At this time of the year, as we head into the festive season and a new year, many of us take time to reflect on the 12 months behind us and make plans for the year ahead.
Some New Year’s resolutions will inevitably fall quickly by the wayside, but others will be the springboard to change and personal achievement. Of course, setting aims and goals for the year ahead is not just for us as individuals, but is something that all businesses must do when setting out their future strategies and objectives.
At the British Consulate, we work to an operational calendar that runs from April to March. Coincidentally, as we work in a region that is dominated by tourism, that helps us distinguish between summer and winter seasons when thinking about what we want to achieve.
An ongoing aim is for the Consular team to be visible, accessible and proactive in working with the British community here in the Algarve. Once again this year, we were delighted to meet hundreds of people at our stands at the Better Living in Portugal exhibition in October and the Algarve International Fair in June.
Many people and organisations made tremendous efforts to put on events celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and our Ambassador, Jill Gallard was able to join us at some of those events.
The Ambassador visited the Algarve again in September when she met with the commanding officers of the GNR in Faro, and visited the Refugio Aboim Ascensão, the marvellous children’s home run by Dr Luis Villas-Boas, as well as the incredibly hardworking people at the food collection and distribution charity, Banco Alimentar.
2012 also saw this column appear in the Algarve Resident, with the very kind agreement of the team, our idea being to try to spread messages that we believe can help British people avoid tricky situations or, if the worst comes to the worst, what help there is available to deal with those situations. With our colleagues in the Embassy in Lisbon, we have enhanced the presentation of our events and our messages through the ever-growing social media outlets too, such as Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to receive regular information from us this way, please sign up!
Something else we envisaged for this year was to maximise our relationships with local and state organisations to highlight what they, or we, as the British Consulate, can do to help the British community access the services they need directly.
We were very pleased to join Safe Communities Algarve, the GNR and the PSP in further crime prevention seminars in Alfontes, Lagos and Silves, where the police delivered very informative presentations of their Residência Segura project in English.
The Consular team also joined Michael Reeve and his great team at afpop in a series of very well-received presentations on the theme of ‘Dignified Dying’, a delicate subject perhaps, but one it is very worthwhile hearing the facts about long before you actually need them.
We maintain regular contact with hospital staff in all the region’s hospitals and, this summer, consular staff spent time alongside the busy social workers at the hospitals. We are also working with the hospitals on joint ideas to help smooth the way for non-Portuguese speaking patients and their families to deal with the often traumatic circumstances of being hospitalised in a foreign country.
The Consulate has close links with the UK travel trade and we meet regularly with the British tour operators here in the Algarve to discuss any matters impacting on our hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers. This included a presentation to them about Crisis Preparedness in the FCO.
Consular officers Ana Sofia Bono and Michelle Cull also gave a presentation in Portuguese to airline handling agents, airport operations staff and security officials at Faro airport during the summer, highlighting what services the Consulate can provide and how we and the airport authorities can work together for British people who may be in distress at the airport.
That’s a snapshot of just some of our activities during 2012, and now we look ahead to 2013. In January, Vice Consul Angela Morado will be giving a talk to the Ladies Lunch Club at the Holiday Inn in Armação de Pêra. This will focus on our aim to reach and engage with people in volunteer organisations, and to encourage people to become volunteers and help provide support to vulnerable citizens. So often that support comes in the form, not of money, but time.
Then, in February and March, the Consulate will be holding a number of outreach events across the Algarve region, when we look forward to meeting as many people as possible. Details of dates and venues will be available on our website www.ukinportugal.fco.gov.uk and in local and social media.
2012 has without doubt been an incredibly challenging year for many people in Portugal. It seems clear that those challenges will remain in 2013. At a very poignant time, when we all think of our families and our dear friends, I hope that we can all spare a thought, or, better still, some time, for those people in our communities who are suffering, and would welcome the hand of friendship.
On behalf of the British Consulate team in the Algarve, Angie, Ana Sofia, Michelle and Miguel, and all of our colleagues in Lisbon, Porto, Madeira and the Azores, may I wish you a very peaceful Christmas.
By Clive Jewell
