Minutes of the Annual General Meeting Held on Friday 24Th November 2017 at 2.00 Pm

BOLTON U3A Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Friday 24th November 2017 at 2.00 pm at St Andrew and St George’s United Reformed Church

Tony Pearson, the Chairman, welcomed members to the meeting and commenced by introducing members of the existing committee.

1. APOLOGIES Apologies were received from : Sue Stockton, Linda Adams, Madeleine Relfe, Noel Thomas, Pat Scott, Dorothy Hope, Mary Frodsham, Sheila Leonard, Ann Johnson

2. MINUTES The minutes of the 2016 AGM had been circulated prior to the meeting and Tony asked the members who had been present at that meeting to confirm they were a true record. Proposed by Alan Thornber and seconded by Geoff Gwyther. Duly agreed and signed by Tony Pearson as Chairman.

3. MATTERS ARISING  Constitution Following the members’ vote to adopt the updated constitution, the Charity Commission and the Third Age Trust had been informed. Tony advised that he had received confirmation, on 13th February 2017, that our entry on the Charity Commission Central Register had been updated.  Questions / Comments from the Floor Tony advised that the issues raised at the last AGM (outreach to ethnic communities, links with Age UK, publicity) had been discussed in committee but it was felt that there was not enough manpower on the committee to take on additional tasks at the moment. However Tony assured the members that the committee was not complacent and would keep such matters under review. Publicity and membership covered in this year’s Chairman’s Report.

4. CHAIRMANS REPORT -See attached

5. TREASURER’S REPORT Brian Jones gave his report and introduced the Annual Account for 2016-2017

At the end of the financial year the bank account balances were as follows:  Current Account £8,662.22  Reserve Account £6,018.71  Social Account £1,268.02 The surplus had gone down to £593.91 from £1,042.28 last year and there would have been a deficit of £1,152.58, were it not for the windfall of £1,746.49 from Adult Learners.

The greatest expense was room hire at £9,964.50, this being an increase of £2,211 or 22% since last year. As a result group attendance fees have been raised from £1 to £2 (for groups incurring room rental).

This year we did not receive the £1,500 grant from Bolton CVS but will be eligible to apply again in the New Year.

Our growing membership had been reflected in an increase in members’ subscriptions

1 of £1,002.50 and an increase in group contributions of £1,191.00. As a result of the membership increase, there was increased expenditure to Third Age Trust for annual fees and mailing of the magazine. Our own postage costs continue to rise because of the relatively large number of monthly newsletters being posted out, a cost of £7 per member, unless they choose to receive their newsletters by e-mail or collect them at the monthly meeting.

Brian asked for any questions or comments.

Alan Thornber said that he had recently been at an interest group meeting where a large room had been booked for a possible 30 members, but only 15 had actually attended. He suggested that members be asked to pay three months attendance fees in advance, and the room size required kept under review. Mike Haworth (GL Co-ordinator) advised that there were instances where the opposite happens – a small room being booked and more members than expected attending.

Alan Thornber also suggested that, because of the time and expertise they contributed, group leaders should not be expected to pay attendance fees for the groups they led.

Tony confirmed that John Armstrong (Room Bookings) and Mike Haworth (GL Co- Ordinator) did try to match rooms and interest group size, and adjusted bookings where possible when it was obvious there was a mismatch. He also advised that, at the moment, there were differing practices amongst group leaders regarding attendance fees, with some paying and claiming expenses (e.g. biscuits, handouts) and others not paying but not claiming expenses.

Tony thanked Alan for his suggestions and said that they would be discussed in committee.

There being no further questions, it was proposed by Jean Howarth and seconded by Win Conway that the accounts be accepted. Unanimously agreed.

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Sue Cottingham, Business Secretary, had completed her tenure on the committee and was therefore standing down.

Tony Pearson, Chairman, and Brian Jones, Treasurer, were eligible for re-election and prepared to continue in their roles.

Proposed by Alan Thornber and seconded by Janice Taylor that they be re-elected. Unanimously agreed.

Sheila Carlin had been co-opted onto the committee in September and had agreed to stand for the role of Business Secretary. Proposed by Sally Price and seconded by Lorraine Lowe. Unanimously agreed.

7. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS The following committee members were eligible for re-election and had indicated their willingness to continue in their committee roles. Linda Adams, Lesley Anthony, John Armstrong, Mike Haworth, Linda Rothwell and Alan Tucker.. Proposed by Geoff Gwyther and seconded by Delphine Price that they be re-elected. Unanimously agreed.

