It is confirmed that the President and Secretary attended this General Meeting as voted in at the Meeting on 6th March 2017.
John Hopwood welcomed everybody to the meeting, especially the 29 new members. John asked if all the members had received raffle tickets, mobile phone were switched off and reminded everybody of the emergency procedures in the event of evacuation of the building. John confirmed the security checks had been completed.
David Haxon read the synopsis of the minutes of the meeting on 3rd April 2017. The full minutes had been posted on the Website and were proposed by Don Roberts and seconded by John Snell.
Presidents Address:
John Hopwood said today is 1st of May or May Day as it is sometimes called. How, over the years, people had celebrated the day in different ways. Traditionally when the seeds had been sown and there was time for farm labourers to be allowed a rest from their labours, they danced around the Maypole. John thanked all members for attending the meeting and wished them a relaxing May Day holiday.
Reports:
Treasurer: Carin advised the members that as at 3rd April 2017 a balance was showing of €15.822,10. Income for the month was €2.570,67 and with expenses of €816,50 the balance now showing was €17.576,27. The full report will be posted on the website.
Travel: John thanked Carol and the Travel Committee for arranging such an organised and enjoyable trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. Carol said the Lladró Trip on 14th June, including a boat trip and lunch at a cost of €35, only had a few places left. In the planning stage were a number of trips, including Valencia Bioparc, Horse show and lunch at Viva España in October, Turron and Chocolate Factory in November and a Christmas shopping trip to Valencia in December. Details of other trips for 2018 will be advertised in September. Carol then thanked Jill Cole for Auditing the Travel Group Accounts last year. After a round of applause from the members, Jill was asked to come forward and was presented with a gift from the Travel Group.
Group Coordinator: Prue told the members that the Second Solo Group will have their first meeting on 10th May and hoped to find a Group Leader very soon. Unfortunately the Tennis Group has had poor attendance at meetings and there were not enough U3A members to form a Group at this stage. The new Group ´Fine Art Printmaking´, led by Phil Sims, will start in September and further information would be issued shortly. The Egyptology Group, the Leader David Rohl, will also start in September. Prue said articles about Group events were not in the local newspapers as often as events of other U3A´s, in the area. She would ask Group leaders if they had any photos or information of events, to please send to Prue so she could keep the Press Officer, Eric Taylor, informed and hopefully Moraira-Teulada U3A would receive more press coverage.
Cultural Arts Events: Hugh Stewart introduced Laura Hillstead, a local Councillor and U3A Member. Laura advised the members of different events, arranged by the Council, which included a film night, showing The Olive Tree. Europe Day, an event that will be taking place at Font Santa on 13th May, starting at 17:00. The U3A Band will be playing and everyone is welcome, any groups should bring food and drink, to share. Red Cross will be collecting personal hygiene products, the pick-up point is on the 9th May at the Town Hall, Teulada, (Salón de Plenos) at 19:30. During May and August there are painting workshops. Art from artists of the founding Countries of the EU – France, Belgium, Italy, Holland and Germany.
Hugh then gave details of events taking place during May 2017 which included on the 6th May Pontarddulais Male Choir at the Teulada Auditorium, with a change of start time to 21:00. On 18th, 19th and 20th May, Careline Theatre present “´ello, ´ello!” seats are only available for the 18th. On the 26th May Concerts Costa Blanca have another trip to the Palau in Valencia to see Richard Strauss´ Don Quixote Der Rosenkavalier. Full details of these and other events can be found on the Website.
Membership/Committee Liaison: Prue had nothing to report.
Support Group. John asked Rona Hurst to give a report. Rona explained to the members, in particular the new members, this Group was for them. If any member needed help they should contact Rona who would pass details on to the appropriate Group member. Help would be given in various ways: Visiting people in Hospital or at home, driving to appointments, gardening, taking care of animals if in Hospital, as well as cooking or DIY jobs. Especially helpful if members were alone and needed support in this way. Rona said that expenses such as car parking and tolls should be paid for by the person receiving the help, as well as 20c per kilometre for petrol to be offered to the Support Group member, even if it is not accepted, as a gesture of thanks.
Matters arising from the Reports:
There were no matters arising from the reports.
Any Other Business:
John said the Social Committee consisted of U3A Committee members, some of whom were Group Leaders, such as Dining Out and Wine Tasting. More members of the U3A are needed for the Social Committee to help arrange events for all members to attend, such as the Summer Ball and the Christmas Dinner Dance. Any member interested should contact David Haxon or John Hopwood. John told the members that Phil Chaney had lead the Film Group and Tony Fox had lead the Classic Film Group for many years but now had stepped down. By way of thanks, John presented them both with vouchers. A round of applause followed, from the members.
There being no speaker for this meeting, the raffle was drawn, the winning ticket, 783, was held by Brian Nicholls who won a voucher for JYSK.
The Meeting closed as 11:05
The next meeting will be held on 5th June 2017
Proposed as a true and accurate record of the meeting held on 1st May 2017
Proposed by …………………………..Seconded by…………………………….Date………………………….
Secretary of the Meeting ……………………..Titch Crossfield
Treasurers-Report-GM-01.05.17