From the President

 Dear all,

I would like to send a big thank you to all members who attended our Annual General Meeting at Club Sapphire on 4 September. It was an easy going affair as most of last year’s members were being re-elected. Only Carole Thomas, our Librarian, retired from the committee to focus on her other commitment The Garden Club. We are sorry to see Carole leave, as she had some good ideas to promote our Alliance. We are pleased to have received two nominations from the floor - Rhonda Rix to the committee position of librarian and Ian Showman to general member of the committee. I would like to thank Rhonda and Ian for their nominations. I would also like to thank Carole for all her work over the past year and wish her every success and a 'green thumb’.

The AGM was followed by a very brief General Meeting, as required by our Constitution, at which it was decided to celebrate the 35th anniversary of our Alliance with a picnic. Both administrative proceedings were followed by a screening of the film Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds), which met with great approval from the audience. The other big event of the month was the arrival of spring, fine weather and warmth, the perfect combination for our anniversary picnic. There were 22 members present, including Miguel our newest and youngest member, some of them wearing typical Australian or French outfits; good humour, good conversation and laughter, we all shared the delicious and plentiful home-made food and the anniversary cake! Happy Anniversary to our Alliance and thank you all for such a pleasant day.

Many thanks to those who decided to join us on Thursday 12 October 2023 for our third Car Adventure Tour. You can still register, but first make sure you can get accommodation. See details on the events page.

We are thinking of reintroducing an activity that I am told used to be quite popular. The plan is to get together from time to time, once every two or three months, for a lunch and conversation in French. The venue, a local café or restaurant, would change each time. Please let me know if you would be interested and would like to join the first lunch that may take place mid October, depending on interest: mansynette@gmail.com

Bonne lecture,

Sylvie