The new Caja Canarias sponsored municipal school of chess in Puerto de Santiago is aimed at children as young as 4 years old. Mondays from 16,00 to 17,30 hours in the Puerto Santiago Youth Center and Fridays in the Las Manchas school, youngsters will be able to develop their Chess skills. Those interested in joining should contact the local council department of sports on 922868108

left to right -: Gina Robert and Hilary - getting into the swing of Paddy's Night

One of the things that I love about living on the island is the wonderfully cosmopolitan atmosphere you can find, and this showed itself in one of the most bizarre but enjoyable St Patrick's day celebrations I have attended in many years. I'm not Irish, in fact neither are a large percentage of the people who habitually celebrate the event, I suspect, but things took a turn for the surreal when I spent the evening at the Santiago del Teide Lions Club celebrations on Thursday.

For a start our compere and entertainer Mike Stone hails from the North East ( UK I mean not Guimar) and the entertainment as well as including traditional Irish folk songs, introduced us to something called Jarping and I am reliably informed by the BBC website archives that the "Easter tradition of jarping originated in Newcastle via Germany! Eggs are held in the hand and knocked to find the champion egg"

Then there was the venue, El Lucero in Cueva del Polvo on the west coast of Tenerife, is a super restaurant which normally serves Indian influenced and other spicy dishes - but owners Robert and Gina aided by Hilary and Ann did a superb job of providing traditional Irish fare - Beef in Guinness and Irish Stew, together with copious amounts of Guinness. Incidentally in November 1995, Guinness brewed locally was launched in El Salvador, making it the 51st country in which it is brewed and the 150th in which it is sold.

So, just to recap, this Irish, Indian, Tenerifan, Geordie evening, apart from being an excellent Craic, also by way of a raffle, jarping contest, head to head singing competition and a potato auction, together with a percentage of the ticket price, raised over 700 euros for Lions Club Charities - Céad Míle Fáilte - to be sure pet!

The new youth centre which has been built in the Avenida Coronel Gorrín in Tamaimo (just behind the Guaninfa cultural centre and next to the proposed site for the municipal nursery) officially opened its doors yesterday - Wednesday 16th March. Present at the ceremony were, Cristina Valido from Social Services, and the mayor of Santiago del Teide, Juan Damián Gorrín Ramos.

The centre has been officially christened “ La bola de cristal” or "the crystal ball", a name chosen as the winner of a competition to find the most original name for the complex and thought up by Paula Rodríguez, one of the 300 entries from pupils of the colegio público of Tamaimo. The Youth centre is intended to be an free time educational centre using play and games aimed at children between 4 and 14 years old.

The "bola de crystal” youth centre has been made possible by funding from the Santiago del Teide local council together with the Instituto Insular de Atención Social y Sociosanitario del Cabildo de Tenerife. (Island government department of Social and Health services). The local council provided the premises and have funded the cost of personnel to man the centre, whilst the island government (IASS) have fully furnished and equipped premises, they have also taken responsibility for the training and supervision of staff.

The project is one of a number that has been undertaken thanks to the impetus of the island wide LUDORED program includes the existing youth centre in Puerto de Santiago. The county hopes that these facilities will help to avoid such problems as marginalisation and the break up of the community which especially affect the infant and junior school aged children of the area.

Insular Councilor for social services Cristina Valido said “ There are now 2 youth centres in the municipality of Santiago del Teide, a testament to the good work of the local council in the area of youth affairs. Our youth are the basis of our future, and if we educate "from the bottom up" we can count on our young people being more committed to the community in general"

Guardia Civil officers based in Guia de Isora have arrested a 22 year old youth suspected of seven counts of unlawful entry and robbery. The prisoner, identified only as J.S.R, is accused of the robbery of seven apartments located in Playa San Juan. His MO in all of the break-ins was the same - entering the apartments and houses via open windows on balconies, mainly at night when the inhabitants slept.

Agents had been given descriptions of the physical characteristics of the burglar by those householders who had surprised him during the robberies of their homes. In four of the incidents, residents awoke and scared the perpetrator off - but not with out a haul of wallets purses etc. The crimes have spanned over a year.

