Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Not enough pictures and our best trip yet?

Make a note in your diary for May 14th when we have a trip to the Patios of Cordoba. This is a taste of what you will see:



Each year there are fears that the dedicated Cordobans will be a dying breed and the patios will decline (but when has that stopped a proper Yorkshire man from growing leeks?).
The patios are only open for a short time and that is why we have an earlier date for our trip than is usual. And the best part is that the trip with a stop for tostado and coffee and lunch included is only 35 euros.
That isn't all of course. Cordoba has the Mezquita
which Charles V thought one of the most beautiful buildings in Europe - and he was ruler of most of Europe at the time - and a splendid Arab Palace and Baths. The Roman Bridge is unshrouded from its restoration and the Jewish quarter has intriguing alleyways and a stunning square which is just lived in by ordinary Cordobans. You will want to go back if you haven't been before.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A View From The Bridge

There have been some really good productions this season at the theatre and we can all be proud of the work that has been done but those of you who did not see A View From The Bridge may be kicking yourselves by now. (I declare an interest as I had a very small part in it). Comments on the production (directed by Matt Murphy whose first production here it was) were unanimous that it was the best, or very nearly so, play seen at the Salon. The play has been invited to the Festival at Dundalk in Ireland and will be seen there on May 30th. Naturally we are all very excited about this and really looking forward to it. If you want to see what the fuss is all about there will be a final rehearsal for the trip , provisionally on May 27th. I don't know what the ticketing arrangements will be, if any, but an audience would be nice and even without the terrific set that John Pyne put up I think you would have a memorable evening at the theatre.

April News

The Committee meeting at the beginning of the month began with a sad moment. Lynn Halliday sent in a letter of resignation from the Board of FOTA. Now that she has been elected to the Board of SALVA they have told her she must resign from FOTA and we shall miss her. Fotunately she will not be far away and remains committed to what we do. As Lynn had been Vice Prsident of FOTA a replacement was needed and we are lucky that Pauline Naylor accepted the position. Lynn had also been membership secretary and Helen Tomlinson agreed to do this.

Our Trips have been very successful this year. The last one was fully booked and a bigger coach had to be ordered. The current trip to Tarifa and Baelo Claudia is full (though if you want to go we shall be at the desk tomorrow -April 22nd - in case of cancellations) and already some bookings are in for the trip to see the patios of Cordoba. After that we have a visit to the Farmer's Market at Álora and a picnic at the Lakes which this year are quite full (I hear a groan from winter visitors but we did need the rain). Bright ideas are needed for trips for next season. All in all a big thank you to Gina for organising these.

The next discussion point was a bit tricky. Sweelan Ford offered at the last SALVA AGM to prepare a booklet on the history of the theatre to mark the 25th anniversary. SALVA agreed to this but didn't offer any financial backing. The information has been gathered together and Barry Suart is editing it but the finance for the project was not in place. The selling price of the booklet will be 5 euros and it will need 300 coies sold to break even. Some Committee members could not see a market, even at the most optimistic, of more than a 100 which would leave a loss of a thousand euros. By a majority the Board of FOTA agreed to back the project and make every effort to ensure that sufficient copies would be sold. So now let's hope that we can all persuade as many people as possible to buy the booklet when it comes out in September.

Another 1000 euros was handed to SALVA for the theatres reserves. This makes the total donations from FOTA for this season 23000 euros.

Our final item is date for your diary and is the AGM on June 3rd. By rotation Graham Cherry, Pat Suart, Helen Young and Norma Wilson will be retiring and will be standing for re-election. It would be a great help if any further names could be passed to the President (David Radford) or Secretary (Graham Cherry).