A possible new team for Torrevieja

SOMEWHAT surprisingly for a city of almost 200,000 people that live in Torrevieja permanently or that call the city their second home, there are only two football teams that play in the Football League; FC Torrevieja and the municipal town team, CF Torrevieja. A town of a similar size back in the British Isles could probably boast of having a dozen or more teams that could at least give the town’s second team a good run for their money, if not a good hiding! Over the last decade other teams have formed and played in Torrevieja, which have included Russians, Expatriates and even a team from La Mata. Next year, Torrevieja may have another one to choose from.

One supporters group in the city are going to look further at the idea of forming another team, stating from the bottom, four divisions below FC Torrevieja and trying to play their way up the leagues, maybe all seven of them, to play against the likes of Ronaldo and Messi, if they are still around in a decade’s time! The idea of a new team has been mooted by members of FC Torryfans, who after weeks of uncertainty regarding FC Torryfans' support for F.C.Torrevieja, called a General Meeting and voted to look at the idea a little further.

At a meeting on 25 November, the President and committee agreed to give the members of FC TorryFans the opportunity to vote on investigating the prospect of forming a new football club in Torrevieja. All members had the opportunity to vote either in person at a General Meeting on Thursday 2 December, by e-mail or through the Website. At the meeting, a full and lively debate took place before members voted, resulting in 74% of members giving the committee instructions to investigate the prospect, cost and feasibility of setting up a new Football Club in Torrevieja, reporting back by the end of January 2011.

Their Press Release reads “This is a major move forward after a year of uncertainty surrounding F.C.Torrevieja. Members of the supporters' club have given a mandate to their committee to actively move forward and possibly provide an alternative football club in Torrevieja. At this point FC TorryFans are only looking at the possibility of setting up a new football club; no firm decision has been made.”

President of FC TorryFans Eddie Cagigao said “Interest has been shown from many of our membership to form a new team. But it would not be a team of just expats. It's important that this be a Spanish club. But, I stress, we are only looking at the possibility of forming a new team at this time. Nothing else.”

The very nature of the set-up and availability of pitches in Torrevieja and the surrounding region mean that most teams play seven-a-side football, in fun, amateur leagues. Torrevieja’s Sports City is busy everyday of the week and there are those playing at ‘kick-a-round’ level that could quite easily fit in with the set-up of a new town team. Starting at the bottom, in this part of Spain, the bottom is 2nd Regional, not to be confused with 2B Division, which is one above the Third division or Tercera.

The entire structure is as follows: First Division (La Liga), Second Division, 2B Divisison, Third Division (where FC Torrevieja play), Regional Preferente, First Regional and finally Second Regional, where CF Torrevieja are top of Group 18 and look like promotion prospects for next season. Second Regional contains local, part-time, amateur teams from Dolores, Cox, Orihuela, Bigastro, San Fulgencio, Guardamar, Almoradi, Los Montesisnos and new boys, Orihuela Costa, who are ‘enjoying’ their very first season in the big time!

With the population size and diverse cultural make up of Torrevieja, with talented footballers from the British Isles, Scandinavia, Germany, South and Central America, Russia, Georgia and Africa, the local talent pool is very diverse, and there are a lot of locals, who used to be involved in Football at a high level in their homeland, just itching to become involved again, which is something that they have been unable to do; up until now!

As anyone who has been involved with FC Torrevieja over the last few years, as a player, management or fan will tell you, the woes of the professional club stem from even before the days when the club was first promoted to the Third Division. This came to a fore with the problems caused by Technologia Urbanista who were unable or unwilling to pay their promised sponsorship. The club has continued to have major financial problems since those days and so funding the club is a number one concern for any new, proposed club. If the funding isn’t there, estimated to be in the region of €20,000 for their first season, then it’s unlikely that any new club will be formed. And so that is exactly what FC TorryFans propose to do; conduct a feasibility study, see if the support is there and report back to it’s membership in January with their findings.

In the most simplistic terms, if only a thousand people put €20 into a kitty and then went to support the team and have some fun watching them play over the season, that would possibly be enough to survive a first season! This season, around 900 filled the stands at the Vicente Garcia to watch FC Torrevieja, although this dropped to less than 200 last Saturday, so there are hundreds of undecided fans out there missing their weekly dose of live football, and for whom a new team might just be the medicine they need!

Any new club should not be treated as necessarily an alternative to FC Torrevieja but instead as something to compliment the sporting calendar of the city. It’s also another outlet for talented 19 and 20-year olds, who are too old to play for the junior teams anymore, to give them another couple of years to see if their talent shines through plus the hundreds of immigrant hopefuls who stand little chance of breaking into an established Spanish team. Every week scouts from the higher divisions look to see what is happening in the Second Regional, thus a new team might possibly be an excellent breading ground for new talent.

Should anyone wish to contact FC TorryFans with comments, ideas or help please either phone Eddie Cagigao 637 869 602 or Alex Dunn 637 751 301or e-mail fctorryfans@hotmail.com. 

Pureza Canelo wins the XV ‘City of Torrevieja’ International Poetry Prize

The jury of the XV International Poetry Prize "City of Torrevieja" unanimously decided to award first prize to Dona Pureza Canelo for her poetry collection ‘A todo lo no amado’ or ‘To all unloved’. The book will be published in Spanish by Plaza y Janes in collaboration with the Municipality of Torrevieja, and will be released on February 18, 2011. Canelo also went home with €18,000 as her cash prize..

