June General Assembly
Our June General Assembly was held on the 1st and in addition to the usual tea, coffee and biscuits, the Goodwill Team held a cake sale [photo]. The delicious selection on offer proved very popular and raised over €190.
Upcoming TCET day trips include Alicante for the festival of San Juan later this month, the medieval market in Cocentaina and an ELO Encounter at Benidorm Palace in November. The next Goodwill Team event is a BBQ evening with entertainment later this month and a Neil Diamond tribute evening at Pepe’s in September. Marian White will be holding another ‘Silks in the Sun’ next month, with the chance to buy new clothing and accessories whilst enjoying cake and a glass of Cava, with donations going to the Good will Team.
The members were then introduced to Richard Green, the new Jalon Valley Help President who was invited to say a few words about the charity.
Matt Mason from Jalon Valley Arc was presented with their charity award certificate by Christine Rowland on behalf of the Goodwill Team, as he had been unable to attend the earlier presentations.
Then Alan Oliver gave a fascinating insight into the origins of the country known today as Russia and to the part Romanovs played through the ages. In medieval times the Grand Duchy of Muskovy declared itself to be the third Rome, following Rome itself and Constantinople. It was interesting to hear that the word Czar probably stems from Caesar.
The members were taken through history from the first Romanov, Mikhail, born in 1613 until the assassination of Czar Nicholas II and his family in 1918. At one time they held almost one-third of the world to the East, extending as far as Alaska which was subsequently sold to the United States on the 1860’s.
The Czars were not averse to looking to other countries to learn and benefit from their expertise. Peter the Great (1672 – 1723) spent time in a boat yard in Deptford to gain experience which helped him in establishing a naval base on the Black Sea and used Scottish naval personnel in his navy. He also used Italian architects when moving the capital from Moscow to St Petersburg to build the famous Peterhof Palace.
Before his assassination in St Petersburg, Alexander II was a reformer who ended long years of serfdom for the majority of the people and empowered the Duma. It was then that great writers such as Tolstoy and Chekhov and composers Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky were prominent and great strides were made in the fields of both medicine and culture.
His final words were devoted to Nicholas II, the last of the Romanovs, who with his entire family were assassinated after failing to be granted asylum in the United Kingdom.
Written by Sandra Welham
Photos by U3A members
