Minutes General Meeting 2nd April 2018

University of the Third Age Moraira-Teulada
Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on
2nd April 2018 at Salón G.L., Teulada
at 10:30

It is confirmed that the President and the Secretary attended this meeting as voted in at the AGM on 7th March 2018.

David Haxon, The President, welcomed everybody to the meeting, especially the 43 new members. Unfortunately, fewer members were attending the meeting which was no doubt, due to the Easter holidays. David confirmed the security checks had been completed, advised the emergency procedures and asked for all mobile phones to be switched off.

Prue Jackson, the Vice President, read out the synopsis of the minutes of the meeting held on 5th March 2018. The full minutes had been posted on the website and were proposed by Beverly Stewart and seconded by Sue Popkin.

President’s Address
David said his first month as President had been reasonably calm, although with an organisation like the U3A with such a large Membership, there would be certain circumstances where there will be differences of opinion. Having had the first Committee Meeting since the AGM, David said how extremely lucky our U3A is to have so many willing volunteers, not only on the Committee but also Group Leaders and others who all give up their free time for the U3A Moraira-Teulada. Discussions at the Committee meetings are always frank and open. One recent comment concerning the Sound system at Monthy Meetings, will be discussed further under Any Other Business after the Reports. David asked if any Members were interested in taking the vacant position of Social Events Officer, they should contact any member of the Committee for further details. David said he had attended the recent Mayors meeting in Moraira and among many interesting topics, was The Padron. Although it was advised that there were 650 new names, it was still of great importance for people to enrole on the Padron at the Town Hall, Teulada. Money allocated to Moraira depends on the number of people registered.

Reports
Treasurer: Carin said the balance held as at 5th March 2018 was €14.979,95 and after income and expenses, the balance as at 2nd April was €17.544,58. The full report will be on the website.
Travel: Carol gave details of the day trip on 6th June to Valdigna, visiting ruins of a Monastery that has been renovated over the last ten years. The trip includes lunch at El Palmar and a boat trip on the lakes, cost per person is €40. Carol advised of two new day trips, 26th September to Guadalest at a cost of €15 per person and 21st October Sunday lunch at Viva España including a horse show and Flamenco dancing at a cost of €45 per person. The over-night trips arranged, include Madrid from 17th to 20th April, with 4 places left and a trip to Cordoba and Granada from 15th to 19th May. The Murcia City Caravaca de la Cruz has been cancelled and a new trip arranged to Barcelona from 1st to 5th December. Full details of all the trips are on the website and on the boards at the Monthly Meetings.

Group Coordinator

Lynn Clark has now taken over this position again, after a year off and looked forward to introducing more Groups. Three suggestions have been put forward, Dancing Group, Cookery Group and Spice Group (eating all types of spicy foods). Lynn had received three other suggestions, Sumo Wrestling, Lap Dancing and Nude Hang-gliding, but as received on 1st April, needless to say, they were not taken seriously. Some of the Groups have become very popular and will have to be divided into two groups, therefore more Group Leaders are required. Any Member interested should contact Lynn.

Membership/Committee Liaison

Dot Garrett introduced herself although some members would know of her as the Editor of the Newsletter. Dot explained that her role on the Committee was to take queries from the Members to the Committee once a month, which would be addressed anonymously. She would ensure the members had a voice at the meetings and feed back answers directly to the members and through the General Meetings. Two queries had been received for her first, interesting, Committee Meeting. 1) Problems with hearing the reports given, if sitting at the back of the room. Although David would be addressing this matter later, Dot said if anyone was hard of hearing and would like to reserve a seat near the front, to please contact herself or one of the Committee. 2) Supporting Charities. A local charity requested a desk at the Monthly Meetings. This would not be allowed. Membership money cannot be used for donating to Charities, but of course individuals can support a charity of their choice. Advertising local charity events can be submitted to the Editor for the Newsletter or leaflets can be available at the Monthly Meetings. Dot said it was not appropriate to advertise for volunteers for other organisations when it was extremely difficult to find volunteers for various jobs on the Moraira-Teulada U3A Committee. Finally Dot said if any member had constructive suggestions for attracting more members to the Monthly Meetings, please contact her or a Committee member.

Cultural Arts Events

Beverly Stewart advised that live transmissions from the Royal Opera House, London, continues directly from Covent Gardens to Calpe Casa de le Cultura, Cine Roma, Alfaz del Pi and the Condado theater in Denia. Beverly mentioned the events during April, including 16th to 20th April, Javea Players presents Silver Linings at the Union Musical, Gata de Gorgos. 26th April, St George´s Day Dinner at Premium Plus Restaurant, Moraira and 29th April a Concert by Montgo Chorale with the Hoggarth Singers, visiting from London, at Pedraguer Church. Full details and other events are all on the website.

Matters Arising

There were no matters arising from the Reports.

Any Other Business

David said the Sound System had been discussed during a Committee Meeting but decided that the installation of speakers would not be arranged. It was felt the problem was the use of the microphone and the differences of how people project their voices. Those reporting at the Monthly Meetings will need to give attention to this.

Eileen Haxon introduced the Speaker Tony Grande who will speak on the Charity ´Make a smile´. Apologies were made for the problem with the projector which unfortunately meant it was impossible for Tony to use his many photographs for his presentation. The talk was informative, very interesting and moving, containing details of how some local children were forgotten and lived in near squalor. After a few questions, Eileen gave Tony a gift as thanks followed by a round of applause from the members.
The raffle was drawn, the winning ticket 120 being held by Peter Griffiths, who received a voucher for €50 to Trossett Garden Center gift shop.

There was no other business so the meeting closed at 11:40

The next meeting will be held on 7th May 2018

Proposed as a true and accurate record of the meeting held on 2nd April 2018

Proposed by…………………………………Seconded by……………………………………….Date

Secretary of the Meeting……………………………………………Titch Crossfield

 

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