Pureza Canelo (Moral, Cáceres, 1946) burst onto the poetry scene winning the Adonais Prize in 1970. During the years 1975-1983 she ran the Interfaculty Department of Cultural Activities of the Autonomous University of Madrid, and in 1977 she founded the Moraleja Cultural Hall and Public Library. She has won many poetry prizes over the last twenty years and her work has been widely translated into English and German.

This year 321 manuscripts were received for consideration. Highlighting the International nature of the competition, 17 came from the United States 15 Argentina, 13 Colombia and Venezuela, with other entries from Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica and one from Bolivia, France, Germany, UK and Switzerland. The remainder were received from different parts of Spain. It is the seventh consecutive year that Plaza y Janes will edit the ‘City of Torrevieja’, International Poetry Prize after the success of previous editions. 

Torrevieja celebrates 50 years of Día del Ausente

2010 is a year of special celebration in Torrevieja as it marks the 50th anniversary of the Día del Ausente del año 1960, to remember those who have left the city for a different life elsewhere. For those interested in the history of Torrevieja, which in part reflects that of Spain, there are number of activities taking place throughout the city. Everything started on Thursday evening with a DVD presentation that contained interviews with some of those who live elsewhere, recalling their memories and what parts of Torrevieja always remain in their heart. The DVD contained archive footage of the city going back into the 1950’s, to the days when small bulls ran through the streets and Torrevieja’s seafront was just that.

One of Torrevieja’s streets, Calle Vicente Blasco Ibanez has recreated itself to reflect 1960. On Sunday evening, Eduardo Dolon, Councilor for Culture and Festivities officially opened the street and presented a decoration of a stretch of Calle Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, along with local residents, marked with nostalgia and emotional memories, evident in the faces of all present.

Dorita Vanon, Encarna Alonso and María del Carmen Martínez, cut the ribbon, which opened the door to 1960. A large image of Inmaculada, painted on the asphalt by José Molero, along with a beach with sand, palm trees, a stranded boat and even a typical day spa was the scene that greeted visitors. The Street was decorated and covered in old photo albums depicting life over the last half century, which climaxed on Tuesday, December 7, when Torrevieja celebrated the "50th Anniversary Day of those Absent" with the Diego Remeriz Awards.

December 7 also marked the opening of a month long exhibition of photographs in the Vista Alegre exhibition centre. It is something that everyone living in or with connections to the city should make the effort to see, as these archival photos on display show life in the city when the population was around the 10,000 mark, before high-rise construction was evident and when the city had a seafront.

The exhibition is free and well worth a visit. It is just part of a range of concerts, exhibitions and entertainment taking place throughout the festive season with more details to be found in the Cultural Program or by visiting www.torrevieja.es.

Sister cities Pola de Siero and Torrevieja look to further collaboration

MONDAY was not a holiday for everyone, especially at the Torrevieja Town Hall, where a meeting was held by the City Council about a proposed further collaboration between Torrevieja and their sister of Pola de Siero, in Asturias. The meeting was chaired by mayor, Pedro Hernandez Mateo and attended by the Cultural and Festivities councillor, Eduardo Dolon Sánchez, representatives from the PSOE, IU and the Greens, along with the Deputy Mayor of Siero and Councillor for Tourism and Culture, Mauritius Adrian Bogomak, their mayor Angel Antonio Garcia Gonzalez, and others.

The meeting held various discussions in how best to establish new ways of collaboration between the municipalities, which included business exchanges aimed at the economic sector, tourism and sports. Torrevieja’s mayor reported that they were looking at the possibility of promoting student exchanges in sport so that young Asturian school children could develop their sailing and water skills and enjoy the new Sports City Complex while students from Torrevieja would learn more about environmental activities, such as hiking and multi-activity programs, in Asturias.

Relations between Pola de Siero and beyond go back over fifty years to 1957, the year that the Asturian city began the participation in the Habanera contest. Their strong participation at the highest level won the first prize in the competition held in 1960. The other important link between the town halls is that La Pola and Torrevieja are two booming cities, who are well aware of what it means to move forward and address the needs of their rapidly growing populations. The cities have been Twinned since September 6, 2008. 

The Rascal's busy Christmas

THE RASCALS are back on stage with their annual Christmas show starting this week, with their first concert being tonight, Thursday December 9, at the Virgen del Carmen Cultural Centre at 19.00-hrs. On Sunday they shall be in the square in Los Montesinos at 13:00-hrs leading a carol service and on stage again on Wednesday December 15 at 19:00-hrs in the Cardinal Belluga Theatre.

Not content with raising over €100,000 for Charity over the last 16-years, they will also be singing for the kids at ALPE on Monday 13 December, for their Christmas party and last but not least, on Thursday afternoon,16 December they will lead another Carol service in Torrevieja’s San Luis Square at 14:00-hrs.

Over the years the Rascals have raisied funds for such worthy causes as HELP, Age Concern, APANEE, Red Cross, ALPE (including their annual Christmas party where they give gifts to all the students), Alzheimer's Association Torrevieja (Torrevieja AFA),AECC, Animal Charities and disaster relief among others.

