Church Stretton U3A Committee Colin Carson, Chair colin.carson at lineone.net; 722784 Renee Webster, Vice Chair renee.webster at btinternet.com; 771382 Ben Hilliard, Treasurer ben.hilliard at dcu.ie; 751390 Chris Whitehouse, Business Secretary crizel at btinternet.com Sylvia Davidson, Membership Secretary strettonu3a at yahoo.com; 723842 Asst. Membership Secretary – vacant Hazel Whitehouse, Minutes Secretary crizel at btinternet.com Sue Hird, Groups Coordinator The Newsletter of Church Stretton U3A March/April 2015 Can you help run the U3A? Our Annual General Meeting will be held at 2 pm on Wednesday 27 May before the regular monthly General Meeting. We need to start thinking about the people who will run the U3A after the AGM. We have made great steps over the past five years – we currently have xxx paid-up members and some xx active groups. We have held regular monthly General Meetings, where we have been educated and entertained by a wide variety of speakers. But all these activities are only possible thanks to the efforts of our Committee and the Group Coordinators. If you value your organisation and have found this year’s activities of interest, please do consider whether you could find the time to give a little back – who knows, it might be just what you have been looking for! Some of the current Committee would like to hand over the baton to new people after the AGM, others are happy to continue and will stand for re- election. Our Chair cannot be re-elected as our Constitution prohibits this. So take a look at the mini-job descriptions below that have been put Jotti ngs
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Church Stretton U3ACommittee
Colin Carson, Chaircolin.carson at lineone.net; 722784Renee Webster, Vice Chairrenee.webster at btinternet.com; 771382Ben Hilliard, Treasurerben.hilliard at dcu.ie; 751390Chris Whitehouse, Business Secretarycrizel at btinternet.comSylvia Davidson, Membership Secretarystrettonu3a at yahoo.com; 723842Asst. Membership Secretary – vacantHazel Whitehouse, Minutes Secretarycrizel at btinternet.comSue Hird, Groups Coordinatorsmhird at btinternet.com; 724235Brian Bradley, Liaison Officerb.glenmoar at gmail.com; 722138Tim Dunn, Website Managerrtdunn at computassist.co.uk; 01588 672919Peter Thorpe, Newsletter Editor
The Newsletter of Church Stretton U3A March/April 2015
Can you help run the U3A?Our Annual General Meeting will be held at 2 pm on Wednesday 27 May before the regular monthly General Meeting. We need to start thinking about the people who will run the U3A after the AGM.We have made great steps over the past five years – we currently have xxx paid-up members and some xx active groups. We have held regular monthly General Meetings, where we have been educated and entertained by a wide variety of speakers. But all these activities are only possible thanks to the efforts of our Committee and the Group Coordinators. If you value your organisation and have found this year’s activities of interest, please do consider whether you could find the time to give a little back – who knows, it might be just what you have been looking for!Some of the current Committee would like to hand over the baton to new people after the AGM, others are happy to continue and will stand for re-election. Our Chair cannot be re-elected as our Constitution prohibits this. So take a look at the mini-job descriptions below that have been put together by the current incumbents of the posts and see if you could be the next in line for any of the jobs.
Jottings
Role of the Chair Chairing the committee with a
casting vote in decision making by the committee.
Chairing full monthly General Meetings or delegating this task.
Preparing the agenda papers and chairing the Annual General Meeting of the U3A and ensuring that proper notice of the meeting is provided to all members.
Being a co-signatory to the CS U3A bank account.
Attending national and regional meetings to represent CS U3A.
Role of the Vice-Chair Deputising for the Chair, whenever
required, sometimes at short notice. This involves chairing Committee and General Meetings and also the AGM.
Occasionally attending national or regional meetings, representing CS U3A.
Checking, approving and distributing minutes of meetings that have been chaired by the Vice Chair.
Role of the Treasurer Receiving and making all
payments on behalf of CS U3A. Preparing the CS U3A accounts. Being the main point of contact for
the CS U3A bank account. Being a co-signatory to the CS U3A
bank account. Applying for grants from the local
council, etc., on behalf of CS U3A.Role of the Business Secretary Receiving correspondence from
the National Office and distributing it appropriately.
Acting as contact point with the National Office.
Bringing any resultant issues to the monthly committee meeting.
Arranging committee meeting venues.
Organising and distributing meeting agendas (by e-mail).
Role of the Membership Secretary
Processing membership forms; receiving membership fees, issuing membership cards, logging details on relevant lists and passing any monies on to the Treasurer, as well as sending out annual renewal reminders to all members and issuing new membership cards for the coming year.
Keeping up to date databases of members’ details, both for our own records and for the National office, for the distribution of the ‘Third Age Matters’ magazine and capitation fee numbers.
Organising a ‘Greetings’ desk at the monthly General Meeting, with sign-in sheets for members and information leaflets for non-members.
Role of the Groups Coordinator Being the first contact point for all
members interested in learning about specific groups.
Coordinating support of new and existing groups.
Organising regular group leaders’ meetings (twice a year).
Ensuring that the list of all group contact details is kept up to date.
Providing display material about groups at the General Meetings.
Role of the Liaison Officer Being the first contact for new
enquirers, and telling them how the interest groups operate within the larger general membership.
Organising speakers for the monthly General Meetings.
