Around the valle novemBER 2018 Issue no. 10
Lest we forget This image is of St Eleth’s church on Anglesey, the poppies cascading down are all hand knitted. The image is reproduced by kind permission of the photographer.
Chairmans report by sue Jones Hello, another month gone and Christmas looms!! I hope you are beginning your preparations. I was always told Christmas cakes and puddings should be made before the end of October, so if you haven’t made them already now’s the time!! To all who were on the Valencia trip, there is a small refund for the missed day to Albufera, come and
see me Monday night or on any Friday morning after the
5th.
be quite different this year, although there will still be a mince pie and a glass of wine, I look forward to seeing you there.
As you will have seen, this month we have the British Consul coming to speak to us so, in fairness to our members we have made the meeting ‘members only’ and as such you may be asked to show your membership card.
5th November so hurry up and secure your place now.
We are also very busy preparing for our December meeting which will
That’s all for this month, see you soon.
Don’t forget our annual Dinner and Dance at Venta la Vina, tickets go on sale to non members after the
contents CHAIRMANS REPORT OCTOBER MEETING
october meeting by alan impey
1
2
FORTHCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS & WALK SCHEDULE WALKING TREASURE HUNT OCTOBER WALK
3
VALENCIA TRIP
7
4
5
6
& 8
BREXIT INFO
9
COMMITTEE
10
Monday 1st October 2018. Octobers monthly El-Valle meeting took place as usual on the first Monday of the month which also happened to the 1st of the month. Some one a half hours before the scheduled start at 7.30pm there was a tremendous thunder storm along with torrential rain and, in the case of Puente don Manuel, a hail storm. It had cleared for 6.30pm but I did think that it could have an impact on the numbers attending the meeting. This, I think, was bourne out by a disappointing attendance of around 42 members. The feature for the night was a talk by Susan Hannam on the founding and running of the Cudeca Cancer Charity and Hospice. Sue opened the meeting with apologies for a slightly reduced newsletter content and a request that any member who had anything that might be of an interest to other members to let her know and it could be included in the newsletter. After the usual run through of forthcoming events and a reminder that events were selling out fast Sue called a short break. At 7.50pm Sue introduced our guest speaker, Susan Hannam, who went on to give an informed and detailed talk on the foundation, running and future projects of the Cudeca Charity and Hospice which was first started 27 years ago and Susan was one of the founder members.
The actual Hospice building was completed in 2005 and houses 9 full time beds as well as Day Centre provision, therapy sessions, training facilities and much more. Funding is provided by Charity Shops, bequests, donations, events and such and some support from the public sector of the Junta de Andalucia. There are now total of 21 shops raising money for Cudeca Susan completed her presentation at 8.20pm and invited questions but it was perhaps the fact that she had covered all salient points whilst giving her talk that questions were limited to two or three. Time for the “box” and the contents on offer tonight were €335.00
Dorothy was first up but did not select the correct key, she was followed by Pauline who also failed to find the right key but who then selected another of her tickets to give herself a second, but futile, attempt. Pauline then selected a pink ticket, number 169, and when the holder, Marj, selected a key it was the magic one which won her the box contents. This was perhaps quite fitting as she has just celebrated her Diamond Wedding Anniversary. Before closing the meeting at 8.45pm a collection was made in favour of Cudeca and creditable sum of just short of €200 was raised from the relatively small audience. Thanks to members present for their generosity and the El-Valle faithful for the meeting.
FORTHCOMING MEETINGS November 5th
Visit from the British Consul ( Members Only) You may be asked to show your membership cards
December 3rd
Our usual December meeting with a twist!! But with our usual mince pies and a glass of wine.
January 14th
Quiz by Chris
November 2
nd
Supper night with free film HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE Doors open no earlier than 7 pm €5 members
20th NOVEMBER DEPART MIS TAPITAS 09:15 BREWERY TOUR STARTS AT 10:30 FOLLOWD BY FREE TIME IN MALAGA FOR LUNCH, SIGHTSEEING OR SHOPPING DEPART MALAGA 18:30 Price €12.50 members
December 14
th
Come join us for our usual pre-christmas bash! Dance the night away to reality Venta la vina 7:30 for 8 â‚Ź18 for members (full menu on our website) 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 â‚Ź5 members
WALKS SCHEDULE NOVEMBER 8th
Led by Ian and Barbaran Taylor. We will meet in the large car park on the approach road to Almachar Description: 2hrs, 5km, long uphill section, most good tracks. Starts 11:00
DECEMBER 13th
Led by Alan Clay. Torrox area. Start at the old football ground in Torrox. Turn off the motorway towards the coast, round the roundabout and drive back up to Torrox on the old road. Keep going and you will see the old football ground. Afterwards, somewhere in Torrox. (2 hrs. 5-6 kms) Start 11:00
JANUARY 10Tth
Led by Douglas and Jane Johnston.
