17TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 1st MAY 2024 AT SARRATT VILLAGE HALL AT 10.30 a.m.

MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

1. Welcome: Chairman Don Sutton welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. Apologies: Sue Crawt, Bruce James,,Valerie MacDonald, Colin and Jan Plummer , Rosemary Russell and Judith Turnbull

3. Minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting:

3.1 Motion: that the Minutes of the 2023 Annual General Meeting, having been previously circulated to all members, be approved and signed by the Chairman.
Proposed by: Roger Kemp
Seconded by: Penny Bulgin
Members present agreed by a show of hands

Resolution: that the 2023 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting were duly approved and signed by the Chairman as a true record of the proceedings

3.2 Matters arising: Anne King requested that future AGM documents are sent out in pdf format, which was agreed

4. Chairman’s address resume:
(The full report is archived with these Minutes)

Don was pleased to report that our membership numbers have continued at a similar level as last year, and that significantly more members have been attending our monthly meetings. 

The use of a scanner at our meetings has proved successful in speeding up registration and also providing the Committee with useful statistics. The use of the u3a’s Beacon system has continued to be expanded, and several Committee members have taken part in online workshops to learn more about the system. Colin is our administrator for Beacon, and acts as a link between us and the central training team, as well as dealing with the administration of our site. He also deals with our Audio/Visual equipment, so is vital in looking after all things technical for us.

In order to find out how the membership felt about our u3a we asked members to complete a short survey and were pleased with the level of response. Our Vice Chairman, Roger, organised this and analysed the results for us.

After a trial period of serving refreshments at the beginning of the General Meetings, it has been decided to continue with this format for the foreseeable future.

Don gave his thanks to all those involved in helping to make Sarratt & District u3a a special, welcoming place.

5. Presentations:
There were none this year

6. Annual Financial Report:

6.1 Accounts for the year to 31/12/23, which have been independently examined by John Cadle, the Honorary Reporting Accountant, had previously been circulated to members and were presented by Pam Bushell (the Accounts and Report are archived with these Minutes). She thanked John and Don Sutton for their help with the finalisation of the accounts.

Pam reported that the total income was £21,481.02  and total expenditure was £22,384.33 giving us a loss of income over expenditure of £903.31. This together with the balance from last year gives a total balance of £8,959.90.. This includes the outings account and cash held by various groups

The current membership fee is £15.00. and the Committee is satisfied to keep this level for the coming year. There have been no capital purchases during the year.

Pam was pleased to report that John Cadle has volunteered to continue as Honorary Reporting Accountant

6.2 The motion to accept the accounts as presented was:
Proposed by: Janet Taylor
Seconded by: Annie Williams
Members present agreed by a show of hands
Resolution: The accounts were accepted as correct.

6.3 The motion that John Cadle be accepted as Honorary Reporting Accountant was:
Proposed by: Pam Bushell
Seconded by: Maureen Toppin
Members present agreed by a show of hands
Resolution: John Cadle will continue as Honorary Reporting Accountant

7. Election of Officer and Executive Committee:

The post of Secretary is for election this year. Based on the nomination received the following member was duly proposed for a period of 2 years:

7.1	Secretary : KerryJames
Members present agreed by a show of hands
	
7.2	Executive Committee members are elected annually.  Following nominations the following members were proposed for election:

Penny Bulgin, Sue Bussey, Judith Cleveland, Linda Crawley, Sally Lewis, Benny Michel, Colin Plummer, Janet Taylor, Clive Turner and Ian West 
Members present agreed by a show of hands

The Chairman then introduced each member of the Committee to the meeting

8. Interest Group Co-ordinator’s Report: 
(The full report is archived with these minutes)

Sue Bussey thanked all the Interest Group Contacts for their efforts in keeping so many groups running successfully, despite the long-lasting effect of Covid 

During 2023 there was not much change in the structure of the Groups. Sadly the Local History Group ceased as it was unviable financially, but a second Wine Appreciation Group has started with Clive Turrner as the Contact, and a waiting list of members interested in the subject. A second MOTO Group is thriving, with Margaret Buckley as Group Contact. 

During the year 361 Group meetings were held, with an average attendance of 9 members at each meeting. Total attendance was 3421, ranging from Bridge with 46 meetings, Italian with 41, to Music and Jaunters with only 4. Gardening, yet again, had the most with 416, followed by Bridge with 409, ranging to Music with 22 and Classic Books with 38.

9. Any other business: There was none
	
10.  The next Annual General Meeting: Date to be advised in May 2025

The meeting closed at 10.55 a.m., followed by a talk by Guest Speaker Chris Smith giving a talk entitled “Travel/Nature Photography”

Signed …………………      			 Date …………………..