Brighton & Hove U3A University of the Third Age Charity No. 294373 MINUTES OF COMMITTEE MEETING Monday 18 th January 2016 10.00 Kemp Town Crypt Community Centre, St George s Road, Brighton Present: Committee Members Derek Morris Kay Chaffer Fiona van Zwanenberg Alan Cooke Trevor Sennett Barbara Skinner Carolyne McKinley Also Attending Dave Brownstone Roger Wheeler Chair Membership Secretary Business Secretary Groups Co-ordinator Venues Co-ordinator Social Secretary SUN Representative Web Manager Newsletter Editor Agenda Items 1. Apologies Brian Greenford, Treasurer. 1 2. Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 16 th November 2015 The Minutes of the previous Meeting were approved, subject to the removal of spelling and typing errors. 3. Matters Arising from the Minutes Fiona reported that enquiries from U3A Head Office had elicited the information that the group was eligible for the 200 grant for Open Days, provided the meeting was open to the public and that this was made known locally. It was agreed that the Committee would apply for this grant. Proposed: Trevor Sennett Seconded: Derek Morris. ACTION: Fiona to send in the Application Form
Roger Wheeler reported back on his enquiries relating to a search for a venue for Open Day, which would be larger than the Brighthelm Centre and less expensive than the Waterfront Hotel. He recounted various enquiries and visits he had made, to the Metropole, Albion and King Alfred, but recommended one to the Committee which he was convinced was the most suitable and for which the U3A had been offered a substantial discount. The proposed venue was a large modern exhibition hall, which forms part of the Brighton Centre, referred to as The Wing. This consists of a foyer and lobby with capacity for 700 people. Tables and chairs could be provided as required and there is a full catering service available at one side of the space. Staff would be available on the day to help with crowd management and entry to the hall. The space is normally available at 1,500 per day but the U3A have been offered the lower price of 500 plus VAT. There was some discussion about access, but Roger was able to reassure that the venue was disability-friendly and that signage on the street was possible, The Wing has its own separate entrance on Russell Road. Roger was thanked for his help on this matter and it was agreed unanimously to go forward with the Brighton Centre. The proposed date is Monday July 25 th 2016. Proposed: Carolyne McKinley Seconded: Derek Morris ACTION: Roger would confirm the booking and Alan Cooke would write to the Brighthelm Centre confirming that the provisional booking there is no longer required. The proposed Sub-Group to look at issues surrounding Open Days, and in particular, access issues, had not yet met. The membership of this Group would be Derek Morris, Alan Cooke, Kay Chaffer and Carolyne McKinley. 4. Correspondence. Various items had been forwarded by the Third Age Trust, relating to a forthcoming course and social events. There was also a preliminary notice of the next Annual Conference in Nottingham to be held in August. Carolyne McKinley, in her SUN role, reported that a rolling programme of workshops entitled Managing U3A Groups was being launched. These were primarily aimed at U3A Committees. The most local to Brighton would take place between April and May. Derek and Kay expressed an interest in attending and it was suggested that Brian should be asked to investigate cost and dates. 5. Treasurer s Report Brian s report had been circulated to members of the Committee and an issue was discussed, in relation to the draft budget. The estimate of 100 for bank charges seemed too low, given that the expenditure so far this year is 181. It was suggested 2
that the estimates for bank charges and post might have been transposed, but that 1,000 for post was probably too high. 6. Website Report Dave Brownstone had tabled a list of questions relating to Beacon which required answers before the group could make progress in utilising the system. Issues discussed were as follows Whether B&H U3A should offer joint/family membership which might affect Gift Aid and the delivery of U3A magazines. It was confirmed that the Committee opposed offering other than single memberships. Do the Group wish to allow members to opt out of magazines, at a reduced rate? The committee said no. The Committee discussed alterations in the rates charged for Full, Concession and Associate membership at different months of the year. After lengthy discussion the Following dates and rates were agreed: Months Full Associate Concession June 32 26 15 July to February 37 31 20 March to May 12 12 12 It was understood that all memberships paid during June would be at the reduced rate and be valid for the next year. This might mean that new members did not pay for any meetings in June, but it was agreed that the loss was negligible and that the Beacon system did not allow for a change of rate in the middle of a month. It was agreed that June joiners could attend any group meetings, held by groups which they wished to join in September, if space was available. Sometime during 2016, payment by Direct Debit would be introduced as an option in the Beacon system. The Committee said no on the basis that there was no control of people who simply stopped paying. Two options existed as a result of accepting reduced payments throughout June. One was to change the end of the year to 31 st May. The other was to book all June and July payments as pre-payments for the coming year. The Committee chose the second option. 3 Changes in the tax system meant that some Members who had previously paid tax might become non-tax payers, because of the increase in the tax thresh-hold and because of greater allowances on income from savings before tax became payable. If U3A members ceased to be eligible, it might be the Member s responsibility to refund the money to the Inland Revenue. It was agreed that the Newsletter should carry an explanation of the changes in the law and ask members to consider whether their gift aid status was still correct.