This association was founded in 1984 with the objective of raising funds for charities through music and dance concerts and raffles among its members. In their early years, they performed in the n the streets of the urbanization of La Siesta, performing for the first time in Torrevieja Municipal Auditorium in 2004, as part of the Cultural Program. The Rascals give 100% of their ticket sales towards charity, relying on other donations, and sponsorship from such supporters as The Halifax, to help with costumes, scenery, music and incidental expenses, to keep the shows on the road.

Don’t miss out on their fun-filled performances leading up to Christmas. All money raised is sure to go to a good cause. 

Cold weather and strikes spoils the weekend for many

THE COLD spell over the last week affected a few of the activities planned around Torrevieja and the surrounding region. The patronal fiesta concert program started on December 1 with the International Gala at the Grand Marquee in the City’s Port Area. The first concert night featured an excellent evening of music presented by Maria O’Hara, the Everly Brothers and Route 69. The first very cold night of year kept many away from the free concert as only about 300 turned up. It was the first time that Councillor for Culture and Fiestas Eduaro Dolon, had seen these acts perform and was impressed enough to say that they should be given the opportunity to perform in one of Torrevieja’s Theatres to a larger (and warmer) audience.

Two nights later, Spanish singer, TV presenter and actor Bertin Osborne performed to a full and appreciative full house of a thousand plus, who sang along, clapped and cheered for a full two hours he was on stage performing many well known favourites, including a few in English, such as “My Way", “Love Mediterranean”, "Forgive me”, "What happens to us this morning" and a selection of Mexican hits, Rancheros style.

While 1,000 or more braved the cold in Torrevieja for Bertin Osborne, across town at the Orihuela Costa Resort, there were few happy faces as the main event, Richard Street and the Temptations failed to show. The website of Heatwave Promotions explained the situation:

“Due to circumstances completely beyond our control, The Temptations were unable to appear at The Orihuela Costa Resort Hotel on Friday 3rd December 2010. Here are full details of the course of events. Following their show in Helsinki on Thursday evening, The Temptations were booked on an early morning flight to Murcia. This flight was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions on the route they were due to take. We were able to find another route for the group to fly, which would have seen them arrive in time for the concert. This route came via Rome, Madrid and then on to Murcia. However, the flight from Helsinki was further delayed due to ice on the plane and resulted in the group arriving late in Rome and missing their flight to Madrid.

We were able to find a flight direct to Valencia which we booked them on. This flight would have meant that the group would have arrived late, hence the delay in the start of the concert. At this point we were confident of the arrival of The Temptations and took the decision to go ahead one hour late rather than cancel altogether. We sent a fast car to Valencia in order to transport the group to the venue. When the driver was half way there we received the news that Spanish Air Traffic Controllers had walked out and no flights whatsoever were coming in to Spain.

We received the news that The Temptations would be happy to appear on Sunday 5th December 2011, weather, strike action and so on depending. Saturday was impossible as they had an appearance in the UK that night. We were unable to book a Sunday flight until 6pm on Saturday evening as we were waiting for the Spanish flight restrictions to be lifted. We managed to arrange a flight for Sunday morning which would have seen the group arrive at around midday giving them plenty of time to prepare for a performance on Sunday evening. Unfortunately, this flight too was cancelled.

It is our intention to present The Temptations again in February and to invite all ticket holders from the original concert back free of charge. We will keep everyone informed of progress via our website and in the local media.”

Wildcat Strikes aside, it seems that the Temptations’ management are mostly to blame for this situation because of the tight schedule they had arranged for the group, with no ‘Plan B’ in case of inclement weather or flight cancellations. Hopefully fans and ticketholders will have another chance of seeing them perform in February but that does not make up for the disappointment of some of the guests who had arranged their Christmas Office parties around the event. For more information please visit www.heatwavepromotions.com.

On Saturday night, there were more disappointed audience members at the Theatre in Rojales, who had gone to watch the Rojales Pantomime Group perform. This was nothing to do with the cast or any technical difficulties but because of ‘improvements’ being made to the Theatre, which have not been completed in time. Christine Smith from the group said “On behalf of the Rojales Pantomime group I would like to apologise to all the people that supported us in the freezing conditions of the theatre. We were promised that the heating system would be sorted out but as you will know that was not the case. The back stage was just as cold as the front of house. It is such a pity when we have worked so hard to put on this show for charity and the Town Hall do not do their part by getting some heating on. To all those who managed to freeze their way through to end, Thank you and I hope you enjoyed the show but sorry to all the ones who could not stay to face more cold in the second half.”

Regardless of the single digit temperatures inside the theatre, the cast did their very best to raise spirits and temperatures and those who stayed played along and enjoyed the show. As the saying goes, ‘The best laid plans’ did not happen to come off for many last weekend, though no fault of the organisors who tried their best to entertain local audiences. 

Los Costaleros visit the Water Plant

Torrevieja’s Water Treatment Plant opened their doors last week to 30 members of the International Cofradia, ‘Los Costaleros’. The men in Green carry one of Torrevieja’s largest and heaviest Paseos, "Jesus in the Garden of Olives" every Easter, during the Semana Santa Processions. Water Plant monitor, Jesús Sánchez Seva, is one of the few Spanish Costaleros and invited Los Costaleros and their guests for a tour of this excellent facility.

