Welcome and apologies
Attendees: 8
Apologies: 3
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Matters Arising
- Draft format for role descriptions – this is being developed.
- Progress with card readers – The machine has been received and is ready to be set up. Once this is done there will need to be a meeting, for training purposes, of those who are to use it.
The intention is that the members present their cards themselves
It will probably be first used in early December at the Christmas quiz.
- Succession planning -Some suggestions for membership of the committee have been received and these members will be invited to the next meeting.
- Membership renewals – 191 members so far. This was thought satisfactory at this point.
- Weekend walking group – The Saturday or Sunday Stroll group is established and will have a first meeting alongside the Natural History Group.
- Migration- This is in progress. There are some convenors, not especially at ease with technology who have not. The Groups convenor is aware of this. Those who have not will still be able to use features of the website as they did before. The exception to this is access to the shared drive.
The Treasurer and the Membership Secretary will provide a ‘help-desk’ service.
Thanks were offered to the Web Editor for all his work in establishing these systems.
- IT Morning – This was thought to be largely successful. Confidence is increasing. Positive comments have been received.
- Bees Cookery Demo- This is suggested to be the 29th November 10.30am. More details are still to be established.
MAIN BUSINESS
- Finance- [ documents circulated] These were approved with no further comments. The situation now is that role handover would be very easy. Thanks were offered to the treasurer for his work.
- Speaker Report – None has been received following the previous decision not to require a committee decision each time. The Chair has communicated this to the Speaker secretary.
- Policy Review- Thanks were offered to those who have worked on these. The suggestion that there should be a date of review rather than a requirement for a signature was approved.
Finance- Approved.
Trustee Code of Conduct- Approved with the proviso that the current declaration at the end be removed.
Complaints- Approved
Data Protection- This has been rewritten for clarification and circulated. It was clarified that records are kept for legal reasons for at least 7 years.
-Approved
The issue of making membership renewal easier [ie. Providing passwords] was discussed. The only real solution is to guide people through the process using ‘ Help’ sessions in the Summer.
Issues connected to the migration to Workspace were clarified. Data will be kept centrally which is more secure.
Agreed that migration should be mandatory for the committee, but more flexibility be allowed elsewhere.
Proposed to have a shared space for data storage. This will facilitate role handover when it occurs. It was suggested that the committee begin to familiarise itself with the system.
It was noted that care needs to be taken with the use of WhatsApp- not wpvu3a accounts and this needs to be clear.
Some further policies [ Accessibility, Safeguarding,] may need to have minor changes made including updating accessibility for all venues used. In Safeguarding -change of case where wpvu3a is mentioned, where will information be “recorded and stored securely”? Suggested that information obtained be stored in Googledrive with restricted access.
Members Code of Conduct- the text is common to that found on the printed form.
These are approved subject to these minor adjustments.
It was suggested all policies should include a review box in order to standardise the format. The Treasurer undertook to do this.
After approval, all trustees and members should be reminded that these policies exist and are easily accessed.
- Changes to Promotional Material – It has been suggested that some changes be made to promotional material to make it clear that the majority of activities take place at a range of venues, even though the main base is at WFSSC.
Resolved to make changes to wording to make this clear.
Any such changes will be presented to the committee for approval.
It was thought that occasional use of the Brinscall venue was a good idea, although the cost and relative lack of space was mentioned.
- Groups Update-
Allotment group and Cycling group are suspended until Spring.
An initial STEM meeting is on 15th November to discuss the future direction of the group.
The Sunday or Saturday Stroll Group will commence on 18th November, so far generating good interest.
Book-share and gardening have new convenors.
The Power of the Mind session held at Hillside attracted 20 attendees.
Walking group is experiencing a drop in numbers which can increase the organisation pressure for a small number of members. A monthly walk is being considered.
The Pickleball group are discussing how to finance consumables from within the group.
A list of venues has been produced for clarity.
Thanks were offered to the Group Convenor for this work.
AOB
- Resolved to purchase bunting and coasters from the U3A merchandise sale.
- Christmas Quiz- a sub-committee was formed to deal with refreshments and prizes. It was thought that there wouldn’t be time for entertainment.
- AGM- This will be most convenient at the end of the financial year ( possibly week commencing 8th April). Further discussion of specific arrangements can be made in the New Year.
Date of next meeting : 10th Jan 24