UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER
University of Chester Alumni Association
Annual General Meeting
Minutes of the Meeting held on Saturday, 7th September 2013, at 11.00am
Present: Professor M. Thomas (Chair), Mr G. Lang, Mrs P. Ransome, Mr Ken
Wyatt, Mr Steve Westgarth, Ms Gill Little, Mrs Ann Watkins, Mr Terence Davies
O.B.E., Mr James Howells, Mr Peter Robinson, Mr Anthony Hindley, Mr Brian
McDermott, Mr Brian Oldroyd, Mrs Curtis McFarlane, Mr John Pritchard, Mrs
Hilary Fellows, Mrs Sue Hadfield, Mrs Pat Ransome, Mr Dave Robertson, Mr
Geoff McKenzie.
In Attendance: Mrs F. Roberts (Alumni and Development Manager), Miss Amy
Jones (Rapporteur);
1. Apologies for Absence: Vice-Chancellor, Miss Elsie Newton, Mr Peter
Thompson, Mr S. France (Registrar), Mr Dennis Holman.
2. Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 8th September 2012
This was accepted as a true and accurate record of the meeting.
3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
4. Chairman’s Report
Professor Thomas advised that student numbers were almost 18,000
and remained stable at 9 applicants per place; keeping Chester in the top
4 in the UK for applications.
Last year the University won Times Higher Education (THE) for Student
support, this year we have won Enterprise University of the Year and
Innovative Lecturer of the Year.
From the Guardian League Tables, the University is 44th out of 120
institutions, of which the top 23 are Russell Group. In the North West,
only Manchester and Lancashire are above in the league. The Senior
Management aim is to be within the top 30, with a maximum of around
20,000 students.
Shell has gifted the 66 acre site at Thornton, comprising 50 buildings, 32
labs and 27 engineering laboratories, which equates to around £260m of
property. The site will remain under Shell ownership until Christmas. A
government grant has assisted in the recruitment of staff: 18 engineering
academics. They will set up 4 year under graduate programmes of which
year 4 will be MSc. The options will be: Mechanical, Chemical, Electrical
Engineering and Natural Sciences.
The remainder of the estate will be a Business Park and there are 27
business interested in taking out a lease. This represents huge growth for
the University, bringing it in line with other similar universities.
1
Further property development to note includes the acquisition of
Travelodge (to be known as Sumner House) and construction of a new
accommodation block – Grosvenor House, on Main Campus. These will
help to accommodate a rise in post graduate and international students.
A new Food Technology Centre is under construction, but will be used as
laboratories, rather than teaching.
Brian Oldroyd asked if Chester would become a member of The Russell
Group. Professor Thomas explained there is a sizeable fee to join, and
with Chester’s reputation for quality, there was no plan to do so.
James Howells asked about Education students. Professor Thomas
stated that the University has increased primary education numbers as
secondary school numbers have fallen, as it is now up to local Head of
Schools to decide numbers. He anticipated that in three years’ time there
will be a shortage of teachers and direct applications to universities will
be once more. The foundation of this university is education and our
Vice-Chancellor is committed to ensuring that Education remains core.
Brian Oldroyd asked what the University id doing to help the
unemployed. Geraint Lang outlined the relationship with 6 local
academies, plus the launch last week of the Cathedral Free School. The
University will sponsor up to 15-20 academies and will help schools with
their OFSTED scores. Professor Thomas added that Chester is working
with colleges to help access universities, liaising with children under 16 in
some cases. As some colleges are now developing work based
apprenticeships, others continue with A’levels. They require a different
relationship with the University conversations.
Brian Oldroyd asked what had happened to Alsager College, to which
Professor Thomas replied that it was now part of the University of
Manchester.
5. Registrar’s Report
6. Alumni & Development Manager’s Report
In Stan’s absence, Fiona reported on both elements.
Social media activity is progressing well and proving a useful means of
both interacting with alumni and confirming their correct details. We
currently have:
350 Facebook members
741 LinkedIn members, 178 connections
335 Twitter followers
We are still without a CRM system, and not knowing where all of our
alumni are is an issue with regard to inviting them to return, and in order
to be inclusive.
It is essential that we have a comprehensive database to be able to
communicate effectively with our alumni: we await an update from the IT
department on how this can be achieved.
We have located a list of names which DV Hughes had used, and so
have written to 13,000 alumni with a brief synopsis of the past few years
to elicit responses. This is helping us to re-engage with ‘lost’ alumni, and
to correct contact details.
