El Valle Newsletter Page 1

El Valle Newsletter Page 2

ContentsChairmansreport &Januarymeeting

2

Film &Suppernight

3

What’s On 4

Forthcoming events& MonthlyWalks

5

Photo Club

& News froSat.Co

6

JanuaryWalk Walk

7

Quad Diary 8

Committee 9

Chairman’s report by carol caldwell

JANUARY meeting report by alan impey

Hi everybody, Jane has askedme to write the Chairman'sreport for January due to hercommitments in England.

I hope everyone is well afterthe ‘flu bug etc’ that has be-ing going around, both my-self and Ben have had it andit was very nasty.

Now the weather is

Improving, although wehaven’t had a bad winter, weare now looking forward tolighter nights & warmer days.

I would like to remindMembers the AGM is onApril 6�� at the monthlymeeting and we are lookingfor new committee membersto help run the Association, ifyou are interested in joiningthe team please ask for a

nomination form. Forms willbe available at the monthlymeeting and also on line,completed forms need to bereturned to us by mid March.

YOUR ASSOCIATION NEEDSYOU!!!!

A week later than usual sawthe first El-Valle meeting ofthe year take place in theCamping Bar overlookingEmbalse Viñuela. This laterdate was a result of a clashwith The Three Kings on the5th/6th January. 57members/visitors attended themeeting which was to beaddressed by Alan Briggs,retired police officer, who wasto share with us some of hisexperiences during his time inThe Royal Protection Squad.Before this however thereother things to discuss and at7.40pm Jane welcomed us allto the meeting and went on totell us that the years mainsocial event was now in placeand that this would be a 6night, 7 day trip to the RiojaRegion in Northern Spain.Departure date for this is May10th and the cost 406€ perperson for members and 420€non-members. Full details canbe found on the website and atthe Friday market where arepresentative of thecommittee is in attendance.Jane also gave brief details of

other social events and allthese are also available asabove.A short break was called toreplenish drinks purchasetickets and such and then wewere treated to an example ofwhat to expect at the April El-Valle meeting which wouldalso be the El-Valle A.G.M.I won’t spoil things for thatmeeting by saying too much,but full marks to Stewart andElaine for their demonstrationof what we can expect andthanks to the six “volunteers”who will be taking part in theEl-Valle production of “GoingQuackers”Time for Alan Briggs and hisinsights into the RoyalProtection Squad!!! Hisexperiences/comments,although very amusing now,could at the time have haddisastrous consequences andthey led to a shakeup of howprotection of the Royal Familywas conducted and also ashakeup of police firearmstraining.

Following Alan’s talk it wastime for the cash box whichstood at €185.00 but none of

the tickets drawnlead to the correctkey being picked.

At 8.40pm Jane closed themeeting and thanked everyonefor their attendance and alsoAlan Briggs along withStewart and Elaine for theirinput.It only remains for me to letyou of know of my dedicationto the reporting of events andthat I attended the El-Vallemeeting on the day of my PearlWedding Anniversary, yes 20years of Happy Marriage, Iknow I know Pearl is 30 yearsbut I did say “HappyMarriage” (Maureen that is ajoke, honestly,) and thank youMartyn for priming me for thatjoke!!!!

El Valle Newsletter Page 3Film night by alan impey

Film; The Railway Man.

Main Cast; Colin Firth playingEric Lomax; Nicole Kidmanplaying Patti Lomax; StellanSkarsgard playing Finlay andTanroh Ishida playing TakashiNagase.

Director of the film was JonathanTeplitzky.

A summary of the plot is as follows;Eric Lomax was one of thousands ofAllied prisoners of war forced towork on the construction of theThai/Burma railway during WW2. Hisexperiences, after the secret radio hebuilt to bring news and hope to hiscolleagues was discovered, left himtraumatised and shut off from theworld. Years later, he met Patti, abeautiful woman, on a train and fellin love. Patti was determined to ridEric of his demons. Discovering thatthe young Japanese officer whohaunted her husband was still alive,she faced a terrible decision. ShouldEric be given a chance to confront histormentor?The film is based on the real lifeexperiences of Eric Lomax a British

