As many of you will know we celebrated our Association’s 20th anniversary at our General Assembly on September 3rd. This was a lovely occasion, with a full house and a great atmosphere. You will find a detailed account of the celebration plus photographs later in this newsletter.
I opened the meeting by recognising the vision of our founders and the commitment of all those who have helped to run the Association in the past 20 years, through both good and more difficult times such as the Covid pandemic. I was also delighted to present small gifts to some of our members who were there at the beginning and remain actively involved to this day.
One well known Swiss luxury watch maker uses the advertising tag line ‘you never own a Patek Philippe, you look after it for the next generation’. The same could be said for our u3a. We want to enjoy everything the Association offers now but also need it to remain strong for the sake of the generations who will follow us.
Arguably this is especially important for the u3a Vall del Pop because of our unique Goodwill team and the strong relationships and high expectations that it has created in our beautiful community.
Unfortunately, managing succession and ensuring our continuity has been made more difficult by Brexit and the lower numbers of British expatriates of an active age now arriving in our area. We will therefore have to work hard on these aspects in the coming months and years.
However, today I prefer to focus on our many successes and the good fortune we all have in being part of our wonderful Association and to say thank you to everyone who has brought us this far, either by helping to run our u3a or by participating actively in the life of the Association.
Best wishes
Chris