General Meeting Minutes – 6th October 2025

U3A Moraira- Teulada.

Minutes of the General Meeting held on 6th October 2025

Welcome and Reminder of safety procedures.

Margaret March welcomed all attendees and pointed out the exits from the room should an emergency occur. It was also mentioned that there were several First Responders in the room should anyone fall ill.

Synopsis of the General Meeting held on 2nd June 2025.

Tony Old gave a synopsis of the last general meeting. Approval of the minutes was by a show of hands.

President’s Address

Margaret asked for ideas to improve attendance at general meetings and coffee mornings.

An enjoyable meeting to welcome 15 new members has recently been held. Margaret March received a positive response from many others who were unable to attend, but would have liked to do so.

Treasurer’s Report.

Eileen Brown gave details of the bank balance at the end of September – 51,276€ in the bank. This includes money for travel group deposits and payments, the contingency fund and charity fund.

Subscriptions- The committee has proposed that existing members pay 10€ for 2 year membership- 2026/27. New members in 2026 would pay 10€ for 1 year. This was proposed by Tony Old, seconded by Ray Guise-Smith and approved by a show of hands.

Groups.

Healthy Walking – a gift was presented to Brian Cummins who has stepped down as group leader after 10 years in the role.

Walking Netball – interest has been shown in this new group and it is hoped it will start soon.

Travel

Eileen Brown explained that people wanting to go on travel trips must be members of U3A Moraira Teulada and guests can not be included unless all U3A members had been accommodated and there were spare places. Names of guests could be submitted to a reserve list.

Eileen then gave details of the trips planned for 2025/2026 which have places available :-

December – Alicante Outlet
January – Alicante Gastronomic

Planned trips not yet available to book:-

February – Valencia
Novelda
March – Cartagena.

Social Events.

Tony Old gave details of the Christmas Dinner Dance to be held at Salon Canor on Thursday 18th December. A special menu has been arranged and there will be dancing to Black Glitter. Details and booking form are available on the website.

Membership Liaison

Dennis Ainscough reported that he had nothing to report. There was a suggestion that he be available for members to approach at general meetings, sitting alongside the Group desks.

Any Other Business

David Haxon asked members for ideas to improve attendance at general meetings.

Eileen Haxon outlined some ideas to make general meetings more appealing :-

Group displays
Group Leaders to talk about their group to encourage people to join.
Cookery demonstration
Cake baking competitions
Stalls with items on display that members had made e.g. knitting, preserves etc.
Speakers – members to provide ideas of what would interest them.

Eileen pointed out that, for the most part, the people she was aiming her comments at were in fact not at the meeting, i.e. Group Leaders.

There was then a short discussion. The attendance of group leaders at meetings has declined because people use the website for information and to join groups. Lynn Radford Johnson felt that the opportunity for personal contact is important.

Coral Guise- Smith suggested a special email be sent about general meetings rather than being included in a newsletter.

Eileen Haxon gave details of the Christmas general meeting to be held on 1st December.

The meeting closed at 11am.

Candy Wright , President of Help of Marina Alta, then gave an enjoyable and informative presentation about the support and services provided by the organisation.

President – Margaret March. ……..…………………………………

Secretary – Carolyn Holley. ………………………………………..