25 years service

ZAQUEO soup kitchen in Palma’s Plaça del Mercadal celebrated its 25th anniversary last week with a meeting of volunteers and collaborators.

The association was set up by Paco Sans in 1998 to help those less fortunate and in its early years mainly provided a service for drug addicts, prostitutes and homeless people from the Sa Gerreria neighbourhood.

But since the Covid pandemic more than 250 crisis ­ hit residents pass through its doors every day to get a hot meal.

Sra Cunill explained that the profile of users had changed in recent times and that they now serve all kinds of people, “even elderly people with small pensions.”

The association president also added that due to the increasing numbers, users no longer eat at the centre but are instead given “a bag with a lunch box containing hot food, bread, water, fruit, some sweets and milk once a week” for them to take away.

Follow Associació Zaqueo on Facebook for further information.

No to solar installation

MURO Council has approved a motion to oppose plans to build a solar panel installation on protected rustic and forest land in the Vinroma area between the town and Can Picafort.

The project is currently being processed by the Balearic Islands Government and is set to occupy 108,705 square metres with more than 15,000 solar panels.

According to the plans, the installation will cost

Mallorca Island Council

President Catalina Cladera took part in the celebrations in the Plaça de l’Hospital, where she danced with team captain Carlos Barron before the bus continued on to Cort, where 300 fans cheered each player as they appeared on the town hall balcony.

Bullying

UP to 10 per cent of primary education schoolchildren in Mallorca suffer bullying, according to a new nationwide study.

The Spanish Ministry of Education aims to tackle bullying in the classroom in the same way as it did years ago with gender violence, by bringing it to light and considering it a state issue.

The first step is to identify and quantify the problem, as until now there were no official government statistics on the issue and analysts relied solely on research by individual organisations.

€6.3 million and the energy generated would supply 2,292 households.

According to the town hall’s statement, it would “cause an environmental imbalance and affect an enormous amount of fertile land that will be rendered unusable.”

Alternatively, the statement suggests installing solar panels on roofs, terraces, car parks, empty spaces on roads and motorways and on unusable plots of land.

Researchers at a Madrid university were tasked with asking more than 35,000 primary level schoolchildren all over Spain whether they had ever felt bullied at school, to which nearly 10 per cent answered affirmatively.

In addition, nearly 5 per cent admitted having bullied other students.

On the plus side, the 300­page report reveals that figures are lower than previously suggested in surveys by education organisations.