El Valle Newsletter Page 1

YOUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 11 December 2014

El Valle Newsletter Page 2

ContentsChairmansreport &Celebration& farewell

2

Novembermeetingreport

3

What’s On 4

Forthcoming events& MonthlyWalks

5

Photo Club

& News froSat.Co

6

Halloweenin Malaga

7

Novemberwalk &MessagefromMembershipSecretary

8

Newsbites& VictorianChristmas

9

SOHA

MunicipalVoting &SupperNight

10

&

11

Committee 12

Chairman’s report by jane harris

With the 100 year anniversary ofthe Great War, the Remem-brance Day celebrations thisyear were all the more poignantand even in Spain there wereservices taking place in many ar-eas. The Royal British Legionservice down at Benajarafe wascertainly very moving, enjoyableand was very well attended. I forone would have loved to havehad the opportunity to see theceramic poppy display at theTower of London, it lookedamazing on the television and isunlikely to be repeated, in my

lifetime anyway. What a fabu-lous commemoration!Moving onto December, in caseanyone needsreminding.....Christmas is justaround the corner......just over 4weeks and counting!!Our December Club Night is ear-ly this year as the first Mondayin the month actually falls onDecember 1st but it will be agood start to the Christmas fes-tivities with the Allegria Choirperforming for us with some car-ols to sing along to and alsosome new material. We will alsobe offering the usual mince pies

and a glass of wine for all, tohelp things go with a swing.We look forward to lots of ourmembers joining us for a goodnight and also to The Box beingopened. As 1000 euros will defi-nately be reached in the box andin line with our club policy, thedraw will continue until the boxis opened and the money wonby a very lucky member!! butdon't forget the Box Draw isonly open to members, so bringyour membership cards withyou please.

Good luck and a very early Merry Christmas to you all.

Wednesday 12th November 2014was a Happy and Sad day formany people especially membersof theEl-Valle.It was Happy because we were inLa Vina restaurant celebrating Ed-die Kemps birthday, the big 70,but sad because we were alsosaying goodbye to Eddie and Lin-da who would shortly be return-ing to England after 10 plus yearsof life in Spain!!!!They will be sorely missed bymany people, myself included, asthey are truly kind and generouspeople and the sort of friendsthat you do not want to lose.It is what they both want and ofcourse we all wish them well asthey prepare for life back in Eng-land  but also we feel many re-grets that this is happening.Eddie and Linda have been a partof El-Valle since its inception, Ed-die with a loose but valuable roleand Linda with a more formal rolehaving occupied committee andcommittee chair positions formany years.Eddie and Linda, have a great lifeback in England but rememberyou are always welcome back inthe Axarquia at any time.

A few photo's from the celebra-tions are attached!!

A celebration & a farewell by alan impey

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november meeting report by alan impey

The El-Valle monthly meeting took placeas usual on the first Monday of themonth, the 3rd of November at theCamping Bar.Jane opened the meeting and welcomedin excess of 70 members, a good attend-ance by any standards.Thanks were offered to Stewart and Pe-ter for the successful "walking treasurehunt" held around the streets of VelezMalaga.Forthcoming social events were men-tioned and Jane also commented on theevenings entertainment which was de-scribed as a fun night in which teamswould compete in a selection of gamesand with the team amassing the highestnumber of points being declared the win-ners.The teams had been chosen by way ofslips of paper depicting various figuresbeing handed out and all those withidentical pictures formed a team. Teamnumbers varied between 8 and 10 peo-ple.A short break was announced to replen-ish glasses, book trips and buy tickets forthe "BOX" LET THE GAMES BEGINThere were six games and the teamsmoved round in sequence being alloweda set time for each game. The gameswere; Fishing Game           SkittlesPutting Game        "Bowl a Pig"       InkBlot          WordsHopefully the photographs will showwhat each game entailed but generallythe name of the game says it all exceptperhaps Ink Blot which also could use itsmore scientific name of the RorcshachTest.  Hermann Rorschach was a Swisspsychologist who devised the test to,among other things, evaluate mentalhealth patients!!!!!Heaven knows whathe would have made of some of the an-swers given, yes Martin I am thinking ofyou!!!!!!!!After all the games had been completedthe committee set to and worked out thescoring. I was quite confident that theteam I was a member of would be in con-tention for first place and I mentionedthis to Trevor, a friend, and rival teammember. He just replied, "oh you thinkso" and smiled.The results were then announced andthe team I was in were placed third!!!!The winning team of course containedTrevor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boxes of chocolates

were awarded to each member of thewinning team.