2 8 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION The committee proposed to increase the annual subscription from £20 to £22 for the year 2018/2019 should it be deemed expedient. (see Chairman’s Report)

Seconded by Maggy Simms. Unanimously agreed.

9. QUESTIONS / COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR Tony Pearson asked for questions and/or comments from members.

Referring to the GM Network’s efforts to form a relationship with the University of Manchester (outlined in the Chairman’s Report), Nick Tyldsley asked if similar contact had been made with the University of Bolton. Tony said that he was keen to do so in the future, but had not yet had the time to do so. Nick Tyldsley confirmed his willingness to help in this respect.

Frances Raftery suggested that, in order to defray newsletter expenses, members picking up a printed copy at the monthly meeting could be asked to pay 10p. Tony said that the committee had spent a considerable amount of time discussing how to address the unfair situation of newsletter postage to some members costing up to £7 per annum, whilst others received the newsletters by email and incurred no cost. To date the committee had not been able to come up with a workable solution. Tony also said that the committee had been reluctant to consider differential annual subscriptions, but would continue to address this tricky situation.

Referring to the cost of room hire, Robert Kaneen suggested alternative venues could be the Victoria Hall and The Friends Meeting House. Tony advised that the nature of the interest group and the resources required (e.g. projection facilities) often dictated which venues were hired. He also confirmed that it was U3A policy to locate interest groups in the town centre if at all possible. John Armstrong said that we were continually looking for rooms but that The Hub was very competitive in terms of rents and facilities. Eileen Bailey suggested that if room availability and capacity became a real problem, we could close our membership and start a waiting list.

Christine Churchman said that, as a new member, she had been made most welcome by everyone. She was also impressed at the level of expertise shown by group leaders. Tony thanked her for her comments.

There being no further questions, Tony Pearson closed the meeting by presenting retiring Business Secretary, Sue Cottingham, with flowers and a book token.

3 AGM 24 November 2017 Chairman's Report Tony Pearson

This, my second Report as Chairman, can be much more optimistic in tone than last year's – because the problems we were facing then have effectively been solved by measures taken in the interim. I shall come on to that later.

Appreciation of contributions As always our U3A has benefited from strong and valued support throughout the year from a number of members who deserve special mention. Most significantly, Business Secretary Sue Cottingham is stepping down from the Committee after five years of sterling service, four of them in that important role. I think you all know what an enormous debt we owe her. Sue has been a very visible and approachable presence and has helped many members over the years. She has worked indefatigably for our U3A and helped us develop into the strong body we are today. Without her incredible patience, tact and attention to detail we would never have found our way through all the difficulties and frustrations we encountered with the Charity Commission when we needed to update our Constitution. Speaking personally, I am losing a very professional and congenial colleague who more than once has been responsible for keeping my decisions on the straight and narrow. I have certainly learned a lot about U3A from Sue. I shall be asking you later on to show your appreciation.

Fortunately, we have been grooming Sue's successor. Sheila Carlin was co-opted on to the Committee a few months ago to work alongside her and is standing today for the position of Business Secretary. We are very fortunate that she is willing to take on the role and help run our organisation and I look forward to working closely with her.

Apart from my Committee colleagues (to all of whom I'm immensely grateful on your collective behalf), there are a number of other members, whose contributions deserve special mention and thanks. One is Frances Raftery, who has now produced 24 excellent editions of the Newsletter working outwith the Committee. Let me tell you that I was recently at a meeting of the GM Network and was referring to a copy of our Newsletter when members seated next to me asked to have a look at it and expressed their admiration and envy at its production values and content, saying it was far better than theirs. Frances' hard work and dedication has turned it into a publication to be proud of and one which does a great job in keeping members informed. She deserves our continuing gratitude.

Win Conway may have come off the Committee last year but she has continued to look after our Speaker Bookings, coming up with a varied programme which has kept us admirably entertained. There has been a significant growth of Social Events since Linda Adams joined the Committee last year, covering a range of activities: Cinema Club, Theatre Visits, Lunch Club, Christmas Lunch, 'Twixmas at the Olympus'. Sue Stockton, Di Pearson, Joan Blunsdon and Sally Price have again this year all contributed their time to signing-in members at meetings and collecting attendance fees. Then there are all those of you who have done stints either as 'Meeters and Greeters', coffee servers or helping the Membership Team man the desks. Finally, of course, there are our Group Leaders, working hard to deliver a record number of groups. To all these individuals I want to extend grateful thanks; without this sort of mutual support we would be a poorer organisation by far.

