Sometimes it’s hard to image that anything of cultural significance could possibly have taken place in Torrevieja prior to the population boom here. But we’d be wrong as the huge exception to the rule is the world renowned International Contest of Habanera and Polyphony, to be held in the Eras de la Sal from 23 to 30 July, which this year celebrates its 56th edition.

Friday 18th June saw 21 members and guests from Katie Reillys Golf Society head for Las Ramblas on a beautifully warm morning to compete for the Presidents Trophy. There should have been 22 of us but for some reason known only to himself, Society President Peter Deaves had deemed it necessary to attempt to cut his right index finger off the previous day with a Stanley knife and, as the wound required 11 stitches, he was unable to play.

On Saturday morning June 19, Torrevieja’s Mayor Torrevieja, Pedro Hernández Mateo along with the Sports Councillor, Daniel Plaza Montero returned to the new Sports City to inaugurate the ‘Nelson Mandela’, Stadium and to open the inaugural Torrevieja Rugby Seven’s Tournament. This impressive facility, costing around two million euros, has a capacity for 3,000 Spectators, the approval for international competition from the RUFA, an artificial grass pitch and is designed for multisports; rugby, football and cricket.

Yet another park and garden was opened to the public this week in Torrevieja when the mayor of Torrevieja, Pedro Hernández Mateo, accompanied by Eduardo Gil Rebollo Torrevieja’s Councillor for Parks and Gardens plus much of the municipal corporation, inaugurated the Plaza dedicated to the writer and poet José Manuel Caballero Jerez Bonald, who has been closely linked to the city of Torrevieja for many years due to his position as chairman of the Jury for the International Poetry Competition "Ciudad de Torrevieja".

On June 5 and 6, the Submarine Delfin S-61 partook in a unique assignment by contacting all of the world’s other floating museums, totalling upwards of 3,000 in more than 100 countries around the globe through the world of HAM Radio. The Union of Amateur Radio of Spain came up with this idea having calculated that during this two-day weekend they could contact all other floating museums through telegraphy, telephony and Digital Systems, including the internet.

If you take a stroll along Torrevieja’s promenade or sit down to enjoy a quiet café con leche on the seafront, chances are that sooner rather than later you’ll be offered a wide variety of goods from gentlemen of African decent.

Two Torrevieja schools were in the news this week for different but yet similar reasons. On the positive side, the city’s oldest public school, Immaculate Conception, has received approval for a grant of 3,786,974 euros to totally improve the facilitates of the school while on the negative side, Virgen del Carmen parents held a protest outside the school’s gates to highlight structural problems with the school’s construction.