Around the Valle

Around the valle january 2019 Issue no. 1

Happy new year!!

Chairmans report by sue Jones 2018 has been and gone and now we wait to welcome in 2019 where does the time go. I’m sorry to say we have lost many friends and members of the Asociacion during the last 12 months but their memory remains with us as we move forward into the new year.

We are already working on what looks to be a very full programme for the coming year with many events/trips already on sale so

come along and see us either at Meson Sara on a Friday or at our January meeting which will be held on 14th January this year in order to avoid New Year’s Eve and 3 Kings.

One of the exciting trips is our proposed overnight trip to Cordoba to see the Patios, if you haven’t yet been it is a must, but I have to inform the hotel by March 1st how

many rooms will be required as they get fully booked very quickly, so please, if you want to go put a deposit down as soon as possible.

Also, don’t forget about the supper night on 18th January, we need the numbers as soon as possible so come and see us on Friday morning so you don’t miss out.

Happy New Year to you all.

contents CHAIRMANS REPORT DECEMBER MEETING

1

2

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS & WALK SCHEDULE TRIP TO CORDOBA DECEMBER WALK

3

MEMBERSHIP REMINDER & SPEED LIMITS DINNER DANCE

7

COMMITTEEE

9

4

5 6

8

10

11

december meeting by alan impey The last meeting of 2018, where has the year gone!!!!!

If we didn’t enjoy life quite so much it could be frightening that time seems to pass so quickly!!!

Seventy plus members turned up for the years final and Christmas meeting, was it the offer of a free glass of wine and a mince pie or the thought of watching the evenings entertainment!!! A dance display by Ritchie and his team with guest appearances by four of El-Valle’s male members, (pun intended) Sue started proceedings at 7.40 pm by opening the meeting and welcoming everyone for the last time this year. She went on to tell us all about the extensive programme of events already in existence for the coming year with a trip to the Granada Science Park, an overnight visit to the Cordoba Patios and, believe it or not, next years Christmas trip to Sevilla for the Christmas Lights there, with an overnight stop.

There was now a short break for visits to the bar etc before Sue introduced Ritche and his dance troupe. The first dance was a Charlston which was very colourful and entertaining as the photographs show. This was followed by an energetic jive during which four male El-Valle members were seen to make their way to the changing area for the ladies doing the dancing!!!!!

NO they were not voyeurs, it was time for them to get into costume for their dance routine and gender sharing the changing area was a price that had to paid!!!!!!!

The four males were Mike, Louis, Martyn and yours truly!!!!!!! As we stripped and changed a couple of the ladies liberally applied baby oil to our naked torso’s and as the lady charged with seeing to me massaged the oil over my chest she enquired if I was feeling cold!!!!!! Cannot think what she meant!!!

It was time and the music started, Donner Summers Hot Stuff, and Ritchie led us out onto the dance area. There then followed a dance routine complete with crotch grabs and pelvic thrusts all done to music and in the best possible taste!!!!!!!!

As the HotStuff dance ended the ladies came back on stage to the sound of Donner Summers, Bad Girls and a joint male/female routine followed and judging from the shouts, whistles and cries of encouragement the whole thing was well received by an appreciative audience!!!!

As we left the stage Ritchie called his female dancers back on and also members of the audience to take part in some basic line dances. There was a good response as will be seen by the photographs that were taken on my behalf

by Neil and Terry but also by many others that will no doubt find their way to Sue for the newsletter.

Christmas cannot be Christmas without carols and Sue asked for any of the usual ElValle choir members to come forward even though there had been no rehearsals!!!!!

What followed was strange, it seems the El-Valle choir had tripled in size as more and more people came forward to take part. Fortunately, David,

our usual choir master, was in the crowd and he came on stage in time to sort us out into some semblance of order, thank you David.

After five carols, which included Silent Night in Spanish, it was time for THE BOX and on offer was a prize of €374.00 and after three failed attempts number 306 was called and Carol Weaver made her way to front, selected a key and opened the box!!! Happy Christmas Carol.

All that remained was for Sue to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and all that remains for me is to once again thank all of the committee for the amount of work they put in to ensure the survival of the El-Valle Asociacion and also to ensure that the members have a great time at all the events organised.