Membership matters During the past year we exceeded our target of 400 members for first time. Whilst not all these are renewing, we expect to recover that figure very soon in the new membership year. This 4 means we are thriving like never before (witness the attendance for the choir's performance last month) and new enquiries from prospective joiners come in all the time. We used to believe that this was largely due to publicity aimed at recruitment. But an exercise carried out earlier this year by the Membership Team demonstrated that almost all our new members arrive at our door as a result of word-of-mouth from existing members or through website enquiries, and that very few join via information stands taken at local events or through advertising. We therefore took the decision to be more choosy about which recruiting events to support and did not even bother trying to replace our departing Publicity Officer. This does not mean we are complacent about publicity and recruitment, but for the moment we do not need actively to seek members. Members are seeking us in sufficient numbers.

A lot of our growth comes down, I believe, to hard work in ensuring that new members are made welcome. Linda Rothwell and Lesley Anthony continue to follow up enquiries promptly and lose no time in furnishing enquirers with all the information they need to enjoy the benefits of membership. This is followed up by Chairman's Welcome Letters and invitations to the New Members' Coffee Mornings which have continued to be well attended and are obviously appreciated by new members still finding their feet. Four such events were held over the past year with 60 new members attending altogether out of a total of over a 100 invitees.

Another reason I believe we have been so successful in attracting members is the consistent quality of the monthly speakers we have enjoyed now over a number of years, first of all under the direction of Margot Jones and, more recently, courtesy of Win Conway. We have had some excellent afternoons and that, I feel, is a factor in keeping attendances healthy.

As we move into 2018, we are migrating our membership records to something called the Beacon System which is an inexpensive database introduced by the Third Age Trust to help U3As manage their information more efficiently. This will be a really useful tool and will help us enormously in our day-to-day business. We shall be keeping in close touch with Group Leaders about this as it rolls out.

Network and Region We continue to be active more widely within our Network and Region. I attended the North West Region AGM in Manchester in June at which some 30 members our Singing for Pleasure Choir provided the entertainment as an alternative option to the more organisational topics up for discussion. As always they were excellent and a model of professionalism. And I wasn't the only one there to think that by any means. We are extremely indebted to them for agreeing to perform there and Bolton's profile with officials in NW Region has benefited greatly as a result. The choir will be in action again next September, along with our Folk Group, in a network- organised 'Come and Sing Event' in which they will rehearse for a day alongside other U3A choirs with professionals from the Halle Concert Society, culminating in a public performance.

Also for NW Region, I contributed a short residential course for its Summer School in Penrith at the end of August at which I met many interesting people from U3As all over the country and became convinced of the efficacy of such events for life-long learning.

The Network is still pursuing a formal relationship with the University of Manchester, covering adult learning and research in ways that it is hoped will be of two-way benefit. The 'Cottonopolis' Project, on which I have provided updates in the past two Newsletters, is part of this, but has now accrued sufficient critical mass, we believe, to be able to go ahead with or without the participation of the University. Most immediately, there is to be a 'Cottonopolis' Study Day on Saturday 27 January in Manchester, which we hope will inspire members from all across the network to get involved in an exciting programme celebrating Manchester and its environs as the world's first industrial metropolis. 5 Finances Last year, I spent some time in my Report highlighting two serious issues which were hampering our development: room hire costs and the shortage of groups to accommodate our growing membership. Happily, both of those issues have been significantly dealt with during 2016/17, providing a solid platform for 2017/18 and beyond. And I want to thank members for being patient and understanding in these matters.

To begin with finances, our Treasurer will be presenting his Report and Accounts in a few minutes. Meanwhile, you may remember that I pointed to the loss of free rooms in the town centre, the rising cost of room rents, and the reduction in our annual grant from Bolton Community Voluntary Services as coinciding factors which gave the Committee cause for concern at the time that we would not be able to balance the books indefinitely. Indeed, the Treasurer, soon after taking office last year, projected that without a significant increase in income, we would run out of money altogether some time in 2018/19. So something had to be done.

