The ‘charity of last resort’

THE mission of the British Benevolent Fund is to act as a ‘charity of last resort’ for those Britons in Spain who have nowhere else to turn and face extreme financial hardship. With the growing number of British nationals who we help returning to the UK ­ many of whom are vulnerable people with long term illnesses ­ the BBF plays a vital enabling role. For people with serious illness or impairment travelling alone is impossible.

We are indebted to volunteers who give up their time to help others. Unfortunately travel these days is more of a challenge than ever ­ however nobody could have foreseen the ordeal that one went through to help a vulnerable British lady be repatriated from a Malaga hospital so she could be moved to a UK medical facility. The volunteer, a retired police officer, left her home at 6pm on a Wednesday to go to Malaga Airport. She arrived at 7.30pm and left her car at the airport and took a taxi to the hospital to collect the patient. She obtained the paperwork from the ward nurse and were taken to the airport by ambulance. On arrival at 9.00pm we went to Sin Barreras Assistance Team who escorted them through security to the boarding gate at 9.30pm for the 11.25pm flight. At 9.51pm she was informed by the airline the flight was delayed until 11.55pm. At 9.52pm she was informed the flight was now delayed until 02.55am on the following day. At 10.59pm she was informed the flight was cancelled. Airport Assistance rebooked them on an 11.20 the following day.

The patient could not stay overnight at the airport or in a hotel as she was in a wheelchair and could not walk and needed personal hygiene products.

They were sent to Malaga A

& E where they stayed in a small side toom until 07.00 the following day and repeated the process of the previous day.

On boarding the aircraft they were informed there was a four hour wait before takeoff. They eventually landed and the volunteer handed over to her relative and the airport care team. She is now in a residence receiving 24­hour care.

The journey was a nightmare, but we were able to get the patient to the care she needed. The BBF can only do this with your generosity. If you would like to support our work helping others who have nobody else to turn to please visit our website to donate. www.britishbenvolentfund.or g Thank you.

Olaf Clayton, Chair, BBF.

Wrong context LETTERS

IN your Issue No 1970 (6‐12 April) in Euro‐pean Press, you carried a piece on Ireland, with a caption of Welcome Home, which as an Irishman I was very pleased to see.

However we would never use the Gaelic word, Eíre in this context. Instead we would say, Ballina, situated in County Sligo.

Moreover, most people, particularly Irish would not use Eíre, only because most other nationalities wouldn’t recognise it!

On the other hand the name, Ireland, in the caption is very acceptable.

Always enjoy your paper.

Hi Linda,

Regards

Bernard Butler

Many thanks for your speedy reply. Actually whilst on the subject of Ireland. In Mijas Pueblo, on the building beside the Council Offices, wall plaques have been erected to acknowledge various nationali‐ties’ presence in the area.

I recall some years ago, Ireland was one of the first countries to be honoured in this way, however on a recent visit to the Peublo I noticed that someone has removed the plaque. Vandalism no doubt?

Perhaps you might consider following up this matter?

Thank you for you time and attention to this matter.

Kind regards Bernard

Dear Leapy

I take objection to the letter printed re Jed‐dah. I worked in the King Fahad Hospital there in those years and found the Saudi people nothing but respectful. Please don’t use that term r s for those people Mr Kite. Have you not been to British beaches over the last 50 years? You can hardly sit down without all the rubbish left by selfish people of all nations.

Carole Burton

Dog park

While it is good to see the Euro Weekly News back, I would like to point out an incor‐rect statement in the news about the dog park. It was not built on waste land, but on a park area that the garden group had spent a lot of time, effort and money to gravel and maintain for the last 20 years. But no one thought fit to liaise with the garden group about where would be the best place for it. Perhaps not near the medical centre and the play park. It will be also interesting to know who is going to maintain it and empty the bins?

Yours sincerely, Marion

Hi Leapy

I am not sure you get to glance through the Sun newspaper where you are situated but I have been following this guy for some time now. His name is Lee Anderson and I am sure what he says in this article (page 16/17 Sunday 16/04/2023) is just what we have been trying to tell people for ages, but do they listen NO!! Because they are all too steeped in woke and human rights etc etc to see the wood for the trees. Now I know you can’t reply because so many people contact you, be it agreeing or disagreeing with your views, but if you can get it up on your screen see what you think. Keep up the good work trying to educate the uneducated.

Joe

Mixed up

Four words used in Loopy Lee’s latest col‐umn but used inappropriately in conflicting ways in the wrong order. Firstly he calls the Johnson partying as Mere Bagatelle words meaning petty triviality and unimportance, does he really think that the charlatan who was eventually ousted from office through his law breaking and continuous lies is petty, trivial and unimportant? Try telling that one to the thousands who stayed at home unable to hold the hand of loved ones suffering in hospitals and care homes. Secondly in his continuous weekly bias towards the opposi‐tion party he calls, simply because they have more female members, an armoury of Schemes and Skullduggery against the Tories, words of course meaning artful and sharp practice, as I have pointed out he has got the words mixed up and used in the wrong order.

Ramon Osborne, Los Alcázares.

No benefit

Brexit, the gift that just keeps on giving. Still no benefits to Brexit. If you voted for it, you’re part of the problem called, Brexit Bro‐ken Britain. The whole world is laughing at the UK!

Andrew Cremona

Big brother

How sad that big brother is bringing such a wonderful historic way of travelling to an end. As for providing education details when travelling ‐ what on EARTH has your educa‐tional history have to do with travelling to an‐other country. It’s time people stood up to this BS and told the so called authorities what they can do with all this unnecessary data harvesting. It’s just spying on people for no good reason.

Naimah Yianni