Minutes – Annual General Meeting – 2 March 2020

University of the Third Age Moraira-Teulada

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on

2 March 2020 at Salon G. L., Teulada as 10:30

It is confirmed that the President and the Secretary attended this meeting as voted in at the AGM on 4 March 2019.

David Haxon made the First Call for the AGM at 10:00 as this must happen half an hour before the Elections, in case there is an insufficient proportion of membership present to hold an AGM.

David welcomed all members to the meeting, then confirmed the security checks had been done, pointed out the emergency exits and asked for all mobile phones to be switched off.

Prue Jackson read out the synopsis of the minutes of the meeting held on the 3 February 2020. The full minutes had been posted on the website and were proposed by Harry Wingfield, seconded by Beverly Stewart and approved by the members with a show of hands.

Presidents Address – David thanked all the members for attending the meeting, which historically did not always have a good attendance. He thanked all for their support and then proceeded with the Reports.

Reports

Treasurer – Graham Whitelocks confirmed that all Accounts had been prepared and Audited by Ian Brown and were on the Website. The U3A Account balance as at 7 February was €18,242.38 and after income, expenses and accruals the balance was €8,567.43. The Travel Account balance opened at €13,527.77 and after income, expenses and accruals closed at €313.92. Both Accounts will be on the website.

Group Coordinator – Lynn said this was her last Group report as Marian Schreurs has been nominated as Group Coordinator. Lynn then reported that the Garden Group had been re-launched as a Closed Facebook Group. All members of the Group could share gardening experiences as well as attend visits to Gardens that would be arranged by the Travel Coordinator for all U3A Members. The Bowls Group has a new Leader, John Hughes and the Mahjong Group also has a new Leader David Coupe. The Leaders stepping down, after over five years, are Ray Durrant and David Goodall.  Unfortunately, they were not at the meeting to collect vouchers as a thank you for past Leadership. The Film Group are showing Downton Abbey on Monday 9 March, doors will open at 17:45. Finally, Lynn reminded the members that if they have not renewed their membership to the U3A, they are not permitted to participate in any U3A Activities.

Travel Coordinator – Lynn said there are seven trips planned until the beginning of the summer break, with a few spaces left on most of the trips. At the end of September there is a planned trip to the White Villages, Costa del Sol and Rhonda. For the rest of 2020, trips have been planned and Lynn gave a ‘Taster to come’. Lynn asked for any suggestion to be put in the box by the travel desk and confirmed trips for 2021 were already being discussed by the Travel team.

Cultural Arts Events – Hugh Stewart said he and Beverly were stepping down but sadly nobody had come forward to take over. He said it was a much needed facility for the U3A and details of events, need only be put on the website, if Monthly presentations were not the way forward. Transmissions from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London were still broadcast directly to Calpe, Alfaz del Pi and Denia. On 17 March Fidelio and 1 April Swan Lake. 21 March at Espai La Senieta in Moraira, the Gipsy Kings Experience and 28 March Todo Juntos and Concerts Costa Blanco present Carmen at the Valencia Opera House. Beverly then joined Hugh and David presented them with a gift as thanks for all they have done to promote Cultural Arts. A round of applause from the members followed.

Any Other Business – David introduced Eileen Haxon who spoke about the Charity events arranged for 2020. The Chosen Charity for 2020 is MABS. On the 13 May there is a quiz, the third held at Inn-on-the-Green. Although tables were for six people, anyone could apply to take part. 13 November there will be a 60s/70s/80s night at Satari’s Restaurant with appropriate food and music. Peter Griffiths then talked about the U3A Hog Roast at Font Santa, on 10 June at a cost of €12.50 per person.

David then gave his end of year report. He thanked all the Officials, Committee Members and all the many volunteers who help to make the U3A enjoyable. Although there were major changes to the Travel Group, thanks to Lynn Clark and Sue Popkin, as well as the travel team, the Travel Group has seen a smooth change over, which is a benefit to all the Members. David said he had been on the Committee for eight years so now was the time for him and his wife Eileen to stand down. However, he would be assisting Eileen with fund raising events. David ended by thanking all the Committee for supporting him during the last two years as President, giving assurance that the U3A will continue to be successful in very capable hands.

