“The current committee (now all very senior citizens!) feels they should give way to younger spirits”
The seeds of the St. Andrew’s Society of the Algarve were sown in 1997 when Susan Frew, with long connections in Portugal, and Judy Cooper, who was a teacher at the Porches international school, dreamt up the idea of a Scottish Country Dancing Group which could be held at the school. Together with Cathy Prentice, Mardie Cunningham and Isobel McGarvie, this proceeded apace and indeed, under Mardie’s guidance, still runs today.
This group formed the core of a Burns Night Supper held in January 1998 at the Ponte Romana Restaurant in Silves attended by some 50 people. This event, along with two others, privately and institutionally organised, were reported on in the Resident newspaper by its then owner Sheena Rawcliffe.
Through her newspaper, Sheena went on to suggest that someone should step forward and found a St Andrew’s Society in the Algarve. Jim and Cathy Prentice, Sally Dawson and Rod Frew responded and, together with Sheena spreading the gospel around the Algarve through her newspaper, thus was created the Society.
The publicity was effective and the response good, enabling the Society to hold the first formal St. Andrew’s Ball in the Algarve in November 1998. This was a great success with a full house of 116 people at the Garbe Hotel (Armação de Pêra). This was followed in 1999 by the Society’s first full Burns Night, attended by over 100 people, again at the Ponte Romana (Silves), with the Honorary British Consul of the Algarve, Dr. José Pearce de Azevedo, as the guest of honour.
These two events, with a brief Covid interlude, have been held ever since; Burns Night has always been held at the Ponte Romana in Silves and the Ball variously at the Hotel Garbe, then at the Tivoli Almansor (Carvoeiro) and then at its now settled location the Penina Hotel.
Numbers at both events, with periodic ups and downs, are now at an all-time high. Other activities, ceilidhs, bowling, walks, wine tasting amongst others, have all been tried and done their time. Currently, the Society is settled just with the two main events, allowing, when possible, charitable donations to be made to Lar de Crianças Bom Samaritano children’s home in Alvor.
The role of Chieftain has been variously filled by Rod Frew initially, Fred Hurley, Sally Dawson, Alison Hohnbaum and, since 2010, Doug McAdam. The current committee members of Cathy Prentice, Mardie Cunningham, and Rod Frew have been in situ since the beginning and were joined in 2010 by Doug McAdam. They all do their bit, but the organising skills and genius of Cathy Prentice has long been key to the success of both events.
During those 25 years, however, the face of the Algarve and its people has changed dramatically and the current committee (now all very senior citizens!) feels they no longer really reflect today’s communities and they should give way to younger spirits.
The current committee would like to announce, therefore, that the 2024 Ball and the 2025 Burns Night will be their last. They believe there are people out there who can carry the Society forward much better than they now can, whilst emphasizing that whoever it is will continue to have their fullest support.
The current committee sincerely hopes that amongst those reading this, somebody will step forward as they once did. It would be sad indeed to see such an important bit of Scotland’s heritage in the Algarve disappear.
To see Resident newspaper cuttings of the earlier years of the Society, click here.
To get in touch, contact either of the following:
Rod Frew – frewjr@gmail.com
Doug McAdam – cv105suedou@hotmail.com
Cathy Prentice – cathyprentice2908@gmail.com
Mardie Cunningham – rosevale45@gmail.com
By St Andrew’s Society of the Algarve committee