It was now time for the CASH BOX whichstood at €900.00, a handy sum just be-fore Christmas but alas no one drew thelucky key and the prize rolls over to nextmonth.It was after p.m. when Jane closed themeeting, a later finish than usual buteveryone had seemed to enjoy them-selves.Many of the El-Valle committee hadspent the evening working hard, adjudi-cating at the games, selling the eventsand such, so once again our thanks tothem.

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FORTHCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS

December 1�� - Carols, Mince Pies & Wine with Allegria Choir

January 12�� - Royal Protection Service & It’s Breaches! By Alan Briggs PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE

February 2ⁿ� - Quiz by Ian Harris

March  2ⁿ� - Talk by Peter Wallbridge on Beer & Wine

Christmas meal at

venta la vina

Friday 12th december

19:30 - 20:00

2 course meal

With music by the zimmers

Members €13:50 Non members €17:50

Book early to avoid disappointment

SUPPER WITH A MOVIE

JANUARY 16TH 7 p.m. In Church room under LaMaroma

Estate agents

FILM THE RAILWAY MAN

Members €5 Non members €7

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EL VALLE MONTHLY WALKS

DECEMBER 11�� Led by Martyn & Rebecca Higgins. Start 11:00 a.m. In the bottom car park of Vinuela village. After at Venta la Vina, Vinuela.

JANUARY 8�� Led by Alan Clay. Start 11:00 am at the car park on the entrance to Torrox Pueblo, off the motorway up towards Torrox Pueblo and take the first right towards the village, car park is on the right about 500 Mtrs.

FEBRUARY 12�� Led by Doug & Jane Johnson. Start at 11:00 a.m. TBA

MARCH 12�� Led by Chris Morton & Jan Toase. Start 11:00 a.m.

TRIP TO CAR MUSEUM MALAGA

FEBRUARY 27TH

LEAVE OLD HOTEL ROMERO (MIS TAPITAS)

AT 09:30

VISIT THE CAR MUSEUM IN MALAGA &THEN ON TO MARBELLA OLD TOWN

WHERE YOU CAN HAVE FREE TIME FORLUNCH AND SIGHTSEEING

€13 MEMBERS €16 NON MEMBERS

AN EVENING OF LIVE MUSIC

FOLLOWED BY A MEAL

FURTHER DETAILS TO BE CONFIRMED

WATCH THIS SPACE !!!!

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By Doug Popplett

17 images this month for our October challenge of “Artificial Light”, including a one off autumnal shot fromNew England.All entries can be viewed via the club’s website www.lvphotoclub.com under the heading of challenges;the following is one of the photos featured.

The challenge for November was “Transport” another wide open category as long as some form oftransport features.It’s a busy time for us at the moment; we have photo shoots to Antequera and Alcaucin in November andhaving to choose our entries for a forthcoming four club competition and selecting our photo of 2014.Interested in photography? Why not come and join us, we are a friendly group of people of differingabilities from novice to the more proficient, it’s all about enjoying photography.We meet on the first Thursday of the month (10.30am), currently at restaurante La Era in Puente DonManuel. If you are interested, contact us at lakevinuelaphotoclub@gmail.com leaving your contact details.

News from sat.co by dick atterbury

At Sat.Co we are always listening toour customers and trying to respondA case in point is for the hard ofhearing, did somebody say what??As we get older our hearingfrequency changes and some of ushave ear damage. You know theproblem somebody in the room al-ways has the TV up too loud andspoils others enjoyment.  So you tryremote headsets and it shuts down

the TV on board speakers so onlyone person now hears the TV.

We have we hope found the solutionwith a system that will allow a set ofheadphones to be attached and thespeakers to be able to operate asnormal. We plan to role it out soonso if you find its a problem talk to usand we will set it up for you to try.

