Costa Blanca People Pride of Spain Awards 2016 Brochure by Costa Blanca People

4 A word from the Costa Blanca People Managing Director, January, I was shocked to discover that I

Claire Richards

t gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the tenth annual Costa Blanca People Pride of Spain awards. For the tenth consecutive year, we are hosting this unique event where we have the chance to celebrate the unsung heroes from our local community. This is a landmark year for us, marking a decade since we began this local initiative, honouring and celebrating the community here on the Costa Blanca. It is an inspiration to see what we can achieve by working together – look how many hundreds of thousands of euros have been raised by local people, for local people. The sheer number of people working in voluntary roles for local charities is staggering and the dedication and attitude of our local volunteers is both heart-warming and humbling.

Our businesspeople, our youth community, our teachers, our volunteers – it is all of YOU who are the beating hear t of this community, making it a place in which we are all so proud to live. I would like to thank all of our finalists for being here with us tonight and wish you the best of luck in your categories. Having been on the interviewing panel myself, I can vouch for how difficult the process was. When so many people here tonight have done such good work, and achieved so much, it is hard to single out winners when all are so deserving of recognition. Tonight wouldn’t have been possible without the help and support of all our sponsors (you will find more details on our sponsors later on in this programme), all of whom are local businesses who, like the Costa Blanca People, wish to recognise the spirit of kindness and generosity in the expat community here on the Costa Blanca. Some of you may know that it has been a rollercoaster year for me personally. In

had breast cancer. For the last ten months, I have been undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and currently, radiotherapy. I am happy to say (although I am not out of the woods yet!) there is light at the end of the tunnel. There are a few very important ‘thank yous’ that I would like to make. Firstly to my husband, Paul. My friend, my soul mate, my rock. You have stood beside me for every moment of the last terrifying ten months and without your strength and love surrounding me, I don’t know what I would have done. My children, Jack, Lucy and Charlie – thank you for keeping me sane and bringing me such joy and pride. Thank you to my friends and colleagues for all of your help and support throughout. Special thanks to Donna Walsh from MABS and Maria Wilson of the AECC for your expertise, friendship and support – you have both been through it and know how much it means to have guidance and insight. Once again, thank you all for coming and enjoy the evening. Claire Richards Managing Director, Costa Blanca People Your essential weekly read

young achiever award

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Anthony Nicholls Anthony is an extraordinary 11 year old. Since he was told his Nana Sylvia - who he lives with in Benidorm – had cancer, Anthony has been spending every spare minute and penny he has on raising funds for MABS cancer support group. Anthony said: “MABS were looking after Nana, so I wanted to help them.” Since then, he has used his pocket money and any money he has been given

for doing odd jobs to buy bands to make loom bracelets which he then sells and donates the money. So far he has singlehandedly raised more than 500 euros, selling the looms for 50 cents each. He has been fundraising for the last three years. Anthony has his own purple collection pot from MABS and the charity has made him its Children’s Ambassador.

Anthony said it made him ‘feel good’ to be nominated and he is excited about the awards. One nomination said: “Some people are quick to ﬁnd fault with today’s youngsters, but Anthony is a credit to his family and himself. He works quietly and endlessly towards his cause and we are proud to know this polite young gentleman and would love it if he could win an award.”

FundraiSer oF The year award

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Marlene Brown & Joan Rampton alongside El Alto La Dolores These two ladies work tirelessly to raise funds predominantly for three local charities: Elche Children’s Home, The Stroke Support Association and the Alzheimers Association. The money is raised through various events held at El Alto la Dolores, between La Mata and Guradamar, on the N332, and the venue has played a vital role in their ability to raise the amazing amount of money they have. El Alto La Dolores works in partnership with Marlene and

Joan, building a bespoke stage for the performances, providing 100 euros and bottles of wine for each event and a monthly grand prize of a cruise. The partnership works well and in the last 17 months the 19 events organised by the pair at the restaurant have raised more than 17, 325 euros. However, Marlene and Joan aren’t satisﬁed with just fundraising for their chosen charities, they have also spent time forging strong personal relationships with the

management teams, volunteers and beneﬁciaries and are interested in how the money is allocated and the projects it funds. They both said they feel very proud to be nominated but see themselves as ‘a link’ and believe that they couldn’t do what they do without other people’s kindness and generosity. One nomination reads: “These lovely ladies work tirelessly. They are great organisers, fun people, fabulous fundraises and are a credit to their families and friends.”