The new Abama golf course just ouside Playa San Juan is set to open its doors on the first of April - well the first 18 holes anyway. Lovers of the game will find quote "the course winding and tactical, with many lakes, bunkers and undulating greens." This is somewhat of an about turn from previous statements by a spokesperson for the luxury complex who confirmed a month ago (The Western Sun newspaper -16th February 2005) that "the public would be discouraged from using the 18-hole golf course by green fees of €180." This compares with fees of less than €100 for most courses on the island. “It is not a matter of wealth but of privilege,” she said. “We expect the course to be used mainly by people with rooms in the hotel.” - somewhat difficult as cranes are still in residence at the hotel complex at the time of writing.

Dave Thomas, designer of the Golf course said "we have created an environmentally sensitive course, taking care of the flora, landscape and even the native fauna of our island. Each hole offers matchless views". More than 50,000 trees and tropical palms are already established on the site where landscaping actually began 7 years ago. The Abama project covers an area of 670,000 square meters and has a length of 6,237 meters. The course has ten par 4 holes, four par 3 and four par 5. The design of the course has followed the topography of the area, although a certain amount of earthworks have been necessary,resulting in a course whose lowest point is 75 meters above sea level ranging to its highest point, located at hole 5, which is 315 meters above sea level. The course has been designed by Dave Thomas, well-known Ryder Cup player and internationally acclaimed designer of golf courses, along with the architect of the Abama project, Melvin Villarroel, who together have created a harmonic fusion between nature and skill that will provide lovers of golf and clients of the complex "a space with unique benefits". The most significant holes will be, according to Dave Thomas, 7 and 10, a par 3 and a par 5, because of their beauty and diversity. The water, palms and flowers of all type, even Japanese ones, decorate a course that finishes in an elegant par 4, called ' the Murallá. In addition to the 18 hole competition course, Abama will house ample practice ranges, and it will have in the future a school of international golf, with the most modern technology to aid the teaching of golf.

ATAN (Asociación Tinerfeña de Amigos de la Naturaleza - Tenerife association for the friends of Nature) would take issue on ABAMA's claims to have taken care of "even the native fauna of our island" They say that the Abama project has been anything but environmentally sensitive. In their opinion the nine story hotel is not "in keeping with its surroundings" and that the construction of a man-made breakwater by the ABAMA project (picture-above) has irretrievably destroyed the costal nesting habitat of the local bird life. This was one of the last stretches of natural coastline left in the south of Tenerife. So who's fooling who then!

The innovative sports clothing company World Current Sea has launched a competition to find a young designer to take their clothing range into the future. Speaking from the WCS Surf School in Tenerife, Antonio Cabana said: "we are always looking for ways to help new and exciting talent find its feet in the commercial world. We already sponsor a number of promising young surfers around Europe and this competition seemed like a great extension of our company"s philosophy".

The competition will give the lucky winner the chance to see their designs actually being produced and marketed in the UK and Europe.

World Current Sea is a company run by surfers for surfers and as such has many interests outside of the sports clothing market place. With a strong interest in ecological issues and the protection of the marine environment the company plans to build strong links with leading conservation groups like Surfers Against Sewage. Part of this involvement will include an educational road show aimed at the younger members of Europe"s surf community that will promote an awareness of the problems associated with marine pollution.

It is not just the future of the planet that concerns the company either. Antonio is positive about the outlook for surfing as a sport and talks about World Current Sea"s plans for the coming year: "there is a wealth of talent out there and we want to help bring it to the global stage. We will be hosting a number of amateur competitions in the near future and will be offering sponsorship deals to the winners. We hope that this initial exposure will attract the industry"s attention and give these kids the leg up that they need. We feel that our involvement in the community at a grass roots level will give us the insight we must have in order to produce the clothing and accessories that today"s surfer really wants and needs".

Full details of the competition can be found at www.worldcurrentsea.com

The Canary Islands, in contrast, are still caught in a downward spiral and are facing yet another decline in their key German market in 2005. Total visitor numbers to the island group dropped 3.6% to 10 million last year, while German arrivals crashed 7.4% to 2.8 million. German operators say the trend is likely to continue because the destination is perceived as too expensive in comparison with other holiday playgrounds.

Spain as a whole welcomed 53.6 million tourists last year, an increase of 3.4% on 2003. The dominant UK market increased by 2.9% to 16.4 million and German visitor numbers rose 2.7% to ten million.