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It is a line from a song, but how about"Halloween in Malaga "

By accident we found this event last yearand were determined to repeat theexperience. Friends, Jen and Peter flew infrom Manchester especially to join us.Sooooo- starting from the western end ofAlameda Principal with a walk through tovisit the wine bar Casa del Guardia, aformer police jail, just opposite thefabulous flower stalls, we made our wayto the port area. Amazingly, in the lateafternoon sun, we were entertained bymany very young families, all costumedwith, in some cases, beautiful face make-up

We had agreed to meet Elaine andStewart and Caz and Ray in Plaza de laConstitution. Until that time not a drophad passed our lips, well, we soonchanged that! A short stroll across thesquare, passing a stage setup gettingready for some pop groups, took us to LaMafia. It is bizarre to even think of eatingItalian when in Spain but, after all, it wasHALLOWEEN!

The idea of the evening was for us towander the streets and take in the sightsbut all the staff in the restaurant weredressed in Dracula type capes, so we wereoff to a good start.

Christine, all year, had been enthusiasticabout this night. As you know, thesethings get around and the crowds werecoming in from all directions .The streetswere packed with every conceivablecharacter imaginable. Much time musthave been spent by many on their faces,choices of masks and outfits, in fact, oneMad Hatter told us it took him sevenhours. He was brilliant!  Some of the

character ideas were influenced by themovies and current events, from JohnnyDepp, to Ebola nurses. We went well intothe early hours and still there were morepeople joining in. By this time it seemedas though all the students from theuniversity and colleges were in on thespirit and we eight, being the oldestgroup, were becoming the weird ones sowe decided to end the night in yet onemore bar. And there we met HIM....uncleFester!!!

Wow what a night, try it yourselves nextyear.

A short tale about Halloween in Malaga 2014 by Rod Martin.

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November walk by alan impey

The second Thursday of the monthhad arrived and it was time for theEl-Valle monthly walk, routed and ledby Peter and Anne Dibden.Twenty eight walkers turned up atKm 29 on the A 356 road to takepart.The weather was overcast but dryand among the walkers was Alan Claycomplete with a full set of water-proofs and who announced that,"Itwill begin raining at 12 o'clock!"Most of us ignored him and stayed inshorts/light tops.We set off heading North East downinto the valley with the embalse overto our right. It was steady walkingdown hill and more than walker men-tioned that we pay the price laterwhen we had to climb again.We continued on angling to the Eastbefore then changing direction againto head North and practically downto the waters edge.  It was a goodwalking day and everyone stayedmore or less together but we wereheading down hill.We eventually turned to a moreSoutherly direction still following thewaters edge and eventually reacheda point where Anne announced thatit was decision time for anyone pre-ferring an easier and shorted returnroute.  I think it was four walkers

who took her up on the option andwe parted company with them.It was not long before we turned yetagain on a South Westerly headingand the earlier comments about"paying the price" came true as westarted a steady climb back in the di-rection of the cars.Most of the walk had been on hardsolid tracks but some short sectionswere damp and mud stuck to ourboots. On one occasion, as we allwere stopped, one lady walker bentdown to pick up a stone to scrape herboots and suddenly said, "It's a tur-tle" Sure enough it was, (photo at-tached) and it seemed to be a longway from the water.

We continued walking and it wasnow well after 12 o'clock and AlanClays prophesied rain had not ap-peared and indeed it reached

1 o'clock before we felt one or twodrops which quickly stopped.The walkers were now well strungout as the gradient took its toll and Iwas among the first few to arriveback at the cars but there was nosign of the "shortcutters" until awhile later.A menu of the day at the CampingBar had been organised and 22 walk-ers took advantage of a good value€7.00  meal.  I was unable to attendbut I have spoken to others whowere there and all reports weregood.Thanks to Anne and Peter for theirefforts.