TBA
WALKING TREASURE HUNT BY ALAN IMPEY Treasure Hunt Monday 22nd October 2018. Time for the Torre del Mar walking treasure hunt which had been devised and designed by Stewart and Elaine on behalf of the El Valle!!!!!!!!!!! At 10:30am the competitors began arriving at the start point, Torre del Mar Church, at the junction of Avenida Andalucia and Larios. As far as possible it was to be teams of four either agreed among the competitors or decided by Stewart and Elaine. Once this was sorted the question sheets, photographs and a street map were handed to each team. Stewart also suggested that every team, instead of dashing off, should sit down and study the questions carefully.
We were all informed that the event was over at 2:30pm and by that time all answer sheets should have been handed in to Stewart and Elaine at Tannit Restaurant, also our lunch venue.
It was apparent that a lot of work had gone into preparing the Treasure Hunt with all the questions cross referenced to grid squares on the street map. Sounds like it was going to be simple to identify the grid square answer the question and move onto the next!!!!! WRONG. Speaking for the team I was a member off it was not that easy and many times we would walk down a street several times trying to answer the question and even after trekking up and down the same street several times we did not always find the answer and judging by the number of times we saw other team members we were not the only ones!!!!!!!!! When Stewart announced at the start that we had approximately FOUR hours to complete the treasure hunt there were calls of “Four Hours, we don’t need that long” Oh yes we did!! I do not know which team was first to hand in their answers but I do know our team handed the sheets in around 2:25pm and we rushed to do that. There were in excess of forty people for lunch and Tannit had set most of their outside seating area for us. Due to the large number of diners it had been necessary to pre-order our food choices but even with that it was an involved job for Tannit to serve all the meals and repeatedly take drink orders from us all but they coped really well and I for one was more than happy with my meal.
Spare a thought here for Stewart and Elaine who, throughout the meal, were busy marking the an-
swer sheets as well as trying to enjoy their meal!!!!!
When it was time for desert it was also time to announce the winners. There were monetary prizes for the first three teams and it was a close run result with only couple of points separating the top few teams but the overall winners were “GOD KNOWS” comprising Caroline, Carol, Alan, David and Chris with a score of 42 points.
A big thank you has to go to Stewart and Elaine for all their efforts in setting the hunt, supervising the hunt, scoring the hunt and arranging the meal so “THANK YOU” Alan Impey
October walk by alan impey The El-Valle monthly walk took place on Thursday 11th October and by popular request was going to be somewhat longer than the usual ElValle walk lasting around two hours. It turned out to be practically four hours in the end. To compensate for the extra time the walk was along the coast from the Ball Fountain near Benagalbon all the way into Malaga so no hills were expected although the weather forecast did promise us some rain. An earlier start time of ten o’clock had been agreed and at the appointed hour twenty one walkers set off in dry but cloudy conditions. The temperature was in fact ideal for walking.
not due to the rain!!!! The rain eventually stopped for a good period before starting again a little heavier than the previous time and when we reached a convenient bar, that was open, near to the large cement works we took advantage to imbibe some liquid refreshment be it hot, cold, alcoholic or not. It was soon time to continue, rain or no rain, and on we went. As we reached the eastern most part of Malaga’s prom, in the area of El Palo the rain began to ease and eventually stopped before we reached our lunch destination, The Caleta Playa Chiringuito. We were joined there by three non walkers, Rod, Christine and “She who must be obeyed”
fortunate enough to have a lift back with Rod and Christine who had driven to Malaga with “She who must be obeyed” We were back at the cars by five o’clock and home by five thirty although I did get a phone call from Peter at seven o’clock asking what I had done with his wife, Anne, I had given Anne a lift to the walk start but she had elected to walk back to the start and get a lift home from someone. Hopefully at the time of writing, (Sunday 14th) she is safely home!!!!!! Many thanks Stewart and Elaine for leading the walk.