The visitors were given an informative talk accompanied by a Power Point Presentation about the  plant by Jesus, with translation kindly provided by Graham Knight. They were enlightened as to how the city’s 28 pumping stations are all computer controlled from the treatment plant and how the sewage is treated. One important aspect of the treatment in Torrevieja is that all sewage passes through three different cycles of purification and treatment, allowing the treated water to be harnessed for irrigation and other uses. The Visitors were accompanied by Councillor for Foreigners and New Technology, Pedro Valero, himself an employee of Aguamed before entering politics, plus and the Director of the Foreign Residents Office and God Father to the Los Costaleros, Graham Knight.

The computer system also contains archival information about water usage going back many years. The charts produced from water usage allows the City and the Plant to plan for the annual influx of visitors to the city, with the largest invasion of visitors being the August 15th weekend, with over half-a-million residents in the city! By studying past charts, it is also easy to pinpoint times of crisis, recession and growth in the city. The amount of water usage is also a factor in how Torrevieja Town Hall knows the actual number of residents in the city, using a combination of previous data and average waste usage in other parts of Spain. Possibly because of changes in the Padron registration, Torrevieja population has remained around the 104,000 mark while in reality, when data from water usage, power consumption and garbage collection is evaluated, the City probably has a ‘real’ population of closer to 200,00!

Most Water Treatment Plants only treat waste water twice but in Torrevieja, waste water purification is performed in three phases: in the first of these, residues are separated, the solids from liquids. These are then separated again into two types, organic and non-recoverable, plus a third containment area for other solid waste that is unfortunately still thrown into toilets! The other solid waste goes to a plant where, after treatment becomes fertilizer for plants. In the second phase, the water is purified by chemicals and acquires a degree of purification; which can be used for irrigation of green areas. In the third and last stage, water is treated to sessions of ultraviolet rays, which kills all bacteria, allowing it to be used for irrigation in general.

Much has also been said in the Media about the City’s new Distillation Plant, however, although on Torrevieja’s door step, the Distillation plant will primarily be used for agriculture, golf courses and urbanisations outside of Torrevieja, much of destined for Murcia! Jesus pointed out that Torrevieja has one of the most advanced Water Treatment Plants in Spain and the city will not need to avail itself of water from the new distillation centre! Other groups have already expressed an interest in visiting the Water Treatment Plant and those interested should contact Graham Knight at the Town Hall. For those concerned about ‘smells’, be assured that because of the rigorous and through process that waste water is treated to, your typical Public Lavatory probably smells worse than one experiences in touring the site.

Local Trade Gala on December 11.

THE LOCAL award ceremony for the top trades and businesses in Torrevieja will be held on December 11, 2010 in the Virgen del Carmen Cultural Centre. This annual event has been growing in stature year by year and is an initiative of the Association of Small and medium businesses of Torrevieja (APYMECO).

This Seventh Gala will present all of the 2010 Trade Awards except for the Christmas shop window, which will end on 9 December and for which there is already a good number of participants.

Business of the Year 2010 is the pastry shop, Pasteleria Monge, the Business Smile award given to the Baby Boutique, Modas Sara, the Sustainable Trade (Green Commerce) to Optica Chantal and the Commercial Renovation to Jorge Rodriguez for the expansion of its premisies.

Any business in Torrevieja that would like to attend the Gala can do so simply by calling the Department by telephone on 96 571 0250 and asking for extension 152, 153 or 154, or by email: comercio@torrevieja.eu.

figures for the amount spent by foreign tourists in Spain

THE INSTITUTE of Tourism Studies, a department of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce has just issued figures for the amount spent by foreign tourists in Spain for October 2010. The results are encouraging and show a rise of 5.3% to €4,289 million euros over October 2009. The average spent by individuals visiting Spain is estimated at almost €900, a rise of 1.2%. These results put a very positive face on for the Tourism sector, which shows an overall increase of 2.3% between January and October 2010, that accounted for a total of €43,329 spent on Tourism in Spain, continuing to show the importance of the sector as a source of revenue generation for the Spanish economy.

The results point to an increased confidence in Spain as a destination with October marking the sixth consecutive month there has been a rise in tourism. Although the average daily spend was estimated at just shy of €100, there was a noticeable drop in spending from the two traditional markets, the UK and Germany!

 Foreign tourists spent 4,289 million euros in Spain in October, 5.3% greater than during the same month in 2009. last month's increase in tourist spending was the sixth consecutive monthly rise.

The average overall individual spend rose 1.2% to 896 euros, with the average daily spend going up 1.6% to 96 euros.

The data published today Institute of Tourism Studies of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce showed that the complete spend by international tourists in Spain to and from January and October rose to 43,329 million euros, an increase of 2.3% compared with the first ten months of last year.

Despite the fact that overall spending figures went up in October, visitors from the UK and Germany, Spain's principal tourist markets, actually spent 11.4% and 2% less respectively.

Visitors from Scandinavia, the country's third most important tourist market, spent 35.8% greater than last year, accounting for a complete spend of over 400 million euros, with the average individual spend reaching 1,000 euros.

