Sunday, January 31, 2010

Almond Blssom trip - February 18th


Our first trip of 2010 is to the delightful Genal Valley, part of the Serriana de Ronda, rightly prized as a National treasure in Spain.






This winter we have had one of our wettest in memory and rivers and lakes will be looking their best. The plant life will have benefited enormously too from winter rains so we can hope - as far as nature ever lets us - that the mountains, hillsides and valleys will be full of blossom and flowers. This usually encourages wildlife too and the valley is home to rare eagles and vultures, to deer and wild boar.
Around the white villages, and there are 16 of them in the valley, there are orchards with oranges, lemons, limes, plums and sweet chestnuts. These are used in the production of marmalades, preserves and sweetmeats. You will be allowed to buy!
So come and join us. The trip as always includes
  1. a stop for tostado and coffee
  2. lunch
  3. Gina
We set off from outside the Solbank near the municipal market at 9.00 and hope to get you bak by 6 or 7 in the evening.
Will you see a Griffon Vulture?
  Find out on February 18th

Monday, January 11, 2010

Next Play

WARNING:

When I saw this play during its West End run I almost left in the interval!

My side was aching so much from laughing I wasn't sure I could manage another hour.












'Behind the scenes' plays are always popular. This one concerns a cast of professional but decidedly not good, actors who can't quite get it right to begin with but obviously manage it because the second part is set three months into the run of the show. By now they are beginning to get on each others nerves and you see what happens backstage before the audience see the smiles and sincerity out front. Finally we see them well into the run when confusion reigns where there ought to be smoothness.
It is really difficult acting an incompetent actor and Peter Brooks has assembled a cast of Salon regulars whose abilities of course bear no relationship to the characters they play, being famous for the sweetness, light and harmony they dispense wherever they go in our theatre.
Dates: Friday 22nd to Wednesday 27th January 2010 (so one extra night on the usual run of a play.
Box Office: 952 475 542

And don't forget the next FOTA lunch is on January 14th.

Friday, January 08, 2010

January Committee meeting

But first let me wish you a Happy New Year. For most of our members, whether in Spain or England (or even those who went to Florida - did you see those pictures on the news and You Tube of frozen iguanas falling out of trees?) the year hasn't begun too well weather wise. For us on the Costa del Sol at least all the rain means plenty of water in the summer but I am pretty sure that we are grateful not to be facing the snow and ice that those of you in England are dealing with.

We had a report from Sweelan Ford to tell us that we have sold 146 copies of the anniversary booklet and with freebies for the sponsors that only left 88 copies. The proposal put to us was to finance another 200 copies and this was agreed. It means that we have to sell 150 of these to break even so a total of 240 still to go. The anniversary party will be in June so there is time to shift them. If you want a copy then David Radford is in the theatre most days and can easily be persuaded to part with one in exchange for five euros.

Feedback on the Christmas Lunch was excellent and it seems the recession helped matters by limiting numbers, making for a better atmosphere. Next year we intend to keep to around 40 but fear not there will be plenty of warning so you can book. We continue with our usual lunches from February 4th when we return to Casa Rustica. Our last visit there was a great success and we intend it to be our venue for the rest of this season. We are organising a guest speaker and we hope that our first will be announced soon. Unfortunately I have to say that because our arranged speaker was to be Barrie Suart but he suffered a heart attack during his Christmas visit to England and can't fly back. We all wish him well and hope to see him soon.

Our trips have always offered incredible value for money and although it is getting more and more difficult to keep the prices really low a comparison with what is offered by travel agents will show that there is real value there still and the next one which we are calling Almond Blossom and Villages is no exception. I'll post a little more later but having been on a previous visit to the Genal Valley and the villages of Manilva and Gaucin I can assure you that a good day is in prospect. The suggestion in the press is that the recent heavy rains will produce some wonderful blossom and wild flowers and with our usual stop for coffee and tostado and lunch included 27 euros is a bargain. The date for your diary is February 18th

Future trips will be to Grazalmena and the cheese factory and to Guadix. Details later.

Our finances continue to be healthy. In December we handed over 1000 euros to the theatre and we confidently expect that this month we can hand over 3 to 4000 more. Much of this comes from the sales of our cards and the raffles and for that we must thank all who buy.

Finally I would like to ask for help. I want to make the blog more interesting and the FOTA noticeboard outside the theatre can sometimes be a bit boring. I don't get to all of our events so if I am not there (or even if I am) and you have taken some good pictures which I can use please let me know. You can e mail them to me at grahamcherry@hotmail.com. It is getting tricky getting good photos of places we are going to where copyright isn't an issue so a good start would be any nice Almond Blossom or ones of Manilva or Gaucin. If you send them I shall assume permission to publish or use them in publicity. Thanks.