We requested, and received, at last year's AGM, your mandate to increase the Annual Membership Fee from £20 to £22. In the event we did not feel the need to proceed with that increase because, after extensive research and hours of debate, the Committee decided it would be more favourable for our financial security to increase attendance fees for groups held in rented spaces from £1 to £2. As you know, we announced that measure as long ago as March of this year, giving us all plenty of time to acclimatise to the increase, which was timed to come into effect after 1 October at the start of the new membership and financial years. I have to report that this already making a big difference to cash flow. Treasurer Brian will be confirming this in his Report and can answer any questions about it. However, our projections tell us that, at current membership and attendance levels, we will now comfortably be able to meet our rising room hire and other commitments for the foreseeable future. We shall again be using our eligibility to apply, by the January deadline, for an award from BCVS. Like last time, this will be for a maximum of £1500 to be spread over two years, whereas it used to granted for one year.

Annual Membership Fee We shall be asking you to renew the mandate in respect of an increase to the Annual Membership Fee, but that is purely a formality – constrained as we are by TAT guidelines – to give us wriggle room should the unexpected occur. We are, after all, charged as Trustees with protecting your U3A and your investment in it. We do not for a moment believe that we shall need to increase the Annual Membership Fee beyond the current £20 for 2018/19, but it is necessary for us formally to secure your approval on the remote chance we subsequently discover we must.

New Groups Group Leaders' Co-ordinator, Mike Haworth has been very active over the past year helping members with ideas for new groups and activities to develop them and bring them to fruition. I am pleased to say there has been no shortage of ideas coming forward and a number of exciting new groups have appeared as a result. So, maybe my cautionary words of last year were heeded? At any rate, we went from 31 groups a year ago to 41 today, which has got to be good for us all. The pressure on groups occasioned by our rising membership roll has therefore been alleviated.

Although the groups, French Conversation for Beginners and German ceased operation altogether, and Mindfulness is currently suspended in the hope of its eventual return, a number 6 of previous groups reappeared – either with a new format or after a break. On top of that we gained about seven completely new groups. Mandarin for Beginners made its return as Chinese Explorations, the Quiz group re-launched under collective leadership and Poetry for Pleasure is continuing on a similar basis, despite its erstwhile leader, Lyndon Aspinall moving away from the area. Indoor Bowls has again replaced the outdoor bowling group for the winter months, Psychology has come back as promised after a gap, while the History Group has been resurrected by mounting a plan to run the group using a syndicate of presenters so as to spread the commitment. A similar venture in regard to the Literature Group is under consideration.

New groups gained have been: Cultural Visits which has seen well-supported trips to Chester, Skipton, Port Sunlight and the Manchester Science & Industry Museum. Stitch and Craft Geology Canal Explorers Japanese Language & Culture Italian for Beginners Maths

But, of course, it doesn't stop there. We must always be looking to the future. We are always interested in proposals for new activities and are now in a position to afford accommodation hire for them without hesitation. So do please keep on giving us your ideas.

Committee volunteers Despite all this good news, however, there remains one area of genuine concern which I need to highlight. That is the matter of Committee composition and U3A Trusteeship. We are volunteers who serve for a limited period under the terms of our Constitution which requires officers to step down and pass the baton when they have completed the maximum permitted service. This is very much in the interests of promoting fresh ideas and different thinking by allowing opportunities for younger and newer members to play key roles in shaping our organisation.

As we have seen, there will be only one Committee member replacement this year, but next year there will be two, and the year after that I shall complete my term as Chairman. So we must keep providing for continuity in office. But, alas, nobody else has come forward with a nomination this year despite our invitations. This is somewhat disappointing, and possibly even worrying, especially as we need to train a new Treasurer and a new Rooms Coordinator to be ready this time next year to hit the ground running. Moreover, before I took over as Chair I spent the best part of a year as Vice-Chair, an office we have been without during my time as Chairman. We really need to address this soon so that someone can be gaining the experience necessary to take over my job within two years from now. I don't as yet know how this will all play out, but I do know that Bolton U3A will be left without important volunteer Committee Members if some of you do not put aside resistance to serving in this capacity. That would be a great shame given everything we have recently achieved. Accordingly I beseech members who could volunteer to think seriously about doing so. We can always co-opt members on to the Committee without waiting for an AGM.

Conclusion That is really the only negative part of my Report. I do believe that Bolton U3A is on something of a roll and that a lot of hard work by members is responsible for this state of affairs. Our membership numbers are higher than ever, attendances at monthly meetings are overflowing the room, and we have a record number of popular interest groups across an ever-widening 7 range of topics. We have a flourishing Newsletter and Website. Our financial position has been rendered secure and we are in healthy shape going forward. I commend my Chairman's Report to the meeting.