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Tag Archives: Education

Back to School

August 4, 2023 1:10 pm

Castelo de Sonhos have started up their annual Back to School project. Silves Rotary Club always supports this project and members help where they can. This year Castelo de Sonhos have 60 children who need help with back packs and stationery to get ready for school in September. The poster below shows the things needed and where you can drop them off. Every little helps even if you can only give a few items, it all counts.

A happy visit to Casa do Povo, Messines

June 22, 2023 5:13 pm

RC Silves President Isabel Flores visited Casa de Povo with club members Sue and David Butler Cole recently to see the resources purchased from money raised by RC Silves. They met with the President who showed them around. RC Silves raises funds through events such as concerts and sponsored walks.

The resources purchased were for the young pupils of Casa de Povo Messines whose play area needed a safe floor as well as toys and games to support their learning. Some of the children have learning difficulties and need extra help.

The centre is planning an area for a little sensory garden and we hope to help with this in the future as one of our foci for next year is on the environment. We hope to provide several small sensory gardens with trees where people of all ages can sit and be calm. Lots more fund raising to do!

Birthday Fun, Food and Fundraising

June 19, 2023 4:22 pm

David T celebrates his birthday each year with fun, food and fundraising. This year was no exception with 20 members gathered for a Portuguese meal. Cooked to perfection by Isabel Flores our President and served in her garden in the evening light. A raffle was held and 205€ was raised for Educational projects in the Silves community.

Help for Women in Chad

May 23, 2023 6:18 pm

Isabel Flores present Domino and Petra with an RC Silves Flag

RC Silves members gathered in the Chelb Room at the Holiday Inn to listen to Petra and Domino. Petra is a new member of RC Silves and together with her husband Domino, they explained to us the background to their project in Chad. The project was originally funded by Rotary International alongside the Rotary Club of Basal International. The project aims to provide education and training to the women who fought in the war and who are now abandoned. Through the project the women will be able to support themselves and any family through agriculture and the production of garments and materials to sell in local markets. The project was funded in the first year for 35 women and 100 turned up. The project managed to help them all. All members were engaged with the project and had many suggestions a group will look for ways in which we can support Petra and Domino with this project.

Five Stars Gala

May 9, 2023 3:15 pm

On the 29 March, the Rotary Club of Silves was invited to the Five Stars Gala of the Agrupamento Escolas de Silves Sul. A happy night where students were able to celebrate their achievements in education and sport. Members of the local school community were also honoured, for their support, with the presentation of a star. The Rotary Club of Silves were one of five groups presented with a star. Over the last few years, the Silves Rotary club and the schools in the group have worked hand in hand, collaborating with the aim of enhancing education in the municipality of Silves in an inclusive way! A winning partnership that will continue for years to come. Thank you, Agrupamento Escolas de Silves Sul we were honoured to receive our star.

Strings Play in Silves Theatre

March 31, 2023 2:39 pm

Saturday 25th March was an evening to remember. A talented string quartet played an inspiring programme in front of a highly appreciative audience at a concert organized by the Silves Rotary Club at the wonderful little Teatro Mascarenhas Gregório in Silves.

The Quarteto do Barlavento gave us delightful music by Mozart, Shostakovich and Algarvean composer Cristóvão Silva. Petra Vahle-Francis joined Bernhard & Christel Schlünder, Petra Axt-Adam and Daniela Zlatkin to perform a Mozart string quintet. Three of these musicians are members of local Rotary clubs. The special ambient of this intimate theatre was a perfect venue for such delightful music.

This benefit concert raised €3.000 for the Silves Rotary Clubs educational projects in local Silves schools. These projects provide pupils with the experiences and resources to expand their knowledge of the world, to build their self-esteem and maximise their opportunities.

Thanks go to Silves Câmara for generously allowing Silves Rotary Club to use their theatre for this concert and also special thanks to The Spectrum IFA Group for their kind sponsorship.

