Garden Party Raises 1500€ for Community Projects.
On Sunday 17 May another successful fundraising Garden Party. Party goers were treated to a South African style Braai (BBQ) along with other delicious savoury and salad dishes all prepared by members of the club. The deserts were also in abundance along with local wines and those from the Alentejo and Douro regions.
Music was provided by the ever-popular Jackson River. Jackson as usual entertained with every kind of music from opera to rock. Members danced the afternoon away with line dancing proving very popular. A fun time was had by all and a total of 1500€ was raised in aid the RC Silves community programmes.
The President Pam Winn and event organiser Judy Falção thanked everybody who helped to make the day a success. They said “We could not support projects in the Silves community without the contributions at events from our Portuguese and International community”
RC Silves final event before the summer will be a music performance held at Teatro Mascarenhas Gregório in Silves on 13 June with well-known Brazilian artist, Touka Moura performing. Monies raised at this event will help fund the club’s education programmes. Information will be available soon.
Cookery Competition Finals 2026
Eight judges will gather at Algoz School this April through to June to taste the food created by 5 groups of students. The food will be paired with local wines. They will to be judged on the food and the service. The students greet the judges and lead them to their table and present their menus.
For the finals this year, the Rotary judges are joined by Adelia and Wilson from the Rainha Restaurant near to Silves. They will cast their professional eye over the menus. The first 2 finals produced some lovely food.
This competition is going to be difficult to judge.
Walking through Scenic Paderne
A new walk for some of the RC Members and friends. This walk was organised by Ulrike to take in the lovely views and spring flowers around Paderne.
It was just over 6 kms and the group really enjoyed the walk and the friendship. Participants donate 5€ which helps to fund RC Silves Community Projects.
Garden Party, Nora Sunday 17 May 12:30
This is the 5th edition of the Garden Party. An afternoon of fun, fellowship and fund raising. All in aid of RC Silves many community projects. Jackson River will provide the music. Food from the South African style BBQ and many more cakes and treats. To book please contact secretary.rotarysilves@gmail.com
Last years event:-
Silves Treasure Hunt
Rotarians from RC Silves for fun and fellowship enjoyed each other’s company whilst learning a bit more about Silves Historical Sites on a Saturday in April. Even those who lived in Silves learned about new points of interest. Of course, they visited the castle, cathedral, misericordia church and roman bridge. But they also visited municipal museum and had their picture taken with the Moor princess, Chapel of the Martyrs, pillory, Casa da culture, the palace of Viscounts of Lagoa sadly in bad condition these days.
After the exertion of the walk they adjourned to a local restaurant for of course, chicken and chips. Each member received a Kinder egg as their treasure. Which were eagerly consumed.
Further fellowship events are in planning for visit to a fish farm and a Gin Tasting.
Model United Nations Averts Crisis
The pupils of Agrupamento Escolas de SilvesSul who attended Model United Nations Conference (MUN) in Manchester in 2024 and 2025 arranged a similar event for the members of Silves Rotary Club on the visit of the District Governor Jorge Lucas Coelho. Teams representing Portugal, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, UK, Netherlands and the USA made up from members, guests and supported by the President of the local Junta de Freguesia de Armação de Pêra were presented with a crisis based on the Iberian power outage last year. The crisis was launched via a short movie produced by the pupils. Members were forced to respond as their designated countries might. Presenting resolutions, taking questions from the floor and voting on outcomes. Pupils acted as advisers on protocols and helped to write resolutions.
President Pam Winn said “How proud she was of the pupils as they had provided members with an unforgettable experience, and an understanding of how the Model United Nations works.”
Just a few members comments: –
“A thoroughly enjoyable and engaging event led by a group of students demonstrating leadership, teamwork, Communication skills, including giving presentations, effective listening problem solving and decision making. The students put a significant amount of work into their preparations showing their organisational skills all this was delivered in a professional manner. The confidence and enthusiasm shown by the young students was inspiring and infectious.”
“The entire event was in English which is not the first language of the students. It was clear to all present how the event boosted the students’ confidence.”
“We all came away from the MUN event bristling with ideas about preparing for a blackout perhaps not however the suggestion about carrier pigeons & bicycle dynamos!!!”
We look forward to sending two teams next year!