Officer Captured by the Japanese inSingapore and is based on theautobiography of the same title byEric Lomax.The film was first released inSeptember 2013 and runs for 116minutes. It had a budget of £12million and worldwide made justshort of £15 million at the box office.The film was shot in various Scottishlocations and in Thailand andAustralia.Once again we were using the roomsof the evangelical church underMaroma Estate Agents and theformat was as usual, we would befed, but bring your own drinks.Stewart was back in charge ofprojection after missing the last FilmNight due to holidays!!!!The evening was a sell out, 30 ticketshaving been sold which is themaximum the premises couldcomfortably hold.It has now become traditional tohave “themed” food and tonight itwas “Indian”, which was quite aptconsidering we have a new IndianRestaurant due to open in Puentedon Manuel.The tables had been set in our venuewith poppadoms (to be eaten withcurry) and bowls of a Bombay Mix

type of nuts. We were then servedwith Samosa’s and Baji’s prior tobeing invited to go for our maincourse which was a choice of BeefJalfrezi or Chicken Tikka Masala, bothserved with rice. I opted for some ofeach and both were delicious,sufficiently spiced so that lovers ofsuch were not disappointed but nottoo spiced to put off those whopreferred a milder taste. The foodwas well received and when“seconds” were announced therewere plenty of takers.Tables were cleared, seatingarranged and then the filmcommenced. The film was obviouslywell received as there was silencethroughout the whole 116 minutes(apart from the same mobile goingoff twice)At the end of the film a vote ofthanks was proposed by Ian Harris toall who helped organise the eveningand I second this with thanks to Janefor the Jalfrezi, Elaine for the TikkaMasala and Carol for the Samosa’sand Baji’s.A point about the film, worthmentioning, is that the principalcharacter, Eric Lomax, lived to be 93years of age and only died in 2012.

El Valle Newsletter Page 4

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS

February 2ⁿ� - Quiz by Ian Harris

March  2ⁿ� - Talk by Peter Wallbridge Presentation about the new real ale ‘GOLDEN PIG’ now being brewed in Spain with British ingredients. & Also about wine

April 6�� AGM followed by ‘Going Quackers’ !!

May 4�� Moroccan Talk by Tracy Webb

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

Camping Bar 7:30

El Valle Newsletter Page 5

EL VALLE MONTHLY WALKS

FEBRUARY 12�� Led by Doug & Jane Johnson. Start at 11:00 a.m. At the bottom car park of Viñuela village. After at Venta La Viña

MARCH 12�� Led by Stewart & Peter Goreham. Start at 11:00 in Benajarafe, take the N340 coast road from Torre del Mar and after the roundabout on the front, take the 4�� turn right (Bar Sanchez) up to the car park on the right.

APRIL 9�� Led by Ray Edwards and Jeanette/Chris Mogg. Start 11:00 at a point just past the 4Km marker on the main road from Velez Malaga to Arenas

MAY 14�� Led by Terry & Jane Frost. Start 11:00 am at the car park in the village of Guaro, beyond Periana

JUNE 11�� Led by Neil & Pauline Marland. 11:00 TBA

El Valle Newsletter Page 6

By Doug Popplett

Our challenge in December was “In the Style of Chema Madoz”,a Spanish photographer using everyday objects tocreate an image in a different form. This was achallenge that provided 16 images, mostly adher-ing to the task with some amazing results; the fol-lowing being 2 examples, titled “Zebra Cocktail”and “Smile”, I’ll leave you to decide which iswhich.All photos can be viewed on the club’s websitewww.lvphotoclub.com under the menu headingof “Monthly Challenges”.January’s task will be High Key / Low Key photog-raphy, a technical challenge. High Key uses unnat-ural bright light to blow out most / all harshshadows in an image. Low Key is about creatingstriking contrasts through reduced lighting, shad-ows being the prominent element of the composition.Interested in photography? Why not come and join us, we are a friendly group of people of differing abil-ities from novice to the more proficient, it’s all about learning from each other, but more importantly,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, leaving your contact details atlakevinuelaphotoclub@gmail.com .

A new channel has been added tothe Intelsat 907 platform andonly requires a software upgrade.The channel is Film 4 +1. Thesoftware upgrade is free to allSat.co customers so give us a callor bring your box to the TuesdayMarket and we will do it for you.We are Just about to celebrateour 300th weekly Saturdaypresentation and we will begiving everybody a free glass ofCava or something stronger. Why

not pay us a visit and see thelatest in new Smart TVs.We are getting a lot of enquiriesabout the changes to Spanish TV.Yes there are new channelsadded and just retune your onboard decoder to download thenew channels. If you get stuckgive us a call we can usually do itover the phone 657 484 853.Finally just a word of caution ifyou are planning to buy Appleproducts, I am not saying youshould not as they are good. Just

be careful if you want to connectthem to other devices as Applecables and connectors are specialto Apple products and can cost alot extra. Example normal HDMIcable 6€ Apple cable 39€!!! Needadvice it costs nothing to comeand talk to us.We are working with some newhard of hearing products andhave some new devices to helpyou with the sound on you TVsome come and see what wehave.