In terms of tourist destinations, Catalunya was the autonomous community which attracted the largest tourist spend, with almost 908 million euros, an increase of 12.4% compared with October last year.  to and from January and October, tourist expenditure in Catalunya went up by over 10%.  The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands also showed increases, with visitors spending 2.3% and 12.2% greater respectively.

Andalucia saw tourist expenditure drop 5.5% in October, although across the year in the city has been a 7% increase in spending by tourists in the region.

Foreigners in Madrid spent 567 million euros in October, 11.8% greater than in 2009, with the average individual spend rising 9.9%, to 1,060 euros per stay

NEW MULTI-CULTURAL AND YOUTH CENTER FOR TORREVIEJA

EVEN in this time of crisis, Torrevieja continues to initiate new projects, with the latest announcement one of particular interest to the youth of the city. A multi-purpose cultural and Youth Centre, will be built on a plot of 2,000 square meters, which presently occupies the former headquarters of the Guardia Civil, located where Calle Apollo, San Pascual and Zoa all converge.

Torrevieja’s Mayor, Pedro Hernandez Mateo announced that the council will soon be running a design competition for the “construction of a building that it proposes to be a multipurpose cultural centre, youth centre and hotel containing annexes and the redevelopment of outer space, in order to boost cultural activity of the municipality aimed especially at the youth sector.”

For those with a creative flair for design, the deadline for submitting ideas is two months, starting from the day following the publication of the project; estimated early 2011. The total set aside for the Ideas Contest prize is €330,400. The building will have a maximum height of 5 floors (ground floor, three floor plans and an attic). The mayor of Torrevieja described the project as very important for the citizens of Torrevieja; an exciting project offering a complete range of purposes designed for cultural associations, local groups and choirs, library, classrooms for theatre and dance, rehearsal rooms plus meeting rooms.

Hernández Mateo said that the works must include the implementation of two basement floors on the entire site. The first level for the parking of vehicles owned by the City Council, equipment storage and archival documents while the second is intended for public parking.

In total, the new building will consist of 12 rooms dedicated exclusively to young people, containing musical equipment (such as drums, amplifiers guitar, bass and vocal equipment), for bands, soloists, DJs and with the ability to use other rooms for different meetings and preparation of concerts without equipment. It’s planned that up to 50 different groups could use these facilities in any one week.

On a more ambitious level, the complex will contain a concert hall and entertainment area for musical, theatrical and other stage productions. The minimum capacity of the auditorium is for1,000 standing spectators or about 600 seated, which puts this on the same scale as the Municipal Theatre. There will also be an outdoor café, control room, three dressing rooms, information centre, management office plus facilities for the councillor and coordinator of youth activities.

The facility will also have meeting rooms for different Associations that offer services
and resources for the development of activities within the city. There will be 20 offices of 30 m2 that can be used for up to 4 associations. A meeting room of about 300m2 will accommodate up to 200 users at the same time plus two rooms for about 80 users simultaneously.

Among the planned common areas are five meeting and training rooms, a computer room with forty computers for both educational purposes and for free use and study. Dance and theatre also feature with the dance rehearsal area to be more than double that of those in the Virgen del Carmen Cultural Centre. There will also be two classrooms and two dressing rooms for their exclusive use.

The Headquarters of the Municipal School of Drama will also have their new home here. In essence they shall have one large room, six to ten small classrooms, dressing and changing rooms, a multipurpose room plus areas for storage, props, costumes, make up and audiovisual. The main management offices for the Department of Theatre will also relocate to the complex.

There are a number of local choirs, both Spanish and International in the city and for them new rehearsal rooms will be provided; six smaller rooms and one full choir rehearsal room of 100 m2. This will allow a minimum capacity of seven choirs to rehearse at the same time! The Municipal Choir of Ricardo Lafuente will also relocate to here and have the use of three classrooms and their administrative office.

As if that is not enough, a New Municipal Central Library will be created offering extensive bibliographic services, newspapers, music library, video library, games room and wi-fi zones which will cater up to 500 users at any one time. The budget set aside for the new complex is eight million euros and the facility will become one of the most important resource meeting centres in the centre of Torrevieja.

Keith Nicol

An open letter to FC Torrevieja supporters

 FC Torrevieja is on a losing streak at the moment and heading for the relegation zone. But this is nothing in comparison with what has been happening off the field. This week’s latest in the Soap Opera saga was an ‘Open Letter’ from Snr. Boix, who is President of the Junta Gestora of FC Torrevieja. The message is clear, it’s one of let’s forgive and forget the past because most of what happened was a misunderstanding and move forward. In part, it reads:

“Over recent weeks there have been a number of grave misunderstandings on the part of both British and Spanish fans, which has led to accusations and division between different sectors of supporters. The cause of this, I suggest, has been a breakdown in communication possibly fuelled by certain so-called fans, from both sectors, whose intervention has only served to cause more division; be their actions and comments deliberately harmful or just misplaced.

Firstly I wish to make it perfectly clear that despite allegations to the contrary by certain sectors, I have no doubt that the previous chairman, Paul Hurrell and his committee carried out the management of the club in an honest and sincere manner with the best interests of the club in mind and to their best ability. Equally irrelevant are the unfounded allegations of anything other than complete honesty.

