Of course, all this spectacular rice throwing and jumping around is all for charity, in the form of the Asociación Solidaria Amigos De Baracoa – Cuba, with all the proceeds going to help children in Cuba.

The price for a ticket is €6, which will include a ration of paella, a drink and bread. There will also be music and lots of other entertainment.

Well worth going along to this one, especially if you’ve never seen this spectacle before.

For tickets you can ring the Tourist Information Office in La Herradura or Almuñécar, 958 631 125. You can also get tickets at several banks and other outlets, including Chambao de Joaquin in La Herradura.

According to the councillor in charge, Antonio Rabaneda, many people within the municipality are out of work and in many cases, without even unemployment benefit, which makes it especially important for citizens and businesses to do what they can to help.

The campaign is running to the 15th, having started on the 1st and counts on the help of many volunteers from the craft workshops in the Casa de la Cultura.

The campaign will be carried out both through the local radio station, Radio Salobreña, as well as phone calls to local businesses, requesting their help, etc.

Finally, for the first time, they will be putting Solidarity Baskets in the local supermarkets/self-service shops, where shoppers can place products that they wish to contribute – we are talking about non-perishable foodstuffs and cleaning material.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

It was nine in the evening in Granada and the ‘soup kitchen’ was full of hungry people, unfortunate enough not to be able to feed themselves – something that is far from uncommon in these worsening times. There were at least 40 sin techos or ‘homeless’ diners present.

Whilst the volunteers were trying to prepare the food, get everybody seated and served, an argument broke out between two diners. So, a volunteer – somebody who gives up their free time to help those less fortunate than themselves – goes over to the table in an attempt to pacify the squabble.

Before you could say, “Peace be amongst you,” one of the two ‘combatants’ has him by the neck and is attempting to throttle him on the ground. Now, things are not going very well for the volunteer that particular evening, but they are set to deteriorate further, because the girlfriend of the aggressor decides that the volunteer needs a spot of cranial perforation and stabs him repeatedly in the head with her generously provided fork.

Torn between finishing their hot food or letting it go cold – or somebody stealing it whilst they are not looking – several diners decided that the grub would have to wait and prized the aggressor off the volunteer’s throat and the fork out of the bloody woman’s hand.

The police were summoned and on hearing what was happening, decided that two patrol cars full of officers would be better than one, so they screeched up and arrested the 46-year-old aggressor and his 26-year-old girlfriend. Both of the the arrested people had a curriculum of the police variety.

The perforated volunteer was taken to hospital – if he was still wearing the fork, we are not sure – and was patched up but kept in for observation.

As for the other diners, they were herded out because there were 40 sets of cutlery on the table that were just a touch too handy for the likes of the police. However, as some hadn’t finished their food – distracted as they were by the screaming volunteer with the culinary cranial feature – they were not happy. In fact, one policeman had to be attended by medical staff because of an injury to his arm.

(News: Metropolitan Granada, Granada, Andalucia)

With some donations still to come, the walk has already raised over €1,300, all of which will be added to this year’s Poppy Appeal. Sincere thanks go to the walkers and to all those who sponsored them so generously.

The Poppy collection boxes will remain in place in many of the bars and restaurants in the area for the next few days, and together with collections made by our Poppy Appeal Co-Ordinator, Dorothy Allen, at markets and supermarkets during the Remembrance period the Nerja Branch hopes to make 2011 a record year for the Poppy Appeal.

(News: Nerja,Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)

As always, the race saw many entrants running for our, much-loved, local, cancer charity, AECC (Asociacion Española Contra el Cancer). These local residents all gave up their time, not just during the run, but also obtaining sponsorship and training for the day. Some ran just a couple of K’s, while others ran the entire 14… with some respectable times we might add!

It’s not too late if you want to sponsor one or all of the runners, just pop into the AECC shop (opposite The Business hair salon) any Tuesday, tell them how impressed you were with the efforts of those who ran and make your donation. This is a worthy and important cause, so don’t hold back with your shekels and give generously.

Here are a couple of pictures of the event and there are many more in the gallery section.

Well done everyone who ran or sponsored a runner… you do the town proud.

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

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The American International Club is a social club serving from Almunecar to Torrox with a philanthropic focus raising funds for Spanish charities. Every year a significant donation is given to a local Spanish organization/s as a way of saying “thank you” to our host country. 

The membership has donated over 1,000 Euros, to the Ciudad de los Niño’s, Taller de Amistad , A.N.A.B.E. and ANAC which supports the Nerja Cultural Center.  

The club hosts monthly outings, petanque, walks, tapa tours, dinners, travel and informal coffee meetings. Resident’s Day in Nerja they generated charity funds by selling coffee, cake, sangria and hand-made crafts.  

