
Here's the latest news from u3a Oliva. This was emailed to all our members, and also published here and on our Facebook pages.

Hello and a very Happy New Year to you all.
I hope you all had a great festive time and stayed healthy. I see there is a warning about the Norovirus spreading quickly around Spain, so please do try to stay alert in 2025. There always seems to be something lurking around the corners. If you do need any help or support at all, please don't forget to contact Sandra at support@u3aoliva.org
The 2024 festive season seemed to go on for quite a few weeks, with the craft fayre and the mince pies and sing-a-long Christmas coffee mornings, plus of course the many Christmas lunches and I'm sure most of you have already heard about the Christmas party success, which seems a long time ago now.
I would personally like to thanks Gandia Area Social Club, for firstly inviting our members to join in with their Christmas Dinner and Dance/party event and secondly a huge thank you to the whole team for all the hard work it must have taken to put together an amazing event like that. That was the second Christmas Gandia Area Social Club Christmas party I have attended and I'm already looking forward to the one this year.
The Pensionista Centre is now fully open, so no more racing around with the key to open and lock up. I would like to thank the group leaders and members for their patience through the difficult times, and hope that we can go back to use the facilities where possible. We hope to hold some of our events there in the future. Although they are serving drinks, their food menu is limited to light snacks at the moment due, to the brand new ovens still not working properly. Though, that will not stop us from holding our next coffee morning and Latin-dance social there (all welcome). More details below, and on that note I am looking for music (Salsa, Rumba, Chachacha etc.) to get a broad selection to play at the social. If anyone has any suitable cd's they can lend me please, I would be very grateful.
See you soon and take care,
Angela
Dates for your diary
- Bingo on Tuesday January 14th - find out more, and book your place. Open to non-members too, so why not book a table with friends. The next bingo after that is Wednesday 29th.
- Get a free drink at our New Year Coffee Morning on Thursday 15th January from 10:30 at The Pensionista Centre:. no need to book.
- Latin Dance Social (all members welcome) Saturday January 25th 18-20hr: Pensionista Centre. No need to book, just turn up.
- U3a Quiz Night Monday February 10th: Bar Pelut 6:30pm for 7pm start. Bookings will open soon.
Our buy & sell page
We have some reduced items on the Buy and Sell page where you can find some great bargains, ask for something you are looking for or offer up your no-longer-wanted-goods. If you are having a clear out the new year, then please offer up your items to our members first. Many thanks.

Christmas Dinner and Danced all night!
This event was enjoyed by over 130 members, of either u3a Oliva or the Gandia Area Social Club. And we shared a very entertaining evening of fun, food, drink and lots lots of dancing.
The Entertainers group kept most members on the dance floor; using up those extra calories being consumed through the wonderful food being served. And with the raffle of over 15 prizes and the free Members' Draw, many of the attendees went home very happy indeed. Having a bus to help members enjoy themselves even more was a brilliant idea, and hopefully will be in place for future events at Brisas.


Our prize winners were
- 150€ Pam O'Neill
- 100€ Lynda Acres
- 50€ Alan Robinson
It was a thoroughly enjoyable night and anyone who did not go missed a treat. Maybe next year?
Shoe box deliveries

Many thanks to Santa and his u3a elves, the children were extremely happy to receive their shoe boxes full of toys and gifts. The whole event went very well and the children thoroughly enjoyed themselves ...so did the adults looking at those smiley faces.
Many thanks to all the members who kindly and generously donated a filled shoe box.
Other events



A group of u3a members spent Christmas walking with Joe and Tina, walking and eating and having a lot of fun. The weather held for them and they had a very enjoyable day. Thank you to Joe who organises this alternative Christmas day event every year.
The Christmas Fayre was well supported, even though it was held at Tasca and not the normal venue of the Pensionista Centre, it worked very well. There were 12 stalls selling their handmade crafts and all vendors reported back as to how well it went.
Thank you to Steve Hems and the members of the guitar group for entertaining us at the last coffee morning of 2024 at Tasca Olivense. Members were treated to a hot mince pie, while enjoying the music. Thank you to all who attended.
As with all organised events we hope that the members participate and enjoy themselves. The committee and events team hope that we get it right, however we always look for feedback as to how we can improve or offer up options. If you wish to help at all or wish to give feedback please ether contact president@u3aoliva.org or travel@u3aoliva.org

We've had great feedback about our new Bitesize courses in practical Spanish. So much so that we're planning another one - if we get enough members who want to learn in this snappy way.
The first course was so popular that the members have asked for it to continue as an improvers course!
And we're also looking at another Bitesize Valenciano too - find out more
And we have line dancing and cribbage on the way too! Keen an eye on the website and Facebook page for info soon.
We have more than 40 groups on offer now - there's absolutely something for everyone.
More information
If you want to know more about our groups, come and chat to me at the next Coffee Morning on Thursday 16th at the Pensionistas. We'll even treat you to a free cuppa.
Please also check the groups page to find out more information about any of our groups. And don't forget. if you can teach a new subject or help set up a new group, please let us know.
Don't forget your membership number
When attending a group please make sure the group leader has your new membership number for the register. Your membership number was included in the email after registering online, and should also have been emailed with your membership confirmation. Email members@u3aoliva.org if you need help finding it.

Happy New Year to you all,
As a team we are still very depleted with lots of other responsibilities, so would be really grateful if members could come forward to assist us, both with ideas and the planning and organising of days out. If anyone has any one off ideas that they’d like to organise please do let us know, it doesn’t have to be a full on commitment; any help would be much appreciated,
Having said all of that, we do have something in the pipeline for February so watch this space - I can’t give any details at the minute as it is still very much in the planning stage .
Bingo is now a regular feature, we have to insist on bookings as we only have spaces for 50 people, the next session is on Tuesday January 14th and if you did want to come along please use the booking form which can be found on the u3a Website – see you soon

I am here to help members if you have any health issues or need support from a member for shopping or transport. please do get in touch.
I now have a good sized list of volunteers to help members with transport, translating, dog walking, pet feeding, lifts to appointments etc.. Please contact me if you have an emergency or need help. Either WhatsApp me on +34672510915 or send me an email.
And if you can offer up your time for dog walking, shopping, social visits, lifts to the medical centre etc, then please get in touch.
We also have a list of English speaking tradespeople or businesses available online too.

The minutes from the last committee meeting will be available here. Next Committee meeting is 15th January 2025. Please let me know if you wish to have anything raised.
The latest Accounts can be viewed here
If you have any questions or require access to any other minutes or accounts please contact Belinda at secretary@u3aoliva.org
If you want the latest news about your u3a, then why not join our Facebook group.
Thanks for being part of u3a Oliva