and advice.

Our popular Christmas quiz was reinstated and the £5 per person charge covered the costs of a generous buffet, a raffle ticket and raffle prizes. Our unique quizmaster provided his services free!
Theatre trips and visits have resumed and remain popular. These include the cost of tickets and transport to the venue and a separate bank account and records are maintained for these events.
We encourage all payments both by and to us to be made via BACS which enables more efficient record keeping although we still accept cash and cheques.

The majority of our outgoings are as usual to the Third Age trust to whom we pay a per capita sum based on membership, and to the Jubilee hall for room hire. This is for the monthly general meetings. Any interest groups who use the Jubilee hall for meetings fund the room themselves. The committee has tried to reduce outgoings by using more electronic communication and having an enhanced website reducing the need for stationery supplies and postage.

At 31st March we have £3223 to carry forward to the new committee. This is slightly more than the previous two years when we had lower income.

Membership has fluctuated over recent years from 174 in March 2020, to a low of 110 in March 2021 (counted by member attendance at Zoom meetings as no subscriptions were collected) to 156 in March 2022. This is due to the many social changes caused by the Covid pandemic. We are aware that a significant number of members have left the area to move closer to children and grandchildren in other parts of the country and some previous members feel less confident about leaving their homes to attend meetings

However, at the end of this financial year we have 148 members, some of them new members who have recently moved into the area and we have regular enquiries from people wanting to join.
April has already seen new members join so hopefully 2023-2024 will see Coquetdale u3a thrive.
Lesley Patterson, Treasurer Coquetdale u3a, April 2023.

In answer to a question Lesley confirmed that the accounts were balanced (income exceeded expenditure).

6. Officers’ Reports

(1) Business secretary -- Six committee meetings have taken place this year using both Zoom and face-to-face meetings. Latter meetings have had considerable focus on recruiting new committee members for 2023, as almost all the committee are resigning after having completed (pr exceeded) their 3 year term of office. Only our webmaster, co-opted onto the committee in Autumn 2022 will be going forward to remain on the 2023 committee. We have now received nominations for all committee posts (apart from Social Events secretary).
Our monthly meetings have successfully continued with a diverse range of topics and this year the Annual lecture was recommenced with the prestigious Sir Henry Every. Attendance at monthly meetings is on average around 30-40 members and this is similar to attendance pre-pandemic. Our membership is continuing to grow at a rate of 2-3 members per month. This may well be aided by the fact that our website is now upto date (thanks to the appointment of our new webmaster in October 2022) and has been streamlined so that key information is easier to find. We are encouraging members to use the website more as it now contains reliable details of upcoming events.

Members have received communication from the committee at least once a month, via email. The monthly email contains information relating to the forthcoming monthly meeting, social events and committee matters such as the need for nominations for committee posts.

The committee have been conscious of the need to give new members full details of activities within Coquetdale u3a and to this end set up a “new members” meeting in November 2022 . This was an informal meeting for new members to get to know people and many of the group convenors came and talked about their groups. 33 new members were invited (this included new members from over the last 2 years) and 14 attended; there were also several apologies from new members who wanted to attend but were otherwise engaged at the date and time of the meeting. The meeting was found to be very useful by those who attended and the current committee hopes that this type of get-together for new members will become a more regular occurrence in the future.

A questionnaire was sent to all members in April/May 2022 asking for their views on the monthly meetings programme/social activities/general level of satisfaction with our u3a. Unfortunately only 33 responses were received.Of these, 24 were happy with this year’s range of speakers and topics for the monthly meetings; 4 were not happy; 4 were uncertain. Several suggestions for future speakers were made. There were some comments on a need for more social interaction at monthly meetings and, as a result the committee determined that monthly meetings are now to be advertised as 10.00 for 10.30 to enable earlier attendance to socialise prior to presentations. It was also agreed that future speakers should be informed ofseveral requests (from the questionnaire) for audience participation in sessions.

Occasional liaison with the North Northumberland Network via occasional Zoom meetings to share issues and ideas.

Pam Campbell, Business Secretary, Coquetdale U3A, April 2023.

(2) Group Convenor Co-ordinator -- Unfortunately, due to a prior commitment I must send my apologies but have provided a written report. This is my final report as Group Convenor after five years in the role. All our groups are fairly self sufficient and function well with their own convenors. Thanks to all those people who coordinate the groups.

