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