University of the Third Age Moraira-Teulada
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on
5th March 2018 at Salon 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 6th March 2017.
John Hopwood made the First Call for the AGM at 10:15am as this must happen half an hour before the Elections, in case there is an insufficient proportion of membership present to hold an AGM.
John welcomed all members to the meeting, then asked everybody to switch off their mobile phones and confirmed the security checks had been done and advised the emergency procedure in case of evacuation of the building.
David Haxon read out the synopsis of the minutes of the 5th February 2018 meeting. The full minutes had been posted on the web-site and were proposed by Frank Lee and Seconded by Sue Hopwood.
Presidents Address: John thanked the Committee and the Group Leaders for all their hard work and said how pleased he was to see so many Group Leaders at the meeting, so important for the members wishing to learn about and join Groups. The number of U3A members stood at around 1,900 already, which was an increase on last year at the same time. John went on to say it was amazing to think Moraira-Teulada U3A was probably the largest U3A in Spain and must be due to the Groups and the Leaders making it a popular U3A. A welcome round of applause from the members. Although comments, during the year, had been received saying as new members they had not been made welcome at some events, John felt this may be something everybody may have felt at one time, as he and his wife Sue had, but that soon passes as time goes by. John thanked everybody for making his time as President so enjoyable.
Reports
Treasurer – Carin read out details of the Accounts and confirmed the Balance sheets, Audit and Report had been posted on the Web-site. Carin explained the expenditure for the Liability Insurance and the purchase of ear audio systems, mainly for use by the Travel Group. Any questions regarding the posted reports would be answered at the next Monthly General Meeting.
Travel Group – Carol advised that all details of the planned trips were on the display boards in the meeting room, as well as on the web-site. The Day trip to Elche was full, but anyone interested should put their names on the reserve list and if sufficient numbers, a larger bus would be arranged to accommodate all. Carol also mentioned the Italian trip, planned for 6th to 31st May 2019, a 26 day, 25 night trip, taking in the Amalfi Coast, Adriatic Coast and Tuscany, together with 4 nights in Rome. The approximate cost will be € 2.050,00. A deposit of € 250 per person is required. Other trips for 2019 will be announced next month. Carol thanked all the Travel team and desk helpers.
Group Coordinator – Prue advised that since the sad passing of Trevor Kemp, the Photographic Group and the Drama Group had new leaders, thanks to both for standing in. The film Group is doing well, with a Jack Nicholson film “The Bucket List” on 26th March. Art/History Group have a talk on 12th March “Exploration for Oil and Gas; How Geologists Find the Black Stuff”. Prue said this was her last report at Group Coordinator, as Lynn Clark was taking over, Prue would be taking over a new position on the Committee.
Membership/Committee Liaison – There was nothing to report.
Cultural Arts Events – Hugh said several events were on during the next few Months, all of which can be found on the web-site. He briefly mentioned, The Arts Society Marina Alta presents The Sistine Chapel Cracked! By Daniel Evans on Thursday 5th April, as well as the Costa Blanca Male Voice Choir performing at the Caves in Benidoleig on Friday 15th June and Saturday 16th June. There is to be a meeting at La Senieta on 28th March where the Major would be talking about all the things going on in Moraira and Teulada. The meeting starts at 6pm (18:00) Hugh ended by saying thank you to John his time as President, as well as to the out-going Committee.
Any Other Business: Max Maxwell told the Members that Jan Adams, who was in Australia at the present time, had sent a message for John saying thank you for being an outstanding President and best looking, but welcomed David who was also good looking. Eileen Haxon said, following on from the Speaker at the last meeting, Buster Smith, who spoke on the importance of First Aid, if anyone would like to attend a course arranged by him, they should contact Eileen in the first instance.
End of Year Reports for 2017: Carin read out the end of year Accounts for the U3A and Carol read out the Travel accounts. The U3A Accounts were proposed by Colin Donadio and Seconded by Ann Colclough and the Travel Accounts were proposed by Sue Donadio and Seconded by Eileen Haxon.
John gave a presentation to Ian Brown, the Auditor for the U3A Accounts as well as the Travel Accounts, with many thanks for his help. A round of applause from the members followed.
John made the Second Call for the AGM at 11:15
Although John had thanked the Committee for all their hard work in his President´s Address, he reiterated his thanks and then introduced Brian Nicholls as the Election Officer.
Brian said there were no contested posts so the procedure was quite straight forward and only required a show of hands for the votes to be registered. If it could be seen that there was a large majority of votes for the nominees, he would not call for votes against. Some of the outgoing Committee had agreed to re-stand for election so Brian asked the members if they were happy to vote as before and they indicated that they were, this meant that a show of hands to register the vote FOR was all that was required.
