Minutes of the Committee Meeting

Carrick U3A

MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE MEETING HELD AT THE PERRANWELL CENTRE, PERRANARWORTHAL ON SATURDAY 9 DECEMBER AT 10.10AM (set slightly later than normal)

Present: Richard Allen (Groups’ Co-ord), John Bishop, Mark Breach (Vice Chair), Pam Cox, Dave Crawshaw (Treasurer), Caroline Saunders Martin (Chair), Sue Swinchatt (Gen.Sec.) Mike Tapp, John Whomersley.

Also attending: Chris Breach (Minutes)

1 Apologies: John Dearman, Helen Ellis, Margaret Ingles (Mem Sec), Tony Herring; these were all accepted. CSM opened the meeting with a welcome to Pam Cox as a committee member. 2 Declaration of pecuniary and other interests: There were none. 3 Trustee documentation: All committee members have now signed. The paragraph concerning confidentiality was queried. It was reiterated that once minutes had been agreed and signed the decisions were open to the membership but discussions and comments within meetings are confidential. CSM said she is still not getting feedback from many committee members. There was discussion with some members feeling there were too many emails to respond to. CSM again offered the options of longer meetings or more frequent meetings in order to attend to the volume of committee business. No-one wanted either so it was accepted that inter-committee emails would have to continue but that decisions would still be made at meetings. One committee member had recently made a decision outside the meetings but he will not do so in future (this was on the agenda for discussion and voting). CSM said the Christmas show at Perranwell was a success but would have liked the whole committee to have been there for the whole time as only two others, and CB, stayed on until the end to help. 4 Minutes of the last meeting: These were agreed and signed as a true record. CSM 5 Matters arising: 6 4. DC still needs list and valuation of any U3A property held by committee RA, JB, members; CSM again asked that DC’s request was complied with. MT 6 10. A person is still needed to be in charge of the new equipment at the RA Conservative Club. 8g HE would like as many committee members as possible to attend the first meeting at Kea Community Hall at Playing Place on 5 January; most agreed to be All there. PC will bring some refreshments from the Falmouth meetings. Refreshment providers are to be asked for at the meeting. RA 9 The Family History Group are averaging 16-18 members regularly. The committee agreed it should continue. All DC needs to have the accounts audited and asked if anyone can recommend a suitable accountant before January, otherwise he will have to approach firms of accountants. 6 Correspondence: 1. Staff tips. Some venues, pubs, where there is no charge but where group members are expected to buy food or drinks, have traditionally given the staff a tip by collecting from members but also charging U3A for up to £20. DC says it could be regarded as an honorarium; CSM said that it was not an honorarium and whilst it was a nice thing to do she felt that tips for bar staff should only be sourced from the members attending the group as it was inappropriate to spend money raised from membership subscriptions for this. CSM had sought advice from the TAT and the Charity Commission. The former said that this should not be paid; the latter said that it could if socialising was within Carrick constitution’s objects, which it is not. However, HE had drafted a policy stating that tips could be paid from members’ subs subject to a maximum U3A contribution of £20 but that a receipt would be required. Recipients of tips may not want to give receipts; another objection came from a member who felt that this might suggest to pub landlords that they could charge for the use of the venue CSM or that they may benefit from the tips rather than the bar staff. However, there was a majority agreement to adopt this policy and DC felt confident that he was able to account for any payments under it.. On the basis that this has not been approved by the TAT or the Charity Commission, CSM asked for it to be minuted that she felt that these payments should not be DC approved by the committee as it was very difficult to justify such expenditure from membership funds. 2. The gift of a set of handbells from Wendy Gilyott-Brown shortly before her death. We have the bells but have nothing in writing concerning their gift to the U3A. CSM has written to her executors putting our position and asking for clarification. 3. DC is querying the bill received from The United Reform Church in Falmouth which covers the Carrick Bells but also Perran Rebells who have not used the premises and meet at Carnon Downs Village Hall. RA 4. Vicki Ferguson has asked to buy some of U3A’s handbells. She is taking Perran Rebells out of U3A; she has been emailed to say that currently they are not for sale and responded to CSM thanking her for a prompt response. 5. Carpet bowls. RA is in talks with the Bar Steward re the £5 increase in charges and is offering £3 (i.e. £18 per session). DC wants him to stress the percentage increase. RA also has an offer from Carnon Downs Methodist Church for £18 per session. MT proposed that if RA cannot get £18 then another venue needs to be considered. Accepted by the majority. 7 Equipment expenditure: PC has been practising with the new equipment and recommends buying: a CD/DVD drive, Data hub and Laser pointer at a cost of PC £37. This was agreed. 8 Membership: There have been 26 new members. DC, MI and JW have lists. Names and postcodes (or Membership no.) are needed for those with the same names as other members to distinguish them. Other membership issues will be discussed at the next meeting 9 Risk assessments: If they are filled out they will be held by the group leaders. The risk assessment is recommended, not obligatory. A new amendment to the MB Group Leader’s Pack was sent to committee and is now to be sent to group leaders. 10 Attendance registers: RA to send out email to group leaders who have not yet RA returned attendance registers. CSM wanted to write to group leaders now as it had been ten months since this had first been requested and only 17 registers had been returned for the previous two months from over 90 groups. The majority felt that waiting for almost a year before a request was actioned was acceptable so group leaders will still be able to refuse to comply with this requirement. 11 Despite previous discussions at committee meetings and the clear vote in favour of the proposed changes one trustee said that he was unhappy with the lack of a monthly meeting in Falmouth. He added that he was prepared to carry on the Falmouth meetings on the 3rd Wednesdays at St Mary’s Hall as a social meeting. However, as ‘pure’ socialising is not covered by the objects of the constitution, this is not possible. One option was to separately arrange to meet up with people at a café in Falmouth on a regular basis; this would involve U3A members but not be a U3A group. The meeting closed at 12.05 and all were thanked for attending. 12 Future Dates: 5 January first meeting at Kea Community centre. Playing Place. Next Committee meeting: 6 January at The Parish Rooms, Richard Jory Playing Field, Pulla Cross at 10am.