A personal statement from Colin Mitchell

Your U3A’s committee has asked me to accept nomination to a vacancy as South East Region Trustee and membership of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Third Age Trust. I have accepted that nomination and if I am elected at the AGM of the Third Age Trust in September I will immediately stand down as chairman of Wokingham U3A. The announcement of this will be at the monthly meeting on 16th September after which and with your approval Len Smith will take over as acting chairman until our own AGM in March.

I have asked Len to ‘shadow’ me in the few weeks leading up to our September meeting. He is also being kind enough to work with the committee during a difficult time for me as I support my wife in her care for her frail and ageing mother.

Nominations closed on 24th July and I understand that my name is the only one that has been forwarded. There will still be an election but it now looks almost certain that I will be Regional Trustee from 8th September. My confidence in this view was strengthened when the National Chairman telephoned me in early August to discuss what additional NEC tasks I might take on ‘if elected’.

I have thought long and hard before accepting this nomination because of the need to give up as chairman if elected; there are no ‘rules’ about this – I just could not physically do both jobs. Wokingham U3A is important to me but we are now a member of the new U3A SE Region; I am tempted to say mega-region because it is the largest region and contains 149 U3As. Therefore, the very first SE Regional Trustee will have an important role in making sure that the NEC remembers that the Trustee from the South East is speaking on behalf of 23% of the U3A’s membership in the UK.

Becoming Regional Trustee does not mean withdrawal from Wokingham U3A, particularly since the view in this U3A is that our heart is in the interest/study groups. Hopefully I will still be active in ‘my’ groups and a contributor to your newsletter with news from the NEC and around the SE Region.

Colin Mitchell

6th August 2008