Visit of the District 1960 Governor Jorge Lucas Coelho
RC Silves members and guests joined the Governor Jorge Lucas Coelho in fellowship at D’Mestres Restaurant in Pêra where he addressed the themes of rotary. He also joined President Pam Winn in welcoming two new members Shalini Mathur and Alok Dhar.
The Governor also joins the president to present Service Awards to Alan Winn and David Butler Cole. Both are officers of the club that have worked hard over several years to enable RC Silves work in the community, especially in providing educational experiences for pupils in local schools.
The Governor provided the club with a little gift to symbolise Rotary’s work to end polio. Appropriate as RC Silves donated 1000€ this year to the End Polio Now campaign. RC Silves had a little gift for the governor too. A painting from local artist and member David Trubshaw and a book of poems and paintings from local children.
President remarked “I am proud to be president of this Portuguese club with a proud 33-year heritage. I have a team of members from diverse backgrounds and cultures who have decided to make their home here in the Algarve and work to make a difference in our community and internationally. We have many areas where we need to make a difference and we all know more work needs to be done and partnerships to be built. With some successful fund raising and completed service projects behinds us we are now looking forward to the rest of the year with more fun, fellowship and fundraising.”
Christmas Carols by Candlelight
On 1st December RC Silves Members and friends gathered at the home of David Trubshaw and Jackie Offen to sing Carol´s by Candlelight. The money raised from the event will go to Community Charities. The carols were led by Adriana Neto Gonçalves who is studying Opera at the Loulé Conservatoire. RC Silves is helping Adriana with her studies. But before the festivities began Pam Winn President of RC Silves welcomed a new member to the club, Ulrike Klein. Pam presented her with her rotary pin. Pam also presented Past President Rainer Kroth with his Past Presidents pin.
After a few warming up exercises from Adriana. We tried a few carols clasping our song sheets tightly. Singing carols is thirsty work so mulled wine and soft drinks topped off with some Christmas Fayre was next on the agenda. A wonderful array of Christmas delicacies was provided by Jackie Offen. Thank you Jackie.
Towards the end of the evening Adriana put our efforts to shame and treated us to two lovely traditional Christmas songs.
Just getting us all in the mood for the Christmas season. The event raised 750€
Silves Rotary Club Bringing Christmas Cheer
Many charities make special efforts at Christmas to support the local community. RC Silves is no exception. This year they again joined Castelo de Sonhos in its Shoebox appeal, presenting lots of Christmas goodies for the needy families of Silves. These last two years they have also included shoeboxes for those in the psychiatric ward at Barlavento hospital. Tailoring the shoebox contents for the patients.
Alan Winn Project Officer RC Silves delivered the boxes personally to staff and Volunteers
Staff help patients to open their gifts
Pam Winn President of RC Silves paid a visit Junta de Freguesia de Armação de Pêra to donate a 500€ to the Emergency Food Fund just in time for Christmas. This fund supports local families in need in Armação de Pêra making a direct impact in the community especially at Christmas but all year round too.
The President of Junta de Freguesia de Armação de Pêra Bruno Nunes accepted the cheque from Pam Winn on behalf of the Freguesia.
Planting a Biodiversity Forest in Silves School
In 2023 Escola EB 2,3 Algoz was selected to house the first Biodiversity Forest to be planted as part of RC Silves environmental projects. On 24 November this year pupils and teachers of the Agrupamento de Escolas de Silves gathered at the EB1 Escola Secundária de Silves with RC Silves Rotarians and members of the local Clube Dos Bons Jardins or CBJ to plant the second urban biodiversity forest.
300 indigenous trees and shrubs were planted on an area beside the school prepared by Silves Council. When it matures it will be fully self-sustainable ecosystem. In the centre of the forest is a learning space. This was the first step in creating a small, 100sqm, dense woodland where a new ecosystem could exist, established using the Miyawaki principles of planting. Student volunteers will care for the newly planted saplings and will be able to observe the various stages of development as the forest grows.
Silves council prepared the ground; RC Silves funded the plants and Sonia’s consultancy. The project was managed by the school alongside Rainer Kroth and Terry Falção both members of RC Silves. RC Silves would like to thank the CBJ for their extra financial contribution to the project.
Diretor Tito Mendes, Sonia Soares, Pam Winn (President RC Silves), Terry Falção, Judy Falção(Secretary RC Silves)
Rotary Clube de Silves 