What a treat we had! Our long time member Peter Atkinson and his wife Gillian flew all the way from their new home in Toronto, Canada so that Peter could help us celebrate our 20th Anniversary year by giving us a ‘talk about the talks’!
Peter took us down memory lane, reprising various talks that he had presented over the many years he has been a member.
He reminded us of the following topics covered; public entertainment in Roman Spain; tour the Alhambra in Granada; explore the symbolism Picasso’s Guernica; dip into the history of Anglo-French relations; and take a bike ride across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
Not all of us would have been present at these talks but it was interesting and enlightening to hear some snippets of those we missed. Some of the talks were recorded during the pandemic 2020-2021 when we couldn’t meet in person but held ‘virtual’ meetings on Zoom – learning a lot of new IT techniques along the way (all in keeping with the U3A ethos!).
You can see these as videos via the History Group page HERE
Reports from the Committee
President: Claude reported that today’s meeting is one of several celebrating our 20th Anniversary year and the next event will be at the Isla Bonita, Bar and Restaurant, Calle Cannes, 1 (next to the Go Karting centre in the Arenal area) on Wednesday 25 June from 6-8pm with a buffet and drink included in the subsidised entrance price of 11€. Advertising to be issued shortly.
Treasurer: Henrik assured us that despite subsidising the previous anniversary event on 30 April held at Salones Carrasco, we still had 15.000€ in the funds and therefore enough to subsidise the next event with some left over to take us through the rest of the year.
Membership Secretary: Jim reported that we now have 1,081 members of whom 126 are new this year.
Groups Coordinator: Mike told us that we are likely to reach 50 groups, up from 47 earlier in the year, with the formation of another Petanque group and a Painting group. He reminisced about the worse moment in his memory of the early days of U3A Javea. That was when he was asked to permit a speaker to tell members about the voting system in Spain. The General Meetings at that time took place in the Social Centre. He received a strongly worded letter from a Town Councillor telling him he was not permitted to organise a political rally in Council premises! That was the rigger that saw us meeting thereafter for many years at the Parador.
Vice President: Margaret thanked members for electing her to this post and reported that the first of our 20th Anniversary events held on 30th April at Salones Carrasco had been a huge success both with entertainment and the wine and tapas afterwards. She introduced Gillian Flaxman as her successor to the Secretary role, commenting that Gillian had been a teacher and Head Mistress in schools in Spain with a distinguished career spanning 40 years.
Secretary: Gillian thanked members for electing her as Secretary and said that she was learning from Margaret about the role and hoped she would serve the U3A Javea well for several years to come.
