University of the Third Age Moraira-Teulada
Held at the Salon GL, Avienda Mediteraneo 32, Teulada
Prue Jackson opened the meeting and thanked everyone for venturing out on what was another cold and wet day.
She welcomed Annette Warr and Paul Sankey to their roles on the Committee as Treasurer and Secretary respectively and ran through the emergency exits available to members in the event of a problem.
Synopsis of the minutes of the meeting held on 7th March 2022
Tony Old gave a synopsis of the minutes of the last meeting which was also the Annual General Meeting of the Moraira – Teulada U3A. The full minutes had been posted onto the website, approval was proposed by Mary Snell, seconded by David Haxon and approved by members via a show of hands.
Presidents Address
Prue observed that the bad weather continued but was forecast to improve in the near future and hopefully this would lead to more activity around Moraira which at the moment was very quiet. The Group Leaders dinner held on the Friday of the previous week had not been so quiet and 50 people enjoyed the event at Satari’s restaurant in Moraira.
Membership continues to grow and presently stood at around 1360 with more renewals having been made today.
There had been an event on the morning of April 1st entitled “Our future in Spain: the next chapter” put together by the Town Hall, the British Consulate and the charity, HELP of Marina Alta. She was a aware that a number of our members had attended and hoped that they had found it informative.
Following a suggestion at the last meeting that a financial donation should be made to aid the problems being experienced in the Ukraine this had been confirmed as not being allowed by our Constitution. However a Concert for the Ukraine would now go ahead at the Senietta on May 10th 2022 with entertainment being provided (free of charge) by “The Entertainers”. Prue asked that everyone spread the word about this event with tickets now being available to both members and non-members.
The town Hall is organising a Europe Day celebration on 7th May and our U3A has been asked by them to contribute food for consumption on the day. Prue felt that it would be good for our reputation locally if we could put together and host a good stall. She therefore appealed to members to make a cake or biscuits and bring them along on the day.
Finally Prue had hoped that Helen Chapman, our new Care Co-ordinator would be able to attend today’s meeting but this had not proved possible. She fulfils the same role for HELP but would not be able to pick up the Support role which would have to be put on hold for now.
Treasurers Report
Annette Warr reported for the first time as follows:
- There were 28,860 euros of funds in bank and cash with 26,600 euros available net of creditors. It was important to note however that within this are 10,000 euros held as a contingency reserve.
- She asked for anyone who is due a refund for cancelled events to please come forward as we are still holding 1,870 euros for trips and 210 euros for the Christmas Dinner. If you are owed money we will need your bank details to arrange the refund.
- To date 13,600 euros had been received for renewal and new member subscriptions.
- First quarter expenditure (excluding spend on self funding meals and trips) was 3,320 euros. This is an expected increase of 1,200 euros over the same period last year, when there were no face to face meetings or group activities taking place.
Overall Annette considered that the finances are in a healthy position with no concerns to be raised.
Group and Travel Reports
In the absence of a Group Leader for this area Prue reported that most groups are looking for new members, most notably the golf group who would be presenting at the May General Meeting.
- The activity in the Mosaics Group was outlined by Mary Snell who observed that the last presentation by this group was five years ago. The group will bring a display to the next meeting and she gave an illustration of what we could expect to see.
- On April 11th the Film Group were presenting the film Radioactive with Rosamund Pike starring in the true story of Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her Nobel Prize winning work that changed the world. Although the Group Leader had returned to the UK temporarily a deputy was in place and arrangements would therefore proceed as expected.
- David Haxon reported from the Travel Group where the trip to Valencia on May 26th was now full with only a few tickets remaining for the trip to Gandia on June 20th.
Planning was currently taking place for trips during the rest of the year and for those ion 2023.
Social Events
Tony Old confirmed the arrangements for the Queens Platinum Celebration, which is a special party in the park at Font Santa on Friday 3rd June. He also confirmed that from today tickets were available for both members and non-members.
Helpers would be needed to set up (around 9.00 AM) and to close to down (around 16.30) the event and volunteers would be most welcome.
Membership Liaison
Steve Higham reported that he had nothing to report.
Any other Business
No issues were raised and therefore the formal meeting was closed at 11.00.
Healthy eating and how to reduce calories
Following the conclusion of the formal part of the meeting around 50 members were treated to a demonstration by Eileen Haxon on this subject. For those members who like curries and pies Keema Pie brings both of these together and the smell as she cooked the dish was mouth watering – for those who like curries of course!
Added to this Eileen prepared a Coronation Salad which was sampled by members at the end of the demonstration.
President – Prue Jackson …………………………………
Secretary – Paul Sankey …………………………………..
Dated ………………………………