Hello Members,

Well, here we are in touching distance of Spring, the days are slowly getting longer and many of our outdoor groups can reduce the number of thermal layers before stepping out.

It has been quite a busy month for me with meetings, Zoom calls, group visits, thank you to the Recorder Group for making me very welcome, I was spoilt by an excellent impromptu concert.

My Zoom call was with the new CEO of the u3a Iain Cassidy, I say my Zoom call, but the invitation was to all u3a Chairs so not quite exclusive. It was interesting to hear his views on the u3a and how he sees his job going forward, to continue to make the u3a organisation as relevant today as it was when it was first founded, so it will be interesting to see how this translates to us in our small corner of Essex.

I have over the last few months been actively looking for both replacement, and new committee members to fill posts that are becoming vacant, and additional roles on the committee, we are almost there. We now have Diane Raddon, who many of you know from the photography and bowling groups, who will (subject to the agreement of members at the AGM) take on the role of treasurer, and a new member Loraine Jarvis who will take on the social events, looking at both internal and external events/outings as the committee are keen to get trips etc. up and running (again subject to the AGM). I’m sure that you will join me in welcoming them on board!

There is one role that is still open and that is of our communication lead, their primary role would be pulling together our monthly newsletter, online media for example FaceBook etc. So please if you or anyone you know might be interested, come and talk to any of the committee.

Finally, on a separate note, the committee have been looking at how we can develop our interest groups. As some of you may know, we now have 315 members, still growing which is great, however we have a number of interest groups with waiting lists which is not so great. To help us address this, as a first step we will be working with the group leaders to update our records so that we have the best possible picture of where we, as a committee, need to focus our efforts.

Carl