RC Silves Invites You to Their Fundraising Concert

March 6, 2023 3:31 pm

SUPPORTING EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS THROUGH MUSIC:
Silves Rotary Club’s educational projects in local Silves schools provide pupils with the experiences and resources to expand their knowledge of the world, to build their self-esteem and maximise their opportunities. The Rotary Club of Silves works hard to raise funds so that it can help and support local schools in providing some of these stimulating extra curricula activities. Your attending this concert means that, not only will you be experiencing a lovely evening in a wonderful setting, but you will also be directly contributing to these such worthwhile school projects.

On Saturday 25th March the Quarteto do Barlavento well known in the Algarve will perform a delightful programme of classical music at the Teatro Mascarenhas Gregorio in Silves. The evening’s programme features some of the finest string quartet music ever written: Mozart’s Stringquartett KV 525 (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), Mozart’s String Quartet KV 516. It also includes the famous Waltz N° 2 by Shostakovich and a piece by local composer from Portimão Cristovao Silva “Recuerdos de Buenos Aires”.

The theatre doors open at 7pm and attendees will be welcomed with drinks & snacks before the performance at 8pm.

Bookings and additional information please contact
Sue Butler-Cole email: sueloram@gmail.com – Mob: 933 374 865 alternatively Maria Carvalho Mob: 916 145 739.

Tickets are a €25 donation per person which includes drinks and snacks. All funds raised will go towards Silves Rotary Club Educational Projects.

Charity Concert with Local Rotarian Musicians

March 6, 2023 3:16 pm

Silves Rotary Club have wasted no time in putting their talented newest club member Petra Vahle-Francis on the stage!! Petra is a founder member “Solistes Europeens, Luxembourg” (SEL) which has for the last 30 years been one of the main attractions of Luxembourg’s music scene. She has just returned to the Algarve after performing in their most recent concert. The Quarteto de Barlavento has asked her to join them as their guest as they perform the Stringquintett KV 516 from W.A.Mozart in this charity concert.

Its members are Bernhard Schlunder on violin, is President of the Praia da Rocha Rotary Club. He has played in concerts as a soloist in string quartets, Algarve International Orchestra (AIO) & the Barlavento Ensemble. Christel Schlunder on viola d’arco has also played in concerts with the AIO, the Orchestra Medica Iberico (OMI) and string quartets. Petra Axt-Adam on violin joined the Quarteto do Barlavento in 2021. She also plays with the AIO & OMI. In Holland she was a member of Rotterdam’s Yourth Orchestra & the Baroque Orchestra of Gouda. Daniela Zlatkin on violoncello also joined Quarteto do Barlavento in 2021. Since arriving in the Algarve in 2020 she has become part of the Algarve Camarata & Orquestra Sinfonica do Algarve. She has played with various Orchestras in Israel and Holland and has conducted youth orchestras and is the director of two music schools.

The theatre doors open at 7pm and attendees will be welcomed with drinks & snacks before the performance at 8pm.

Bookings and additional information please contact:
Sue Butler-Cole email: sueloram@gmail.com – Mob: 933 374 865 alternatively Maria Carvalho Mob: 916 145 739.

Tickets are a €25 donation per person which includes drinks and snacks. All funds raised will go towards Silves Rotary Club Educational Project.

SUPPORTING EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS THROUGH MUSIC:
Silves Rotary Club’s educational projects in local Silves schools provide pupils with the experiences and resources to expand their knowledge of the world, to build their self-esteem and maximise their opportunities. The Rotary Club of Silves works hard to raise funds so that it can help and support local schools in providing some of these stimulating extra curricula activities. Your attending this concert means that, not only will you be experiencing a lovely evening in a wonderful setting, but you will also be directly contributing to these such worthwhile school projects.

Rotary Pilgrims Arrive in Santiago de Compostela

October 12, 2022 9:40 am

At the start of the pilgrimage the walkers were striding out energetically calling out to each other cheerfully, but as the days passed smiling faces turn to grim determination as we see ever more of the pilgrims succumbing to aches, strains & blisters and eventually shuffling & limping along. By the time we are in sight of the city of Santiago de Compostela we pass a thin line of the walking wounded. It is no coincidence that we counted 12 farmacies along the Caminho into town which leads to the cathedral, all doing a brisk business in knee & leg support bandages, slings, plasters, crutches and prosthetic limbs !