Update & news from sat.co by dick atterbury

El Valle Newsletter Page 7

El valle walk by alan impey

The Walk of The Lost Soul (Sole)The first El-Valle walk of 2015 took place at11am Thursday 8th January. The meetingplace was the main car park on theapproach road into Torrox Pueblo and itwas there that 33 walkers gathered tomeet with Alan Clay our guide for the day.Before the walk started Alan compiled hislist of dining requirements for all thewalkers in the hope that the meal wouldpass smoothly at what was to be a newvenue and a first for the restaurant owner,Carmen, to cater for over 30 people at onesitting.We left the car park heading into thepueblo before quickly doubling back to ourright and dropping into the Rio Alcodallavalley fording the water and climbing fromthe valley up to the main access road fromthe coast into Torrox.On reaching the road we all crossed safely,followed the road (North) a short distancebefore turning half left, (North West) tofollow what started as a track beforebecoming a concrete track all the timeclimbing steadily and sometimes steeply.Around this point, Brian, Martins son,proudly held up the whole sole of one ofhis boots which had become detached.(see photo's)

We continued climbing, eventuallycontouring round to the North East andthen turned left, (West),to a junction oftracks where Alan called another rest stopto allow the walkers to gather up again asthe steady climb had split the group.Before we were all together Alan decidedto press on with these words to me, "Alanyou wait here for the rest I will take theothers on to the Flying Pig for a drink andwait there for the rest of you" I did notunderstand but obliged anyway and all wassoon revealed!!!!

When we reached the others Alan (Clay)was pouring drinks and offering cakesaround. The drinks, a local wine, and cakeshad been provided by Carmen, our lunchhost, to enable us to have a New Yeartoast.

See the photo's re Flying Pig.After toasting each other it was time tobegin our descent dropping quickly to theSouth East and then more southerly,quickly loosing height and eventuallyarriving back at the main road which weagain safely crossed and made our waythrough the sports area grounds into thepueblo and up to the restaurant.

Throughout the walk the views weresuperb and the weather glorious and

despite some tough sections everyone, I'msure, enjoyed the walk.

At the restaurant it would seem that wehad taken over the whole building. I hadlearned from Alan (Clay) that Carmen, barowner, was relatively new to the post anda 30 strong booking was totally new to herhence Alan's attempts to help with pre-ordering the food.

It became an all hands to the pumps whenthe food was ready and Alan and Stewarthelped the staff to get the food out to thewaiting masses!!!!!!!!!Further help appeared in the form of Mikewho assisted with the deserts and thenyours truly helped out with the moneycollection.

Facts and Figures.Start Height                              157 mtrsMax. Height                              457 mtrs.Flying PigDistance                                   8.9  kms.Moving Time                             2hr 10minsStopped Time                           36   minsTotal Time                                2hr 46minsOverall Average Speed            3.2  kms perhr.

El Valle Newsletter Page 8

Quad diary by Mike larner

It's been another good quaddingmonth with some very scenic ridesand even better lunches. Ridercombinations have variedaccording to post Christmas visitsto the UK. It has also been goodthat all quads have been on the

road and not in for repair.The month started with a smallgroup of us heading over theArenas ridge, with a spectacularview of Maroma, culminating withan excellent lunch at the MaromaRestaurant in Canillas de Aceituno,where we were joined by a numberof non riding members. There isalways a good welcome here.

One of our regular runs is up pastthe lake and over to Bar Ortega fora little light refreshment.

We then take the back route toComares, before heading down andalong the Rio Benamargosa, withthe usual Sunday Fare of a welcomebacon sandwich at the Trapiche Bar.

Following the recent cold snap, werode up to Espino and had awelcome tapa at the Hotel LosCanos near the Robledal entrance.

Small patches of snow and ice werestill on the ground and wasinteresting to see how manySpanish were making a day out ofit to look at the snow on the northface of the Maroma. We havenever seen the bar so full. Aftervisiting the Chicken Shack atZafarraya, we rode down the old

railway track to Periana for adebrief and a welcome baconsandwich at Puente don Manuel.

What a majestic train journey thismust have been!

Wednesdays always feature a lunchat the end of the ride. One suchride took us over the hills from LosRomanos, to Benamargosa andBenamocarra for lunch at theRestaurant Puert Niza nearBenajarafe. 8 € for a menu, with anoptional 4€ to include an all dayswim in the pool or the use of ahammock. Needless to say, therewere no takers from the group!

El Valle Newsletter Page 9

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