2022-3 was the year where most groups began to meet again on a regular basis. As of today, we have 18 groups identified on our website, although 1-2 are not currently meeting. One additional group, Vegetarian Food has also re-emerged, totalling 19.

These groups cover a wide range of interests and have active participation from members. Please look at the website for further details on all the groups.

If anyone has a particular interest, which is not covered by a current group, then please contact the Group Convenor and steps can be taken to find others who may be keen to meet up.
In addition, if any group feels they cannot take on new members, a second group can always be established to meet demand.

Remember, groups are there to reflect your/our interests and they only function with our participation.
Best wishes to the new Group Convenor.
John Rutherford 20/3/2023

(3) Social Activities Secretary -- A year ago, we were just beginning to emerge from covid. There had been some Social Events but members, with some justification, were still reluctant to commit to events. As a result, several events were cancelled, as there was not enough interest to make them viable. We did, however, have some activities in the last year.

The first visit we made was a new one for u3a. We drove up through the Borders to the lovely Paxton House, where we had a tour of its Georgian interior, before settling down for a very interesting concert, in the Picture Gallery, as part of their Music Festival.

Shortly afterwards our second visit was to the Theatre Royal for a rather different musical entertainment – We Will Rock You, and they did.

We were also at the Theatre Royal for ‘Book of Mormon’ which was rather rude but very funny, clever and entertaining (unless you were a Mormon).

In September we went north again for another first, a visit to the open-air sculpture park of Jupiter Artland outside Edinburgh. This was a lovely day, with a stop at Melrose on the way, to this fascinating array of all forms of sculpture in a beautiful setting.

The year ended with the annual Christmas Fun Quiz, for the first time in the Jubilee Hall, and for the first time clashing with England’s World Cup match v. France. Thanks to all of you who resisted spending the evening checking scores on your phones. The evening was further enlivened by my laptop containing all my audio-visual special effects, which decided to expire, for ever, during the first half of the quiz. Thankfully I was able to overcome my shyness and got through the night. Having seen the football score, I think we had more fun!

Regarding quizzes I am hoping to organise a series of quizzes in conjunction with the Jubilee Hall and open to all. They would be an additional social event for u3a and a way of introducing prospective members from the community to u3a and would also provide a source of income for the Jubilee Hall. The hope is to have four ‘seasonal quizzes’ each year with the first being a Summer Quiz, then Autumn, and then the annual Christmas Quiz.

I am pleased to inform you that we have been able to re-form the Social Events Committee. Thanks to Pam, Vivienne and Ros for their support over the last few months and their promise of future support for 2023 – 24. I am leaving the u3a committee, as I always planned to do, but offered to continue as Social Secretary for another year. The organisation of events requires planning many months ahead so I will be able to see through the programme that I helped put together.

Moving forward after 2023 - 24 the role will be changing slightly with the formation of a new role of Social Events Convenor who would lead the Social Events group and co-ordinate with the u3a committee, whilst not directly involved on the committee. We would, ideally, like some members to put themselves forward at this stage to join the Social Events Committee, hopefully with one of them taking the Convenor role in a year’s time having developed a programme for 2024 -25.

The programme for 2023 – 24 is currently still being worked on. Some shows at the Theatre Royal, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Commitments’ are already fully booked and ‘Noises Off’ will probably also do so. We are already looking to book tickets for ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ even though it is not arriving at the theatre until January 2024. We also have a proposed visit to Corbridge, including the possibility of attending a concert of their music festival, in July, and a proposed visit to Raby Castle and Barnard Castle in September. You can sign up for these today.

It is appreciated when members respond quickly to show interest in events, though I fully understand that they need to check their availability for certain dates. The later we book at the Theatre Royal however, the more difficult it is to get a block of seats together. I always try to book seats of a ‘mid-range’ price, but they tend to be widely spread around the auditorium. At the Alnwick Playhouse the issue currently is that they only advertise forthcoming shows at a relatively short notice.
We are still interested in attending classical concerts, especially at the Sage, but the programme has not recently included enough of the popular classics, that would attract enough members to attend, to make taking a minibus viable.

Driving of the minibus remains a potential issue as I am the only person regularly driving to events. We would greatly appreciate some more volunteers to drive. The longest I will continue to drive the minibus is another two years.

