ISSUE 36Santa Cruz de TenerifeSaturday 05 May 2012

www.diariodeavisos.com/thesupplement

“In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends” John Churton Collins

LA OROTAVA ‘BECOMESURUGUAY’ FOR FILM

◗La Orotava is well-known for the old-styleflavour of its town centre but even locals havebeen surprised by the trip back in time expe-rienced thanks to the shooting of a film set inthe 1930s. In another big coup for the Tene-rife Film Commission, actors and extras des-

cended on the northern town to film scenesfor a new Serbian film that tells the story ofthe Yugoslavia football team at the first everWorld Cup in Uruguay. Called Montevideo1930, the film stars familiar Hollywood faceArmand Assante. Santa Cruz and La Laguna

have already been used as settings and thecrew returned to Tenerife last week for moreshooting, this time at La Orotava’s landmarkLiceo Taoro, which was converted into theluxury hotel used by the Yugoslav teamduring the historic football tournament.

Town’s historic building converted into Montevideo hotel

TOURISM

◗A Tenerife hotel is celebratingits designation as the best of itskind in Spain, following a pollby readers of Condé Nast. TheGran Meliá Palacio in Guía deIsora was voted Best Resort inthe travel publication’s presti-gious Traveller Awards. Gene-ral manager Carlos Martinssaid he was delighted at thenews, which rewards the com-mitted efforts made by theGran Meliá to offer high qua-lity in all its services, from thewellness centre and spa to itsrooms and restaurants.

Gran MeliáPalaciocelebrates‘best’ award

CRIME

◗A man who triggered a policehunt after calling the emer-gency services 112 number toconfess he had killed someoneand was about to do the sameagain has been arrested andcharged with making falsereports and wasting policetime. Two calls made by thehoaxer were traced to publictelephone boxes in Las Chafi-ras and San Isidro. The manreported that he had beenattacked by two individualsbut ‘had managed to stab one’.

Hoaxerarrested aftermaking‘killing’ calls

CARNIVAL

◗The poll to choose the theme for the2013 Santa Cruz Carnival is proving ahit with the public, judging by thenumber of votes cast in the openingdays of the poll, which ends tomorrow.The early leader is Bollywood, aheadof the World of Cartoons and Africa.

Bollywood themesets early pace inpublic vote

ECONOMY

◗The turn-out for the 1 Maydemonstration staged bytrade unions in Santa Cruzvaried considerably depen-ding on the source of theinformation. While the

unions insisted that 20,000people had taken part in theprotest march, police putthe figure at 10,000 and thenational government’soffice here at just 5000.

MAY DAY RALLYFIGURES HOTLYDISPUTED

A scene shot at the much-changed Liceo Taoro, which was used as a luxury hotel for the period film. / DA

Protestors marched on the city centre in the May Day rally. / DA

GANDYCOMPLETESISLAND WALKCHALLENGEDiario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

An Englishman who last weekcompleted a 3-week fund-raisingwalk across all seven CanaryIslands doubts he will try a simi-lar feat on foot again, eventhough he found it extremelyrewarding. 48-year-old business-man Alan Gandy hit on the ideaof tackling the 400 km trek afterhis successful walk from Orzolato Playa Blanca on Lanzarote inFebruary 2011, but the choicewas far from automatic.

‘People were asking me ‘whatnext?’ but I didn’t have any plansto follow that walk up. It had justbeen something I wanted to doand I saw the opportunity tomake some money for charitydoing it. But as time went by Icame to think maybe I should dosomething else. Initially Ithought of Fuerteventura butcame to the conclusion that I hadto challenge myself a bit moreand do all seven islands’ saidAlan in an interview with TheSupplement hours after comple-ting the final leg on El Hierro.

His Siete Islas Walk, detailsand pictures of which he postedregularly on the dedicated Face-book page charting his progressas he kept to his 30km daily tar-get, proved to be much morethan a test of physical enduranceto raise thousands of euros fortwo charities.

Indeed, the time spent on theroad served another useful pur-pose: ‘alone for so long doingsomething like this, your mindclears of a lot of the day-to-daythings that preoccupy normal

life. You end up making plans forthe future and have the opportu-nity to take a look at your life ona more philosophical level. I’vecome back with a few ideas ofthings I’d like to change, nothingdrastic just a few minor adjus-tments’.