Role of the Minutes Secretary Taking the minutes at committee
meetings and returning them to the chair of the meeting, who then approves and distributes them to committee members.
Sending Annual General Meeting notices to all members, either by email or by post.
Preparing paperwork for Annual General Meeting.
Role of the Publicity Officer
Publicising General Meetings by preparing, printing and distributing posters or delegating the distribution of posters – at present we produce 14 per month.
Contacting CS Diary of Events and making sure notifications about our events (General Meetings, AGM) are complete and up to date.
Responding to enquiries for information about CS U3A from outside agencies.
Role of the Website Manager Maintaining the CS U3A website.
This involves updating the website with current information about general meetings, contact details and news about groups, group leaders and group meetings.
Ensuring that PDF versions of ‘Jottings’ are available on the CS U3A website
Encouraging members’ contributions to the website and comments to the forum page.
Role of the Newsletter Editor Collecting material from
committee meetings, group leaders and U3A members in general for inclusion in the bi-monthly newsletter ‘Jottings’.
Editing, rearranging and laying out the newsletter in MS Word and PDF formats.
Sending an information email to all members using email on a monthly basis, attaching ‘Jottings’ every second month. Members not using email only get a hard copy of ‘Jottings’ every second month.
So, now’s the time to be getting in your nominations for Church Stretton U3A Committee Members for 2015/17. You can nominate yourself or someone else.Nomination forms will be available at the April General Meeting or can be downloaded on the website – or just do your nominations on the ‘Comments’ page of the website.
The Northern RenaissanceOn 4 June, the National Gallery is hosting a U3A study day focusing on the Renaissance treasures from northern Europe in the National Gallery's collection.The meeting will introduce key themes and discuss different painting practices in use during this period. The day will provide you with a well-rounded experience of this fascinating period of art history.Cost is £18.00 (lunches and refreshments not provided). A booking form is available from Chris Whitehouse – crizel at btinternet.com – or from the CS U3A or national U3A websites. Any queries should be directed to the National Office on 020 8466 6139.
Music and MemoryAt an afternoon meeting at the Royal Society on 11 June, Dr Victoria Williamson will introduce
U3A members to the special relationship between music and memory.What happens when music takes you back to a special memory? What are earworms; how might we combat them (music memories on the brain)? How do musicians perform for hours from memory? ln what ways can music boost our everyday memory performance? Why does musical memory survive so well in dementia? The story of music and memory helps explain why music is so important to so many of us.Cost is £15.00 (including refreshments). More information is available from Chris Whitehouse – crizel at btinternet.com – or from the CS U3A or national U3A websites. Any queries should be directed to the National Office on 020 8466 6139.
Any good wildlife photographers out there?
The subject of this year’s U3A photo competition is British wildlife. Photos must be in colour and submitted digitally.The winning photographer will receive a year's subscription to Amateur Photographer magazine and a gift token. Three runners-up will also receive gift tokens. The photographs will be featured on the website, and announced in the November issue of Third Age Matters.
More information is available from Chris Whitehouse – crizel at btinternet.com – or from the CS U3A or national U3A websites.
What’s on when?Here is an updated list of the Church Stretton U3A Groups with contact details for the Group Coordinators. Group names followed by an asterisk indicate that the group is currently full and a waiting list is in operation.
Group Coordinator Telephone E-mail
Art*Daphne and Stewart Rankine
724435
Art History Sue Toghill 722713 p.toghill at bham.ac.ukBook Group* Susan Lees 722039 lululees at hotmail.com
Book Group 2* Margaret Haynes 720348 mchaynes at btinternet.com
Bridge Keith Richards 724529 richsween at uwclub.netClassical Music 1 & 2 Barbara Hall 724578 barbmhall at tiscali.co.ukClassical Music 3 Ian Templeton 781470 ian.templeton at outlook.comComputer John Avery 328196 johnavery.uk at gmail.comFamily & Social History Norma Taylor 723617 normapattaylor at aol.com
French (Advanced) John Avery 328196 johnavery.uk at gmail.comFrench (Intermediate)
Renee Webster 771382 renee.webster at
btinternet.comFrench (Rusties) Sue Riley 723236 s.c.riley at btinternet.com
Hill Walking Trevor Halsey 724268 trevorhalsey at btinternet.com
Landscape Archaeology* Ian Dormor 723456 i.dormor at daelnet.co.uk
Literature Carole Richards 724529 richsween at uwclub.net
Natural HistoryMike Williams & Sylvia Davidson
01568 780361; 01694
723842
mikew1943 at googlemail.com; strettonu3a at yahoo.com
Popular Music* Trevor Halsey 724268 trevorhalsey at btinternet.com
Scottish Dancing David Thomas 722107 dgt_rrc at hotmail.com
Singing for Pleasure Margaret Sinden
07853 862432
margaretanddes at hotmail.co.uk
Travel Marcia Jones 01694 328098 marciajones at sky.com
Contact the Group Coordinator to find out more about any group that you are interested in finding out more about or may be thinking of joining.
Updates and news from the Groups and comments on recent events (whether U3A or not) from members are always welcome. Items for inclusion in the next issue,
January/February, should be sent by the first week of January. Please send your contributions to Peter Thorpe at [email protected]
Keep up to date with what’s going on in Church Stretton U3A by checking in at the website
