Swim for Shoes 2013, the annual event to swim or paddle in the Atlantic Ocean has, this year, so far raised just over €1100 for new shoes for children in care.

Many congratulations and thanks to all those who participated.

On Monday the 23rd of Dec a a delegation led by organiser David Shirley from the Algarve Senior Bikers Group, accompanied by Samantha Birch of The Peta Birch Community Association, visited the Teenagers at the Gaivota Home in Albufeira to hand over the €420 raised by the bikers at their Charity Christmas Lunch and previous rides.

On Sunday, December 15th the Estoi Casa do Povo held its annual Christmas Party for the underprivileged families in the parish. This year the local Freguesia unfortunately had no funds in their budget to help finance the festivities, so the staff at the Casa do Povo requested the assistance of the Rotary Club Estoi Palace International (RECPI).

In early 2013, when the Algarveans Experimental Theatre group decided to perform the acclaimed stage show "Calendar Girls", the hunt began for a worthy cause.   This poignant play, written by Tim Firth, portrayed the ethos of the meaning of cancer to all those it touches, and the ingenious efforts of fund raising for a new sofa.  
Naturally, the theatre group sought to donate funds raised to help those suffering from this invasive disease, and the chosen charity had to be the Associação Oncológica do Algarve (AOA).

When the Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firemen of São Brás de Alportel (Bombeiros) held their annual Christmas party on December 14th there was much to celebrate. On December 12th members of the Bombeiros and Ian Lowe of the Rotary Club Estoi Palace International (RCEPI) drove to Porto to receive delivery of a much needed new ambulance donated by RCEPI.

Last Saturday, 7th December, 2013 more than one hundred Father Christmases took part in the second Armação de Pêra Father Christmas walk.

Sunshine and blue skies were the backdrop for the bright red Father Christmas suits.

Many thanks to all who participated in the 9th Annual Shoebox Drive for the Elderly - more than one hundred and twenty filled shoeboxes will be delivered by Castelo de Sonhos to needy elderly people of Silves this Christmas. 

Special thanks go to Balaia Golf Club ( 2 members pictured),  and to the Central Ladies Algarve Lunch Club. 

For more information about Castelo de Sonhos please contact Celia Mossman on 282 332 665.

Following the well publicised Bingo gambling case in Albufeira where a number of people earlier this year were unwittingly involved in illegal gambling.

Tthe media, the Consulate, the local police, the tourist board and Safe Communities Algarve (SCA) received a number of enquiries about what exactly were the laws covering various gambling and gaming activities and whether or not these were legal.