Committee meeting minutes

Minutes of the u3a Settle District Committee meeting

Friday 8^th December 2023 at the Friends Meeting house

Present:  Colin Ashwell (CA), Sue Ashwell (SA), Chris Barnes (CB), Les Chandler (LC2), Barbara Herring (BH), Robert Jackson (RJ), Kathy Parker (KP)

• Apologies for absence: Lis Cribb (LC),  Jeanne Hine (JH), Sarah Lister (SL)

• Minutes of the last meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2023 were agreed and signed

• Matters arising

a – thanks had been sent to the walking netball group.  Plans to move to a larger court had been discussed but postponed to a later date following consultation with participating members

b – recruitment of a shadow group co-ordinator.  This was felt to be part of a wider issue about succession planning and as such should be deferred to the New Year

c – new members questionnaire.  KP reported that questionnaires had been circulated and to date 12 electronic and 1 paper reply had been received.  Discussion of the findings to be put on the agenda for the January meeting

d – destruction of historic paper membership records.  KP confirmed that all paper records prior to the current year unless they referred to Gift Aid had been shredded.  Consideration of forms involving Gift Aid was ongoing.

e – charge for adverts in Community News.  Ian Gray had confirmed that no charges were levied

Action LC to add discussion of new members questionnaire to agenda for January meeting

• Urgent or essential items

a – the Committee approved the annual return for the Charity Commissioners and thanked BH for her work in putting this together.   

b –  the Committee agreed changes to the signatories for the NatWest and Skipton BS accounts.  Ian Gray and Les Chandler to be replaced as signatories by Robert Jackson and Lis Cribb

c – following a recommendation by BH, it was agreed that the Skipton Building Society Community Saver account should be closed and the money transferred to the latest Skipton Building Society Community Saver account to take advantage of a higher interest rate

d – the Committee approved a deposit of £3,000 from the Nat West account to the new Community Saveraccount to take advantage of more favourable interest rates.  It is expected that this will be transferred back to Nat West in time to fund the payments to national u3a in the Spring of 2024.

RJ confirmed that the new finance policy along with all the others relating to the Settle District u3a had now been reviewed and posted on the website.  

BH had revised the job description for the role of Treasurer to take into account changes to the way in which the job was carried out.  It was agreed that for the moment the wording relating to the 50p donations should remain unaltered but that in future the Annual Return to the Charity Commissioners might best be done by the secretary.

Action – BH to implement a-d as above

• Christmas social

Plans for the Christmas social were finalised.  Access to the Victoria Hall from 5pm on Wednesday 13^th December would allow for furniture and equipment to be set up.  CB and BH to purchase refreshments and deliver directly to the Victoria Hall.  CA and LC2 aware of equipment requirements from group leaders and all in hand.  CA to speak to Anne Harding to confirm arrangements for the sound system following changes in personnel.  Access on Thursday 14^th from 9am.  RJ to approach John Jebson and Ian Gray about swapping slots with the Singing Group to allow all members to participate but no need for programme to be altered.   It was confirmed that the social was for members only but that non-members who came would not be turned away.  

• Any other business

a – the Committee received a report following an accident in the Walking Netball group.  The accident was deemed to be part of the activity and had been dealt with appropriately by the group leader.  However it underlined the need for all group leaders to be aware of the protocol in such a situation.  It was agreed that this and other issues relating to communication with group leaders should be discussed at the January meeting

b – KP asked for confirmation that important issues from YAHR would be brought to the attention of Committee members following news that Ilkley u3a was in trouble for breaching copyright rules.  Currently information from YAHR is automatically circulated to the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.  However RJ confirmed that he is happy to forward this to all Committee members and that YAHR is a standing agenda item allowing matters of concern to be discussed.  In the meantime RJ agreed to try and find out the specifics of the situation in Ilkley and to remind group leaders of the need to be cognisant of potential breaches of copyright

c – KP raised the question of the recommendation that the Beacon administrator should attend at least one Committee meeting a year.  RJ agreed to look into this.

Action CA to purchase additional first aid kits so that they can be kept by leaders of potentially hazardous ctivities.  LC to add communication with group leaders to January agenda.  RJ to report back on matters b and c raised by KP.  

• Date of next meeting

Friday 12 January 2024 at 1pm in the Friends Meeting House