Welcome to my first President’s Report. Thank you to the Committee for having faith in me.

I am looking forward to an exciting and challenging year as we make changes and extensions to our program because of our move, in June, to the Senior Citizens building. Renovations to the Senior Citizens rooms have commenced.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Terry Case for his three years as President. Terry has been a driving force in our achieving a permanent home.

Over the next few weeks I will endeavour to get around to a lot of groups in order to meet those of you I don’t know.
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Dorothy Webber

I have served one and a half terms as President and am now resigning from that position.

The Executive Committee has appointed Dorothy Webber as President and she will complete the one year term remaining, before being eligible to stand for President in 2018. Bill Parris is standing as Vice President for a one year term and will be eligible to stand for a two year term in 2018.

Geraldine McCorkell has nominated as Secretary and Corrie Witlox was nominated as Treasurer.  Judith Borthwick as Publicity Officer will complete a 2 year term.

I will remain on the Executive as Past President.

I want to thank the Executive Committee for their support, particularly Lorraine and Geraldine whose help was greatly appreciated when I was new to the role.  John Avery is resigning from the committee.

After long stints as President and as our Network representative, his experience and knowledge have been of immense value to U3A.  I also want to thank Lorraine Knox for the many years she has been our Secretary.  Lorraine has seen us through enormous changes in the years she has fulfilled this important role.  Most recently Lorraine has been assisting Terry Dillon in revamping our membership records and this will see the Secretary’s role transformed as Terry takes on the role of Membership Officer.

I am pleased to be able to report that work is now in progress at the Seniors and we will be able to move to our new home by second semester. The newsletter reports will keep you posted on progress of the project. Much of my time as President was spent dealing with accommodation issues following the Centre unexpectedly pulling out of the Barkly St site and leaving us with no home. I want to again thank Benalla College & the Flexible Learning Group who came to our aid in that turbulent period. Our future accommodation is now secure due to a partnership with Benalla Council who I also want to thank together with their Chief Executive Tony McIlroy who piloted this project to a successful outcome.


​Terry Case 
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​Signing off.  The March AGM will see me retiring as President after serving 3 years.  I have been fortunate to have a successor keen to have a go and Dorothy Webber has been appointed by the committee as per the constitution for the remainder of my term.  I will continue in my other role as Programs Convenor.  I want to thank the Committee and members for supporting me during my term and especially Lorraine and Geraldine who were my guides in the transition.
 
Lorraine Knox carved out a long term role as Secretary, a demanding and important role in our organization.  This role was time-consuming and also meant she became the unofficial Membership officer.  Lorraine will retire from the position to become an Assistant Secretary.  I want to thank Lorraine for her many years in this vital role and her ongoing support for U3A.
 
John Avery will also retire from the Committee.   John has served U3A in a number of key roles and may be best remembered for his seven year stint as President.   John was also our long serving Network representative and a font of information on all things to do with U3A.  Thanks John for your unstinting and wide-ranging efforts for Benalla U3A.
 
Thanks to Terry Dillon who took on a newly created role of Membership Officer, creating new computer programs for us which have already sped dissemination of class lists and updates of our membership records.  
 
We will now spend time learning how best to use these and fine tune the system for 2018. This reduces the work that was traditionally part of the Secretary’s role. 
 
We have at least 27 new members and a membership of over 230.
 
Reminder to New Members, you are invited to afternoon tea March 17th from 2pm in Room W4, Flexible Learning Centre, Barkly St. This will be a chance to answer queries and hear your suggestions whilst you meet other new members.
 
Benalla Council should commence work soon on the refurbishment of the Seniors.  We will keep you informed in plenty of time for the big move.

Terry Case
President