2 minute read
Good neighbours rewarded
A LANGUAGE school that does more than teach language, a help line for vulnerable women, and a support group for new arrivals in Spain have earned their organisers accolades in the Good Neighbour award scheme, launched recently by Age in Spain.
The scheme is designed to acknowledge the oftenunsung heroes who go beyond the call of duty to help in their community. The awards were judged by an international panel and endorsed by the UK Ambassador to Spain, HMA Hugh Elliott.
Outright winner of the award was Lucia Miguel Bores who lives in Carrion de los Condes. Lucia was nominated for the Good Neighbour Award because the language school she started, Forum Idiomas, has become a portal for newcomers to Spain. As well as teaching them language skills, she helps her students with the challenges of everyday life in a new country.
There was a special com mendation for Kay Rowbottom in Mojacar whose action during lockdown to help local women who felt isolated or vulnerable led to the setting up of an online support groupKay Frances SturdygirlsRus. Beginning as a local group for Spanish women and incomers, it now has more than 1,500 members throughout the world offering mutual support.
Pat Love, one half of the ‘Love Team’ in the Loja area of Granada won special commendation for the group she started for Englishspeaking migrants to Spain. With her husband, Peter, who passed away recently, Pat coordinated with UK Consular services in Granada and Malaga to help newcomers navigate their way through unfamiliar aspects of a new country.
The winners have received certificates from Age in Spain and commendation from HMA Hugh Elliott, who said:
“These awards are a great recognition of the difference that so many people make to their communities and I was truly delighted to see the number of English speakingnationals nominating their Spanish neighbours and vice versa. The variety of ways in which people have, generously and compassionately, supported those around them is the very definition of neighbourliness. Congratulations to all of them.”
ON Thursday, February 2, the Castilla y Leon branch of the Spanish consumer’s association FACUA, denounced the Segovian restaurant La Olma de Pedraza for charging its customers
€4.50 for a glass of tap water.
In the ‘Our menu’ section of the website of this Segovian establishment, there is a segment that reads: ‘tap water service (per person), we will give you free water’. The owner of the restaurant insisted that the charge is not for the water, but for the service.
The association sent a letter to La Olma de Pedraza on January 16 urging it to withdraw the aforementioned charge for serving tap water to customers from its online publicity.
According to a statement released by FACUA, it understands that the fact of stating in the online menu that ‘we give you the water’ means that what is charged relates to filling the glass and bringing it to the table, is a tortious interpretation of the norm by the company. FACUA highlighted that catering establishments cannot charge consumers for tap water.
However, in practice, it often happens in many Spanish establishments that bottled water is offered by default and it is the diner who has to specify that they want it free and from the tap.
