University of the Third Age Moraira-Teulada
Minutes of the Meeting held on 5th October 2015
At Salon de Banquettes, Teulada
It is confirmed that the President and the Secretary attended this Monthly Meeting as voted in at the AGM on 1st December 2014.
Jill Cole welcomed all the members to the September Meeting and especially the 24 new members. Jill explained the emergency procedures and said that the lift should not be used in the case of evacuation. It was requested that mobile phones were either turned off or put on silent. The raffle prize today is for the Summer House. The speaker for today is Howard Parker and his talk is titled ‘From small beginnings’.
David Haxon read out the synopsis of the Minutes from the Meeting held on 7th September 2015. The full minutes had been posted on the Website and they were proposed by Shirley Tuckey and seconded by Frank Lee. The minutes were approved by the members with a show of hands.
There were no matters arising from the minutes.
President’s Address
Jill opened her address by thanking David, Pat and Shirley for the time and effort they put into organising the Dinner Dance at Salon Canor. She commented that they were lucky to have good weather which allowed them to enjoy the outside Cava reception with the Poco Loco Steel Band playing.
As Brian Nichols stated in his report last month, the committee has agreed to the sale of Poppies at this meeting and the November meeting. If members wish to support the Poppy Appeal they are located on the table near the entrance. Jill thanked Ann for acquiring the tray of Poppies.
Jill then thanked Dot Garrett for the work she is doing in editing the Newsletter. Dot is always looking for interesting articles to include, so please email any items to Dot or another member of the Committee. Jill also reminded members without a PC that copies of the Newsletter were at the meeting and then a number are at La Senietta.
Jill wasn’t sure where September disappeared to but as the AGM will be in March, the December meeting can be more of a Christmas Celebration. There was a request to let Jill or the Committee know what members would like included, i.e. Carols, Mince pies etc.
Condolences were offered to family and friends of Vi Noden and Nora Buglas who passed away in September.
Thanks were given to the Knitters and Natterers for donating 7 blankets for the local Alzheimer’s hospital at the Mapa village fair on 18th September where they also raised €362 for the Help Charity.
REPORTS
Treasurer’s Report
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On 7th September 2015 we held the following amounts |
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Contingency |
€ 4.000,00 |
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Deposit account |
€ 6.000,00 |
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Current account |
€13.593,72 |
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Cash in hand |
€ 577,19 |
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TOTAL |
€24.170,91 |
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Income |
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7th September |
Renewals 5 |
50,00 |
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New members 28 |
280,00 |
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Dinner/dance tickets 59 |
1475,00 |
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10th September |
Interest bank account |
0,20 |
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25th September |
Dinner/dance tickets |
150,00 |
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+1.955,20 |
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Expenses |
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7th September |
Film Group movies |
70,46 |
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raffle |
50,00 |
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newsletter |
45,00 |
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Salon rent & coffee |
132,50 |
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8th September |
Golden Oldies Equipment |
175,00 |
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Sept/Oct |
Bank account charges/tax |
15,79 |
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22nd September |
Travel treasurer |
95,00 |
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25th September |
El Canor Summer Party |
6964,15 |
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1st October |
Film Group Licence |
437,58 |
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-/-7.985,48 |
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On 5th October we held the following amounts: |
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Contingency |
€4.000,00 |
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Deposit account |
€6.000,00 |
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Current account |
€7.471,55 |
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Cash in hand |
€669,08 |
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TOTAL |
€18.140,63 |
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Group Coordinator
Shirley Baehr had been approached by a Flamenco dance teacher who would like to form a group. A few names were collected at the last monthly meeting but she is still waiting to see where and when these will start. A number of other groups were suggested: Healthy Cycling which would be a gentle cycle with likeminded people. A gentle route and meeting was suggested such as Pan Pan to see how many were interested. Ballroom, Salsa and Jive were also requested though there was not much interest in Ballroom as she understands that there is already a local class. Shirley has found a teacher who has suggested early afternoon at Sol Park Tennis Club on Thursdays for 90 minutes. A free taster session is offered on 22nd October at 14.30 with American Jive, Salsa and Modern Line Dancing. The group is expected to evolve into two of three of these dances. Gardening – Eileen Brown has come forward to run a new group. She trained and worked as a Garden Designer and had her own business. She knows a lot about English gardens but is starting to experience Spanish ones. Shirley will be organising an inaugural meeting for a list of topics of interest and agree times and dates for meeting and will email once this date is known.