In addition to Stroke Support the pair also supports other local charities such as the Alzheimers Association, Elche Children’s Home and Sats and also provide mobility equipment free of charge to groups and individuals. Paul said he and Pat are ‘surprised and a little embarrassed’ to be nominated’ as they love what they do and ﬁnd it extremely rewarding. The most rewarding aspect is seeing people recover and regain their health. Given the lack of support for

stroke victims across Spain, Paul has been instrumental in extending the groups services to expats as far away as Andalucia and is currently facilitating speech therapy over Skype with a gentleman in Malaga. After suﬀering a mild stoke himself in July, Pat believes Paul is even more empathetic to the struggles that stroke suﬀerers face and both remain dedicated to helping with recovery and fundraising to provide the services their members need.

Pat & Paul Owen Husband and wife team Pat and Paul Owen have worked for nine years as part of the Stroke Support service providing hands-on care, specialist services and support. They also raise money in various ways for the group, but mainly through a car boot stall every Saturday and raised more than 8,600 euros in 2015 and nearly 4,000 euros in 2016. The money is currently being used to fund the group’s plans to open its ﬁrst charity shop in the Autumn/Winter.

Caroline Richardson After her slimming group coordinator moved back to the UK, Caroline was determined to keep the group going and took charge of the weigh-ins and meetings. The new ‘Weigh-in Club’ decided that as spin off to the friendly and

social nature of the meetings, it would hold annual events at Easter and Christmas to raise money for local charities such as the AECC and the Elche Children. So far the 40-strong group based in El Chapparal has raised more than 1,670

euros from coffee mornings this year and over the last four years about 5,000 euros in total has been raised. We are assured that cake only features in the fundraising events and not at every weight-loss meeting…shame!

Teacher oF The year award

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Crystal East In 2012 Crystal founded conversation classes teaching Spanish people to speak English, with the support of Torrevieja Town Hall. She began teaching on her own and over the years has build the programme to the point where she now has 12 volunteer teachers and facilitates four sessions a week at different levels of ability. She also helps students to

achieve B2 grade and provides one-to-one sessions from her own home to students with exams looming. The dedication and tenacity required to see this project through from a seed into an initiative in full bloom has been incredible and Crystal was determined to see it succeed. Thanks to her, hundreds of Spanish people have improved

their English to the point where they are using it for employment, teaching English or moving to the UK to start a new life. One nomination said: “Crystal’s system is the best way of practising and speaking a foreign language but also it helps integration and promoted socialising between the Spanish and English people. We are very grateful to her.”

teenagers and inspire enthusiasm for the English language. He established the academy four years ago with one teacher and around 40 students. He now has 6 staff – all native English speakers – and 450 students. Pepe still teaches in state school full time as well as directing and teaching at the

academy and has two children aged 10 and 6 years of age. His drive comes from his desire to simply teach and share knowledge with as many people as he can. One nomination said: “Pepe lives and breathes his job and is very generous with his time. He neves seeks recognition, but richly deserves it.”

teaches Keep Fit to adults. Dancing since age of 3, it has always been Paris’s dream to help others achieve their goals and although Essence has only been established for 8 months, she is already thinking ahead to growing its services, entering her students into competitions and helping them

gain college places. Paris was shocked and surprised to hear of her nomination but is extremely happy as it shows she is heading in the right direction with her goals. One nomination said: “Paris is patient, kind and is loved by all the children.”

Pepe Requena Pepe is a civil servant – a state employed school teacher - as well as running his own language academy and very much believes it is his duty to pass on and share his knowledge and experience with as many people as he can. To Pepe teaching is a vocation and he passionately believes he can improve the learning experience for adults and

Paris Brummit Paris recently opened Essence dance school at Elite Gym after studying dance, musical theatre and physical fitness in the UK for three years. She teaches street/hip hop with ballet and tap added in, using the most upto-date techniques and trends. Paris has students from the ages of 2 years old to 18 and also

communiTy SpiriT award

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Anthony Pate Like many people Anthony took a huge risk moving to Spain with no family here and no job, but hasn’t looked back since. Not only has he established a successful and popular business but made a huge diﬀerence to the local community and the lives of his clients. Through Ant’s Fat Fighters Anthony has created something much more important than a dance-based ﬁtness initiative. He has created a social group that have become like family, a mutual

support network that has grown from 5 to 120 people taking diﬀerent classes each week. Anthony never tires of helping people and is always ready to raise money for local charities. He helps people with illness and disability, ﬁnding ways for them to join in and enjoy exercise and if he loses members to fatal illness he supports their family and friends through the low times. He even makes meals for the old and those in need. Anthony is described as an