The vote would be in two parts. Part one would be for the four executive posts which have to be voted on individually. The executive positions are those Committee Members who are legally required and identified for a specific role. Part two is for the remaining posts and can be voted for en bloc. These are Committee posts which are created to fulfil management tasks as required. There were no questions arising from the procedure.
The outgoing Committee Members for 2017 who are either retiring or re-standing for election are as follows:
President John Hopwood
Vice President David Haxon
Treasurer Carin Derksen
Secretary Christine Crossfield (Titch)
Deputy Secretary Margaret Roberts
Deputy Treasurer Steve Higham
Membership Secretary Pat Clarke
Travel Group Treasurer Carol Mantle
Group Coordinator Prue Jackson
Deputy Group Coordinator Elaine Ross
Speakers Liaison Eileen Haxon
New Members Liaison Shirley Tuckey
Press Officer Eric Taylor
Discount Officer Jayne Wintle
Social Events Officer Steve Higham
Membership/Committee Liaison Prue Jackson
The Election
Part One: The following nominees stood individually and were voted for separately.
The President – David Haxon was the nominee. A unanimous vote in favour of David
Vice President – Prue Jackson was the nominee. A unanimous vote in favour of Prue
Secretary – Christine Crossfield was the nominee. A unanimous vote in favour of Christine (Titch)
Treasurer – Carin Derksen was the nominee. A unanimous vote in favour of Carin.
Part Two: Brian read out the nominees and positions for the rest of the Committee posts and asked the new nominees to stand and make themselves known to the members.
Deputy Secretary – Janice Wilson
Membership Secretary – Pat Clarke
Travel Group Treasurer – Carol Mantle
Group Coordinator – Lynn Clark
New Members Liaison – Shirley Tuckey
Deputy Treasurer – Steve Higham
Speakers Liaison – Eileen Haxon
Press Officer – John Hopwood
Membership/Committee liaison – Dorothy Garrett (Dot)
Discount Officer – Jayne Wintle
Deputy Group Coordinator and Social Events Officer positions are pending.
Brian called for a show of hands for all these positions to be voted for en bloc; there was a unanimous vote in favour of all the Nominees.
Brian said that the voting procedure was now concluded and asked if there were any matters arising from the election, there were none. Brian then handed the meeting to the new President David Haxon.
David thanked Brian for conducting the Election so efficiently, as well as thanking John for his support and friendship, especially over the past two years. David went on to say that when he and his wife Eileen had joined the Moraira-Teulada U3A in 2011, it was already a thriving organisation with several hundred members, but now it has grown into what is believed to be the largest U3A in Spain. Already the numbers this year are approximately 10% up on last year´s record number. What an achievement.
Although mentioned on other occasions, David repeated that without the many volunteers, both Committee and all the group Leaders who give up their spare time, this U3A would not be the thriving organisation it is today.
When joining the U3A David said they had the intention of simply to join various groups and activities, but how quickly things changed. They soon became more involved and became Committee members 5 years ago. David said he had heard, on many occasions that members joining the U3A had completely transformed their lives in Spain, which he could certainly endorse. The 10th Anniversary of Moraira-Teulada U3A will be celebrated on the 30th May at El Canor and is expected to be a most memorable evening.
David reminded all the members about the importance of signing on to the Padron for the future development and upkeep of the Town and hoped they have read about this in the local press. Finally David hoped all members would continue to enjoy any Group they joined as well as the excellent travel outings and all the other various activities available. David then thanked everyone for attending the AGM and hopefully, for their continued support.
David then asked for the two Committee members standing down to come to the front desk – Marg Roberts and John Hopwood. Marg and her husband Don, joined the U3A 10 years ago and soon became more involved with Marg taking the post of Secretary and later Deputy Secretary. David said Marg knows a lot of history of the U3A as well as Moraira. David said he often shared an interest with John, wine and music, just to mention a few. John and Marg were both given gifts of appreciation, and received a round of applause.
David asked Ann Colclough to draw the raffle, the winning ticket number 477 was held by Pauline Griffiths who won a voucher for JYSK to the value of € 50.
The AGM closed at 11:30
The next monthly meeting to be held on 2nd April 2018
Proposed as a true and accurate record of the meeting held on 5th March 2018
Proposed by…………………………………..Seconded by……………………………………Date……………………………
Secretary of the meeting…………….Titch Crossfield