Merry Christmas and a Hap-

py New Year to you all.

Alan Impey

THERE ARE MORE PICS ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND I HOPE TO PUT SOME ON OUR WEBSITE SOON. ED

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS January 14th

Quiz by Chris

February 4th

Musical evening with Alan & Lorraine

March 4th

To be arranged

April 1st

AGM with free draw for members

January 18 2019 th

Supper night with free film In the church room below maroma estates Kingsman 2 - the golden circle In Kingsman: The Golden Circle, our heroes face a new challenge when their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage. Their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US called Statesman,

Doors open no earlier than 7 pm €5 members

Thursday 14 february 2019 th

Menu del dia Pippo’s, algarrobo 14:00 Price €10 members If you are on the el valle walk that day, the lunch will follow and will need to be booked in advance

March 12

th

Our annual petanc competition Torre del mar 10:15 meet for 10:30 start Followed by menu del dia at tanit €12 members March 22ND WINE TASTING EVENING IN CULTURAL CENTRE, VIÑUELA 7:30 €5 MEMBERS ONLY Tuesday april 23rd Trip to granada science park Leave mis tapitas 08:30 Cost €20.00 to include entrance to the museum & plantarium

WALKS SCHEDULE JANUARY 10Tth

Led by Douglas and Jane Johnston. at Meson Sara.

Start beside Meson Sara at 11:00 followed by Menu del Dia

FEBRUARY 14th

Led by Stewart. Start in the Lidl car park in Algarrobo at 11:00. Menu after at Pipo’s restaurant, Algarrobo (combined with Menu del Dia for other club members) Menu del Dia must be booked in advance with committee members.

MARCH 14TH

Led by Ray & Caz Edwards. Start 11:00 at their house, on Arenas road out of Velez Malaga at Km 4, look for the Los Almendras sign on right and go down concrete road and over bridge, 250 mtrs af ter house and parking on left. After at Limonar Restaurant in Velez Malaga.

TRIP TO LOS PATIOS CORDOBA

13th MAY 2019 DEPARTURE AT 7:00 AM FROM PUENTE DON MANUEL, TO THE HOTEL EUROSTARS CONQUISTADOR IN CORDOBA. ARRIVAL AT HOTEL, AND FREE TIME FOR LUNCH. AFTERNOON TO VISIT CORDOBA, AND GUIDED VISIT TO THE FESTIVAL OF THE CORDOBA PATIOS, AS EVERY YEAR THE CORDOBIANS PREPARE AND OPEN THEIR PATIOS TO THE PUBLIC TO ENTER IN A CONCOURSE WHERE BEAUTY AND DECORATION ARE VALUED. FREE TIME FOR DINNER, ACCOMMODATION AT THE HOTEL.

2nd DAY BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL. IN THE MORNING, FREE TIME TO CONTINUE VISITING THE CITY OF CORDOBA. AFTER LUNCH, DEPARTURE TO THE POINT OF ORIGIN, COST PER PERSON INCLUDING BED & BREAKFAST IN THE HOTEL, GUIDED TOUR OF THE PATIOS IN ENGLISH AND COACH TRIP THERE AND BACK

€102.50 PP FOR MEMBERS inc. Tip for driver CONTACT SUE ON 680407894 OR EMAIL newslettereditor2012@gmail.com

december walk by stewart common It was cloud covered but not raining when Elaine and myself left home to go to the start of the December walk led by Alan Clay in Torrox Pueblo.

When we all arrived at the start point it started to rain and it rained hard, so all nine of us brave walkers sat in our cars for about 10 minutes while the heavy rain passed over.

Unfortunately it did not stop raining, carrying on with steady rain so Alan suggested we go into Torrox Pueble to the Pensionista room in the centre of town to await the finish of the rain.

We sat and had a coffee and then Alan gave us a talk about the history of Torrox. It was his intention to give us the history tour on the town and town area on the way round the walk route, passing a number of historical palaces and sites on the way. A few snippets of the talk are below I can remember.

