U3a Kent Network
Chair’s Report to AGM 2024
It has been my pleasure to be chair of our network this year and to be working with
my fellow committee members over the last two years. My thanks to each of them for
their contribution to making our Network the success it is. We are hoping that some
of you here today will consider joining us.
Liz Thackray the national chair visited Kent last year and was impressed by the
range of groups and activities available to our members and the energy and vision of
the local u3a committees.
Our recent innovation of establishing a WhatsApp group for chairs and vice chairs is
proving a valuable way for us to share information and experiences - we also have a
Facebook group for committee members which is taking a bit longer to take off and
we will review whether this is the best way for committee members to communicate
with each other - suggestions welcome.
We are currently applying for a grant from national office so we can have a presence
at the Kent Show which, if successful, will give us a good opportunity to make sure
more and more people find out about what a great organisation we are and what we
have to offer.
As you know the consultation of the national structure continues with many people
from Kent contributing, whatever the outcome of this consultation Kent Network
remains committed to working together to support our u3as and be responsive to the
challenges that can arise.
My personal thanks to the support that the committee of the newly formed u3a at
Borough Green has had over the last 9 months - this support has been practical with
loan of promotional material but also the sharing of expertise from various committee
members. It has been a real example of how our organisation and individuals can
pull together to achieve something.
Lastly we will be reviewing our peer to peer groups - our treasurers continue to meet
but the uptake for the other peer to peer groups has not been so consistent so we
need to think whether we should continue with them - again we will be looking for
your views about this.
Lastly thank to Joy who continues to maintain our website and we look forward to
having our Siteworks website - hopefully during the coming year.