In response to strong competition from Turkey and other destinations, Spanish tourism bodies are launching a comprehensive series of
marketing activities for 2005. The national tourist board is going back to basics with a “Smile! You are in Spain” campaign which focuses mostly on beach holidays. Pedro Mejía Gómez, state secretary for tourism, said the 33 million euro advertising push includes five million euros dedicated to the German market.

Tenerife is also hitting back with the launch of a fresh advertising campaign -hmmm!

3 members of the UMA team - photo courtesy of "La Opinion"

A side that visitors to the capital of the island seldom see are the more than one hundred homeless people sleeping rough in the streets of Santa Cruz.

A recent initiative on the part of the City council has involved the set up of a service for "connecting these people to existing the social resources" called the Unidad Móvil de Acercamiento (UMA) - mobile contact unit. The city does not plan on instigating more "soup kitchens" or short term shelters to take care of these 138 (at the present count) individuals. The main objective of the UMA is to form a "bridge" between the homeless and existing social and sanitary resources to which they can apply for help with their various problems. The UMA also takes a fairly complete survey of their situation, including sanitary, educative and social conditions . The UMA van covers all the districts and small villages of the municipality, from Chamorga to Llano del Moro, seeking out these unfortunate people caring for them and registering them.

According to the data of the UMA, in there isn't a problem in Chamorga or in the small villages of Anaga, because there, as one would expect, local and family networks exist which avert crisis situations arising as the do in the city. A member of the UMA and specialist in social work concerned with the homeless emphasizes the importance "of studying the circumstances of these unfortunates before intervening". "Social stereotypes and preconceived ideas about these people, are very entrenched, even in the political sphere", she commented. " Many of these people are a true challenge to social workers because they have been on the edges of society for some time and, some of them, think that there is no other way of life that they can pursue". The technical coordinator of the mobile contact unit said that the service had come into being on the 3 of August last year, and described, how during the first months, the UMA registered an average of 30 people per month , but after this initial effort, they only locate about 11 new cases per month. For this reason they are at liberty to give "greater attention to the pursuit of individual cases"

The homeless are almost all men of between 30 to 50 years, they appear to congregate together to consume tobacco and alcohol, but spend the night alone, generally in the center of the capital in the Los Gladiolos district. They typically have a background of conflict with their families and have serious unemployment problems. Despite common misconceptions to the contrary, the majority are not immigrants, but Canarian Citizens.

From selling Marmite to homesick compatriots to taking holidaymakers out on the Mediterranean, British entrepreneurs are staging a quiet invasion of Spain.

Once it was opening a pub or teaching English, but Spain is now attracting a record number of Britons eager to start new lives and new businesses in the sun. Figures show the rate at which British businesspeople are starting companies is outstripping the Spaniards.

According to the latest Spanish government statistics, from October 2003 to October 2004 the number of foreigners who started their own business rose by 17.9% compared with the year before. The number of Spanish who set up businesses rose only 3.8%.

Officially, at least, 19,077 Britons have registered companies, followed by 13,166 Germans and 10,885 Chinese. There are thought to be many thousands more who run a business but work as freelancers for foreign companies and do not register with the Spanish government.

Out of one million foreigners registered to work in Spain, 121,949 are now autonomos or small-business people.

For someone earning 60,000 euros (£41,000) a year, the tax rate in Spain is 24%- about the same as in Britain although the cost of living is much lower. Most people start their own businesses because wages are much lower in Spain.

The average salary is 17,779 euros, or about £12,300, although it rises to 35,000 euros, or £24,000, for someone with an MBA. Only Portugal and Greece have lower average ordinary wages among the ‘old 10’ EU countries.

For an employer, the costs of running a business are generally higher in Spain than in the UK. Employers will pay 11% national insurance for employees in the UK compared with 28% in Spain.

One employment consultant in Barcelona said opening an office with six employees would cost 250,000 euros, adding: “Generally, if you go by the book in Spain, paying all the social security, health and safety and other costs of setting up a business, it is more expensive to set up here than in the UK. You will be lucky to get in the black by the third year after a sizeable investment.”

Sarah-Jane Stone, the director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain, said: “I do get a very strong feeling that there are a lot more British people coming here to start businesses. They are helped by the fact they know there are British communities here already. But there are also more young entrepreneurs.”

