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Chairman's Report for year
ending December 2007 at 2008 AGM
In
the year ending 31st December 2007 the membership of
Wokingham U3A grew by
just over 7% to 860. This is slower growth than in previous years (17%
in 2006) but it
is too early to say whether this is a trend. Our groups though have
increased from 71
to 86 which gives a convenient ratio of one group for every ten members.
Growth of this kind is a measure of success and that success is due to
you, the
members. This U3A is rather like the swan moving upstream, peace and
serenity on
the surface and feet paddling like mad underwater. It takes a lot of
work for us to
move forward: some of it is obvious and comes from convenors and
committee
members but there is much more that comes from those of you who do the
less
visible chores such as putting out chairs, preparing your homes for
meetings, helping
with refreshments and the hundred and one other tasks that keep us
moving
upstream serenely. Also important to our reputation as a friendly U3A
are those of
you who take the trouble to welcome new members into monthly meetings
and group
meetings with a smile and a cheerful hello. Thank you everybody.
I
try to avoid singling individual members out for thanks because every
contribution is
valuable. However, I will make two exceptions this year, first to
express my thanks to
our Treasurer, Margaret Carver, for struggling through illness to
maintain the U3A's
accounts. My other exception is to record the thanks that we all owe to
Hilary Taylor
for working with Margaret to produce the set of accounts that I will be
presenting to
you shortly. This has been a major task that she has done in addition to
her role of
Groups' Co-ordinator. The accounts would have cost us a lot of money if
Hilary had
not stepped in.
Finally, this has been another year during which much of the committee's
time has
been taken up by their responsibilities as charity trustees. This is one
of the penalties
of our size although we are not a large U3A in national terms. Hopefully
we have
come to terms with these now so that the committee can concentrate on
what they
want to do - help to continue the development of Wokingham U3A.
Colin Mitchell
Chairman
March 2008
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