MINUTES OF THE TWENTY SECOND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD AT 10am ON TUESDAY 4 MARCH 2014
IN THE ELLIOTT HALL, HATCH END ARTS CENTRE, HARROW
The Chairman introduced the current Executive Members as well as the new Committee Members –
Madhu Badale ( Hon. Treasurer); Geoff Bard (Speaker Secretary); Val Bard (Joint Membership Secretary); Lawrence Kraft (Premises Officer), Alan Klein (Equipment Officer). He informed the meeting that Cecil Cherns would remain on the Committee as Assistant Hon. Treasurer.
Present: Mike Allen (Chairman); Pat Rae (retiring Vice-Chairman); Cecil Cherns (retiring Hon.Treasurer); Lynne Dorff (Hon. Secretary); Kathy Westhead and Jacky Gordon* (Joint Membership Secretaries *retiring);Georgina Butcher (Life President); Rhoda Luer (Study Group Co-ordinator); Anne Gerrard (Diary Secretary); Sheila Lowe (Inquiries Officer); Alan Klein (retiring Speaker Secretary); Bill Garvey (Publicity Officer); Susan Field (Members’ Liaison Officer); Gwen Wright (London Region Representative). Members not serving on the Committee:-
Stephen Dorff (Newsletter Editor); Jack Kushner (Tours & Visits Chairman); Dennis Kersh (Webmaster).
Meeting attended by 169 members of Harrow U3A.
Apologies were received from Mary Briscoe, Hedy Gavurin, Irene Frener, Lucille & Neville Balkin, Annette Ashmele.
The Minutes of the Twenty First Annual General Meeting held on 5 March 2013 were accepted unanimously and signed by the Chairman.
Matters Arising:
From the floor – John Baker asked for the name of the new bank to be used by HU3A. Cecil informed the meeting the HSBC in Pinner is now being used.
Stephen Dorff asked about the intended extension of Morrison’s car park. Georgina Butcher said she thought the plan had been delayed.
Chairman’s Report
Mike Allen opened his report by thanking Pat Rae, Peter Cloot, Pam Gonsal and Dennis Kersh for all their hard work in revising and re-formatting the HU3A website.
I would like to welcome all members to this AGM. I would particularly like to welcome any new members.
I would like to introduce the Members of the Committee.
Life President Georgina Butcher
Chairman Mike Allen
Vice Chairman Anne Gerrard
Hon. Secretary Lynne Dorff
Joint Membership Secretaries Valerie Bard Kathy Westhead
Hon. Treasurer Madhu Badale
Assistant Treasurer Cecil V Cherns
Diary Secretary Anne Gerrard
Enquiries Officer Sheilah Lowe
London Region Gwen Wright
New Members Liaison Officer Susan Field
Premises Officer Laurie Kraft
Publicity Officer Bill Garvey
Speakers’ Secretary Geoff Bard
Study Group Coordinator Rhoda Luer
Equipment Organiser Alan Klein
Non Committee members
Newsletter Editor Stephen Dorff
Tours & Visits Jack Kushner
Webmaster Dennis Kersh
My term of office.
I have been Chairman for a little over 2 years.
To remind you we changed from annual elections to 2 yearly terms last AGM so that I am half way through my 2 year term. I shall be able to stand again for election at the next AGM but will only be able to serve for 1 year because the constitution limits the chairman’s term to 4 years.
What has been achieved:
After the previous Chairman and Vice Chairman resigned I have, in the words of George Vulkan, “steadied the ship”.
We were running at a deficit which could have only got worse. The committee proposed a 2 stage fee increase but members decided on increasing the whole amount at once at the last AGM.
We now have a healthy surplus which the Treasurer will detail but we need to restore the level of our reserves. We have no proposals to increase fees.
Financial Position:
We should have the equivalent of one year’s expenditure in reserve.
During the last Labour Administration of Harrow council they implemented £20M of cuts caused by central Government cuts.