David made the Second Call for the AGM

Graham then gave a brief over view of both the End of Year Audited Accounts, which were proposed by John Hopwood and seconded by Peter Griffith. He then recommended that next year’s Audit should be carried out, again by Ian Brown. A show of hands accepted Ian Brown as the Auditor for 2020.

Hugh Stewart then proposed a vote of thanks for all the hard work David and Eileen had done over the years on the Committee. He also thanked the Committee for all they had done and the support they had given to David as President.

David introduced Peter Griffiths as the Election Officer.

Peter said there were no contested posts so the procedure was quite straight forward and only required a show of hands for the votes to be registered. If there was a large majority of votes for the nominees, he would not call for votes against. Some of the outgoing Committee had agreed to re-stand for elections so Peter asked the members if they were happy to vote as before and they indicated that they were, this meant that a show of hands to register the vote FOR was all that was required.

The vote would be in two parts. Part one would be for the seven executive posts which have to be voted on individually. The executive positions are those Committee Members who are legally required and identified for a specific role. Part two is for the remaining posts and can be voted for en bloc. These are Committee posts which are created to fulfil management tasks as required. There were no questions arising from the procedure.

The Election

Part one: The following nominees stood individually and were voted for separately.

President – Prue Jackson. A majority vote in favour of Prue

Vice President – John Hopwood. A majority vote in favour of John

Secretary – Titch Crossfield-Lobb. A majority vote in favour of Titch

Treasurer – Graham Whitelocks. A majority vote in favour of Graham

Membership Secretary – Pat Clarke. A majority vote in favour of Pat

Group Coordinator – Marian Schreurs. A majority vote in favour of Marian

Travel Coordinator – Lynn Clark. A majority vote in favour of Lynn

Part Two: Peter read out the nominees and positions for the rest of the Committee posts and asked the new nominees to stand and make themselves known to the members.

Deputy Secretary – Sue Popkin

Deputy Treasurer – Janice Wilson

Discounts Officer – Jayne Wintle

Social Events Officer – Tony Old

Peter called for a show of hands for all these positions to be voted for en bloc; there was a majority vote in favour of all the Nominees.

The non-voting Committee Position that does not require a vote.

Membership/Committee Liaison Officer – Steve Higham      

Peter then asked for the new Committee members to join the table, thanked the members for their cooperation, wished the new Committee a successful year and passed the micro-phone to the new President, Prue Jackson.

Prue thanked Peter for acting as Election Officer and all the members for electing her as President. Prue said it was an honour to hold the position and would do her utmost to ensure the U3A continues to thrive, with the help of all the volunteers, Committee members, Group Leaders, Sub-committee members and Webmasters. Prue continued by giving thanks to David and Eileen for all they have done to help the U3A become so successful, whilst on the Committee for the last eight years. Prue then presented David and Eileen with a gift as thanks, with a round of applause from the members. Prue then thanked the members for electing the Committee who were all committed to the U3A and worked very hard for the members. Special thanks went to, Lynn and Sue for rescuing and improving the Travel Group. To Graham and Janice for producing monthly Travel accounts, which were repeatedly said to be impossible to produce. To Jayne for handling the booking system for La Senieta and the room in Dr Calatayud. The new Group Coordinator will be introduced, by Prue, at the next meeting. Finally Prue gave a brief account of her former roles in the U3A, which included, Group Coordinator, Deputy Membership Secretary, Membership/Committee Liaison Officer and Vice President, held for the past two years.

The raffle was then drawn by Peter Griffiths, the winning ticket number, 409, being held by Peter who received a voucher. However, it was later discovered that an error had occurred and the ticket was actually held by Pat Clarke. Peter handed the gift voucher over to Pat.

The AGM Ended at 11:20

The next General Monthly Meeting will be held on Monday 6 April 2020

Proposed by………………………………….Seconded by……………………………Date…………………..

Secretary of the AGM…………………………………….Titch Crossfield-Lobb

Treasurers-Report-AGM-02-03-20

Travel-Group-Treasurers-Report-AGM-02-03-20