THE MINISTER of State for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth office, Chris Bryant, . . . more . . .

For the first time ever, Costa Blanca restaurants are in line to receive a new accolade which will celebrate all that is good about the dining scene in Spain. The 2010 CoastRider Culinary Awards will recognize excellence in the local dining industry, offering restaurateurs a standard to strive for, and diners a gauge by which to choose their eatery.
Fresh ingredients, imaginative recipes and mouth watering menus from around the world are available to diners in the Costa Blanca region. We are spoiled for choice when it comes to lunch menus, evening meals and even a quick and tasty snack. With so much on offer, it can be a minefield choosing a restaurant or café that suits your needs. The CoastRider Culinary Awards are a mark of excellence which diners can rely upon to guide them to a quality restaurant.
Managing Director of the CoastRider, Claire Worland, said: “We are very excited about the Culinary Awards. We feel that having such a benchmark will really help consumers in choosing excellent restaurants – after all, with everyone keeping a closer eye on their purse strings, we all want to make sure we get quality down to the last centimo. For restaurateurs, the winning of a Culinary Award will boost morale for staff and owners, and will offer restaurants a tangible ‘seal of approval’ which they can strive to win again and again as the years go on. Who knows, the best restaurant on the Costa Blanca in five years time could be the one with five consecutive ‘Best Restaurant’ plaques displayed proudly by their front door.”
The 2010 CoastRider Culinary Awards are broken into a number of categories:
Best Newcomer (open less than 12 months)
Best Indian Restaurant
Best Spanish Restaurant
Best European/International Restaurant
Best Fast Food
Best Oriental Restaurant
Best Café/Bar
Best Menu del Dia/de la Noche
Best Fine Dining
Best Chef
Front of House Award for Outstanding Service
Overall Winner (chosen from the winners in each category)
Nominations are now open and nomination forms are available from the CoastRider office and sponsors of the Culinary Awards, Moneycorp. You can also download a nomination form here (English) or here (Castellano). Once nominations have been processed and the finalists chosen, a panel of judges will begin reviewing each restaurant before a grand gala dinner where the winners will be announced. Winning restaurants will receive, among other things, a commemorative plaque which can be displayed outside their premises for all to see.
To find out more, contact Claire on 966 70 10 60 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

A new Muslim political party, a first for Spain, has been launched this week in Granada. The Partido Renacimiento y Union Espana, or PRUNE is the first party of its kind to be established in Spain.
Based on the teachings of Islam, the PRUNE party was founded by journalist and writer Mostafa Bakkach El Aamrani. The party says it intends to contest municipal elections next year in Malaga, Madrid, Barcelona, Murcia, Valencia, Oviedo and Toledo. Their manifesto is ‘justice, equality and solidarity.’
The party’s credentials were sent to the Ministry of Interior in May last year and PRUNE received the go ahead from the Government in July.

Find your answers at the British Consulate Open Day in Santa Pola The British Consulate in Alicante and the Pension, Benefit and Healthcare Team are holding an open event for British residents in the Santa Pola area on Friday 12th March 2010 at 10:30am, presenting advice on some of the issues that matter most to residents.
The Pension, Benefit and Healthcare Team will provide essential information on British residents’ entitlements in Spain and the services that their team can offer. The British Vice-Consul will open the session and explain the role of the Consulate.
Event details:
PLACE: Salon de Teatro Santa Pola Life Resort C/Monte de Santa Pola, Nº 15 03130 (Gran Alacant) Santa Pola Alicante
DATE: Friday 12th March 2010
TIME: 10:30am (doors open at 9.45am)
To reserve your place, please go to: http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/opendays
If you experience problems booking or do not have internet access, call: 917 14 64 43

It is always nice to be able to report good news rather than having to focus on things that have gone wrong and so it was a particular pleasure when we received a call from Rod McGhee recently. Rod is a member of the long established and well known La Marina Walking Group and for those of you who may not know, this group travels to far away places to tackle some very vigorous challenges.
This year it was South America and 16 members of the group set off on January the 2nd this year for a trip that would take them to Chile, Argentina and Patagonia, visiting locations such as the Atacama Desert, Tierra del Fuego and the Beagle Channel over a two month period. All went well until close to the end of their trip when they arrived in Buenos Aires. They were due to fly to Santiago in Chile for a three day stop over before flying back to Europe at the completion of their trip.
However, when they got to the airport they discovered there were no flights taking off to Santiago because the earthquake had just struck Chile on Saturday the 27th February. Planes that were already in the air from other destinations on their way to Santiago were being diverted to nearby airports.
They rang the British Consul in Buenos Aires but were told there were no immediate contin-gency plans. It looked as if they were stuck. They then went to the Iberia desk to talk to them, because their flight home from Santiago to Spain was booked with the Spanish national carrier. Rod said at first they did not seem interested but clearly they realised that there would be other passengers in the same situation. So at around midnight on the Saturday night they came to the rescue of the La Marina Walking club group and others who were stuck flying them out of Buenos Aires, directly back to Madrid and all at no extra charge. Rod rang us to express his gratitude to the airline for the help they gave them all to get them out of what had looked like a very difficult situation.

