It seemed like one big ACCA party. First, the children’s charity encouraged snowball throwing at the Quinta Shopping day on Saturday, as kids “young and not so young” took turns to pot the ball into the chimney pot of a beautiful Portuguese-style house model made especially for the event. A prize-packed tombola, as well as the sale of Christmas cards, designed by children in the homes ACCA supports, helped raise much-needed funds that will go towards special treatments needed by many of the youngsters.
Then, on Sunday, ACCA staged its own Christmas Market, in conjunction with the Conrad Algarve in Quinta do Lago. Fifty stalls, selling an array of gifts and luxury foodstuffs, welcomed visitors to the event, with lanterns twinkling and roaring gas-flame heaters adding to the atmosphere.
Tickets for the raffle were snapped up fast – prizes included a night at the hotel, meals, a spa day for two and a case of wine – while the tombola saw happy faces and a never-ending flow of goodies to take away.
Santa arrived in a vintage Merc and posed for pictures with the children, music was played throughout the day, Lorraine and her helpers belted out the best of carols, and stalls selling delicious food did roaring trade. And, of course, the glühwein flowed.
Inside the Conrad, the children took advantage of the special area set up for their entertainment, with a bouncy castle, face-painting and popcorn and candyfloss.
But key to the day was the art show, organised in conjunction with ArtCatto, in which close to 100 paintings went on display and up for sale. Produced by children and young adults from ACCA-supported homes, the ‘gallery’ proved to be a winner, with dozens of pieces of work carried off by delighted new owners.
The two ACCA events, together with the sale of paintings, raised in excess of €5,000 – the best Christmas present ever for the charity which passes 100% of all monies to its causes.
To find out more about ACCA’s work, contact Wanda at wandacrawfordspa@yahoo.com or Jackie at qjax@hotmail.co.uk. For a PDF of the latest ACCA newsletter, contact Susi at susi@rogol-goodkind.com
A bumper weekend for ACCA