Message from our membership secretary Stewart common

A note to all members of the El-ValleAsociacion from your MembershipSecretary.Hi. I would like to take thisopportunity to wish you all a veryhappy Christmas and a prosperous2015 new year.At this time I also would like bring toyour attention and remind you thatour 2015 membership year startsfrom JANUARY 1��, therefore it issoon time for you all to renew youmembership to the El-ValleAsociacion.You will be able to do this either atthe Friday Market, Antonio´s Bar,

Puente Don Manuel, between 11.30and 12.30am. There will be acommittee member sitting at the barwhich is inside the gates to themarket and then straight onto thebar, or at any of the monthly clubmeetings at the Camping Bar on theside of the lake Vinuela.You can renew your membership atour December meeting on MondayDecember 1�� or at the Januarymeeting which is on Monday January12�� after the Spanish New Yearcelebrations.For the 2015 club year, thecommittee have kept the

membership fee again at €10.00 andyour annual membership will runfrom Jan 1�� to Dec 31�� 2015.If you have any queries, please speakto a committee member or contactme on 647076177.I Look forward to seeing you all againfor the 2015 membership year.RegardsStewart CommonSecretary and Membership Secretary

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What a difference a drop of rainmakes. I thought I had lost my citrustrees but suddenly they had leaves andflowers which was quite relief. Wealso had Almond blossom out inOctober but I imagine the rest will bewith us well before Christmas which isso unusual, and I have not yet pickedthis year’s crop. It’s a joy to get andsee all the flowers and appreciate howlucky we are to be living in suchbeautiful surroundings.Many of us have a habit of worryingabout different things which will oftentake care of themselves and I wasrecently reminded of this when I hadacupuncture to relieve pain in mypancreas. The doctor treated me forenteritis which masked the pain butdid not ‘cure’ it. How often then arewe given medication that will ‘makeus feel better’ for a while but notimprove our health? I thought someof you would be interested to knowsome of the links that relate todifferent organs: accidents oftenreflect anger or frustration as doproblems with the gall bladder, jaw,liver, sore throat or even the middle

finger. Many ailments reflect fear ofsome sort as do ulcers, problems in thelegs and hip, the lower back, some eyeproblems, breathing problems, andstomach problems. Other problemswe create for ourselves come fromself-criticism, guilt, resentments, ourflexibility, worrying unnecessarily orgrief. Unfortunately a doctor does nothave time to go into such things butperhaps some of you will reflect onthis next time you are in need of help.A complementary therapist may oftentouch on such things but in generalthey will be concerned with bringingthe body back into balance. So manyof our organs are inter-related in someway that health is obtained by workingthe whole body rather than onespecific part. Each of our vertebra, forinstance, is linked to the nerves of aspecific part of the body so a backproblem can be from an unhappyorgan, a ‘displaced’ disc or anemotional problem. Many doctorsaccept that complementary therapieshave a place in today’s society and Ihave found that many Spanish doctorsalso embrace many of the ‘oldfashioned’ herbal remedies that the

pharmaceutical companies have beenbusy banning through the EuropeanUnion in order that they may have theopportunity to be the sole distributors,along with increasing the price andtaking the profits. Perhaps as the yearcomes to an end we should reflect onour emotions, allow problems to sortthemselves out without worryingunnecessarily and aim at bringing theyear to an end with a check on ourdiets, our exercise, and an enjoymentof each day that we have. It beats thealternative as Bob keeps telling me!We are doing our family and friendsvisits a little earlier this year but wehave the pleasure of looking forwardto two weddings (number one son andhis daughter!) and a first communionnext year so I hope that they will bespread out! All sounds a bit costly, butlovely reasons for family reunions. Ifoolishly suggested one honeymooncould be in Spain but was told it wasto be Grand Cayman’s or Bahamas!Definitely reflects my upbringing!Enjoy the month and may you lookforward to a bright New Year.

NEWSBITES BY JENNY WRIGHT

A victorian christmas by sue jones

On a mild November day, Christmascame early to the small Welsh town ofBeaumaris on Anglesey. We had snow,and father Christmas rode into town onthe back of a motorcycle driven by aSnowman!!!

It was the start of the annual VictorianChristmas which attracts visitors from all

over the island and from as far asCheshire to visit the town.

There was an Apres Ski Lodge! Whereyou could have mulled wine or hot cider,I can say from experience it wasexcellent!! We were also entertained bya magnificent Victorian organ and carolsingers.

