The club was delighted to welcome its District Governor Fernando Martins in September. During the visit Alan Winn took the District Governor to see the work being carried out by Castelo de Sonhos, a charity based in Silves that cares for the underprivileged of all ages. The charity was presented with food vouchers to the value of €300 to help those currently struggling to have even one meal a day. Castelo de Sonhos welcomes donations of non-perishable food items and unwanted clothes (photo 1).
 2. District Governor Fernando Martins, Lorraine Daniel and RC Silves President Alan Winn |
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During a dinner meeting Lorraine Daniel was welcomed to the Rotary ‘family’ as Rotary Silves’ latest member (photo 2).
Also at the dinner, Alison Blair, President of Madrugada, was presented with a cheque for €1,400. Thanking the club, Alison said that the funds would be used for much-needed special flooring at the premises of Madrugada in Praia da Luz, which is due to open very shortly. Madrugada is a charity helping those with life limiting illnesses and their families (photo 3). www.madrugada-portugal.com
 3. Past President Sheena Rawcliffe and Alison Blair |
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Fund raising concert
The club was delighted to host a standing-room-only event at the Casa da Cultura Islâmica e Mediterrânica in Silves. The audience was enthralled with the Multiphonic Saxophone Quartet, a group of four young men from Germany. Their emotion-filled and energetic musical renditions ranged from Dvorak to Gershwin and the standing ovation that they received at the end of the concert indicated just how popular the concert was. Thanks to Quinta dos Vales and Silves Câmara for their sponsorship. Funds raised at the concert have been donated to Silves Rotary Club’s education fund (photo 4).
 4. The Multiphonic Saxophone Quartet |
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Small regular events
As part of his programme for the Rotary year 2013-2014 Silves Rotary President Alan Winn is encouraging small and regular events. So far, these have taken the form of coffee mornings. In September, a coffee morning in the Salir area raised funds for Silves Rotary Club’s education project (see Algarve Resident September 13) and at the end of the month, the coffee morning held at The Holiday Inn (with sponsorship from The Holiday Inn and Eco Cartridge Algarve) raised funds for the building fund of the Algarve Oncology Association (photo 5).
 5. Caught in the act – Samantha Felisberto enjoying homemade cake and coffee at The Holiday Inn |
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Further fund raising events will take place throughout the rest of the year.
Rotary International is a service club and there are four clubs in the Algarve which meet in the English language – Almancil, Estoi, Porches and Silves.
If you would like more information on Rotary or want to know more about becoming a Rotarian in the Algarve please visit www.rotaryinternational.org or email sheena.rotarysilves@gmail.com
