Hello fellow u3a member, 

Just a note to remind you of our AGM on Friday 6th September and how important it is for you to attend if you can.

AGMs are important in any charity's calendar and ours is particularly vital this year as we have to vote to adopt a new constitution based on the Third Age Trust (TAT) 2021 model. 

Why? The TAT, the umbrella organisation of the 1085 u3as in the UK, brought out its new model in 2021 after covid hit all our charity activities, preventing people meeting together in person.

TAT also updated the terms of the new constitution to reflect modern democratic voting and incorporated the Charity Commission (CC) wishes for committee members (charity trustees) to change over time (churn) bringing new members onto the Committee with new vigour and ideas to replace those who have served for many years. 

The new constitution mandates that every committee member has to be elected by our members at our annual AGM, with officers individually nominated, and serving for a maximum term of 9 years and no more than 3 years in a specific role. 

We discovered that the constitution we voted for in 2019 is invalid as the correct procedures to amend the 2007 constitution were not followed. Several committee members believe that we can continue under the 2007 constitution, but this does not meet the terms of membership of TAT.

Why is this important?  The constitution is a legal document and if it does not conform to TAT and CC requirements, we can no longer exist as a u3a. We would lose the insurance coverage provided by being a member of TAT, so groups, trips and all meetings which require public liability insurance, will no longer be able to continue and the u3a could be dissolved. In that case, we would lose all our reserves (~£27,000) and members would lose their membership fees.

If we wanted to restart as a u3a, we would only get a £300 startup allowance and our initial constitution would have to be the new model constitution anyway. This dissolution could be enacted at any time, but certainly by end March 2025, when our annual return to TAT has to be submitted, which forces us to have a constitution following the 2021 model.

Your committee voted unaminously for the new constitution to be adopted and for it to be put to you, our members, for a vote at our September 6th AGM. For the AGM to be quorate 10% of the membership must be present, that is at least 91 members. Adoption of the new constitution requires a motion to be passed with a 2/3 majority. Please try to come along to the AGM on Friday 6th September and adopt the new constitution by a secret vote. 

Best wishes Mike 

(for more information about the AGM including the agenda and papers click here)

(last updated 24/8/24)