Secondly I would like to refer to the manifestation by the players and certain fans, which took place after the home game against Puzol. It is obvious that this protest came about through frustration and misunderstanding. Whilst the protest was intended to demand an adequate solution, passions run high where money is concerned and especially in football. Perhaps it was this passion which led to what was intended to be a peaceful and controlled protest being converted into what was to some, shouts and unacceptable abuse

That said, it is appropriate that an apology should be made to Paul Hurrell especially to his wife and to any other person who felt aggrieved by what occurred. It is unlikely and unrealistic that such an apology will come from any individual nor that any disciplinary action will remedy matters. However, I sincerely hope that this open letter and apology can be accepted in the manner in which it is intended and that we can now put the matter behind us for the benefit and future of our football club.

Since the formation of this Junta Gestora a week ago, we have received total cooperation from Paul Hurrell and the previous directive committee thereby permitting us to work towards resolving the real problems of our football club. We have been able to pay the players a further month’s wages and continue to seek financial and other support in the nest interests of F.C. Torrevieja. We hope to be able to build bridges towards uniting the fans of whatever nationality and would ask that you too, will join us in this important objective.

Despite all that has gone on, the truth is that we are all supporters of OUR club, F.C. Torrevieja with a shared desire for success. I truly believe that the real supporter will look towards the future rather than allow past events to cause division amongst us.

Vicente Boix

Presidente de la Junta Gestora of F.C. Torrevieja.”

The response for the letter is two fold, on the one hand there are those who have decided that enough is enough and that they will return to watch the team as that is what they have enjoyed doing for the last few years; on the other, some of the supporters will wait and see and many had their own comments:

From Jim, who now calls himself an ex-Torry supporter, he made note of the “areas of the letter which Snr. Boix suggests we should ‘forget’ such as the 'Manager' created the players pay hiatus by deliberately going over budget, the 'Captain' has set  a bad example to players & supporters and the late surge in 'Socio' membership seems dubious -to say the least!”

The same story is echoed from members of the Torry Army who were contacted by the secretary about their feelings with the majority of members saying that this olive branch is no good at all and that the main perpetrators of the trouble first of all, must be sacked ie,  Manager and Captain Carcoles, before any dialogue can be entered into. They state “This letter makes no reference to why the club is in such a mess, no mention of the manager overspending on his budget, and no apology personal or otherwise to Paul and his wife by the football players, who were a discredit to the game of football.”

On Monday, November 22, former Manager and Director of Football for FC Torrevieja Jose Agustin Soto decided that he has had enough of trying to work with the club under the present regime and said:

“I had hoped that I would not need to write this letter, but due to recent events, I have no other option and I want to inform the FC Torrevieja supporters how this Junta Gestora (Steering Committee) have ignored my continual telephone requests to them via both Corcoles and the club´s solicitor, D. Vicente Garcia. I have indicated to them on various occasions, that I am willing to arrive at an amicable solution, but the way I have been treated by them leaves me with no other alternative other than to place a "Denuncia" against the Club through the courts.

I have been paid part of what I am due this season, although this was only done after I agreed to ‘write off’ a considerable amount of money from my contract beforehand. I also agreed not to proceed with my denuncia at the Spanish Football Association, which would have left the current manager, Sr. Mario Barrera, unable to become manager and sit on the bench. I did this in a effort to not hinder the Club or hurt the Club’s image any more than it already was. It goes without saying that had I known then what I know now, I would not have suggested the Club contracted Snr. Barrera as manager. Summing up, I would like to repeat that having been ignored by the new ‘saviours’ of the Club (the Steering Committee) to whom I wish all the luck in the world for the good of FC Torrevieja, I feel they have a lot to learn as to how to treat people.

Finally, I wish to thank the peña Frente Salineros for the way they have treated me personally and also to the Torry Army and the TorryFans for all the help they have always given to me and more importantly, to this Club. I will never forget how at Christmas time three years ago, the Torry Army organised a Christmas party for the players and their families. At the time, we were not being paid and the situation was ‘delicate’ to say the least.

I will always be grateful for the 3 years spent at FC Torrevieja and my biggest hope is that, one day, I will be asked to return as manager. However, I would never agree to return until each and every member of the current steering committee is no longer involved at the Club.”

The fact is that nobody else, apart from Snr. Boix, came forward and put their hand in their pocket to help the club out with the added desire to become President. It should be noted that one prominent Socio did ‘lend’ the club an additional eight thousand euros of his own money, but as a goodwill gesture and not with the desire to run the club! The likelihood is that had the first planned Socio meeting been held without disruption and without the presence of the entire FC Torrevieja Squad and management, is that Snr. Boix would probably have been voted in as President regardless!

One point that is often overlooked is that Snr. Boix is NOT the President of FC Torrevieja but only of the Junta Gestora, the steering committee. At the end of the season, 14 May the official Socio’s AGM will be held, to which every paid up member can attend and cast their vote, or send it by proxy.  As former President of the football club Eddie Cagigao put it, in relation to the fact that the entire football squad and management are now Socios, “from the current crop of Socios, most will be gone by the end of the season as most of the players will move to other clubs, as they tend to do. I presume there will be elections and if someone has the funds, let them go for it!” 

