Marleen Gosselin is holding the second Calahonda Business Fair at Las Postas Commercial Centre (opposite El Zoco) on the weekend of March 27-28 to showcase a wide range of local businesses. This event is free to attend and the organisers are inviting anyone in the local area to come down and have a look at what’s on offer.

This is an excellent day out for both business people and families, with around 40 local businesses offering special offers, things to buy and information on great products and services. If you are a business, it will be a good networking opportunity and a great way to meet people living and working near you.

Organiser Marleen Gosselin is looking forward to welcoming you to the event. “This event will be great fun for homeowners looking for a special offer on products and services, business people looking to network and families wanting to get out of the house and meet new people. We hope to see an excellent turn-out in the second year for this free and fun event to support our local businesses.”

Key Information

Date: March 27-28, 2010

Time: 11.00-18.00 on Saturday 27th and from 11.00-15.00 on Sunday 28th March

Venue: Las Postas Commercial Centre (opposite El Zoco), Calahonda

Contact: If you need any further information contact the organiser Marleen Gosselin stefilandsl@yahoo.es

In a new initiative to promote and give boost to the already running tourist activities in the Costa del Sol town, the City Council of Marbella has launched a series of new measures in the historic centre which will take place throughout the year. The Mayoress Ángeles Muñoz last Monday (February 15) unveiled the timetable for action, stressing the need to allure more tourists to the historic quarter.

The primary aim of this battery of cultural and tourist programmes by the Government is to prop up city sightseeing, especially in the historical centre in order to revitalize tourism in Marbella. As a part of the process, various municipal offices have been instructed to work together with retailers and restaurateurs in the area to start a campaign that promotes the historic centre and promote access and consumption in traditional settlements.

Just in line with the recent campaign ‘Marbella is a gift’, the municipal authority will have a meeting with tourist operators to bring out the possibilities in cruising passengers coming through the port of Malaga to Marbella. Marbella historical centre has immense amount of travel attraction, representing rich historical and cultural legacy.

Among some of the primary actions that the City will undertake in the Historic Center include the lighting of the tower of the Church of the Incarnation, the improvement of the Plaza del Ejido by removing the existing wall and installation of albero a floor of beautification of the stairs going up to the street Carmen Castillo.

Furthermore, some additional sights will also be taken into consideration for beautification. The councillor has also ruled that a multidisciplinary team of municipal workers will be appointed to work permanently in the maintenance of such landmarks in the Historic Centre with the immediate repair of any damage.

In addition, there will be a series of permanent exhibitions in the district headquarters in Salinas Street, which will be opened with the “40 years of basketball in Marbella” and continue till March with “Women and Sport” along with panel discussions.  Then there will be Children’s Carnival, Guignol Festival, and during the months of April, May and June a host of activities will be organised with the participation of schools in Marbella.

A series of concerts with performances of jazz, soul, classical music, fashion shows, art exhibitions and photo competition will dominate the summer months of July and August.  Besides, visitors will get chance to tour the specially arranged flea market every Sunday.

For better promotion the City Council has conducted a census of all retailers in the area to maintain a permanent contact with them, inform them of all events, and provide the possibility for their suggestions.

Located 8 kilometers south-west of the city of Malaga, it’s the main airport for the Costa del Sol of Spain which frequently welcomes inbound tourist. Also known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso Airport, it is regarded as a gateway to Europe, and hence one of the major international airports of Spain.

Due to the constant and increasing inflow of business persons and holidaymakers into Spain, the authority is in plan of expansion to cater the needs of access to other important worldwide destinations. As of now, the airport is connected with more than 60 worldwide destinations.

Furthermore, its strategic distance: only 1.5 hours from the UK and most major European cities makes it one of the busiest airport hubs. AGP is just 20 minutes away from Marbella, and the main A7 coast road connects it with many other important cities such as Benalmadena, Fuengirola, Torremolinos, Gibraltar and Nerja.

According to the available data, the Malaga Airport that is currently being in operation from two terminals, has so far served from 6 million passengers in 2005 to 12.8 million passengers in 2008. This makes it the fourth busiest in Spain with as many as 23 UK airports extending their services to Malaga.

Looking back to the history, Malaga Airport first came into function in 1919 with flights to Barcelona, Alicante, Toulouse, Tanger and Casablanca. In 1937 the airport developed as an air base with training academies for the Air Force. It was only in 1946 that the airport opened for international passenger flights.

Over the years, Malaga Airport has undergone great modification in terms of airport terminals, new car parks, check-in desks, VIP room, airport shops and restaurants, and a range of other services.

Local Accessibility
Malaga Airport, keeping its considered importance as the entry and exit point to Spain; it is speedily connected with almost all the surrounding locations by various modes of public transport: including trains, car, bus, and taxis.

Train: The airport has a direct train link to Malaga, Torremolinos and Fuengirola. The train station is rightly located in front of the airport from where one can get a direct train to the main cities on Costa de Sol.

Bus: Malaga Airport bus can be found just outside the international terminal and operates in every half an hour. Besides, the public mini buses also take you to the areas around the Costa del Sol. Direct buses or night-coach service is also available to Marbella bus station and the main Marbella railway station.

Taxis: Among the other effective modes of the local transport, taxis are easily available outside the terminals, and rates fluctuate for different destinations. Services are secured and the availability of English speaking drivers further makes it easy for foreign tourists to reach at their desired place without much hitch.

In addition, there are information desks at both terminals to lodge any complaint of lost baggage or any other administrative problem. And travelers can also easily locate shops, restaurants, pharmacy, health centre along with car rentals and travel agency desks for the proposed services.

