AGM 2026
Our 35th Annual General Meeting took place on 26 March. Despite concerns about fuel shortages, the meeting was very well attended. Among our guests were Mayor Jim Grivas and Councillor Anna Chen, both from Manningham Council; Rosie Bishop, President of U3A Croydon; Philip Russell, President of U3A Deepdene; and Christine Tomic, Representative from U3A Network Victoria.
The meeting commenced with the President’s annual report, followed by the Treasurer’s report. Vice-President David McNamara moved an amendment to our Constitution, which was passed. Our Returning Officer David Jensz then announced the members of our Committee of Management for 2026.
Executive
President: Shirley Fung
Vice-President: Maureen Bowman
Secretary: Lyn Davies
Treasurer: James Ting
Ordinary Members
Andrew Barnett
Foong Sim Chin
Milly Ching
Neville Cook
Quintin Coutinho
Dawn Head
Lyverne Newson
Doug Wallace
Committee of Management 2026
Front L to R: Lyverne Newson, Milly Ching, Lyn Davies, Shirley Fung, Maureen Bowman, James Ting
Back L to R: Foong Sim Chin, Dawn Head, Neville Cook, Andrew Barnett, Doug Wallace, Quintin Coutinho
Awards were presented to 5 members for their years of dedicated service:
- Graeme Martin – Appreciation Award for his decades of service in many and varied roles and responsibilities at U3AM
- Doug Wallace – Life Member Award
- Warwick Wright – Life Member Award
- Robyn Buttling – Distinguished Service Award
- Tess Gibbs – Appreciation Award.
After the awards presentation, Mayor Jim Grivas addressed our members and this was followed by luncheon. Thanks to our Catering Team led by Jennifer Craig and Maureen Bowman.
Retiring Committee of Management members
Three members – David McNamara, Warwick Wright and Robyn Buttling – have retired from the Committee of Management. On behalf of everyone at U3AM let me express our appreciation for their many years of dedicated service. They have retired from the Committee but are still active volunteers in other areas of U3AM.
It is my pleasure to inform you that at the first meeting of the 2026 Committee of Management David McNamara was voted a Life Member. He will be presented with the award at our AGM in 2027.
Transition to Member Wizard
Thanks to our Member Wizard Support team, we are on target to change over to this membership management system by the start of Term 2. The support team has conducted many in-person and online seminars for our members. Thanks to the training team Foong Sim Chin, Olive Lee, Colleen Danaher, Gabrielle Jang, Dick Wong and Dorothy Di Battista for making available many sessions on Member Wizard to ensure ample opportunity for all members to sign up for training.
Three hands-on training sessions will be advertised in Term 2, mainly for those who tried but for some reason were unable to register for the training to navigate the Member Portal.
Fuel shortage impact on our classes
If the fuel supply situation in Victoria worsens, our tutors may have to deliver their classes via Zoom. Our Curriculum Manager Milly Ching will send an email to tutors to check their preference for continuing to run classes on site or via Zoom.
Dates for the diary
22 July: thankyou luncheon for tutors (including assistant tutors, associate tutors and Migrant English tutors)
2 September: thankyou luncheon for combined volunteers.
I hope you have had a relaxing term break and look forward to seeing everyone return refreshed for Term 2.
Shirley Fung
President