REFLECTIONS FROM MY TIME AS CHAIR
BY Richard Talog Jones, 2025-26 Chair
30 July 2026
Our last meeting in May saw us hold our first AGM for many years and I am pleased that many more volunteers have come forward and joined our committee to help steer us in the future. For those who could not attend, WEA Llanelli is now a charity, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and our committee members are Trustees. We hope that this will help us approach external funders such as the National Lottery for the first time and give confidence to members and future funders that we are run openly and democratically.
Listening to members feedback is key and the trustees are committed to delivering on members wishes. As part of this our new programme starting in September will carry through until July, increasing the number of our talks to 10 per year while still avoiding any activities in December and offering a wide range of topics as possible. While on the summer break our trustees are working away in the background organising our future talks and other events as suggested by many of you – all ideas have been forwarded and are under consideration.
Earlier this month I informed my fellow trustees that I would be stepping down as your Chair and we decided that the role will rotate monthly, with my last day tomorrow. Since October last year I am pleased to say that we developed a new website, developed a new way of communicating with members and increased our social media exposure resulting in the doubling of our membership. I thank all of those who have supported these developments.
I am also pleased that we have become more structured and accountable to members, including registering as a charity. Many trustees, new and old, have shared new roles and I will continue as a trustee focusing on developing our organisation fit for the 21st century.
In addition to the new trustees, I am pleased that two members have volunteered to oversee our finances, independently of the committee and a third joining them to collectively lead on local sponsorship. The changes in finance we hope will help ensure we have a future as an organisation as well as attract leading speakers in their field as the WEA Llanelli have done since 1914.
Should members be interested, more information on our trustees and subcommittee members can be found on our website.
It has been a privilege of serving as your Chair and a big thank you to all who have helped me and fellow trustees over the past academic year.
But a bigger thank you to all members, new and old for supporting this wonderful institution we have in Llanelli. An institution which all of us want to see prosper and continue for another century!
Diolch i chi gyd,
Richard