Many of the stallholders andtownspeople were dressed in Victorianstyle

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You are probably aware that almostall houses built on the campo inAndalucía are illegal. New rules havebeen issued in January of 2012 whichestablishes that they will remainillegal, unless built before 1975.

SOHA (Safe Our Homes Axarquía) isone of the most active organizationsin Andalucía that tries to find asolution for this problem by joiningforces. So far we have been meetingwith Spanish, foreign and Europeanpoliticians, organizeddemonstrations, written letters ofconcern to Junta, Ministries andAmbassadors, coordinated withsimilar organizations elsewhere inAndalucía, made an inventory of themost urgent problems to address andmade an inventory of our legalposition.

In Andalucía there are an estimated300.000 houses in this situation. Forthe Axarquía, the estimate is 15.000houses. Unless there is a legalprocedure started against yourproperty (of which most of us werenot even aware) and unless yourhouse is built on now protected land,the best that can happen undercurrent legislation is that your house

is formally declared illegal, but theexistence of the house and the use ofthe house as residence will betolerated. What all of us stand to loseis the difference in value between alegal and an illegal house, whichmight be something around a 30%loss in value.

SOHA together with AUAN (Almería)has finally forced a modification inthe actual land law (LOUA). Our mosturgent concern was to avoid thedemolition of houses built onirregularly segregated land. As youprobably know by now, the statute oflimitation (6 years) did not apply tothose houses and they were alwaysexposed to demolition. Thecontinuous efforts of SOHA andAUAN made this possible withcontributions of only25€/house/year, when some of youhave spent thousands of Euros onlawyers with a zero end result.

We still have a large list of urgentmodifications that could benefit youand thousands of others that areaffected, many of them ignoring theirsituation or preferring to ignorethem: “there is none as blind asthose who do not want to see”.

SOHA will celebrate its next AnnualGeneral Meeting on Wednesday the21st of January 2015. We would liketo welcome all members. Friends ofSOHA are also welcome althoughthey will not be entitled to vote. Youcan sign up or renew as a member onthe same evening. The meeting willbe held in the restaurant Camping LaViñuela at 19.30.

We need people from all themunicipalities of the Axarquía to stepforward wanting to represent SOHAin their village!!!

Feel free to call or mail us.

Philip Smalley-Viñuela, President andcouncillor of La ViñuelaTel: 618041813; email:philipsmalley@hotmail.comMario Blancke-Spokesperson SOHA-AlcaucínTel: 687964097; email:marioalcaucin@yahoo.comÁngeles Ruíz-Martín, portavoz SOHA-Arenas Tel: 680341129; correoelectrónico: armgeminis@gmail.com

SOHA AGM

REGISTERING FOR MUNICIPAL VOTING 2015 FROM MARIO BLANKE

Empadronamiento-Registration at theTown Hall is not only important foryourself. The community, in which youhave chosen to live, will benefit fromeach and every registration.What is the population register?The register of Births, Deaths and Mar-riages is an administrative listing of theinhabitants of the village. Your inscrip-tion in the municipal register certifiesyour residence in the village as well asyour domicile. All registration certifica-tions issued by the town hall have thecharacter of a public document, andcan be required by public administra-tions such as the police, health care,

etc.Why is it important to be registered?Besides the legal obligation, as quotedin the “Regulations of the Citizen”, thecorrect inscription in the registrationlist is essential to be able to carry out alarge amount of administrative trans-actions, as well as to allow access tomunicipal services and social assistancesuch as:-to obtain official documents such asresidence card and drivers license.-transaction related to services like wa-ter supply-Matriculation of your car-certification of domicile for inscription

in school or university-to be included in the voting list-to apply for certain social servicessuch as the access to VPO's. (Socialhousing)What are the advantages of being reg-istered?-Free access to the health care system-official evidence of your residence inSpain-Access to the Social Services of thetown like social housing, education,work, culture, sport, leisureactivities,...-help with socialintegration of less privileged people-exercise your right to vote or to be

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elected in the municipal elections-very important: the total number ofneighbours registered is essential forthe town hall when soliciting moreservices in areas like education,

health care, public transport, etc.These services have to be solicitedfrom the central administration (Ma-drid) and the autonomicadministration (Sevilla)-discounts on activities organized bythe town hall, for example trips toother parts of SpainWhat do I need to register?If you already live in Alcaucín, the req-uisites are:A. If you have Spanish nationality.-identification of the house you areliving in: street and house number-DNI Documento Nacional de Identi-dad-in case you are renting the house: thelease-in case of a new build house: licenceof first occupationB. Other nationalities.

