at the Padre Manual Centre in Estepona on Tuesday September 27th 2011.

This was the second of the quarterly meetings instigated by the 'new' ADANA Board. The aim of these meetings is to involve members more closely with the decision-making processes, to enable them to voice their opinions in a less formal setting than the AGM and to increase transparency.

The President, Maria Cawsey, opened the meeting and welcomed those present, some thirty members. She explained that the topic of the meeting would be the future of the stalled Sanctuary Project and that although it was essential to give members a full picture of how matters had reached the present state, there would be no 'blamefest' as such would be pointless and we should be looking for viable solutions.

The Vice-President, Mary Page, then addressed the meeting and gave a brief résumé of the history of the project, referring to documents and emails dating back to 2008 and 2009 prior to, during and after construction had taken place. She said there were some gaps in documentation, notably the absence of a detailed Business Plan with cash projections for future revenue and plans for revenue for staffing and maintenance of the building and its facilities once completed.

A document, undated but in the Treasurer's opinion possibly from May or June 2009, stated that all in all, in construction and commission fees, 258,000 euros had been spent on the project to date. A forecast of future funding requirements amounting to a possible 100,000 euros was included in this document. Mention of a further bank loan to be added to the existing mortgage of 155,000 euros was made but -thankfully - not pursued further.

She gave her opinion that no amount of fund raising by members could produce the amount of funding required. The Treasurer had often since taking over the post been required to juggle to pay outstanding invoices to keep the current perrera in operation. The only solution she could see was to appeal to the political and business communities of Estepona, Casares and Manilva to fund the project's completion. To this end, a presentation for members of those communities was to be held at the Kempinski Hotel Estepona, putatively on October 27th, with a view to soliciting funds for the completion of the project. Meetings had already taken place between the President, Vice-President and Treasurer with Marta Solis of the Kempinski Hotel, Juan Jesus Rodriguez, Casares Consejal and the new Estepona Alcalde. The outcome of these various meetings was positive and supportive.

Maria Angeles Diaz, owner of an Estepona PR firm has kindly agreed to help organise and publicise the event. She has organised the making of a short video of ADANA's work and the current state of the Sanctuary by a professional film-maker, to be shown at the presentation.

This initiative was warmly approved by those present although Mary was cautious in her optimism.

Other suggestions such as offering the bank the land and shop, which are secured against the mortgage, were discarded as the bank may be unwilling to accept them and because in the current climate the land and shop combined might not cover the debt owed via the mortgage. There is also the fact that the shop returns a regular income of 2,000 - 3,000 euros each month.

The Treasurer concluded by stating that the building had been vandalised and window frames and doors stolen. A member informed that serious encroachment on ADANA land had taken place by the owner of adjacent land who had erected an electric fence on a substantial slice of our property.

Discussion on this topic having been exhausted, the Treasurer then spoke of the urgency of redoubling our fund-raising efforts.

The meeting ended after it was agreed that the next meeting to be held in November should focus on the topic of fundraising.