Snr. Boix has come forward and asked for forgiveness and to invite supporters old and new to come and watch the team play. It would be a shame for the team not to survive until the next season, to enter administration or be relegated but it remains a matter of personal choice if the International supports will soon return to the Vicente Garcia and support the team they have been passionate about until last month. 

Torrevieja promoted at Tourism Fair in Valladolid

IN THIS time of crisis, Torrevieja’s Department for Tourism still recognises the need to promote the city, to attract, visitors, business and investors alike plus to support business in the City of Salt. Last week was no exception as Town Hall offices found themselves on the road once again and heading north to one of Spain’s most Cultural and Historic city’s, Valladolid. The Tourist Team displayed their new booth, filled with objects of desire, or the preverbal give-a-ways, to pass out to the thousands who visit the show every year.

The President of the Junta de Castilla y León, Juan Vicente Herrera Campo, accompanied by Javier León de la Riva (Mayor of Valladolid), Ramiro Ruiz Medrano (President of the Diputación de Valladolid) and María José Salgueiro Curtis (Minister of Tourism and Culture the Junta de Castilla y León), visited the stand of the city of Torrevieja at the opening ceremony of the fair INTUR (one of the few stands visited in his presence), a well-established traditional fair which brings together more than 1,200 exhibitors. During the visit, Councillor of Tourism of the Municipality of Torrevieja, Tomás Arenas Bueno, handed the Chairman of the Board a copy of the latest winner of the Nobel Book Prize from City of Torrevieja, Gustavo Martín Garzo’s "So close to the air" amonst other promotional items.

INTUR Fair brings together exhibitors from national and international destinations, working the various niche markets related to tourism. The annual fair reaches attracted over 43,000 visitors last week, in what marked the fourteenth edition of INTUR.

For many years, Torrevieja relied upon brick and mortar marketing, residential tourism, but with the housing boom behind them, the city is now concentrating on four key tourist pillars: trade, culture, sports and nature. Former Director of Valladolid’s ‘Conservatory of Dance’, Eva Tejedor, who now resides in Torrevieja, welcomed the initiative saying that ‘everyone in Valladolid knows the name Torrevieja, but few realise that it’s one of the most innovative city’s in Spain. They all know about our great climate, but little of what else is one offer.”

Madrid and Valladolid are just two of the major exhibitions that Torrevieja has been promoted at in 2010, with new campaigns underway for the New Year to promote not only the existing Sports City and facilities but the soon to be opened Conservatory of Music, the newly announced Performance Art Centre plus initiatives for new hotels and other developments in the pipeline. 

Torrevieja Team one of the World’s Best

Usually, when someone local is bidding to be world champion from Torrevieja, it’s a fairly well known fact. This year a team from Torrevieja will possibly be second or third in the world, while running on the preverbal shoestring, compared to their rivals. The sport is Class 1 powerboating; the water-sports equivalent of Formula 1, featuring the fastest water racing craft in the world. The team is Team Spain, run by Domenico Cirilli of Duemme Yacht Broker Spain S.L. based in Torrevieja.

The team features Italian Driver Guido Cappellini and fellow countryman Giampaolo Montavoci the Throttleman, with Domenico Cirilli being both Team Manager and Reserve Drive. Making the boat as compeditive as it can be on their limited budget is local engine wizard Oscar Sikken, their Chief Mechanic and Luke Talbot. Oscar is well known for his business Marine Engines S.L. based in Marina Salinas, Torrevieja but it’s the team’s driver Guido Cappellini, who provides that something special. Cappellini has dominated the F1 Powerboat Championship for the last two decades, winning the World title ten-times, taking 62 race wins and 70 Pole Position wins. His experience in this, his first season behind the wheel of the Class 1 boat, has upset a lot of the more established teams, many of then with ten times the budget of Team Spain!

Last week, with two more races to go, Team Spain donned the Sponsorship colours of GSG Ceramic Design but it would prove to be frustrating weekend due to technical problems and crashes which affected their chances of a podium finish. In the end, defending World Champions Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi produced a Championship winning drive to clinch a tenth World title for Dubai’s ‘Victory Team’, winning a dramatic and incident filled Race 2 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with two separate incidents involving Victory 2010 and a collision between Skydive Dubai and Negotiator, forcing race officials to immediately red flag the race and call for a restart. All this compounded an already frustrating weekend for Guido Cappellini and Giampaolo Montavoci in GSG Ceramic Design, which ended with them stopping just minutes after the restart and that was that for Abu Dhabi!

The final two races of the season take place in Dubai, 9-11 December with the Torrevieja Team presently forth with 72 points but in with a realistic chance of being promoted to third, should they perform well. The local offshoot of all the efforts from Domenico Cirilli and Oscar Sikken is that Class 1 officials have already inspected Torrevieja as a possible location for a future racing site, effectively bringing a world championship event to Torrevieja’s shores. A mouth-watering prospect that could further establish the city as one of the top yachting destinations on the Mediterranean. 

Richard Street and the Temptations in Concert

If you love Motown and Soul music, there is only one place you should be on Friday night, and that is at the Orihuela Costa Resort to see the one and only Richard Street and His Temptations in Concert. Richard Street may not be a household name but for 22 years, from 1971, he fronted The Temptations and sang on such legendary tracks as ‘Just My Imagination (Running away with me)’, ‘Masterpiece’, ‘Treat her like a Lady’ and ‘Papa was a Rolling Stone’. Richard Street and The Temptations perform, for one night only, December 3, so don’t miss your opportunity for a great night out.