Walk details. Distance 15.78kms, Total Time 3hr 52min, Moving Time 3hr 31min Stopped Time 0hr 21min Moving Ave 4.5kms per hour
Reminder of forthcoming events in Viñuela
Some fifteen minutes into the walk the threatened rain arrived but it was not too heavy and we were all prepared be it with raincoats or umbrellas!!!!!!
NOVEMBER 25: DIA CONTRA LA VIOLENCIA DE GENERO ( A day against gender violence)
DECEMBER 30, 1 Y 2 - TAPA ROUTE
TELEPHONE NUMBER OF VIÑUELA TOWN HALL 952519002
About half an hour into the walk two of our number turned back although I understand that there was a genuine reason for this and it was
LA VIÑUELA WEBSITE www.lavinuela.es Food choice was from an extensive menu and the service was unbelievably rapid for all twenty two of us. After a minor hiccup sorting out the bill!!!! It was time for the party to split up with some electing to walk back, others took the bus and I was
Valencia trip
by Alan impey
Monday the 15th October and a 7.30 am start from outside Mis Tapitas, (Billy’s Bar) for the four night, five day El-Valle trip to Valencia!!!!! Thirty of us were there on time and we were checked in by Bethune and Louis, our two El-Valle committee members accompanying us on the trip. The coach was also on time and we had a smooth getaway driving down to the Repsol garage near the A7 motorway to pick up the remaining two couples also on the trip. Our route took us along the Autovia del Mediteraneo heading east and north up towards Murcia and Almeria. To be truthful I was not aware of a lot of the first part of the journey as I was dozing a lot of the time, as were most of the group. At 10:20 am came the breakfast stop at a motorway services and we were asked to be back on the coach in 45 minutes which was ample time to take refreshments. We continued our journey until 14:20 when we once again stopped at a motorway services area this time for lunch and everyone chose their preferred options be it tapas or menu del dia. As we boarded the coach after lunch to continue our journey, Antonio our driver, asked if anyone had left a pair of glasses in the restaurant as the staff there were convinced someone had!!!! After several times of asking and no takers he took the glasses back into the restaurant whereupon one of our group, Barbarann, decided they were probably hers and Ian, her other half, was dispatched to retrieve them!!!!!! The rest of the afternoon passed quickly and at 17:00 we were at our hotel, the Eurostars Rey Don Jaime for a straightforward registering of rooms (or so we thought) As passports were handed over to Bethune keycards were handed out in return and off we all went to our allocated rooms. It was only some time later that it was noticed that the key
cards were allocated to named couples or singles and if anyone had received their correct room it was pure luck. The easiest solution was to get the hotel to change the names allocated to the rooms as everyone had by now unpacked and physically changing rooms was a step too far!!! For the first night everyone was eating in the hotel and at 20:30 we were all seated in the dining room for the hotels menu del dia which was a reasonable meal although slightly on the cool side!!!!! A fact that resurfaced at each breakfast time with the supposedly hot food!!!
The following day, Tuesday, we all gathered in the hotel reception and then boarded our coach and were introduced to our guide for the day, Eleanor, who proved to be very good in her role both knowledgeable and friendly.
Our first stop of the day was in the area that housed the aquarium, science park, aviary, Imax cinema and opera house along with many other visitor attractions and Eleanor explained and advised the most effective way to view everything the following day when we would be spending the whole day there. It was then on into Valencia City for the guided walking tour with Eleanor who took us to the most popular and well known sights in the city one of which was the Silk Exchange with its amazing architecture including a unique spiral staircase, unique in that it did not have a central axle in its construction. Five hundred years after this was built the famous Catalan architect, Gaudi, visited the Silk Exchange to see the staircase and eventually copied the design into his plans for his basilica, Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona. This is as yet unfinished having been started in March 1882. Gaudi himself died in 1926 and it is projected that
construction will be complete in 2026 the centenary of Gaudi’s death. Here endeth the history lesson!!!!!!!