Finally, can I update you about the booking process which has evolved over the last few years. Events will mainly be advertised through emails or at meetings. Bookings are made by signing up at a meeting or via an email response. I regard this as sufficient, and we no longer need a paper booking form. Sometimes events may be proposed without e.g., a specific date. In that circumstance I would contact members with more information before a booking is made. Payment used to be requested when booking but this can now be delayed as most providers only require a payment a few weeks in advance of an event e.g., the Theatre Royal would not require payment for ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ until, probably, November. Payments have also become much easier using BACS, though we will still take other forms of payment if BACS is not possible.
Finally, though we have had two questionnaires asking members about their interests, we would still welcome any suggestions from members of shows to attend or places to go.
Pete Burrow, Social Secretary April 2023.

(4) Website and Communications Secretary -- I would like to thank my predecessors, latterly Ian Webb, for having maintained the website enabling me to carry the baton going forward.

Based on my experience of working with websites elsewhere, I have simplified the website which I hope makes it easier for members to navigate through and to find information which is updated frequently.

The website was unavailable for a period of time recently due to web hosting issues beyond our control. This also meant that a small number of files and images from group pages were lost irretrievably.
The website is now running smoothly and I welcome any comments on how it might be improved and of course I always welcome the sending of latest news and other items suitable for inclusion on the website.
David Willoughby 24/3/2023

7.Election of Committee – our President, Clive Wilkinson, thanked each of the retiring members of the committee, (previously detailed above by the Chair Tony Henry). Clive noted their hard work, which had produced really excellent monthly meetings, and also a wide variety of activities and interests for members.

In particular, he emphasised the excellent hard work and support, that Averil Fendley had given over the past 13 years, since 2010, when he, Clive Wilkinson, had founded Our U3A, together with Averil’s late husband, Alan Fendley. Alan had been the first Chair of our U3A, and Clive himself had been elected as President, in 2010. He presented Averil with a bouquet of flowers, as a token of thanks and appreciation from our U3A.

Clive and then introduced U3A members who had all been proposed and seconded, for vacant positions on our committee, namely: --

All of these had been seconded unanimously by all the retiring Committee members, after an informal meeting in March. At the AGM they were all unanimously elected by the Members, to our U3A committee. Clive then thanked them, and wished them well, and said he was so pleased to see that the U3A would be continuing so strongly into the future.

He then said that he felt that his term as President, should come to an end, and said how much he had enjoyed his time with our U3A.

8. Presentation to Clive Wilkinson, retiring president, after 13 years – Geoff Hoskins, who had been Chair 2017-2020, spoke eloquently about Clive’s Presidency. He thanked Clive for founding this U3A, which had given so much pleasure and enjoyment, to us all, with so many interesting groups and activities. He thanked Clive for his wise counsel and advice.

He presented to Clive with a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, as a token of appreciation from our U3A.

9. The Coming Year – Tony Henry (TH) indicated the interesting list of speakers who had been arranged for the rest of this year. This list was on our website, and there were copies of this list on the table at the back of the hall.

Next month’s speaker will be Mike Todd, speaking about “BBC cameraman to Broadcast Duty Manager”, on Monday, May 15th. We look forward to that.

Tony Henry (TH) then invited Joan Wilkinson to speak. She told us that her husband Clive had just had a book published, and the Book Launch would be in Jubilee Hall on Thursday 20th of April, to which all of us were invited.

10. Any Other Business – Ian Webb thanked the Chair (TH), for the past 2 ½ year programme, which he said had been both interesting and enjoyable, especially during the pandemic, when we had had Zoom talks from Cape Town, Aberdeen, and Derby. TH was grateful for these kind words.

Following the AGM, Nick Redmayne gave a talk, “Taking a fire engine to Ukraine”. He is a resident of Rothbury, & he planned to do this over the next few weeks.

He had recently visited many places in Ukraine, and showed pictures of the devastation which the current war had caused.

He told us that the fire engine did 9 miles per gallon, and its tank would take 190 gallons, at a cost of £1,600. He had a fundraising target of £8,000, which included the purchase of the fire engine, and was doing well with this. He appreciated that U3A being a Charity, was not itself allowed to fund another charity like his. But individual members would be welcome to contribute, which several did, to:-

Tony Henry (TH) met Nick Redmayne 3 days later, who kindly said he had virtually reached his fund-raising target. He was most grateful for our members’ generosity, in doing this.