This abbreviated report contains those matters of fact about ALPN which do not appear on other documents on this web site. A printed copy of the full report may be had on application to the manager - electronically or by post (see contact details).

In Retrospect

The highlights of 2007 for ALPN have been -

• Tutoring recommenced after the summer break in January and February.
• The AGM in March which welcomed new committee members and thanked those standing down from the committee.
• Through the kind donation of web space by InSPire.net, a society web site now exists and is in continuous development.
• The major committee effort during the early part of the year was a complete rewrite of the society "Organisation, Policies & Procedures" document to reflect current thinking.
• The new logo seen on this site, letterhead and other formal documents was developed out of the re-writing activity.
• The Manager and several committee members attended a number of meetings and conferences in Auckland and elsewhere during the year, including the International Adult Literacy conference in October.
• The society participated in local celebrations during Adult Learners' Week in September.
• A major long-term planning exercise was conducted in November and some of the outcomes of that will begin to be felt in 2008.

Chairman's Report

Having just been elected to the Committee at the 2007 AGM in absentia (due to illness), I attended my first meeting to find a roomful of seasoned committee members looking at me when the point came to elect a chairman! "In for a penny, in for a pound!" - I was coerced into submission in the nicest possible way!

Almost my first action was to correct the widely held misconception that in these days of "political correctness" the correct name for the job is NOT 'chairperson'; the '-man' bit in 'chairman' comes from the Latin verb 'mandare' meaning "to have/hold in the hand" - the chairman has the authority of the committee to "hold the fort" (the 'chair' anyway!) while the committee is not sitting - sex doesn't come into it!

With a great deal of support, help and just plain being nudged in the right direction I survived a couple of traumatic months finding my way round the totally unfamiliar 'system' before being able to take a fresh look at the organisation.

Having had many fewer students in 2006 than in earlier years, our grant for 2007 from Literacy Aotearoa, being based on a student capitation rate, was considerably reduced; our first priority had to be one of obtaining other supporting grants to maintain our existing level of community service. While we have managed to survive by dint of a lot of hard work making (successful) grant applications, we still need to keep a watchful eye on our finances.

During the year Sharyn Mulcahy had to resign from the committee for personal reasons and Warren Weallans, our part-time accounts officer, also moved on to a full-time appointment elsewhere. Since Frances Hemara has been holding the organisation together and pushing us all in the right direction, the Committee approved the renaming of her role as 'Manager'. We are also delighted to welcome Dominic Westcott as a new committee member.

The renaming of Frances's role is reflected in one of the major committee efforts during the year - the production of an up-to-date "Organisation, Policy and Procedures" document to codify the way ALPN is set up and is to work. While this has changed very little in practice, it has restated everything in terms of this organisation rather than being a rather crude "cut-and-paste" editing of other source documents.

One of the important activities which has taken place this year has been the acquisition of our own internet domain (alpn.org.nz) and the establishment of this (continually developing) web site. The objective of this has been to bring our existence and objectives to the wider world at large. The reaction to this has been mainly positive - perhaps our own new logo (on the front cover of this (printed version) report) being one of the most obvious. Come and see it on our outside sign when you visit us!

During the year Frances attended the Literacy Aotearoa National Hui on our behalf, while in October I attended an International Conference on Adult Learning (also in Auckland). We were both disappointed to come away from these essentially different meetings with the same sad impression - organisations like ALPN, despite the perceived need for our services, are just second class citizens in the public funding arena.

With this thought in the back of our minds, the committee held a full day long-term planning meeting looking forward to 2015 - when many of the members will probably have moved away or passed on. Two major short-term objectives came out of this brain-storming session -

1. We need to engage better with the community to attract more students. Recent statistics show that over 40% of adult New Zealanders are insufficiently literate and/or numerate to make the best use of job, health and recreational facilities in modern society. We are now working on various new ways of bringing our services to the attention of those within this needy group who could benefit most!!
2. Very shortly all our tutors will have to meet NZQA standards if we are to continue to attract any public funding at all. The present state of the tutor training facilities available through Literacy Aotearoa is totally unacceptable (since we are second class citizens!!) and, while these facilities will need to be used in the short-term, will need to be replaced and/or supplemented in the near future if we are to survive in the longer term.

Adult Learners' Week in the year under review was certainly better than in previous years as, together with ESOL and Methodist Social Services we manned a stand in the Plaza for the whole of Wednesday that week. A small number of people actually made enquiries but - far more important - many people actually stopped on their way past to see what we were offering. This attempt at raising our profile was complemented on the Friday when we had a stand in the City Library. Once again more people looked as they went past than stopped to talk, but that is only to be expected.

Other innovations this year included a short series of very successful Art Appreciation sessions run by our secretary Gwenna and a one-off academic writing course which I conducted. We might be tempted to repeat these in 2008 if there is demand!

As always, it is the largely unsung efforts of our hard-working tutors who keep us going. As Tennyson wrote in his poem The Two Voices, "I sing the joyful Paean clear!"

Did you Know?

Mnemosyne is the ancient Greek goddess of memory and remembrance and the inventress of language and words. From her name we derive the English word 'mnemonic' - a pattern of letters or ideas which aids the memory.

Statistics and Finance

This section of the abbreviated report gives a sample of the basic student statistics and society income for the year under review. Full details are given in the printed version of the report.

Students

For the year under review, 143 students enrolled or re-enrolled for a course with our tutors. The two charts below show the breakdown by prior qualifications on entry to a course and by ethnicity.

Accounts

As mentioned in the minutes of the AGM, we managed to stay in the black - by the small sum of $53 over the year. The three charts given below show -

• The overall picture indicating that student capitation received from the Tertiary Education Commission through Literacy Aotaroa provides over half the society income, the other major contribution coming from grants.
• The detail origins of our grant income.
• The breakdown of miscellaneous income consisting of donations, interest and expenses for attendance at meetings, conferences, etc (also from Literacy Aotearoa).

In reviewing the above charts, it is also worth noting that some 12% of the total was obtained from the Lottery Grants Board. Every effort must be made in the future to try and diversify our sources of income in order not to rely too heavily on the availability of any particular source in any given year.