‘inspiration’ who ‘motivates young and old alike’. One nomination reads: “Tony is loved and respected by all who know him. He has brought a lot of people together who would never have met and created a great community spirit amongst all of us. He has made living in Spain a lot easier for many of his members.” Anthony said that what makes him most proud is when people tell him that he helped make a local community.

the group. In addition, he writes the majority of copy and articles for the website and the Facebook page, all of which he does in his own time and for free. At Christmas Mark wrote an ebook on traﬃc with the help of the N332 oﬃcers and donated the majority of the proceeds to the

Elche Children. He has also created an e-zine to keep drivers up to date about traﬃc issues and information. One nomination said: “Mark does lots and lots of work for just one person, always for free and with a smile. We think he deserves this award.”

The challenge is to ride the circumference of Spain, including its border with Portugal, in 23 days - and they are currently part way through. During the road trip they will also be meeting up with and riding alongside biking associations and groups to help promote the event and highlight the importance of safe biking. Dave and Mitch are covering most major cities in Spain,

including the capital city of Madrid and taking in Andorra, visiting schools and raising funds for a very worthy cause that touches every family in the country. This challenge follows the duo’s 2015 Kayak Challenge when they raised €3,000 by rowing 52 kilometres along the Rio Segura from Murcia to the coast at Guardamar.

Mark Nolan Mark is the webmaster and one of the key supporters of N332.es the road safety website set up by serving Guardia Civil oﬃcers aimed at the English-speaking expat community. Mark often teams up with Francisco when he gives talks and forged link within the expat community and media on behalf of

David & Mitch Bull After Mitch’s mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her son and ex-husband decided to join forces and raise money for the AECC. The father and son duo are now about to undertake their second charity challenge, this time swapping kayaks for motorbikes and bringing together several facets of the local community as well as involving schools from one side of Spain to the other.

buSineSS oF The year award

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Mayka Mira Cartagena Architects Architecture is still very much a male dominated industry in Spain and so Mayka had to work extra hard to be successful, but successful she is. She now has two degrees and more than 10 years experience as a fully qualiﬁed architect. She works mainly in the Hondon Valley area and specialises in working with the expat community. Mayka feels her key diﬀerentiator is her understanding of the procedures and processes required by local

town halls. She has a proliﬁc network of contacts and takes care of all permissions and licences on behalf of her clients. Makya has worked hard to improve her English language skills and despite her busy schedule, one young child and a baby, she still takes lessons twice a week. Her clients tell us that Mayka is so dedicated that she often gets completely embroiled in her clients’ dreams, becoming a friend that is as keen to see the house

built, business open, renovation complete as they are. Many say that she provides an ‘invaluable service”. One nomination reads: “Mayka helped my wife and I negotiate with a local man on a building requirement. She attended meetings with us, translating and communicating for us. On another occasion she checked building and planning permissions and queries for us – and she didn’t charge us on either occasion.”

established stations – to be totally different. Mercury has a keen community focus and has worked with local sports teams, Elche Children, N332 group and the Tasha Lynch Appeal. Lee said he was ‘over the moon’ when he heard he’d

been nominated. One nomination reads: “They are a great group of people and really interact with their listeners both on line and on air.” Another reads: “Mercury has a strong corporate image which sponsors can trust.”

kitchen to creating dance-based ﬁtness classes with both hands and has grown the class into a successful business over the last four years. From his ﬁrst class of one to now teaching 120 people and

four classes a week, Anthony believes his success is down to creating fun and interesting classes and becoming friends with all his members. When asked how he felt on being nominated he said “sick!”

