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.



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