Thursday, December 13, 2007

Congratulations but sadness gloom and despondency

SALVA held their AGM last night and with Elsa retiring, a new president was elected. The vote was between FOTA President Gina Foster and Geoffrey Bennets and by a narrow margin of two votes aGina was chosen. So it is congratulations to her but misery for us as Gina has to resign as our President. We have a Vice President in David Radford who will be taking over and our next committee meeting will have to decide how we re organise. Meanwhiile, of course, howver sad we feel that Gina is leaving us we are delighted for her and know that she will be totally supportive of our efforts in the future.
SALVA's AGM was also noticeable for the announcement by the Treasurer John Mack that after 18 years he will not be seeking re-election at the next AGM and would hope to help ease a successor in before then.
With Elsa retiring completely there was a vacancy on the Board and this was filled by Eddie Barnett.
There has been some uncertainty in the recent past over the lease at the theatre and the Board told us that a five year renewal had been agreed. This is a great relief after the tremendous
expenditure of the past few years particularly in getting the electrical supply sorted out. We were told that all official documentation on that is due to be completed in the next few days and with the theatre in reasonable shape and the bank acoount heading towards full health we can be confident about the immediate future.

Monday, December 10, 2007

December update

The camera is still away for the third time this year so no photos yet of the Ronda trip and there were no excuses for skiving off during the Christmas Bazaar this year to take some to put here. The Christmas Lunch is still to come this Thursday. Last chance to book is on Wednesday. We hope to have about 50 there and with both candidates for the SALVA presidential election the night before, promising to come there will be a chance to speak with the new President. Of course you may prefer the dancing girls. And I have been promised the food is good too.

There is no news yet of how much we raised last Saturday at the bazaar but I hope that I can post that soon. We were very lucky with the weather. When I got up there was a very strong wind and as I drove over the top of the A7 the gale was buffeting the traffic but somehow Fuengirola missed that and we had both calm and sunshine. There were rehearsals taking place for the panto and for 'The Importance of being Earnest' which helped swell the numbers on the forecourt so it was a nice busy morning. Many thanks to all who helped and to all who came to buy. I hope you think you got good value from the morning. To show how highly regarded we are as soon as the car got to the top of the A7 on the way home the gales started again!

We had a committee meeting last week and were able to confirm that there will be a trip to Priego de Cordoba on February 21st next year and then a three day trip to Jaen on March 25th,26th and 27th to take in the wonderful Renaissance towns of Baeza and Ubeda. I'll do a little research and post information about these towns shortly but they all figure pretty heavily in the publicity and promotion of Andalucia as they are so special.
If I don't get around to posting again beforehand the whole committee of FOTA wish you all a very Happy Christmas.