The primary goal of the walkwas, of course, to raise money forthe two charities chosen as thebeneficiaries of his solo adven-ture. Niños del Tercer Mundo is aLanzarote charity, whose workhas really impressed Alan. Theircurrent major project is to build ahospital that will provide basicmedical services that arecurrently unavailable to a num-ber of villages in a remote part ofKenya.

The Rose Road Associationprovides a wide range of servicesto severely disabled children andtheir families. ‘Rose Road wassuggested by a friend and greatguy, Geoff Holt, who does huge

amounts for charity and is an ins-piration to many. At the time Iasked him to pick one of the cha-rities he was involved with that Icould support. I’ve since got toknow the guys there and moreabout the incredible work theydo’, explained Alan.

On his return to Lanzarote, hishome for six years now, the webdesigner paid tribute to his wifeElle, who played a key organisa-tional role by booking hotels forhim along the way and sortingout other information required,and to Mitch Mitchell, the local

fitness trainer who devised a pro-gramme specifically designed forlong-distance walking.

Alan’s detailed recollections ofthe seven islands and the cha-llenges encountered on eachinclude many steep ‘barrancos’,which were a major problem for

him due to his long-standing fearof heights. By his own admission,however, his toughest time was acold, windy and rainy day suffe-red in the hills of La Gomera,although he still fell in love withthe island and intends to holidaythere soon with Elle.

Alan Gandy pictured on El Hierro, the last leg of his 7 Island Walk. / ALAN GANDY

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Thursday’s annual fireworksshow in Los Realejos was wat-ched not just by the usual largecrowd of locals and visitors to thenorthern town but also by anaudience of several thousandworldwide, thanks to live strea-ming of the event on Internet.

The display, which is the high-point of the town’s 3 May fiestas,is the biggest anywhere in theCanaries and one of the biggestin the entire country. It is a

source of great pride to locals,who have dug deep into theirpockets again this year to retainit in all its glory despite thecurrent economic climate.

A special window inserted onthe Ayuntamiento website allo-wed people originally from LosRealejos but now living else-where to watch every second ofthe impressive spectacle.Although exact viewing figuresare not available yet, the councilis hopeful of beating last year’snumber of hits (just over 3000)for the web coverage.

Los Realejos is home to theToste Brothers firm, which wasfounded in 1788 and is believedto be the earliest firework-makerin the Canaries. The origins ofthe gigantic display lie in the18th-century rivalry betweentwo districts in the town -onepopulated by the landed gentryand the other by the peasantswho worked the land- to see whocould set off the most impressivesequence of fireworks. The good-natured rivalry continues todayand is at the heart of much of thefestivities programme.

Los Realejos May fireworks on world-wide view thanks to Internet

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The Los Realejos fireworks are famous throughout the Canaries. / M. P.

The gruelling walkraised severalthousand eurosfor two deservingcharities

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA FAMEFOR LA LAGUNA STUDENTSDiario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

A La Laguna amateur dramaticsgroup with a difference is cele-brating its latest success, thistime the staging of the well-known Phantom of the Operamusical made famous by AndrewLloyd-Weber. Called LookUs, thegroup is based at the city’s Offi-cial School of Languages and itsmusicals have played a crucialpart in English language learningthere for almost a decade. Theseven performances so far of thePhantom have drawn largeaudiences not just from withinthe school but from colleaguecentres elsewhere on the island.

Preparations for the mid-Aprildebut of the show began in July2011, when LookUs director andschool deputy head Ricardo Fer-nández sat down with his in-house designers to plan the setand costumes. Rehearsals beganin September and ran everyMonday until a few weeks beforeopening night, when extra week-end sessions were added.

The cast of the musical runs toan impressive 26, of whom 5 areteachers and the rest past andpresent students of English. Theall-important 26th member is

Lucas, a small dog (miniatureschnauzer) who has appeared inevery one of the group’s produc-tions since its creation in 2004(Grease, My Fair Lady, The Soundof Music, Mamma Mia, West SideStory, Nine and now, The Phan-tom of the Opera).

The group’s early days sawshows which were less ambi-tious than the current challen-

ging productions. ‘To put intopractice in a real context theEnglish the students were lear-ning, we organsied shorter,sketch-type shows and it wasonly after two years that we deci-ded to make the step up to full-blown productions’ Fernándeztold The Supplement.