On the list of proposals to be considered was Harrow Arts Centre at a saving of £1M. Fortunately they did not choose that option.
However under the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s plans a further £30M of cuts is expected in Harrow. I would expect this to take place whichever party, or parties, is elected nationally in 2015.
We therefore need to have contingency plans for a closure of Harrow Arts Centre or for a large increase in charges.
Building up our reserves is part of this. Preparing a list of possible alternative premises is another part.
Constitutional Position 1
We changed our constitution at the last AGM and have been working under that.
We made clear the situation of the Life President as a member of the committee and that has worked well.
I regard the Life President as a great source of knowledge about Harrow U3A and how things have been approached in the past. I very much value her contributions and advice.
Constitutional Position 2
We changed the committee so that all committee members have a vote and that has worked well.
I have sought to gain a consensus amongst the committee and for the most part that has been achieved. We work well and harmoniously together.
Constitutional Position 3
We introduced proxy voting in order to compensate for the abolition of postal voting.
This has not worked well and has been used in a way we never envisaged i.e. by a candidate seeking proxy votes for himself. The committee has been given advice that this should not happen and that candidates should not know who is voting for them.
It has also been an administrative nightmare.
I shall seek committee approval to propose abolishing proxy voting at the next AGM.
We shall need National Office approval to do this. Lin Jonas (National Secretary) has already indicated that she thought this would be a good idea as she does not know of any other U3A which has proxy voting.
The Website
Upon my initiative the committee created a sub committee consisting of the Vice Chair Pat Rae, Pam Gonsal (Web Editor) Dennis Kersh (the Webmaster) and Peter Cloot (Website Designer).
They have undertaken a thorough updating of the website and made it a much leaner and more streamlined affair. It includes using a new website design company that is simpler than the previous system so it should be much easier to hand over from one webmaster to another in the future.
I would like to congratulate them on their work.
New Members Meetings
We held a new members meeting in September with the aim of trying to integrate and involve new members. This also involved some prospective members. This was a great success and we are again grateful for the support of the tutors. We used a larger room which worked well.
National U3A
Georgina Butcher and I attended the AGM in Nottingham. We attended a number of groups.
Inter-generational activity - we were able to share our course at Bentley Wood School for Girls. A number of U3As contacted me subsequently and have created similar courses in their areas.
Diversity/Social Inclusion in U3A. This was mainly about establishing principles. We are in advance of this, though have not yet had great success.
It is very important that we recognise we are part of a wider movement and take part in it.
We now have over 300,000 members and over 900 branches.
Kenton U3A
We took part in the development of the new Kenton U3A.
I chaired the launch meeting in November and an inaugural meeting is to take place later this month. We are required to do this under our initial agreement with U3A and our affiliation with National U3A. I was very pleased that Gwen Wright the Chair of London Region became a co-opted member of our committee. Her advice is much appreciated.
She has promoted a large number of new U3As and she has opened Welling, Islington, Kenton and Southgate/Palmers Green recently.
Retiring Committee Members 1
Pat Rae, Vice Chairman. - Pat stood in as Vice Chairman when the previous Vice Chairman resigned. She never intended to become Chairman and is allowing the new Vice Chairman to prepare to be Chairman. Pat has been highly conscientious and has sought out tasks to undertake. As I mentioned earlier she led the sub-committee which re-designed our website. .She undertook the boring but essential task of risk assessment. She supported me loyally in very time consuming casework. She also put up with my belief in the Japanese management technique of “just in time” management. Alternatively known as putting off things and doing them at the last minute! I know that I drove her up the wall at times so thank you very much for putting up with me. I will miss your advice.
Retiring Committee Members 2
Cecil Cherns, Treasurer. - Cecil was extremely diligent in carrying out his duties and keeping me and the committee informed at all times of our financial situation. He has helped reach the satisfactory financial position that we are in. He also took a full part in our committee discussions and made good contributions. The committee is going to co-opt him as Assistant Treasurer at our first meeting to assist the new Treasurer.