At km 82 we passed a blind man tentatively walking the Caminho, he smiled as we passed calling “Bom Caminho”! His Portuguese helper was describing to him the landscape they encountered as they walked. These two were real pilgrims.

Pilgrim’s Passports

One of our main concerns was getting enough stamps every day into our Pilgrim’s Passport, issued in Valenca. To validade our 6 day walk a minimum of 2 stamps were required each consecutive day in order to receive the all important Pilgrimage Certificate issued & signed by the cathedral. We had heard that failure to obtain the mandatory 2 stamps would mean we would have to go back and start all over again with a fresh passport, but that could just have been a ploy to make us keep going….

Arrival

From afar we caught glimpses of the gothic towers of the ancient cathedral, the third most holy shrine in Christendom. All of us were now filled with anticipation & excitement as we surged into the huge square in front of the cathedral mingling with happy fellow pilgrims all bursting with emotion & spontaneous hugs & smiles for everyone. We could see a cross being raised in front of us by a group of around 100 teenagers jumping up & down in unison as they sang their college anthem.

I read that in the 17th Century pilgrims, on arrival at the cathedral in ecstasy, stripped off their worn & smelly robes in the square and burnt them (a shedding of the old life) and donned clean vestments issued by the church. I briefly thought of reviving this ancient tradition but hesitated as possibly this was not in keeping with Rotary’s mantra!

In Retrospect

All 10 of our Rotary pilgrims agree that our journey has been a moving experience. We all have spent our professional lives working in diverse parts of the world and perhaps taken the very simplest things of life for granted. This novel experience is one which will be with us for the rest of our lives.

On our journey we were accompanied virtually by the school kids from the various Silves Sul Schools giving us constant encouragement and cheering their school mascots which each of us carried. Their daily messages of FORCA helped us on our way to reach our goal. All 10 of us are now proud possessors of a certificate in Latin as genuine pilgrims having trodden the Portuguese Way from Valenca to Santiago de Compostela.

Walking through History

September 29, 2022 9:11 am

Valenca in Northern Portugal, on the Rio Minho, was a truly wonderful place to start our Silves Rotary Club fund-raising pilgrimage, the purpose of which is to fund a sensory room & garden for autistic kids and others with learning difficulties.

We set off from the ramparts of the magnificent Starfort, the origins of which dates back to the 13th Century, it is the site of many important battles through the ages.

As we trudge along the well worn pilgrims way towards Santiago de Compostela we can feel a sense of history all around us. Pilgrims have been walking this very same route since the 12th Century – all drawn like magnets towards the holy site. As we walk inevitably we are overtaken my many youthful travellers who smile at us and we exchange “Bom Caminho” as they swiftly disappear before us.

We have now finished day 2 of our 6 day journey and are at present resting at the Convento de Vilavella founded in 1554 in Redondela, Galicia. Our stay at this historic convento was sprung on us as a surprise by our leader Phillipe – a brilliant piece of planning, so totally removed from the run of the mill hostels available to pilgrims like ourselves.

We are pleased to say that all 10 of our members are holding up well under the challenges of the terrain, not one complaint so far of any aches & pains. The first aid backpack, which we pilgrims take turns in carrying, has remained unopened – so far – AND we’ve been blessed with ideal walking conditions through shady woodlands. Perhaps the mascots given to us by the schoolkids are indeed lucky charms!

Although our leader has just told us that the closer we get to Santiago de Compostela there is an 80% chance of rain….

During the Caminho’s heyday in the 12th & 13thC, pilgrims would continue westwards to the shores of Finisterre (the end of the earth) to collect scallop shells as physical proof, and a souvenir, of having completed their pilgrimage, the lines on the shells reminding them of the rays of the setting sun and the different caminhos all leading to Santiago de Compostela.

Todays modern pilgrims can collect their shells along the route which can come in very useful if, like us, you have forgotten to bring a spoon for your yoghurt or a cup to scoop up water.

You cannot help but notice that you see no returning pilgrims – they are all going in one direction only. Just a thought, when they reach Finisterre do they drop off the end of the earth – in ecstasy.

Rotary Clube de Silves