Even with all this work, our motto is: “If it isn’t fun, we don’t do it.”
www.americaninternationalclub.com

(News/Clubs: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)
 

More than €3,000 were raised to provide underprivileged children in towns and remote communities with the ‘chocolatada navidena’ – a Peruvian custom of giving hot chocolate, sweet breads and a gift just before Christmas.

Hundreds of supporters from the Alpujarra attended this event, which was only made possible with the assistance of more than 25 volunteers and the generosity of local businesses and shops in providing gifts, raffle prizes and donations. And on the day supporters parted with their Euros on many stalls.

They could buy homemade cakes, jams and pickles, rummage on the bric-a-brac stall, dig into the lucky dip, have their children’s faces painted, buy raffle tickets or guess the weight of the giant squash! And much, much more!

One of the highlights of the event was an Auction of Favours, which was fronted by local author, Chris Stewart, who was keen to support the event, but first to acknowledge he has no experience as an auctioneer.

However, through the generous donations of 10 ‘favours’ and Chris pushed the bids up and nearly €400 was raised from this single activity.

Organiser of the event, Meg Robinson, said, “I am overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and kindness and want to thank everyone who had helped and attended. This will make such a difference to these children. And it’s still not too late to help. You can donate on-line at www.justgiving.com/CHOCOLATADA-peru. She went on to say she hopes the event will be repeated next October.

For further information and photographs – please contact Diane Howe Howe875@googlemail.com or 958 784560.

“A month ago, the mere mention of the Ruta de la Plata was enough to bring about a feeling of nausea and a severe weakening of resolve. But that was a whole month ago. Now on 1st November 2010 the adventure is a part of our personal history.

We did it – we covered some 900 kilometres from Seville to Santiago – Elizabeth in the hired van, with all manner of belongings – and me on my bicycle. We covered our 900 or so kilometres in 16 days of cycling – an average of 56 kms per day – a truly modest achievement by any standards!

An idea which started as a drunken boast at the time of my 70th birthday last March finally took shape, it satisfied an ambition and some curiosity whilst raising over £2200, thus far, for the Help4Heroes Charity.

Starting from the mighty doors of Seville Cathedral, early on Sunday morning 3rd October 2010, we found our way via: Zafra, Merida, Caceres, Plasencia, Bejar, Salamanca, Zamora, Puebla de Sanabria, Verrin, Ourense to Santiago Cathedral, with its even mightier West door! A route, containing at times, sections of endlessly boring highway thankfully led us quite rapidly into the more varied and frequently challenging parts of the journey which we encountered as I pedalled ever northwards.

Countless travel writers have described, in detail, this part of Spain and I respectfully leave that description to them. But for us, it was a chance to experience, first-hand, the rolling, open spaces of Extramadura – not for nothing known to us as the ‘empty quarter’ – the mountains of Castilla and Galicia with their long, energy-sapping passes, the mighty rivers, Guadalquivir, Guadiana, Tajo, and Duero – the true arteries of Spain.

However, this cycle tour was not simply about ‘seeing the sights’ but more about doing something different together. Elizabeth and I still seek adventure ( of the more modest kind, it should be stressed ) and we try our best to resist the limitations imposed by increasing age. It proved not only a chance to explore territory ‘off-the-beaten-track’ – the area adjacent to the northern Portuguese border being a perfect example – but also a chance to meet with delightful people.

I think of the lady good-naturedly forcing us to pull over whilst she rode on one of her four fluffy donkeys all strung out, line abreast across the road way.

I think of the be-whiskered bar keeper in Albergueria, the ceiling, beams and walls of his bar covered in scallop shells inscribed and signed by a multitude of thirsty pilgrims.

I recall with gratitude the encouragement and advice resulting from chance meetings at cafes, bars and roadsides.

For us, no blinding flash of light on the road to Damascus ( or Santiago, in our case ), no ‘Guinness Book of Records’ broken but no bones either! We are back in Andalucía both of us intact and relieved that the ubiquitous ballast truck failed to get me, even after 900 kms!

The Rewards. These comprise a little log book readily stamped by hoteliers, gasoline station attendants, pharmacy staff, each one, along the camino, prepared to attest to the fact that I was there on a particular day and at a given time.

The production of the log book in Santiago elicited the ‘Compostela’ written in Latin and proclaiming that I have completed the pilgrimage. Most importantly, it is the memories and cameos which leap into one’s consciousness at unlikely moments and the little spontaneous images of a Spain which never disappoints but only surprises.

Following our little Odyssey we still hope to achieve our fundraising target of £3000 for Help4Heroes and we hope, too, for the extension of the good humour and generosity which we encountered throughout Spain. If so, this little adventure will all have been worthwhile.”

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There were 16 runners who wore the AECC vest and supported the charity. The AECC raffled an MP3 player amongst their runners, which was won by Bex from The Business Hair Design, who actually beat her own personal record from last year, completing the race in 1 hour 21 minutes. Well, done Bex!