Whether you are settled on the coast permanently or here just for a few months to escape the UK winter blues you will need friends! Some people just head down to the nearest bar and within a couple of hours have acquired a brand new set of friends!

However after the initial rush has worn of you may find that some of your instantly acquired best buddies are rather boring-or worse-dodgy (what….dodgy geezers on the Costa del Sol never!).

But as a good back-up to the bar fly saga you could try joining a few clubs and societies and meet some like minded people. The coast is brimming with clubs!

Golf Clubs
The golf club is the obvious place to start. We are over endowed with golf clubs here so you won’t have to go far! Some are more exclusive than others and there are municipal courses around as well which can be a more reasonable option and will also give you more of a chance to meet genuine local people rather than the expats and holiday makers who make most of the crowd at some clubs.

Football Clubs
Football clubs and cycling clubs are to be found in even the smallest villages due to national fanaticism about these two particular sports. There are even British only teams in the local Marbella league!

Horse Riding Clubs
Horses are another Andaluz obsession and “Asociación amigos de caballos” abound .These clubs arrange group rides into the countryside, equestrian exhibitions and social barbecue type days.

Tennis and Cricket
Good tennis clubs are all along the coast and Malaga has a cricket club for those essential Sunday afternoons on the green!

Don’t despair if sport isn’t your thing there is a range of more sedentary type activities too!

Let’s give a run through first;

jazz appreciation societies
sliming clubs
choirs and orchestras
gardening clubs
university of the third age
theatre and acting societies
poker clubs
photographic clubs
language and language exchange clubs
and just plain no nonsense social clubs!

These latter clubs are a good place to start.

The International Club of Estepona (ICE) is in the Bahia Dorado urbanisation near Estepona and offers friendship, classes, trips, parties and good food. Torremolinos and Fuengirola also have well established social clubs.

The American Club of the Costa del Sol has lots of branches and there is even a good old British Association in Marbella (remnants of the Empire!)

Theatre clubs are very big on the coast and everybody gets dragged along to see at least one amateur production during their time here. Great fun! There is Thespa; the English Speaking Players Association which meets in Fuengirola and TAPAS meets in Alhaurin el Grande. TAPAS puts on several productions a year.

Charity clubs are a very useful way to spend your free time. There are numerous animal rescue charities which raise money to rescue and house abandoned dogs, cats, and horses.

This is less of a problem than it used to be but you still see heartbreaking sights in every town, especially after the summer when puppies get dumped after the long hols. Clubs like The Lions can be found in Marbella and, of course Gibraltar!

Lots of good causes are tackled.

Finally back to the more Spanish clubs – every population in Spain has its “asociación de mujeres” more or less like the WI. All sorts of cultural activities are arranged, dancing, singing, traditional cooking, IT-and you can pick-up Spanish at the same time!

The APAs or PTA s of the local schools are also a great place to make local friends.

Bringing up children to be bi-lingual is becoming a more and more realistic option for an increasing number of families living on the Costa del Sol and in the inland villages. What a fantastic advantage and an incredible start to life. An advantage that needs to be nurtured and treated with respect!

If you are a couple who have different mother tongue languages your child will automatically pick-up both languages simultaneously as they grow into the toddler stage.

The actual mother tongue will come first as babies spend more time with their mothers than their fathers for the first few years at least( but no sexism here dads are definitely becoming more and more hands on during the early stages).

This means that if Mum is Spanish and Dad is English speaking he will have to make an effort to ensure that he speaks English to the child as often as possible.

As a Spanish Mum or Dad is quite likely to have a lot of relatives around-grandparents for example – this will increase the Spanish language input. But as long as one person, close to the child, is associated with a different language the child should pick it up.

They say babies and toddlers can absorb up to 7 languages as long as they are associated with different people they have close contact with. This seems a bit fanciful to me but there are definitely children who grow up speaking up to four languages at the same level of efficiency.

Gibraltar has some classic examples of children like this-English, Spanish, Arabic and French speaking teenagers continually amaze me with their ability to change language depending on whom they are talking to!

Bi-lingual children who have parents who are both English mother tongue speakers will probably have picked up the Spanish at a slightly older age. First words will be in English but as their knowledge of their environment increase and they become more responsive to other people around them the Spanish will slip in annoyingly easily.

The TV, the neighbours, the shop assistants, the cleaner, the nanny, the guy in the garage, the local barman- all these influences play a role in making a child bi-lingual. When play school or preschool starts most children born in Spain or who came here as small babies will be fluent Spanish speakers.

To help a child to remain bi-lingual you need to ensure that they can read and write in both languages with the same fluency that they can talk! This is not as difficult as it seems! If your child is attending an International School they will be receiving English based education but also Spanish from the word go-so no problems there.

At a Spanish school the situation is a little different as English classes do not hit the curriculum until the child is 8.You need to start earlier,as soon as they can write in Spanish. Hopefully by this time they will be familiar with books and stories in English so the written language won’t be too much of a problem.

Reading in English is very easily acquired, the Spanish phonetic pronunciation works well in helping them start and once they have got the hang of it, the unusual way of pronouncing some words makes most kids laugh!

Try explaining “should and shoulder” to a child that has learnt to read in a Spanish school and they crack up. Getting your child to produce written work in English may well be more of a problem but if you start early enough-letters to grandma and grandpa, and simple stories- they will progress.

The Letts and Smiths type revision English books (from Gib or Bookworld España) really help and are quite fun! When your child is older you may well consider putting them in for the official Junta De Andalucia language exams.

They don’t need to go to classes they can just sit the exams. The preliminary level is quite easy and gives their confidence a real boost!

The alternatives are GCSE English or GCSE English as a Second Language-essential if you want to send them to university in England. These can be sat in Gib or at various International Schools along the coast.