At the end of 2023 U3A Calpe was in crisis with too few volunteers for the committee and no president (after our previous president, Wendy Down, retired), a situation that called into question our very survival as an association. However, Dorothy Warner accepted to become our president at the Annual General Meeting and others joined the committee. Clive Dean took over as groups coordinator, following Jim Standan, our previous Group Leader, who had to step down due to a severe illness, and Gareth Jones went to the UK to work. In the autumn, Shirley Forster began organising events and, in the autumn took over from Freda Coasdell as travel coordinator.
Each month, except August, we held a general/coffee meeting on a Friday morning with great success. The first events were held at Lafma, but in the spring, we were no longer allowed to use their premises, so we moved to Yodel.
In January, there was the annual working lunch for our group leaders and committee members, just as a small “thank you” for their commitment and hard work during the year and to discuss various issues, giving the Committer a chance to hear their views. The group activities are the backbone of U3A, and without the efforts of our group leaders, there wouldn’t be an association.
In March, we visited the Valor chocolate factory and museum in Villajoyosa. In April, our visit to the Brouwhoeve Brewery & Distillery in Benissa was fully booked, but the brewery left us high and dry when they cancelled at the last moment. In May, we had a wine tasting at Oceana Restaurant, and then a concert by the Denia Rock Choir at the Tennis Club was cancelled by them. The Greek Islands Cruise did depart!
In June, we went on an excursion to L’Albarda Garden, Pedreguer and went Trip to see Cirque du Soleil — Alegría in Alicante in July.
August is always a quiet month with no official events, but we had an informal coffee morning at the Hotel Ifach, and the discussion proved fruitful with ideas for outings/events.
In September the Autumn season got underway with an excursion to the Island of Tabarca, near Alicante. In October, a group of us went on a Holiday in Majorca.
As usual, we held our Annual General Meeting in November this year at the Tennis Club. In November, there was also a day trip to Gandía Town and Ducal Palace.
To end the year, in December, we met for Coffee & Mulled Wine at the Tennis Club with the U3A Calpe Choir, led by its director, Mary Anderton, and the Christmas Party Night at the Gran Sol Hotel was full and a Christmas Break in Benidorm.
