NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2015
Summer party and AGM
FOAL celebrated
five years of existence this summer so we decided to hold the AGM and have a
party at the same time. Our friend, Françoise Sorro kindly offered us her
lovely house and garden as a venue, members brought along delicious food and
FOAL provided the drinks. We had a good turnout, this is obviously a good way
to persuade members to come to the AGM and we hope Françoise will allow us to
make this an annual event. Photos were posted on the Facebook page and the
website. The AGM went off without a hitch; sadly, Philip Claringbull stepped
down as treasurer, his place to be taken by Mike Davison. Vicki announced that
we had received a grant again this year, 500 euros to add to our war chest. We
have managed to harmonise dues so that everyone will be paying at the beginning
of January from now on.
Five years already and we have managed to survive and thrive in
spite of the numerous vicissitudes we have encountered. You all deserve a big thank you for your continuing support. As you know, our main
problem is premises. We have had four moves and a fifth in the offing (details below).
Our dossier has been at City Hall for three years, the mayor commissioned an
audit of associative premises (due to be handed in last October), but this
being an election year, he is not likely to be throwing anyone out even though
he knows that abusive use is being made of many of them. Currently, we are at
our friend Glynis Thomas’ house. She is moving at the end of September and has
kindly offered to keep the library. We won’t be going far, just two houses up
the square, the new address is 14 rue des Rouges Gorges 1st floor, up the
outside stairs. (The tram stop is Aiguelongue, you cross over Avenue
de la Justice de Castelnau and go down Rue de l’Hirondelle. The second street
on the right is Rue des Rouges Gorges which is actually a small square, easy
parking too). The move is planned for the end of September and the Saturday 3rd October opening is cancelled but then, as from 14th October, we
will be back to business as normal. Our hero, Philip Claringbull has
volunteered to do the move itself and board members will do the boxing and
reshelving. There is no way we can thank the Claringbulls enough for their help
and support.
Antigone des Associations
Saturday 13 September
We shall be sharing a stand with the BCA and American
Women’s Group. Stand 00597. It would
be good if you could come along for an hour or two to distribute flyers and
information about Foal. The 9-11 am slot is filled, but any time after that
would be a help.
Christmas Party
Katharine and Philip Claringbull have kindly offered to
hold the party at their flat, Place de la Chapelle Neuve and the date is Friday 18th December, so put this in your diaries.
There will be a deadline for signing up (details nearer the time). Of course,
we will hold our Famous RAFFLE and board members are hard at work finding
prizes. This is an important way for FOAL to raise funds (unfortunately lack of
space precludes us having our permanent book sale). The proceeds go straight
into the book acquistion fund.
Book Quiz
We are getting a little ahead of ourselves but a team is working on the
quiz which will probably be held in January as usual.
Just a reminder that we have boxes in the library for CDs and DVDs, so
don’t forget to bring along any you might want to offload (another way for FOAL
to raise funds as we can’t hold the permanent book sale due to lack of space).