-identification of the house you areliving in: street and house number-Pasport and NIE (Número InscripciónExtranjero)-certification of your registration inthe central register for foreigners(Policía Nacional-Torre del Mar)-in case you are renting the house: thelease-in case of a new build house: licenceof first occupation-help with social integration of lessprivileged people-exercise your right to vote or to beelected in the municipal elections-very important: the total number ofneighbours registered is essential forthe town hall when soliciting moreservices in areas like education,

health care, public transport, etc.These services have to be solicitedfrom the central administration (Ma-drid) and the autonomicadministration (Sevilla)-discounts on activities organized bythe town hall, for example trips to

other parts of SpainWhat do I need to register?If you already live in Alcaucín, therequisites are:A. If you have Spanish nationality.-identification of the house you areliving in: street and house number-DNI Documento Nacional deIdentidad-in case you are renting the house: thelease-in case of a new build house: licenceof first occupationB. Other nationalities.-identification of the house you areliving in: street and house number-Pasport and NIE (Número InscripciónExtranjero)-certification of your registration in thecentral register for foreigners (PolicíaNacional-Torre del Mar)-in case you are renting the house: thelease-in case of a new build house: licenceof first occupation

A night at the movies by alan impey

Friday 21st November and what could bebetter on a dark winter night than to visitthe El-Valle showing of the Film, Red 2.The film is the sequel to Red released in2010 and which the El-Valle has alreadyscreened and which I reported on. I alsosaid at the time that it had been left at apoint where a sequel was guaranteed,and here it is!!The film was directed by Dean Parisotand starred among others; Bruce Willis,Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mir-ren.It was released on June 19th 2013 with arun time of 116 minutes and went on tomake 148 million dollars at the Box Of-fice, the original Red made 186 mil-lion!!!!RED is an acronym for Retired ExtremelyDangerous and is the description attrib-uted to Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) a re-tired CIA agent. Frank Moses finds hisretirement interrupted when he discov-ers he his being hunted down by his ownside, the British and anyone capable ofholding a gun and it is not intended totake him prisoner!!!!!!!! This is all in rela-tion to his supposed involvement in a

clandestine "cold war" operation tosmuggle a nuclear bomb into Russia. Therace is on to stay alive, and also recoverthe bomb before other parties can deto-nate it.It is a fast moving action comedy film (Ilove them) and goes along at warp speedwith the plot sometimes difficult to fol-low. It did keep the 30 strong audience(a sell out) quiet though.Prior to the viewing we all ate and had achoice of chicken casserole in red winesauce, provided by Margaret, or spicychilli con carne provided by Judy.  Bothof these dishes were very very nice and Ican say this in all honesty as I hadboth!!!!!We were also provided with crisps etc atthe tables and the bebidas were on abring your own basis.

It was, as we have come to expect,a very good evening and thanks onceagain to the galley maids, Margaret andJudy, our stand in projectionists, Chrisand Mike and Anne and Jane who had aroving commission ensuring the smoothrunning of the night.

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ASOCIACIÓN EL VALLE DELEMBALSE COMMITTEE

2014-15

Chair: Jane Harris : - 633615154

Treasurer: Chris Wishart - 609952926

Secretary: Stewart Common - 647076177

MEMBERS

Elaine Edwards: - 647076177

Anne Dibden : - 605826358

Merryll Mitchell : - 664224062

Judy Maycock:- 673847608

Carol Caldwell : - 635291532

Editor: Susan Jones - 680407894

Almoner: Christine Goreham – 635361233

INFORMATION.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR newslettereditor2012@gmail.comWEBSITE - www.el-valle-asociacion.com

A representative of the committee is usually on duty between 11:30 am – 12:30 pm at Friday Market - Chiringuito Antonio

COME AND FIND US - WE HAVE MOVED FROM Billie's Bar