Every year about 250,000 people leave Britain to set up home abroad and a large proportion opt to start businesses. Spain is still the favourite destination, though many move to France, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Cyprus.

Many are drawn by the climate and the gentler lifestyle this brings with it, but Jonathan Reuvid, the author of Working Abroad, says other factors play a part.

“People are fed up with the degree of control and bureaucracy in the UK,” he said. “It is easy enough to form a company but the hoops you have to go through afterwards are considerable. In Spain it is perfectly possible to go there and benefit from social security and health services.”

He said the internet has played a major part in the number of people heading abroad. “These days people are more inclined to be mobile and they are more confident. They may have already visited the country on holiday and they can find out what they need before they go.”

Jose Luis Mejias, from Trans-Formando, a co-operative that helps foreigners start businesses, said: “The profile of these business people is often those who left precarious jobs and had the courage to start a business of their own.”

The arrival of more Britons comes as Spain experiences the fastest-rising immigration levels in Europe. But this has brought social problems. Last September, two Chinese shoe businesses in the south-eastern town of Elche were burnt down during protests.

As if the unprecedented rainfall recorded in the Canary Islands on Wednesday which caused severe damage to terrain, traffic problems and flooding in the Southern municipalities of Tenerife wasn't enough, yesterday emergency services issued a warning of high winds set to reach up to 75 kilometres per hour - although the national meteorological office has advised that these conditions will begin to abate from today (Friday)

The British met Office issued this statement:

Thundery Tenerife | Issued on: Thu Mar 3rd 2005

A deep depression to the west of the Canary Islands has produced a spell of heavy, sometimes thundery rain to many places in the islands. Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the northeast of Tenerife Island received 53mm of rain in the 24 hours to 0600 GMT on Thursday. The average monthly total for March is a more modest 27mm. http://www.metoffice.com

5 day Forecast from the Met Office

In Arico, the local council announced the closure of schools, due mainly to flooding , In Arona, Adeje, Guía de Isora and Santiago del Teide schools remained open as did the Public Plaza in Alcalá, this last due to some quick action on the part of the local council officials who opened storm drains to their full capacity during the night, and thus avoided this low lying area (including the local post office) being left under water.

The production of cut flowers here in the Canary Islands has suffered a serious decrease in the past few months.

As a consequence of the low temperatures that have hit the Archipelago since December of last year, flower production has fallen by a disturbing 70%, according to President of the Association of Flower and Plant Exporters, (Asocan), Lennart Loven.

In addition to the loss of exports, the quality of those flowers and plants that have been produced has fallen considerably. As a result, Canarian producers have been forced to import from abroad in order to meet the demands of Island residents, particularly for the Valentine’s day celebrations.

President Loven said that, in light of the current situation, his association has approached the Canarian Government, asking for assistance to compensate for the serious losses the industry has suffered.

Loven added that many members of Asocan are also approaching insurance company Agroseguro, with whom many of them hold policies. They are asking for a study into the possibility that their insurance may in some way compensate for their losses.

Loven believes that the recent abnormally low temperature should be considered “a natural disaster".

The Guia de Isora council has issued a Jelly Fish warning to bathers along the local coastline. The bank of "medusas" or Portuguese men of war is a serious threat to swimmers and the Regional Surf Championship due to be held this weekend has been postponed.

Yanes Falcón councilor with responsibility for citizen security, "advises against bathing along the whole of the county's coastline" The council has been in touch with the University of La Lagona who have informed them that this appearance of the creatures is cyclical and takes place every year , although on this occasion, they have arrived earlier than when they usually appear". Red flags will fly in the beaches of the municipality, Playa San Juan and Alcalá, during the time that the threat remains.

A sting will leave burning and long welt lines and in extreme cases can cause breathing problems and even cardiac arrest. If you spot one, report it immediately to the beach first aid or rescue patrols. If you get stung, don’t put vinegar on the affected area. This may work with ordinary medusa stings but in this case fresh or sea water is the best treatment

Nearly a hundred relatives and friends of Efigenia Moor Vargas inhabitant of Vera de Erques, congregated yesterday - Sunday 20 of February of 2005, to celebrate her 100th birthday. She was born at the beginning of the last century, the 20 of February of 1905 to be exact. Her husband Miguel died in 1988 at 92 years of age. Since then Efigenia has lived with her daughter Andrea and her oldest granddaughter, Luz Maria. At the present time, Doña Efigenia has 9 children (5 daughters and 4 sons), 30 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild. According to her son Hilario, "she is in fairly good health for her age, she sees and she hears well, and generally eats almost everything".