Whilst living in Torrox for the past 15 years Alan has met and talked with a number of villagers who can remember the history of Torrox and the events throughout the years via their families and relations in the area. He said the he had arranged for one of his neighbours to visit us during the walk, his name was Francisco Perez (Paco) Ariero who was born October 10th 1925. Unfortunately he has slipped recently and had cut his head so this would not be possible for us to meet with him today. Paco's father worked as a mechanic in the sugar factory for 15 years then later bought a mule for 5000 Pesetas and another later on for 8000 Pesetas in 1937 for the transport fresh fish over the mountains to Alhama de Granada. This was done through the night for sale early in the mornings. It was a tough life in those days.

The sugar factory closed in 1936.

Alan had also met with others of the town. One such story Manola remembered was when he was with his 2 brothers and while they walking with their mules and passing the base of the mountain called Lucero where the Gaudia (not friendly in those days !!) were in the middle of constructing a look out base at the top of the mountain. The Gaudia stopped all the brothers and made them load bricks on their mules and take them to the top of the mountain so the builders could carry on with their construction work. The Gaudia in those day did not take no for an answer.

Alan continued to talk about the village history starting from the 4th century through to today, naming some of the notable dates and names during these times. In no time it was 1.00pm when he had a booked a meal at Rubio's so he said he could continue over lunch. We WALKED to Rubio's opposite the Police Station and had a very good menu del dia. This was the only walking completed by the walking group in December, all of about half of a kilometre!!!!!!!.

The nine of us all enjoyed the morning and day in spite of the weather.

Many thanks to Alan for giving us a very informative talk and for arranging the menu del dia. Perhaps next year it will not rain !!!!!

The next few walks and dates for 2019 for your diaries are:Date: January 10th, start time 11.00am, Routed by Douglas Johnson.

Start location beside Meson Sara, Puente don Manuel Date: February 14th, start time 11.00am, Routed by Stewart Common.

Start location is in the lower car park of Lidl in Algorobo Costa.

REMEMBER this is Valentine's day and we are joining others from the El Valle club for the Menu del Dia in Pippos restaurant, Algorobo Costa. It is open to all members for a joint for the Menu del Dia with the Walking Group. If you are walking and want the Menu after, you will have to book and pay for this in advance (at club nights or Fridays at Meson Sara).

Date: March 14th, start time 11.00am, Routed by Ray Edwards.

Start location is at the house on the way up to Arenas. Take the road towards Arenas out of Velez Malaga and at Km 4 you will see the sign for Los Almendras on the right. Go down this road and after 250 mts is their house.

Parking is close by.

Date: April 11th, start time 11.00am, Routed by Terry, Jane and Rubi Frost.

Start location is at the car park in the village.

I will try to keep you informed of the actual start locations either in the newsletters or by a web flyer.

Hope to see you all again at the next one!!!!

Hi all.

At this time I would like to remind you that our 2019 membership year starts from JANUARY 1st, therefore it is soon time for you all to renew you membership to the El-Valle Asociacion.

You will be able to do this either on a Friday at Meson Sara Restaurant, Puente Don Manuel crossroads, between 11.30 and 12.30am. There will be a committee member sitting at the in the area, or at any of the

monthly club meetings at the Camping Bar on the side of the Lake Viñuela.

You can also renew your membership at our December club meeting on Monday December 3rd or at the January meeting which is on Mon7th a

day January little later after the Spanish New Year celebrations.

For the 2019 club year, your committee have kept the membership fee again at €10.00 and your

annual membership will run from Jan 1st to Dec 31st 2019.

If you have any queries, please speak to a committee member or contact me on 647076177.

I Look forward to seeing you all again for the 2019 membership year.

Regards Stewart Common Secretary and Membership Secretary

Slow down to save lives The DGT aim to reduce the number of road fatalities by reducing the speed limit on secondary roads.

These roads are the location of the majority of fatal and injury incidents. Reducing the maximum permitted speed should contribute to fewer incidents, although the responsibility still remains with the driver to comply.

Towards the end of December, the Interior Minister announced that the DGT were working on the reform of driving laws which would also reduce the maximum permitted speed in towns, to which a limit already applied in some towns and cities would ecome the national standard, specifically reducing inner city maximum permitted speed from 50 kms per hour to 30.

The announcement was made during the conference “From Zero Vision to Zero Goal? Global leadership in improving road safety”, organised by the Mapfre Foundation with the collaboration of the Road Safety and Sustainable Mobility Commission of the Congress of Deputies and inaugurated by the Interior Minister.