Retiring Committee Members 3
Enid Bose, Premises Officer. - Enid has stood down due to ill health. Enid was quiet but very efficient and, with Rhoda Luer, identified areas of cost savings that saved us between £3,000 and £4,000. We wish her well in her recovery.
Retiring Committee Members 4
Jacky Gordon, Membership Secretary. - This is shared with Kathy Westhead who continues in post. It is a massive job with 1300 renewals per year. Thank you for all your work, it is much appreciated.
Retiring Committee Members 5
Alan Klein, Speakers Secretary. - Alan has organised a rich variety of excellent speakers for our monthly meetings and has increased the attendance. He has secured the services of Esther Rantzen for our meeting in the summer. He also took a full part in our committee discussions and was particularly influential on the constitution. He reappears on the committee as Equipment Organiser.
Retiring Committee Members 6.
Morris Jones, Newsletter Editor. - Morris resigned due to ill health. He had made a huge difference to our Newsletter, reorganising it to make it more user friendly and directing it more towards our core activities. Thank you for all your efforts.
Conclusion
It is most important to thank the group leaders and their helpers for giving up their time, and for their expertise and effort. Without them, we would not have such a successful Harrow U3A. We are a self-help organisation and I am glad that so many people are involved.
Thank you; it is a privilege to be your Chairman.
There followed a Q&A from the floor:
Rachel Needle asked why a single person paid a higher subscription pro rata than a couple. It was explained this was mainly due to postage costs when mailing the Newsletter (one per household).
John Ashmele suggested the need for careful consideration when proposing the abolition of a proxy vote. Mike Allen referred to the events of 2011 and that a contested election had not happened for nearly 20 years and therefore the problems which arose had not been envisaged. Having a proxy vote involved an enormous amount of administrative work. He also advised that, having received information from National Office, no other U3A held proxy votes.
Mick Sayer suggested it would be unfair to those not attending the AGM not to have a postal vote.
Mike Allen replied that the reason for only holding a vote at the AGM would enable the members to hear from both candidates as it was likely the candidates would not be known to all members.
Edith Littler said it was the responsibility of members to make the effort to attend the AGM.
Barbara Bearman thought it was totally undemocratic for the Management Committee to have endorsed a candidate and for this to be published. Mike Allen responded that Eric Silver had begun canvassing for votes before the election had even been announced. He explained the events of 2011 when Eric Silver held the position of Vice-Chairman but subsequently resigned. Therefore it was felt that he would not have been a suitable candidate. He accepted that it had been inadvisable to publically endorse the Committee’s preferred candidate and, following advice from National Office, this comment had been immediately withdrawn and revised documents circulated.
Dr John Marks pointed out that Eric Silver had not declared this information in the CV which was circulated and he was satisfied with the explanation given by the Chairman.
Bill Garvey explained that Eric Silver had withdrawn due to possible problems. Lessons have been learned and the Chairman has put right the situation. A contested election has not happened for 20 years. Anne Gerrard will be a very good Vice Chairman. If some volunteers feel aggrieved then we must support them as well.
Proposed by Stephen Dorff. Seconded by Bill Garvey. Accepted nem con.
Examined Accounts and Accountant’s Report – Cecil Cherns gave the following report:
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen and fellow U3A|ers. Once again, it is my privilege to present the accounts for the past year
The accounts, as usual, have been prepared to the requirements of the Charity Commission by GrantHarrodParkinson and I had expected Jeremy Harrod to join us to help me answer any questions, but he has been regrettably detained.
As last year, we have sent an abbreviated copy of the accounts to all members on Yahoo and I trust you to have brought them with you. For those of you not on Yahoo, copies were available as you signed in. A limited number of the full accounts which contain all the additional information required by the Charity Commission, but which are of little relevance to the actual accounts are available on the tables. The copies you have show totals of income and expenditure for the year.