HOLY WATER FROM ALPANDEIREOn Sunday Fray Leopoldo de Alpandeire was beatified in Granada before a crowd of around 120,000 at the Armilla air force base. The humble friar was also mentioned by the Pope at his blessing in Rome before he started his travels in Britain.
Now the people of Fray Leopoldo’s home village of Alpandeire in the Serranía de Ronda want to find a company to bottle the local water. Tests have been carried out on the water which comes from an aquifer 115 metres deep. It is of high quality and very healthy with its qualities being credited with the longevity of the residents – so now the town hall hopes to market Agua de Fray Leopoldo.
2012 CREDIT
Ronda says it intends to seek loans to ease the financial crisis through to 2012. The government has placed limits on what municipalities can borrow but this will not affect Ronda as the administration says the amounts borrowed will not exceed the 20 per cent indebted level cut off point. In 2009 the debt of the town hall was 17.5 million euros.
DRUGS PLANTATION
The Guardia Civil has seized 22 marihuana plants of various sizes that were being grown in three houses and a rural zone of Arriate close to the cemetery. They have also arrested three people who are the owners of the properties. The drugs were found after an operation by the officers to survey all properties and land for the presence of such plants.
RETIRED CENTRE
Ronda is to have a purpose built retired peoples centre which will be constructed on the site of the former public works depot in El Furte. The town hall has responded to a long-standing request from the AMARO association that has over 2,000 members but currently can only cater for 400 of them. The 250,000 euros will come from the Zapatero investment plan.
HORSE FAIR
Once the celebrations of the Pedro Romero feria were over in Ronda the fair ground was given over to the traditional horse, donkey and mule market. Buyers and sellers travelled from all over Andalucía and Badajoz for the event. The first day was spent looking over the livestock. Almost 500 animals were at the market and over 70 transactions or swaps were made.
DOWN UNDER
Municipal employees in Ronda has started work in the historic old town placing the various cables out of sight underground. The project will take two years to complete and will involve technicians from the electricity and telephone companies. At the same time rubbish containers will be located below ground. The town hall is spending 1.5 million euros in improving the historic area.
CLOSED DOWN
Ronda’s delegate for security, Rafael Lara, has announced that an establishment in the carrera Espinel – better known as La Bola – has been closed down for selling alcohol to minors. Local police moved in during the town’s annual fair when officers observed the illegal sale of alcohol. The shop defied a temporary closure order ahead of inspection and a permanent closure measure was imposed.
SWEET GRAPES
The grape harvest is being gathered in the Serranía de Ronda. The expectation is it will be up by five per cent over last year. The bodegas anticipate 1.1million kilos of grapes will be harvested which will translate into the production of 850,000 bottles of wine. The sector hopes there will be no rise in temperatures to affect the acidity of the fruit.
WATER WORKS
Cuevas del Becerro is spending 187,000 euros on two projects that will create 75 agrarian work places. The first scheme involves the calle Andalucía which is to receive a major upgrade and beautification to attract tourists. There will also be work at the source of the river that runs through the village where the channels will be improved to prevent it overflowing.
LIFE SAVERS
Medical staff from Benaoján have been giving a series of courses in the neighbouring village of Montejaque to be train residents on how to deal with heart attacks to reduce the number of deaths caused by the wait for an ambulance. Training has been given to those who are in frequent contact with residents such as teachers, business people and the police.