The annual productions haveled to fame not just in Tenerife,

thanks to the performances intowns from Icod to Los Cristia-nos, but also internationally. Theschool’s participation in a Euro-pean Grundtvig exchange pro-gramme brought the novel lan-guage-practice method to theattention of English teachersfrom Finland, Latvia and Portu-gal, who were highly impressedwith the initiative.

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A recognisable moment from the Phantom of the Opera musical staged by amateur dramatics group LookUs. / DA

SPORT

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Second spot in the table is notbeyond reach for a Tenerife siderejuvenated by last week’s convin-cing win against close rivalsOviedo. The 3-0 victory not onlyput daylight between the two inthe race for a play-off spot but haskindled hopes that Tenerife maybe coming good at exactly theright time in their bid to return toDivision 2 after the humiliation ofhaving to turn out in Division 2Bthis year.

More importantly, it closed thefracture that saw fans turn on theteam after poor previous perfor-mances. With two games to go,beginning at 10th-placed MarinoLuanco on Sunday evening, theislanders need three points to beguaranteed one of the four play-off spots but the players are opti-mistic that they can even pip Lugofor the runner-up berth, whichwould give them a much kinderplay-off draw.

Hero last Sunday was JorgePerona, who hit a hat-trick againsthis old club Oviedo and treatedfans to three trademark post-goal

somersaults. Perona is the club’shighest scorer this season with 14goals and has earned automaticrenewal of his contract for anotheryear, although media reports thisweek say he may be tempted tomove to Cartagena.

Credit for the much-improvedperformance must also go to mid-fielder Richi Kitoko, who playedhis first game in two months follo-wing the injury which sidelinedhim back in February. Kitoko’s pre-sence added much-needed biteand urgency to the midfield andhe was clearly delighted to be back

to contribute to the final push forpromotion.

Equally impressive was defen-der Sergio Rodríguez, who fullyjustified manager Quique Medi-na’s brave decision to drop usualright-back Cristóbal. Rodríguezsaid afterwards that the seasonhad been hard for him because hehas had little opportunity since hisarrival last summer. ‘I never gaveup hope and I am glad to havebeen able to help. I felt great untilthe last five minutes, when thepitch began to take its toll on me’he said afterwards.

Hopes soar after Oviedo win Marathon runner‘wins’ London place

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Barring a last-minute change ofheart by the Spanish AthleticsFederation, Canarian marathonrunner José Carlos Hernándezlooks almost certain to make hisinternational debut for Spain at thehighest possible level in threemonths’ time. Hernández clockedthe minimum required for the Lon-don Olympics with an impressiverun in Barcelona at the end ofMarch and has had to sit back andwait to see if his Spanish rivalscould better his personal best timeof 2.11:57.

Two Spaniards, Chema Martínezand Iván Galán, flew to Germanyfor the Hamburg Marathon lastweek-end in a final bid to overtakethe Canarian in the national ran-kings but neither came close to Her-nández’s excellent time, leavinghim second on the national list forthis season and eligible for one ofthe three places available in theSpain marathon team for London.

However, Hernández, winner ofthe Dublin 10 Mile Race last year,

faces an anxious wait to see if theFederation keeps to its promise toselect the runners with the threebest times or whether they prefernot to risk an athlete who is untriedin top international competition.The 34-year-old Lanzarote-bornathlete has been overlooked on oneoccasion already by Spain, at theworld championships in Korea lastsummer, despite having achievedthe required time, and will be kee-ping his fingers crossed that light-ning does not strike twice.

Jose Carlos Hernández. / DA

Tenerife’s in-form Jorge Perona celebrates one of his three goals. / DA

DA Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The debate on the need forvastly reduced layers ofgovernment in the Canarieshas heated up again this weekas reaction mounts to a propo-sal by the leader of the PopularParty (PP) in Tenerife to doaway with the regional govern-ment in its curent format andreplace it with an administra-tion made up of the presidentsof the seven island Cabildos.

Cristina Tavío, who is aregional MP, said the Cabildobosses would do ‘a better andcheaper job’ of running theregional government. The sug-gestion has met with swiftreaction, most of it negative,including from Tavío’s PP boss,Spanish energy minister JoséManuel Soria, who said theproposal was ‘purely personalthoughts on her part’ but didnot reflect current policy in theparty.

The suggestion coincideswith fresh calls in some quar-ters for local government to betrimmed through compulsorymergers of small town councilsand/or the closure of someisland corporations.

‘Cabildochiefs shouldrun Canaries’says Tavío

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