Richard began his music career at the tender age of 12, playing piano and singing. In 1955, Richard was invited to join a vocal group: Otis Williams and The Distants, which led to his recoding with the Monitors, which were signed to Motown. Primarily a session singer, he lent his tenor to sweeten vocal tracks, but stayed away from the public eye. This placed him in the unique setting of being the voice behind many of the lead vocals for The Temptations; although, no one saw him in the group. For almost two-years he was on the microphone in the wings as Paul Williams, whose health was in decline, lip-synched to Richard’s vocals! In 1971, Williams departed from the group and Richard assumed his rightful place with the Temptations as lead singer.

He delighted television, stage, radio and record-buying audiences with his leads on such classic tracks as "Heavenly", "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Firefly", "Hey Girl", "Masterpiece", "Every Time I Close My Eyes", "I'll Keep My Light In My Window", "Super Star", "Show Me Your Love", "Bare Back", "Standing On the Top", "Love Comes At Christmas", from the Christmas album "Everything for Christmas", "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", and many more. Among the awards Richard has received are three Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, and an NAACP Award. He was also there when The Temptations were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.


The show is promoted by Heatwave Promotions who previously brought Ray Lewis and The Drifters, Alexander O’Neal plus The Real Thing to the Resort. Tickets can be purchased from The Orihuela Costa Resort Hotel, The Post Room Benijofar, Sunworld in Los Dolses, by calling the ticket hotline numbers 966 792 595 or 965 724 939 or even ordering them online by visiting the website at www.heatwavepromotions.com. An online payment facility allows for tickets to be paid for from the comfort of your own home and collected on the night of the show

Queen Elizabeth visits Alicante

The arrival of Cunard’s newest vessel, the Queen Elizabeth into Alicante last Monday became very much a Torrevieja affair. Captain Chris Wells used to have a holiday home in Rocio del Mar until very recently,  entertainer Simon John is performing onboard and yours truly used to oversee the entire video operation for the cruise line. On the visitor list were over thirty regulars from the Freewheelers, Phoenix Car Club and Club Torrevieja Classics and Specialists Cars plus the dignitaries included representation from Torrevieja’s Town Hall through Pedro Valero, the councillor for Foreign Residents and New technology and Graham Knight, Director of the Foreign Residents Office. 

 Although boarding the vessel was fraught with difficulties, names missing from lists, different lists that didn’t match up and lists that were just, missing, most but not all those that came to visit eventually made it onboard and were treated to a tour of the ship. It should be said that local Shipping Agent Mundomar, did not come out of the visit with flying colours.

Queen Elizabeth herself christened the ship on October 11, 2010 and this was only her third cruise. She is 92,000 gross registered tons, 294 metres long, 33 meters across (beam), has 12-decks above the waterline, can cruise at 23.7 knots an hour and has a capacity of 2,092 guests. In relative terms, the ill-fated Titanic was about half the size of the Cunard’s newest vessel, being 46,328 gross registered tones but almost as long at 269.1 metres, had nine-decks, held 3,547 passengers with 860 crew and a top speed of 23 knots per hour. The Queen Elizabeth is the length of three football fields, as high as the tallest apartment building in Torrevieja and offers more hotel beds than is available in the entire city of Torrevieja!

At 1100-hrs, President of the Port Authority of Alicante, Miguel Campoy, presented the ship's captain, Chris Wells, with a miniature replica of an air compressor used in the past to supply oxygen from the surface to divers working under the sea, because the site of the Cruise Pier is the former headquarters of the local institution. In return, Wells presented Campoy with a plaque while posing in front of a silver scale model of ‘Queen Elizabeth 2’. Wells thanked the President for his gift and noted that “the Queen Elizabeth is the most modern cruise ship in the world and so our gift to you is a modern plaque representing the new era or Cunard.”

The ship was built at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone (Italy) to replace the QE2, which made its last voyage in 2008, before being sold to Dubai. The ship, although with modern furnishing throughout, features a lot of artefacts and design elements which hark back to the 1930’s era, the days of the former Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, before Jet Travel, when the ships carried celebrities, presidents and royalty across the Atlantic and around the world.

The interior decor evokes a feeling of 1930's Art Deco, dominated on one deck by a flowing staircase topped by a huge clock. One of her outstanding features is the Theatre, which has a capacity for over 800 guests, complete with a balcony and boxes, with plenty of leg room and comfort, while the ship has a dozen bars and restaurants, library, reading room, a smoker’s bar, spa, gym, hospital and even an Apple Computer store, complete with iPads, iPods, iMacs and everything Apple!

For more information about the Queen Elizabeth or her sister ships the Queen Victoria or Queen Mary 2, please visit www.cunard.com. There are no plans for her to return to Alicante for 2011 but her 2012 Calendar is still being worked on. For a few lucky people out there, still wondering what to do with themselves in the new year, there still are places available on her 103-day World Cruise, so if you have between €15,000 and €50,000 to spend on a three month vacation, you now have one more option to consider to spoil yourself with for the New Year.