At the start of next week, on Monday the 15th March there will be frantic activity in the city of Valencia as this year’s ‘fallas’ which are the incredible sculptures, usually satirical in nature, made of papier maché on a wooden support, are erected. These structures, which take many months of painstaking work to design and make, can cost several hundreds of thousands of euros to make. Normally there are around 800 made by different teams and placed in various locations around the city. Political figures are popular targets for the designers of fallas and as usual there has been plenty of material for the fallas artists to work with this year. The fallas are in place for 4 days until the 19th of March when all are set alight in what is known as the ‘la nit de la crema’. The burning starts in the evening of the 19th and goes on into the early hours of the 20th the last fallas to be burnt is situated in the square at the Town Hall.
The origins of the fallas go way back to mediaeval times when everyone had a clear out and got rid of old furniture by setting fire to it in a celebration of the coming of Spring. Nowadays the festival begins at the start of March with the four days of March 16th to March 19th being the focus of the festival period.
There are really two displays of fallas, one for adults as many of the themes and subjects of the fallas are very ‘adult’ in content, and one for the children where the fallas are not only much smaller in stature but often have positive messages about the impor-tance of eating well or studying at school in addition to typical images suitable for children. In the adult fallas there is a special ‘Premier League’ of fallas which are considered to be the most im-portant and usually the most expensive. These should be top of the list to see as far as visitors and tourists are concerned.
The early morning of the 18th is the most spectacular of all the firework displays that take place during the fallas and is called the Nit de Foc. Starting at 1.00 am over 1200 kilo-grams of gunpowder is consumed in a ground vibrating, pulsing display of colour and sound. In amongst all the fireworks there is the famous Flower Offering which takes place on the two days of March 17th and March 18th at 4.00 pm. A wooden framework is erected in the shape of the Virgin and over the two days each of the 350 groups that make the fallas parades past the statue bringing their offerings of flowers which are placed in the wooden framework in a similar way to the Torrevieja flower parade. Each group wears the stunning traditional Valencian costume and is accom-panied by bands playing music.

THE PARENTS of a baby born in Spain with Downs Syndrome and several holes in her heart are celebrating the success of lifesaving surgery following a battle with health authorities.
Isabel Davies Atherton was born in September last year, when the law allowing health care was being withdrawn from British citizens in the Valencia region of Spain. She was delivered at Torrevieja Hospital by emergency Caesarean section, weighing just over six pounds (2.785kg). Her father Blue was then told that it was suspected that Isabel had Down’s syndrome.
Alison, Isabel’s mother, had taken out a Prestige Healthcare Plan for herself, with previous medical history disregarded, and the couple also had European EHIC cards. They were invited to join the Spanish free health scheme on a visit to the Town Hall in the Orihuela Costa where they live, so felt that they had covered their options.
‘We knew we were going to try for children so we bought this particular plan, which included £4,000 a year for routine pregnancy and childbirth cover,’ said Alison. ‘We also knew that any babies we might have could be added from birth with the same beneficial underwriting terms.’ Under a law passed in 2003 people living in the Valencia region were enticed to the area with the promise of free health cover. However, the law has recently been overturned, with ex-pats who are not in receipt of a UK state pension informed that they must pay for health care, with a scheme backed by private insurers costing 270 euros a quarter per person including children.
Alison and Blue live on income from rental on properties owned in the UK, paying income tax in England as well as in Spain. When Alison became pregnant after two miscarriages she and Blue were confident that mother and baby Future bright for baby Isabel would have every care afforded to a new family. However, when Isabel was born they found that their troubles had only just begun.