2
In June we held a reception to celebrate 50 years of women studying at
Chester. We invited women from the five decades and provided a
display of case studies depicting the changes and everyone enjoyed
networking, as well as listening to the guest speakers.
For the first time, online booking was made available and has been a
popular means of organising accommodation for the alumni. We have a
mini reunion of around 30 from the 1973 PE group plus around 50 from
1966, all meeting up this weekend to reunite. The dinner this evening
has around 100 in attendance.
There will be events throughout the academic year (summer 2014 –
summer 2015) culminating with a series of Celebratory Balls hosted by
the Vice-Chancellor. These will be held in the summer of 2015 and the
proposed dates are:
Wed 24 June Student Ball
Fri 26 June VIP Ball
Sat 27 June Staff Ball
Further events will be arranged and information will be available on the
website.
Fiona has formed a quilting group, as we will be making an anniversary
quilt for permanent display. Volunteers are welcome!
The Chapel requires specialist restoration on the Minton tiled floor and
the woodwork. The Vice-Chancellor has suggested that a stained glass
window could be designed and installed to commemorate the 175th
anniversary. He has asked the alumni to raise £100,000 towards these
projects. Ideas have been discussed and the Executive Committee are
considering hosting a musical event and selling a calendar. More ideas,
volunteers and donations are welcome!
Fiona and Rev Dr Peter Jenner have met with Neil Grant, Head of
Department in Art & Design to discuss the stained glass window. Amy
has drafted a design brief to be circulated to art students and staff at
Kingsway to see if this is of interest – it may be designed in-house.
Recipients of this year’s awards are:
Hilary Tucker Prize – Awarded to a student who has made the
greatest contribution to the Warrington Campus: Elliot Dillon.
K.M. Herring Award - Awarded to the best student in the Visual
Craft Category: Helen Hann
J.L. Dobson Trophy - Presented to a student who has made a
significant contribution to fellow students: Deborah McDuff.
The Cestrian Award has been launched. Chris Connelly and
Marc Flynn were MSC students, specialising in performance
management of handball. They were asked to provide
performance management support to the Great Britain men's team
in April as part of the support team during the European
Championship 2016 qualifiers. The squad began in Scotland then
travelled to Crystal Palace. The Award enabled them to afford this
non-paid privilege and Chris has since secured a job offer, which
he feels was made to him because of the Handball experience.
He would like to thank the alumni for this support.
3
Terence Davies queried whether the funds were finite, and Fiona
confirmed the money is supplied from interest gained on donations
invested.
Brian Oldroyd asked if there could be a building for alumni. Fiona
highlighted a risk of marginalisation if alumni were in a separate
building, and emphasized the importance of integration, preferably
with other departments.
7. Report on revision to Constitution of University of Chester Alumni
Association
Steve Westgarth updated those present on the decision to bring the
constitution up to date. Changes have been discussed and the new
document is currently under legal scrutiny and will be ratified at next
year’s AGM.
8. University of Chester Alumni Association (UCCA) Accounts
(Registrar)
The accounts have a balance of £32,819.88. However, Brian McDermott
pointed out an error in the addition, and suggested that the layout could
be improved to make interpreting the information easier. Fiona advised
that the Finance Department had supplied the accounts and she had
several questions regarding the information provided – she had not been
able to speak to the appropriate person, but would forward this feedback.
9. Any other business
Sue- asked Fiona for clarity on the type of memorabilia the alumni team
were looking for. Fiona suggested any documents, such as exam
papers, prospectus, drama programmes, photos, or clothing and
equipment, perhaps a scarf, blazer, tennis racquet etc.
Terence Davies voiced his disappointment that alumni were not
addressed by their full titles in mailshots. As an academic institution, the
university ought to acknowledge the achievements of their alumni when
corresponding. Fiona agreed, and explained that often the omission was
because the team had not heard of the individual’s accolade, but there
were also issues with the limitations of the database recording such titles,
and sometimes this resulted in the initials, e,g. O.B.E. being listed with
the surname. She promised to raise this with the Registry department.
Fiona asked for a volunteer to give the vote of thanks to the guest
speaker after the reunion dinner. Geraint kindly agreed.
10. Date and time of next Annual General Meeting
Saturday 13th September, 2014.
Signed ………………………………………………………………………………….
Dated……………………………………………………………………………………
4