Soltalk May 2020 | Page 31

41 Club Don’t panic. It’s only lockdown. Nerja 41 Club carries on Despite the lockdown, 41 Club Nerja held its Annual General Meeting in the middle of week four of the restrictions – with 29 members taking part. A new chairman and committee were elected, and we made plans for the coming year. (How did we do this without being arrested or denounced!) And because we are all young at heart we incorporated another fun element: when the outgoing chairman handed over he leant forward to his camera offering the badge of office and totally obscured the image. The new chairman then leant forward into his camera, and when he drew back – lo and behold!– he was now holding an almost identical badge. The ‘magic’ of technology… The possibilities are endless, and our virtual AGM – or ‘VGM’ – ended with a toast when several glasses of beer were ‘handed through the cloud’, some miraculously turning into wine on the way! 41 Club is the club for past members of Round Table, which had an upper age limit of 40. 41 Club members support the activities and charitable efforts of their home Table but also enjoy meetings and the fellowship of like-minded people from other clubs. Along the Costas in Spain there are several 41 Clubs and all ex- Tablers are most welcome to join or just drop in. Some are resident in Spain. Others spend large parts of the year here, whilst others visit less often. Some just ‘drop in’ to a meeting or a lunch, knowing they will be welcomed. And when we had finished, we went back to our lockdown; in Spain, in England, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, and even as far away as Wales. Lockdown and life in general can be fun if you choose to make it so. And the show must go on. Although 41 Club and Round Table are not specifically charitable organisations, it is inevitable that when we get together to enjoy ourselves, thoughts turn to helping others and supporting the community. Peter MacLeod. New Virtual Chairman 41 Club Nerja Last year Nerja 41 raised €440 to buy underwear and socks wholesale for people in need in Malaga; the year before €500 for the local home for people with disabilities. Every Christmas we collect toys and teddy bears. But back to the story – how did we hold our AGM without being arrested or denounced? Any ex-Tabler interested in joining or just ‘dropping in’ to the Nerja 41 Club please ring Peter on (0034) 678 059 288, or email [email protected]. More details are on our website: http://41clubnerja.org/ Very simply. We used the free computer program ZOOM, (there are others, or so I’m told!) set up by our web-master. Each member logged in, and on the screen appeared the video feeds from all the others, each in his own thumbnail image. We then had a video conference in our own homes. You may also wonder how we managed this without 28 enthusiastic members all talking at once, thus creating an incomprehensible cacophony ... perhaps rather too similar to normal meetings! ZOOM has the clever feature that when someone speaks, the border around his image lights up; and with so many ‘attending’ we also mostly observed the protocol to raise a hand and then be invited to speak by the chairman. 29