Mercury FM Director Lee Fox has been in local radio for 14 years and built and extensive knowledge of all aspects of the business before venturing out on his own with Mercury FM. The ethos was to play ‘happy’ music that appealed and catered for a different age group to the

Ant’s Fat Fighters This business grew out of nothing after Anthony’s employer asked him to do a ﬁtness class after watching him trying to cheer a friend by getting her to dance. Anthony grasped the opportunity to move from working in the

ouTSTanding bravery

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Tasha Lynch At the age of only 20, whilst working as a Children’s Representative for Thompson Holidays in Egypt, Tasha Lynch was struck down by Viral Meningitis. She survived this but was left with a condition called Hemiplegic Migraines. She came home to Spain unable to continue with her dream job and worked on La Marina Urbanisation. In June 2015, Natasha was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, which went into crisis in October 2015 leaving her in Intensive Care with her life hanging in the balance. Although she survived this, due to her strong will and positivity, Tasha then became paralysed which led to a third condition called Transverse Myelitis. Since October, Tasha has spent much of her time in Torrevieja hospital. Myasthenic crisis directly affects Tasha’s lungs, severely limited her ability to breathe and she is now fully dependent upon equipment to help her through functions that most of us take for granted. She will be on a ventilator 24 hours a day for life. Tasha also has no movement below the waist and is blind in her left eye. She recently went into respiratory failure and was put into a medical coma. A tracheotomy was performed to

help her breathing, which has taken away her ability to speak. Tasha also has a feeding tube fitted directly into her stomach as the muscles in her throat are so weak that she is unable to swallow. Tasha was transferred to a Rehabilitation Centre in January of this year for a month but showed little sign of improvement so was sent home, with the specialists at Torrevieja Hospital keeping a close eye on her. Since leaving rehab, Tasha has been admitted to hospital five more times, each time leaving her weaker and with more symptoms. At present, Tasha is being administered bespoke treatment as she has developed conditions that are extremely rare and speciﬁc to her, in the hope that she can become strong enough for further treatment to enable her to come home and has had two rounds of a six month chemotherapy course in the hope that this will keep her stable. Despite everything that has happened and during all this time battling these illnesses, Tasha has not lost her fabulous sense of humour. She tries to see the funny side in everything which, considering what she has been through, and what she still faces, is incredible. She always has a smile on her face and a quip to

share and has developed the ‘fastest thumbs’ following the tracheotomy and can respond just as quick on her tablet as she could when talking. Tasha retains her positive outlook and attitude, much to everyone’s amazement. Globally only 15 people have been diagnosed with the same conditions as Tasha, and none have made it past a few months. Ten months in and Tasha is determined to be the first one to live to 100. Tasha always cares about how everyone else is and never complains about her illnesses or feels hard done by. She is now a member of several forums for people with chronic illness and is an inspiration to many with her positive attitude and motivational comments. Tasha loves to interact with people online just to chat about normal everyday things, so if you would like to get to know her a little better, find her on Facebook. Tasha Lynch www.facebook.com/tasha.lynch or at Help Tasha www.facebook.com/HelpTasha/ Tasha’s Dad Andy said: “Tasha is a realist and has always dealt with whatever life throws at her. She never fails to amaze me and I am extremely proud of her and the way she deals with everything she is going through.”

carer oF The year award

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Andy Lynch When Andy’s daughter Tasha Lynch was struck down with not one, but three debilitating and life threatening illnesses the family’s lives changed forever. Without a

Tasha Lynch thought for himself Tasha’s Dad Andy Lynch took on the role as primary carer for his daughter. Andy, supported by Tasha’s step-mother Dawn and family

friends has cared for Tasha every minute of every day since she became ill nearly a year ago – no mean feat considering Andy works his full time job. Suﬀering from Hemiplegic Migraines, Myasthenia Gravis and Transverse Myelitis; Tasha was left unable to breathe on her own and is fully dependent on a range of equipment to perform her bodily functions including being on a ventilator 24 hours a day for the rest of her life. Tasha also has no movement below the waist and is blind in her left eye. Tasha recently went into respiratory failure and was put into a medical coma. A tracheotomy was performed to help her breathing, which has taken away her ability to speak. Tasha also has a feeding tube ﬁtted directly into her stomach as the muscles in her throat are so weak that she is unable to swallow. Andy sleeps on a sofa outside Tasha’s bedroom door

throughout the night in order to administer her 2-hourly medications and then goes to work at 6am every day, handing over to Dawn. The machinery Tasha needs to help her breathe requires monitoring and anyone who is alone with Tasha needs to know what to do in case of an emergency. Andy is very protective of his daughter and will only allow professionals or those close to him to be with Tasha in his absence. Andy said: “When I heard I’d been nominated I thought ‘wow’, but then I wanted to refuse the nomination because I’m not a carer I’m a Dad. “I would do this again and again for my daughter. Tasha is my number one priority now and everything revolves around her and her needs. There is huge reward to all of the worry, time and commitment though – I still have my daughter and that’s all that matters.”

