2 minute read
The ‘charity of last resort’
The British Benevolent Fund was established over a century ago to act as a “charity of last resort” to provide financial assistance for Britons in Spain facing extreme distress and with no other recourses to help.
Margaret was a lady in her 50s who applied for a grant to help her get back on her feet.
She had moved to Spain with her husband, but they separated shortly after moving her in the late 90s and she decided to stay here where she lived alone and worked as an administrator for a real estate office close to where she lived.
She made a small but sufficient salary to make ends meet and provide a little bit more for herself.
She was diagnosed with a serious illness which was aggravated by a growing multiple sclerosis problem which made it difficult to move around.
She was officially resident in Spain and would receive treatment for these.
The issue was that was unable to take early retirement and any medical benefits would not cover her living expenses – she might be able to wait for a mobility scooter to get around including going to work but that would take time.
Through one of the BBF´s many charity partners https://www.supportinspain.info/ we were contacted to see if we could help with the expenses of a mobility scooter so she could go to work.
By enabling her to continue working she would be able to earn and not be reliant on handouts and charity.
The BBF was able to pay for the mobility scooper along with the insurance to keep her on the road.
summer clothes only in summer and dress more formally in town. Like the Spanish too, they’ve learned to accept the way of life. Mañana really does mean, err, mañana.
Recent research showing that Neanderthals came to spend the summer on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula also puts a new gloss on package holidays in the sun. Thirty thousand years ago, when Europe was going through an icy period and snow covered practically everything north of the River Ebro, hominoids searched for somewhere warmer to give them a greater chance of survival.
We now know that Neanderthals ‘holidayed’ in what is today the south of Portugal and Spain after their most recent footprints were found in a quarry in Gibraltar.
So, first Neanderthals, then the Romans. And with all the Roman ruins villas, roads, marketplaces being unearthed here, it struck me that the Romans were among the earliest ‘longterm’ tourist species. You can just imagine them, can’t you? Hurtling along the carreteras to the nearest encampment in their horse drawn chariots. Holding up traffic at the roundabouts. Counting out their silver denarii coins in the markets.
Overseeing another luxury villa reforma. Before advancing over the Alps into Italy, Hannibal first got the show on the road in Spain when he breezed in from Carthage with his, err, caravan of nosetotail elephants. So is all the TAILgating you occasionally observe among local drivers yet one more vestige of those ancient times?
Give a final thought to Strabo, an unlucky general who not only took a pasting from the locals, but died of the plague during one catastrophic campaign. Just as he was about to expire, lightning struck his tent and reduced it to ashes. So, not a happy camper either...
Not to be outdone, though, the worst UK campaign was in 1216 when King John, marching about dealing with a rebellion and a couple of invasions, caught dysentery in Norfolk, lost the Crown Jewels in the Wash, and died in Nottinghamshire. Nuff said.
Nora Johnson’s 12 critically acclaimed psychological suspense crime thrillers (www.norajohnson.net) all available online including eBooks (€0.99; £0.99), Apple Books, audiobooks, paperbacks at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.