One of the stimulating things about this campaign to raise funds for Haiti sufferers is that so many volunteers of charitable organisations have involved themselves in raising funds for this devastated country.
Obviously the volunteers all require more funds for their own causes, but the solidarity has been tremendous, with the Alzheimer’s Association organising several events in Torrevieja alongside Manos Unidas, Caritas, and APANEE. Some of these associations have regular monthly expenses to meet such as the salaries of professional physiotherapist, nurses or psychologists, so all the more power to their elbow for still finding time to address a global tragedy. The staff of Salud 22, the health area covered by Torrevieja Hospital and the offices and clinics in the surrounding towns that come under this department were generous by raising 5,560 euros put into cow shaped collection boxes.
Mothering Sunday falls on 14th March this year and in the plaza de la Constitution in Torrevieja there is a full programme of bands, international artistes, South American musicians and cancers, Russian musicians and the massed band of tambours and cornets providing a background to an outdoor market featuring food from various countries.
If you are going shopping on 20th March in the Habaneras Shopping centre from 12.00 – 2.00 pm you can stop and listen to the Vega Baja Big Band performing popular music and drop a donation in the bucket for Haiti. Wellknown singer Tony Kelly takes over the stage at the same venue from 17.00 – 18.30 and he will be followed by the Keith Monk Band. All these people are giving their time and talent freely so that you can enjoy yourselves and at the same time put your drop of help into the buckets provided by some gorgeous gals.
Kids of all ages have a treat in store on 21st March with two showings, one at 11.00 am and the afternoon one at 6.00 pm in the Torrevieja Municipal Theatre with a variety of great characters performing in song and dance from Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse to Marvel Comics heroes Batman and Superman. A treat for all ages and Lola Canales, the councillor of welfare in Torrevieja has been delighted with the response form the foreign community.
Incidentally her department in conjunction with Caritas has a food kitchen that in January gave out over 2,000 meals to some of the many people who are really struggling.

At the quarterly zone meeting of local Lions Clubs, held in Los Alcazares and attended by representatives from Torrevieja Costa Lions, Torrevieja Suomi Lions and Mazzaron Bahia Lions, it was announced that the aggregate sum of the fund raising efforts of the three Clubs had raised in excess of €10,000, around 14,000 US Dollars.
This money has been forwarded to the Lions Club International Appeal and is already having a beneficial effect on the people of Haiti.
Lions Club International have with the support of Lions throughout the world been able to pledge well in excess of 4,000,000 US Dollars to the people of Haiti, with a promise of more to come.
Lions are currently on the ground in Haiti providing help with the reconstruction of schools, hospitals and providing emergency aid and shelter to those most in need. In addition where medical help is required most specifically with eye and general optical problems the Lions are utilising their world renowned expertise in eye and optical care to help wherever required.
It is anticipated that the work of the Lions in Haiti will continue for years to come and Lions Club International are committed to providing support for as long as it takes to return the people of Haiti to some form of normality.
The three Clubs in our Zone are extremely grateful for the public support to date and Torrevieja Costa Lions would specifically like to thank the pupils and staff of El Limonar Schools in Villamartin and Murcia for their combined donation of €3,200, a fabulous effort.

THE PSOE opposition party is to introduce a new contact point for the residents of Entre Naranjos and Laguna Green which will open every Wednesday, starting 31 March, between the hours of 11am until 1pm.
The new contact point will be inaugurated on Saturday 27 March at 11am when local residents will be invited to meet PSOE opposition councillor for Orihuela Costa, Rosa Martinez, as well as other members of the PSOE opposition party.
Based at the home of Sarah and Dave Hill, the new PSOE contact point will enable local people to share their problems and ideas, which will in turn receive the personal attention of Councillor Rosa Martinez.
Sarah Hill said: “Already, Rosa Martinez has helped many people who live in this area. Recently, she proposed the installation of a satellite medical centre and pharmacy at the town hall pleno. She is also campaigning for an adequate sewage system for Laguna Green, and continues the fight to get habitation certificates for many residents here. She’s taken up employment and benefit issues for individuals, too. Rosa wants to include people from Entre Naranjos and Laguna Green in issues that affect them, and Dave and I can help her do this through opening our home once a week to listen to people, and to pass on their concerns to Rosa, or facilitate a meeting with her.”
Entre Naranjos and Laguna Green are situated between Orihuela city and the coast. There are currently no public services available to residents, who have to drive at least seven kilometers to carry out basic tasks, such as posting a letter.
Many residents were told there would be a bus service when they initially bought their properties. This has never materialised.
Sarah Hill continued: “We are quite an isolated community and having a car is essential, worrying as many of us are getting older and won’t always be able to drive. We have no public services at all, except for bin collections, but this does not include street cleaning, and most of our roads are unfinished. The PP ruling party of Orihuela has neglected this area, and issues are now only getting resolved because Rosa Martinez has intervened.”
Local residents will also be able to fill in voting registration forms with Sarah and Dave’s help, and learn about what they need to take to the town hall to ensure they have the right to vote in next year’s municipal elections.