Special recogniTion award

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Help Vega Baja Volunteers Like many charities Help Vega Baja relies completely on its team of volunteers. These people are the backbone of the charity and it is their hard work that has seen the charity stand the test of time with more than 35 years of local community service. Volunteers carry out every aspect of work on behalf of Help Vega Baja from manning the shops, offices and advice centres to hospital visiting, interpreting, fundraising and running the Friendship initiatives. The charity is headquartered in San Miguel which includes a charity shop and mobility equipment hire, has an office in Torrevieja and a Help Desk in La Marina. Help Vega Baja has a 24-hour emergency help line and supplies a wide range of information sheets and advice to members and non members alike. Typical enquiries include questions on residence, health care, cars, bereavement, wills and burglaries. If the answer to a problem is not known immediately, every effort is made to obtain the appropriate information. The charity’s help is often called upon at times of crisis and in emergency situations such as when police or medical services are involved The hospital visiting teams visit the Vega Baja Hospital, near Orihuela regularly each week and Torrevieja hospital in Los Balcones upon request. These volunteers can contact friends or family of patients if required, and can also try to resolve any nonmedical problems. Books and talking tapes from its library are loaned to patients free of charge.

Help Vega Baja is a self funding association and obtains all of its income from membership fees, donations and fund raising activities and are always grateful for donations of items that can be sold at the shop in San Miguel. This allows the charity to continue supporting those in need within the Vega Baja area. Its stall at Campoamor Street Market every Thursday is a great success thanks to the volunteers that stand there in all weathers. Help Vega Baja can help with repatriation cases by undertaking the necessary procedures required to leave Spain to return to the UK for those people who are unable to cope themselves. When someone dies it is obviously a very difficult time and it can help by offering advice on the procedures to follow when a death occurs (the procedure varies according to the circumstances of the death) and can also help arrange the burial or cremation service, There is a Diabetic Support Group which meets on the last Wednesday of the month. Those attending are able to benefit from sharing experiences and information with others in similar situations. This group benefits those who are recently diagnosed, as well as those who have learned to live with diabetes. Every effort is made to keep up to date with all developments in the treatment of diabetes. Attendance at this group is free. The Help Vega Baja Friendship Centre at La Zenia opens Monday afternoons between 2.00pm and

5.30pm. The centre provides a friendly environment and many of the visitors form new friendships as the result of attending. Following the success of the La Zenia Friendship Centre which has been running for 12 years, a second Friendship Centre has recently been established in La Marina and meets every Wednesday between 2.30pm – 5.00pm at The Posh Club. In addition to providing benefits to its members, Help Vega Baja also donates funds to worthy causes and other charities within the Vega Baja area through fundraising events and charity sales. It offers a range of benefits for members which are updated regularly. These include a discount on the hire of orthopaedic equipment, an Emergency Contact Scheme, a Helpcare Policy which provides assistance when members are discharged from hospital (when required), an interpreter service, help with the cost of preparing a will to name but a few. Qualifying periods and limits apply to some of the benefits and full details can be obtained from the San Miguel centre. A Welfare Officer is available to provide advice on mobility needs and how to ensure someone is safe and well in their home environment. This service is available to members and non members upon request. The Welfare Officer has recently introduced a service to assist with the completion of application forms for Attendance Allowance.

A word from our Main Sponsor

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For most other general finance providers, like high street banks, transferring money into other currencies is not their specialist area. For us, it is at the heart of our business and for our customers this represents value for money, peace of mind and superior service. Our Costa Blanca office is in Quesada, close to the Costa Blanca People office. We are here to guide you wherever possible. Our main dealing floors are in central London and our currency dealers are qualified in line with industry standards. We are a registered Money Service Business with HMRC. TTT Moneycorp is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the provision of payment services. For further information about our services, or to become a customer of moneycorp, please contact our Costa Blanca office on +34 965725755 or email costablanca@moneycorp.com. In all cases, please quote Costa Blanca People when registering your interest with us.