After two near misses of members getting on flights where they really shouldn't have, we don't want any of you to miss your holidays, so please double check your passport dates. It's not as simple as it used to be.

As of the UK leaving the EU, when you are entering the EU you have to follow the guidelines for entering the EU as a 3rd Country National. These rules state you need to have a 10 year passport, with at least 3 months validity after the expected end of your trip.

Previously the UK used to issue passports with longer than 10 years validity by giving you credit for any unused portion of your passport. For example if you had 6 months left in your last passport when you applied for a new passport in 1 Nov 2011, you would get a passport valid from 1 Nov 2011 to 1 April 2022. However, EU guidelines (for 3rd Country Nationals) only recognize the first 10 years of the passport, so that passport now is only valid in the EU until 1 Nov 2021. This would mean your passport would only be valid for trips up to 1 August 2021.

You can find more information on the UK government website. However their recommendation of 6 months left doesn't actually make sense unless you are travelling for 3 months. The actual rule is 3 months as you can see on the Portuguese Government website. 

The 2021 Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, 15 September in the Algarve Room at 10am.

Of course you are all cordially invited, and there is tea and biscuits!! However we won't be offended if those of you who wouldn't normally be here don't think its worth flying over for. That's why we have proxy votes and you should have received your envelopes by now.

As you can see the maintenance fee is proposed to stay at the same rate for the 3rd year in a row, and that we have lots of work planned in the rooms.

If you haven't received your letters yet or have filed them somewhere important and can't find them, you can download copies of the Notice and the Proxy from from the library section. 

Look forward to seeing you there . ..

We know you all feel that coming to Madeira is what keeps you fit and healthy, but we also know a lot of you have conditions that mean your insurance premiums rise quite considerably. One of our members was struggling to find well priced insurance cover due to cancer issues, and she helpfully sent us a link of a comparison website specifically for those with medical conditions which helped her to get cover for much less cost than the first few quotes she had received.

You can find the link here, hopefully you will find it helpful.