ANTIGONE DES ASSOCIATIONS 4TH October 2015

We were at the Antigone des Associations today, a good few people seemed interested and signed up for more info. Our Mayor went round the stands shaking hands so Vicki shook his and brandished yesterday's Midi Libre article about the Library (still looking for premises) in front of him. He knows about us and once they have analysed and acted upon the audit they commissioned about associative premises, which has finally been handed in, there may be hope for us so keep your fingers crossed. I have tried to copy the article but it came out very small so I am not sure you will be able to read it

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NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2015

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 18^th 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.

 

CDs and DVDs  

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).

The new catalogue (Author Alphabetical Order) is now online. To download it, just click Here.
Also available : Alpha Order by Title Here.

Click on “télécharger vers navigateur” (download to browser) and then on “ouvrir”

SOME MORE PHOTOS OF HAPPY MEMBERS AT THE PARTY

Here are a few more photos of the party

AGM AND 5th ANNIVERSARY PARTY 20 June 2015

We thought it would be a good idea to combine the AGM and our 5th anniversay party. One of our members kindly allowed us to hold the event in her lovely garden. Lots of members and Board members turned up, bringing along some delicious food and FOAL provided plenty of wine and soft drinks. The AGM doesn't usually attract such a large gathering and the party might have to become an annual event...! The weather was glorious, we managed to get the event in before the heatwave!
After a short meeting, Vicki reported on the past year's activities and our (unfortunately resigning) Treasurer, Phil Claringbull, reported on the Financial situation, pretty healthy. We spend roughly the equivalent of the amounts raised from dues and various events (quiz, play-reading, raffle) on new books. Library visitors will have noticed that the new, very recent, publications come onto the shelves regularly.
The photos, taken by our friend, Marcel Darmon, will give you an idea of the event.

1. One of the tables
2. Our hosts
3. The Treasurer and the Secretary having a chat
4. The anniversary candle
5. Getting started
6. the Prez

Summer reading

The new books for the summer will be in the Library on 10th June in time for your summer reading
Another good selection of up to date publications which makes our Library so exciting

FOAL BOOK ORDER JUNE 2015

A Spool of blue thread                                              Anne Tyler

The Upstairs wife                                                      Rafia Zakavia

The big seven                                                            Jim Harrison

The harder they come                                                T C Boyle

The kindness                                                             Polly Samson

Hunters in the dark                                                   Lawrence Osborne

Look who’s back                                                       Timur Vermes

The surfacing                                                             Cormac James

A god in ruins                                                           Kate Atkinson

The Son                                                                     Jo Nesbo

Have you been good ?                                              Vanessa Nicolson

Keeping an eye open                                                 Julian Barnes

The infidel stain                                                        M J Carter

The shock of the fall                                                 Nathan Filer   PB

Artic Summer                                                            Damon Galgut

Mercy                                                                        Jussi Adler-Olsen

The Green Road                                                        Anne Enright

Lila                                                                            Marilyn Robinson

The American lover                                                   Rose Tremain

Outline                                                                      Rachel Cusk

The Heat of Betrayal                                                 Douglas Kennedy

Spring Newsletter 2015

SPRING NEWSLETTER 2015

Play reading

Another successful Foal evening with an excellent turnout. Many thanks to the people who made it possible, Katharine Claringbull for directing, Caroline Di Miceli and Adam Gauci for taking the two roles, Philippe Marchand, our organiser par excellence and Phil Claringbull.

Thank you

We forgot to thank you in the last newsletter for the generous contributions to the raffle at Christmas, the quiz and the play reading. (208€ for the former, 200€ for the latter)

The monies we raise at these events go towards the purchase of books and into the war chest for when we get permanent premises and will need to equip them.

 Party and AGM  20th June for FOAL members

 I hope this date is already in your diaries, it is a big event for FOAL ; 5 years already despite all the vicissitudes we have encountered, we are still going from strength to strength.

The party will take place at 256 rue des Grèzes in Montpellier. You are invited for 11.30 so that we can hold a brief Annual General Meeting before moving on to the festivities.

To get to the venue which is a large garden and swimming pool kindly provided by Françoise Sorro : Rue des Grèzes is a street just opposite Celleneuve. To get to the Rue des Grezes the best thing is to take l'avenue de la Liberté and follow the direction La Paillade / Millau. You go past le Géant Casino which is on the right (going towards Millau). Keep on going a little further but you cannot turn left when you see the Lidl. You need to turn right as if you were entering Celleneuve to be able to cross l'Avenue de la Liberté. There is a sort of  half circle that enables you to do this. The Lidl is just on the corner. You go up this road and Françoise Sorro’s house is 256 metres from the bottom on the right. It has a white gate. Bus n°7direction La Martelle, get off on the last stop but one and the stop is practically in front of the house.

Deadline for signing up : 20th May to foal@dbmail.com When you sign up, please indicate whether you will be bringing sweet or savory dishes; FOAL will be providing the drinks and there will be music and maybe dancing ? It goes without saying that spouses are welcome.

 CD and DVD sale

We don’t have enough space in our current premises to hold the permanent book sale but a recent clear-out of my CDs gave me an idea. I don’t really want to get up at 5am to go to a flea maket and sell them and I thought we could have two or three boxes of CDs which we would sell for 2.50€ apiece to raise money for the book fund. I have already taken mine to the library and maybe you could also do some spring cleaning and bring along CDs you don’t listen to any more. We can also do this with DVD’s

Treasurer

The association is looking for a new treasurer. This is a crucial role but certainly not as daunting as you might think. Apart from the day to day bookkeeping (which is reduced to a minimum in a small association like ours, especially as we will have harmonised dues at the beginning of January 2016), the only other task is the preparation of a profit and loss account and a balance sheet for the AGM and the grant application. Former treasurers and myself will gladly give advice about this. We would rather have someone who is prepared to do this on a longish term basis (a few years) because ; one, practice makes perfect and two, changing the treasurer within the association entails quite a lot of red tape which we would prefer to avoid.

If none of you feels up to the task, maybe you know someone who would be happy to do so and become, if only nominally, a member of the board.  Please send an email to foal@dbmail.com about this.