Action: Roger Wheeler Does B&H U3A wish to offer on-line payment by PayPal to Members in categories requiring proof of eligibility for reduced fees? It was agreed that a paper form of application was required for members in these categories. Paper applications would also be required for applications paid by cheque. All applications for reduced rate membership (with membership of another group or concessions) needed to be on paper and accompanied by a cheque. The Committee was shown Membership cards which could be automatically printed out by PayPal, as part of the Beacon membership system. There were mixed responses to these and, after some discussion, it was agreed that B&H would postpone implementing the Beacon membership card system for the coming year. In any case the plan was to run the two systems concurrently until such time as the Beacon System was fully understood and integrated. For 2016-2017, tickets would be provided in the same format as previously. 7. Newsletter Report Roger reported that he had two articles for the Spring Newsletter, one from Dave Brownstone on Beacon and one on travel tips, which he had written himself. He would include a note on the rates agreed for next year s subscriptions. He had been promised contributions from Derek and Alan and reminded everyone that the deadline for printing was the 27 th of February. ACTION: Roger Wheeler It was brought to the Committee s attention that Pam Durham had not received formal thanks for the help she had contributed to earlier editions of the Newsletter, during the time of the previous Editor. The Chair agreed to write a thank you letter to her on behalf of the Committee ACTION: Derek Morris 8. Groups and Venues Report There was no formal report on Groups and Venues but concern was raised about a lack of uniformity in the information group leaders had received about what was possible in terms of offering free items such as teas and coffees to group members, or the suggestion that group leaders could pay for these and reclaim them from funds. It was felt that there needed to be a clear set of rules, formally agreed by the Committee, in order to make sure that members and group leaders did not inadvertently act improperly in terms of our Gift Aid status. The matter was left open until a discussion involving the Treasurer could take place. Kay Chaffer said that she had been looking through back minutes for guidance and said that it would be helpful if a list of agreed Committee decisions could be extracted from the more recent ones. 4
9. Health and Safety Report There was no report on Health and Safety 10. Membership Report There was nothing to report on membership, but Kay said that she was getting to grips with both the existing system and the Beacon system and had been reading back minutes for guidance. 11. All Member Meetings Report Barbara reported that the next All Members Meeting would take place on 22 nd February, as advertised, but that there would be a different speaker. The speaker would be John Bowers (an ex-convict) who regularly talks to interested groups. His topic will be Crime and Punishment. Barbara also raised the subject of her title as a member of the Committee. As Social Secretary, she found herself being contacted by members in relation to any social activity being planned or booked and wished it to be clear that she was only involved in All Member meetings. The problem was understood, but since those running social activities had not been willing to stay on as members of the Committee, the vacancy had been for a Social Secretary, according to the constitution. The Website did make it clear how social activities could be accessed. Barbara also asked whether she could claim in advance the (quite large) fees paid on the day to speakers at the meetings, rather than having to claim the money after the event. It was explained that this could be done. 12. How to Raise Awareness Locally of U3A Activities Roger spoke briefly on this issue, stating that he was preparing a proposal for a publicity campaign involving local press etc., which he would bring to the next meeting. Trevor mentioned flyers and brochures available from the U3A head office and said that he would get some more of these. 13. Proposed Decrease of Hours of Use of Older Peoples Bus Pass The proposal before the Council was to raise between 40,000 and 70,000 by restricting the start time of bus passes to 9.30am and not allowing their use between 11pm and 3.45am. It was considered that this would be approved, given the funding pressure on the local authority. The implication for U3A was that 10am-startmeetings would have to be delayed, but that this could not be done in the current year, because of bookings and clashes. 14. SUN Report The main message which Carolyne brought back from her first SUN meeting was the need for all U3A groups to have succession-planning. The person who ran the SUN workshops had had a stroke, and it appeared that she was the only person who knew anything about planned activities. 5
On Saturday 19 th March, there will be a seminar run by SUN for group Chairs and SUN representatives. Derek and Carolyne agreed to attend this. Carolyne also reported that there had been a discussion on MOOCS (Multiple Open On-line Courses) and other on-line courses and said that an ex-lecturer from the Open University, doing some research on how older people learn, had offered groups the opportunity to pilot a module called How do you teach On-line Groups? Carolyne was asked to follow up this offer and accept. 15. Any Other Business Alan asked for a further discussion on alterations to the Bus Pass times to be on the agenda for the next meeting. 16. Date of Next Meeting The next Committee meeting will be on Monday 7 th March at 10.00 a.m. in KTC. 6