At our AGM on Wednesday 16 August, we farewelled five Committee members and welcomed five new members. The Special General Meeting preceding the AGM brought the constitution in line with 21st century thinking with all motions as detailed to members being passed unanimously.
Welcome to new Committee Members
At the AGM we welcomed five new members to the Committee of Management; Andrew Lockwood, Helen Smith, Sue Fraser, Bronwyn Hughes and Carola Lehmer. This represents a turnover of one third of the CoM team so going forward we will have some fresh sets of eyes contributing to the efficient management of U3A Nunawading. They have all hit the ground running with duty commencing the day after the AGM, and I am pleased to welcome such a talented group of members to the CoM team.
Change is something that we are likely to see a lot more of over the next couple of years and if members want to see this totally voluntary organisation continue to prosper it would be in your own interests to nominate for future committees. Just leaving it to others is not a great recipe for long-term success.
Thank you to retiring members
To the retiring members of the CoM team – Valerie Donlon, Pauline Wang, Mary Fox, Lindsay Glen and Frank Baseden – I sincerely thank you for your excellent contributions over many years. Your hard and dedicated work at U3A Nunawading has had a huge influence on its continued success and you will all be greatly missed. The good news is that these members will not be lost to U3A Nunawading as they will still be contributing from outside the CoM.
Presentation of Life Memberships
At the AGM it was also my pleasure to present Life Membership to Pauline Wang and Colin Carter. Pauline has been our Treasurer for the past four years and Colin has been our secretary for the past three years and he is now taking on the role of Treasurer. Your dedicated service is certainly worthy of the honour bestowed upon both of you.
Come and support us at the next AGM
We had just over 90 attendees at the AGM and when you look at the number as a percentage of members it represents around 3.5 percent. Going forward I encourage all members to take a greater interest in the workings of our U3A and next year, pack the place out at the AGM.
Social events
The Social Committee will be holding another Coffee & Cake morning tea on Friday 15 September from 10 am until 12 noon. This is the last day of Term 3 and a reminder to the Friday classes will be sent nearer to the date.
Our Member Liaison team hosted Morning Teas for new members on 7 and 10 August, and it was great to meet many of our new members in such a relaxed atmosphere. This is part of our new member induction process and once again it was a great success. Thank you to Sue, Mary and Val for a job well done.
Whitehorse Community Dinner
I was pleased to represent U3A Nunawading at the Whitehorse Community Dinner held at the Box Hill Town Hall on 27 July. City of Whitehorse Mayor, Cr Mark Lane, gave a very interesting talk on how the City of Whitehorse is supporting community organisations. There is a huge number of community organisations in the City of Whitehorse and they are all deserving of Council support for the great work that they do for the ratepayers.
Until next time,
Gary