According to the electorial register In the county of Guia de Isora there are only 4 people of 100 years of age or older.

More than 1,000 people attended the Grand Carnival parade and later gather in the public plaza to watch the show last Sunday. Proceedings started at 17:00 hours when the floats gathered in Jose González Forte Street in Puerto de Santiago

Amongst those participating were "Los Tabajaras”, who won 1t Prize for Interpretation and 2nd prize for Rhythm and Harmony in the Santa Cruz Carnival , as well as the dance troupes“Los Cariocas”,“Danzarines Canarios”, and the local group“Amanecer Sureño”, “Carabao Guayana” from Puerto de la Cruz, The Satirical murga group “Las Rebeldonas”, the cornet and drum band of Icod de Los Vinos, the song group“Nobleza Canaria” ; and a seemingly unending line of beautifully decorated floats.

CLICK HERE for FULL PHOTO REPORT

An 8 year old boy who disappeared yesterday, Thursday 17 of February around 7pm, was still missing at 6am the next morning, at which stage 112 emergency services alerted local firemen, asking them to join in the search and only 45 minutes later they were successful. The drama took place in the Punta Blanca area near to an Agricultural Cooperative close to Alcalá.

The Civil Guard and other volunteers had been searching unsuccessfully all night for the boy, who was eventually found around 6.45am. When one of the fireman first located the youngster he ran away, obviously scared, but the fireman caught up with him and after he had calmed the child down, ascertained that the boy was unharmed. Despite spending the night outside, barefoot and in only shirtsleeves and shorts, the firemen thankfully found no symptons of exposure, it later transpired that the boy had probably wrapped himself up in some of the sacking that is there to protect the hands of bananas when they are packed. According to the fireman, when he asked the boy what he was doing there he said "he was looking for his dog". He was returned safely to his parents and social services have been informed.

The PSOE socialist party representatives of Guia de Isora are slating the "apathy" of the PP and CC parties during the local campaign about the European Constitution referendum (due on the 20th February) "although the position of these two political parties at the nationional level is in favor of a yes vote, it seems that in Guía de Isora their representatives were on holiday, or enjoying carnival, as they have not even deigned to stick up one poster!".

The Socialists believe that " next Sunday 20 of February, the Canaries stand to gain much, among other things it is as well to remember that under article iii-424 of the Treaty of the Constitution, Europe recognizes the special situation of the Canary Islands "agravated by its distance, insularity, small surface area, topography and climate contributing towards economic dependency on a reduced number of products"

Figures issued today by the local councilor for tourism María Ramona González , show that hotels in Los Gigantes had a 83% occupancy, Puerto de Santiago was 79% and Playa de La Arena area 73%. Pérez said that there was very little change in the January figures from 2004 - a rise of 1% only. " Tourist occupancy is down throughout the island and we can only hope that the promotion we did at the recent tourism show in Madrid will reap rewards and that the Municipality will become more widely known as a Tourist resort" she commented.

Figures issued at the same time for the Tourist board offices in Playa de la Arena showed that they had dealt with 1,200 face to face enquiries during January.

A new taxi fare tariff was approved at a recent local Santiago del Teide council meeting. Last Thursday a meeting at which the the Socialist Party was not represented (due to the recent unfortunate demise of its only candidate on the local council) The new urban tariffs for taxis, that operate in the municipality were brought in at the request of the taxi drivers representative -Nicholas Dorta. The minimum charge will now be 1.50 euros which will rise to 2 euros at night, and on bank holidays and Sundays. The rate per kilometer is now 0.60 céntimos and the waiting charge rises to 11 euros per hour. Supplements will cost 0.50 euros and entrance and exit of the Los Gigantes Marina, 2 euros. This pricing structure is an attempt to standardise a unique urban taxi tariff throughout the south of the island, although clear agreements on the matter between the various counties has still not been obtained.

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