Sandie Bianco has baby equipment available for loan. She is looking for a pushchair or stroller and car seats for babies and children. There is no charge for the use of these items but a small donation to MABS is appreciated.
The Mosaic Group has 2/3 spare places on Wednesday afternoon. They meet at Meri Snell’s home twice a month for 3 hours.
Shirley requested help for the Smartphones/Tablet Group at Café Relax at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).
Information about all the groups is on the Website. The closed Facebook group is a quick way to distribute information.
Travel Group
Carol Mantle presented the report: There are still places available on the day trip to Ikea and the shopping centre in Murcia on Wednesday 21st October at a cost of €10 per person.
There is a change of date for the Granada trip which will now take place on 21st to 26th May 2016. The cost of this trip of €315 and includes excursions to Alpujarras and Nerja. Also included is entrance to the Alhambra and a night out to the caves to watch a flamenco show. This trip is on a half board basis at the hotel and we will have a celebratory meal with music on the last evening for the group.
In response to requests, we have organised a 29 day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in February and March 2017. The highlights of the trip will be our visit to Angkor Wat and our 3 day five star cruise in Halong Bay. We will also be visiting Bangkok, Phnom Penh, the Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh City, Dalat Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi and rural areas of both Cambodia and Vietnam. The approximate cost of the trip is €2800 with a single room supplement of approximately €1000. You can book on this trip with a deposit of €400 at the Travel Desk.
Full details of all the trips are available from the travel group and can be found on the Travel Webpage and on the display adjacent to the Travel Desk.
Cultural Arts
Eileen Hodson presented the report.
The Valencia Opera House has published their 2015/16 programme. This can be viewed directly on their website or the Cultural Arts desk for more information.
Saturday 10th October, costa Blanca Male Voice Choir presents ‘Just us in concert’ at Salon de Actos in Teulada. Tickets €10.
Sunday 18th October at 6 p.m. in the Auditori Teulada, Madame Butterfly is presented. Tickets €42.
Friday 30th October the Bourbon Street Stompers at the Auditori Teulada.
Friday 6th November at 8 p.m. Teulada Lions present: Simon Patrick as ‘Elvis’ with special guests, ‘Mills and Boone’ at Espai la Senieta, Moraira. Tickets €15.
For further information on Cultural Arts please refer to the website.
Member Committee Liaison
Brian Nicholls reported on the following in connection with the committee’s recent meeting:
PayPal is still under discussion, some committee members have reservations about it but research continues.
There is an issue which needs to be clarified regarding charities. We have at these meeting speakers from HELP, MABS and the Lions. The band also plays concerts for charity, so at the next committee meeting Brian will try to get a clear policy statement.
The Bank Balance often comes under discussion. The thinking is that the only practical way to reduce the balance in an effective way is to lower the membership fee. The committee will arrive at a recommendation to be put to the members at the December general meeting in time for the renewal process which starts in January.
A number of members asked why €2.50 entrance fee was charged for Music Nights when it takes place in a restaurant where the members buy food and drinks. This question raised a lot of committee debate which is still ongoing. The next music night is this coming Saturday and is free and fully booked. The concerts are universally regarded as excellent and this question was only raised as a point of principle and not intended to imply criticism. Although listed as a group, the U3A band is operationally far more complex than all other groups and its degree of autonomy is under discussion.
Matters Arising
Anne Cattle proposed a thank you to all who ran the Dinner Dance and also suggested that Committee Members should have free tickets because of the work load undertaken all through the year, with little appreciation.
Any Other Business
We were reminded by a member that there is free internet connection in La Senieta Moraira, and another member also added that there are lots of bars with free connection.
Speaker
Howard Parker gave an excellent talk on Model Making.
Jill asked Howard to draw the raffle ticket, the voucher for Summer House was won with ticket number 191 which belonged to Sylvia Mangan.
There was no further business and the meeting closed at 11.55 a.m.
The next Monthly Meeting will be on 2nd November 2015.
Proposed as a true and accurate record of the Meeting held on 5th October 2015.
Proposed by…………………………………………………..Seconded by………………………………………….
Secretary of the meeting Yvonne Romain.