The minister took advantage of the fact that the conference was dedi-

cated to the “zero accident objective” and the road safety challenges to advance the measures in which the DGT works with the aim of reducing accidents and victims.

Among these reforms, the minister also stressed that in the near future the limit will e reduced on 7,000 klms of these conventional roads, where currently the limit was 100 klms per hour, i.e. roads without other restrictions where a hard shoulder of 1.5 metres or more exists.

The minister explained that this decrease in speed is in line with the European standard, stating how 14 European countries share a generic limit of 90 klms per hour, whereas another 8 restrict it further to 80, and one, Sweden, has a maximum permitted speed on these roads of 70 klms per hour. In fact, within the continental spectrum, Spain is one of the few with limit of 100 klms per hour, a situation that “will be corrected”.

Explaining the reasoning behind the objective, the minister pointed out that it is not the purpose of the Government to “impose a certain model of mobility”, but recalled

rather that it is “widely documented that the risk of dying in an incident on these types of roads is reduced by between five and eight times when the speed of the impact with the pedestrian goes from 50 to 30 klms per hour”.

In this same line, the minister announced that in the first half of 2019 plans will be ready to reduce road traffic incidents involving cyclists and motorcyclists, who already represent, along with pedestrians, 46% of all deaths.

“The recent evolutio of the number of victims on the roads, in Spain and in many other countries, has not been the one we would have liked, we have to act, and we have to be able to learn from each other”, the minister insisted, describing the model of road sfety inaugurated more than 20 years ago by the Swedish Parliament when it approved the Vision Zero programme, named for its purpose to end victims of traffic accidents.

El valle xmas dinner dance by louis pollitt This year’s dinner dance/dress to impress was held at Venta La Vina on Friday 14th December. It was decided to return there due to the success and hospitality shown at last year’s event. I think this was a very good decision and certainly backed up by the fact that there was much positive feedback and thanks passed onto the committee.

On arrival everybody was greeted by committee members and given a glass of Cava. It was reassuring that the tables were clearly marked with names and their food choices.

It was good to see that everybody made the effort to don their ‘glad rags’ for the evening and there were some very smart and beautiful outfits on show!

The food and service was extremely good, especially considering they were catering for 74 people and I don’t think that anybody had to wait for too long to get their meal, so well done to the team at Venta La Vina.

We were again entertained

by Reality who played a good mix of 1960’s to 2000’s. They do specialise as a Fleetwood Mac tribute act, which was obvious by the excellent renditions of some of the aforementioned bands’ songs they treated us to. However, there was a good mix of other bands and artist’s hits to dance the night away to. The dance floor was pretty full all evening!

They even got some of us involved during a couple of numbers and the Tina Turner number gave us all a good laugh.

There was also an impromptu performance by the El Valle Hot Stuff Trio, not sure who suggested this, but I can reliably assure you (you people who did not witness the original club night version) that the original was 100 times better! I think the three of us had had too much to drink by that time in the evening, so had lost all the co-ordi-

nation and grace of our previous performance!

All in all I’m sure everyone will agree that it was a great value evening of food, drink and entertainment and a good start to the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Asociacion el valle del embalse Committee 2017/2018

Chair & Newsletter Editor Sue Jones Tel: 680407894

Treasurer: Chris Wishart Tel: 609952926

Almoner: Christine Goreham Tel: 635361233

Secretary: Stewart Common Tel: 647076177

Joint Vice Chair

Barbara Jenkinson Tel: 616264067

Joint Vice Chair Dorothy Girvan Tel: 676320615

MEMBERS

Elaine Edwards Tel: 647076177

Peter Girvan Tel: 676320615

Anne Dibden Tel: 605826358

Bethune McCarroll Tel: 634404169

Louis Pollitt Tel: 0044746367618

INFORMATION NEWSLETTER EDITOR newslettereditor2012@gmail.com WEBSITE - www.el-valle-asociacion.com A REPRESENTTIVE OF THE COMMITTEE WILL BE ON DUTY EVERY FRIDAY BETWEEN 11:30 AND 12:30 AT MESON SARA EXCEPT IN AUGUST