Eleanors tour concluded shortly after 13:00 and then it was time to please ourselves, to re-visit in more detail the areas pointed out by Eleanor, to have lunch and such before meeting the coach at 16:00 to return to the hotel. The following day, Wednesday, was to be spent in the Science Park area with visits to all the attractions pointed out previously, the aquarium, complete with dolphin show, aviary, Science Park and so on before all meeting up at 17:00 for a visit to the Imax Cinema and a showing of an information film on the advances of engineering skills which was was far more interesting than my description suggests. It was then back to our hotel with everyone making their own plans re dinner etc.
Thursday was to have included a trip to the Albufera National Park and a boat trip to explore the flora and fauna of the park and to also partake of a paella lunch!!!! HOWEVER, the organisers of this particular excursion had contacted our group to say that the weather forecast for the Thursday was such that the trip was cancelled. We were informed that a refund of boat trip cost and lunch cost would be made. Thursday became a free day!!! and the group I was a part of chose to visit the Fallas Museum. The Fallas, (Fire) Festival was to celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph in Valencia and has been going on since the mid eighteenth century and very simply it was the construction of satirical images/monuments that were put on top of huge bonfires throughout the city and on the same night were all set on fire. I was lucky enough to visit the festival a few years ago and it is a superb event well recommended but book early, it attracts millions from around the world but is always the same dates in March.
The reason for the museum is that since 1934 the ninot, (figure/monument) voted to be the best each year is pardoned from being set afire and is then put on display in the museum. We had made it from the hotel to the museum in dry weather BUT by
the time we left the museum the heavens had opened and a nearby shopping mall offered the best protection from the rain which went on to persist the whole day and evening. Friday was homecoming by way of Cartagena and an 08:00 start was made in order to get to Cartagena for a guided tour, lunch and then continue home. We left the hotel in Valencia in pouring rain and could only hope that Cartagena would not be the same. As we drew ever nearer to Cartagena the weather improved and the sun came out to greet us and by the time we arrived at 12:00 it was a lovely day. We met with our guide, Bruno, for an interesting and informed walking tour of the city lasting some two hours before we had a final hour to take lunch which had to be a little hurried to make our departure time of 15:00!!!!!
Our trip from Cartagena to Puente don Manuel with a coffee/loo stop halfway was very relaxed thanks to the skills of our driver and we arrived back at 20:00, tired but satisfied with a very enjoyable five day trip behind us. Thanks to Bethune and Louis from the committee for their efforts to make the trip worthwhile. MORE PICTURES CAN BE SEEN ON THE EL VALLE FACEBOOK PAGE.
A new law proposed to safeguard uk citizens’ healthcare abroad after brexit ( article copied from u.k. Gov) The Healthcare (International Arrangements) Bill has been introduced to give the government legal powers to fund and implement healthcare deals after Brexit The Bill seeks to safeguard healthcare for 190,000 expats and 50 million people who travel abroad every year, through agreements with the EU or member states. The Bill, brought before Parliament by Health Minister Jackie Doyle-Price, will establish the legal basis to fund and implement reciprocal healthcare schemes and share necessary data after we leave the EU.
Reciprocal healthcare arrangements have benefits that include: reducing the cost of insurance making travel more viable for older people and high-risk groups providing a boost to the travel economy It will establish the basis for a new arrangement allowing the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme to continue after 2020, subject to an agreement with the EU. EHIC grants UK nationals access to free healthcare abroad, and pays for 250,000 medical treatments each year.
For the 190,000 expat state pensioners who have chosen to live in the EU and those intending to retire to the EU, it will help by safeguarding reciprocal healthcare if there is no EU deal. Lord James O’Shaughnessy said: Whether on holiday, working or retiring abroad, British people want to know they can access the same high quality healthcare that they enjoy in the NHS. This Bill will allow us to implement new healthcare arrangements with other countries – in the EU and elsewhere – so that UK citizens can travel with confidence.
The rules for travel to most countries in Europe will change if the UK leaves the EU with no deal. After 29 March 2019 1. You should have 6 months left on your passport from the date of your arrival. This applies to adult and child passports. 2. If you renewed a 10 year adult passport before it expired, extra months may have been added to your passports expiry date. These extra months will not count. The new rules will apply to passports issued by the UK, Gibraltar, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey. The new rules do not apply when travelling to Ireland.
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