November news

Since the last post was October 1st I had better start with news from the October meeting.

Fundraising and Social activities: We had an enjoyable lunch on the port at Fuengirola. As usual there was a raffle and that raised 41 euros . The trip to Selwo had to be cancelled. It seems that in practice we have a cost limit we must work to and the trip at 40 euros a head was just too much. Later on I shall post about our trip for November and the cost target there is 33 euros. If you look in the Costa del Sol News a similar commercial (but obviously not as good trip) is twice as much.

We discussed arrangements for our Christmas Bazaar and if you have a bottle or some item suitable for the tombola lurking at the back of a cupboard - or standing proudly somewhere prominent is OK too - we would love to have it.

Then we came to the Theatre History Booklet. Good progress has been made, we were told, in its preparation and it is on target for a launch at the end of November. More later.

During October our big fundraiser was the raffle we held during the run of Cabaret. It isn't a popular task to sell tickets for raffles but a willing team did a fantastic job with the help of all who bought tickets. We were overwhelmed with the result as we sold 1602.50 euros worth of tickets. With the cost of the prize and the tickets taken off there was 1500 euros left for our funds. Thank you so much for all the support that there was for this effort. We will be repeating the exercise and hope that we can continue to make a very significant contribution from this activity.
I am sure our efforts were helped by the fact that this was a superb production. I haven't heard anything but praise for the performances. Another Peter Mitchell triumph.

So to our November meeting. This time our Fundraising/Social looked to the future only. So get the diary out and mark off November 19th for our trip to the other Granada. Already bookings are so good that we are at break even point so there aren't too many places left for what should be a great day out. I am jealous that I can't go as we have the dress rehearsal of Habeas Corpus that day. I will post some more details for this trip as soon as I can tear myself away from the script and the trauma of learning lines. On December 17th we will have our Christmas Lunch at El Brujo restaurant. We've been there before and were very well looked after. Details from the desk which include how to get there - it's not difficult.

The Anniversary Booklet of the history of the theatre during its 25 years was the next item on our agenda. Since it was originally proposed that FOTA should sponsor the booklet the cost has risen and there were some concerns expressed at the October meeting. By November this had eased a bit as advertising had contributed 480 euros with the likelihood of more to come. Sweelan Ford told us that she hoped that individual sponsors would come forward and immediately the following agreed to sponsor the booklet for 100 euros each: David Radford, Gina Foster, Pat Suart and Norma Wilson to be followed by Sweelan herself saying she would do the same. With even modest estimates of sales this means that the Booklet is unlikely to take anything from Fota's funds.
Enough for now. See you at the FOTA desk on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. And don't forget to book your ticket for Habeas Corpus