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Secretary's Report - WEA Helmdon Branch - 17 May 2005
LOCAL COMMITTEE
Many thanks to all the WEA Helmdon Branch Committee Members for keeping
our branch activities going from strength to strength:
Judy Cairns - Chair, and Course Refreshment Provider
Kate Moody - Treasurer
Jan & Cec Harrold - Events and Visits Coordinators
Ann & Peter Mackness - Events and General Support
Dave Bridger - Auditor
ORGANISATION CHANGES
At the time of the last AGM many organisation changes were underway.
I am pleased to report that these have now been successfully completed:
· We were part of WEA Eastern District with their main office
in Cambridge. We are now part of WEA East Midlands Region with their
main office in Nottingham (this change is in line with the government's
UK regional structure)
· Local organisation was by "County". It is now by
"Area". However, as far as we are concerned this is just
a terminology change since the area covered is still Northamptonshire.
· Our County Organiser was Bob Chapman who retired last summer
after many years excellent service to the WEA. His replacement was
Tony Upton but he only stayed three months. The job title has changed
to "Area Learning Manager" and Dr. Denise Cowley has now
taken on this role. Denise was previously a Program Head for the University
of Manchester Centre for Continuing Education.
Changes can often make it difficult to see clearly what was going
on. We were therefore very pleased to be invited to a WEA Area meeting
in Towcester in March.
This gave us the opportunity to meet the Area and Regional representatives
and discuss various topics.
The main points from the meeting that affect our branch are:
· Representatives from WEA East Midlands Region and the local
Area stressed their desire to continue branch courses.
· The Course Fee structure has changed, per directives from
the funding body "Learning and Skills Council" (or LSC).
The overall objective is to raise course fees by 2½% above
inflation p.a. and to be consistent across all regions of the UK.
Hence, our full fee for 2005/6 will rise to £31.50, and £23.25
for concessions.
· Humanities courses will stay funded but some others (e.g.
Cultural Studies and Arts) might not be subsidised in the future.
· Tutors are to be encouraged to obtain formal teaching qualifications.
· More inspections are planned.
Anyway, now that these changes have been completed we can once again
concentrate on the important tasks of providing interesting and informative
courses, organising visits to places of interest and arranging the
occasional social event.
COURSES & RELATED VISITS
Since the last AGM we have run two well-attended courses:
For autumn 2004, tutor Judith Hodgkinson was welcomed back to give
the course "Looking at Pictures". This gave us a most enjoyable
insight into Western art from the 15th to the 20th century. We learned
about different painting techniques and different painting styles.
We also learned about major artists and their preferred subjects.
The related visit in October was to the Ashmolean museum in Oxford.
Here we were treated to a guided tour of some fascinating works of
art.
The spring 2005 course "The Suburbans" was given by Joanna
Rogers. This course looked at styles of suburban housing, furniture
and decorative items from the 1920's to the 1950's. It gave us a chance
to find out a lot more about items that were designed and manufactured
to meet the demands of suburban households.
Whilst many decorative items were brought along to the classroom as
part of the course, Joanna organised a visit to the Victoria and Albert
Museum in April. This gave us chance to see, and learn more about,
a wide range of items including some very stylish furniture.
OTHER EVENTS AND VISITS ORGANISED BY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
In May 2004 a coach trip was organised to Winchester to see the magnificent
cathedral and to take time to walk around the historic city. This
was seen as a very enjoyable and successful trip.
In June 2004, Will Watson kindly allowed us to use the Old Glebe for
a pot-luck supper. Our speaker was Dr Peter Hill who gave an enlightening
talk about the international mythology surrounding the rural "Green
Man".
In December 2004, Will Watson kindly allowed us to use the Old Glebe
for a fish & chip supper. Unfortunately our planned speaker had
to cancel, so we had a quiz session instead.
Our next event is planned for Friday 24th June. Will Watson has again
allowed back to the Old Glebe and the after-dinner speaker this time
will be Brian Webster.
Richard Farquharson
WEA Helmdon Branch Course Secretary |