Yearly Archives: 2013

Gala Ball 2013 – 28th September

Don’t stop the Music!

Rihanna and Jamie Cullum sang those lyrics—and we’re listening!

The Music Festival has come and gone, but we’ve no intention of stopping the music just yet.

We’re now just four weeks away from our second annual ball, the Gala Ball, following on from our successful Summer Ball last year. We’ve re-named it because this year it is taking place on Saturday September 28th…one week into Autumn!

As before it will be held in the Marquee at the Vale da Telha Hotel on the Pines roundabout, and we think you’re going to have a great time.

Singer Ana Messias, such a big hit at the Music Festival last Saturday with her fantastic voice, will be back with us again, this time performing slightly different material, more swing and big band standards.

And last year’s headliners the New Orleans Band will be back, this time performing less jazz and much more “dancing” music.

Hotel owner Bruno has met with the Amovate committee and he assures us he has addressed the teething problems at last year’s inaugural ball, and says the issues with toilet facilities etc have been sorted out. He assures us everything is working fine.

There will be two bars, one at the entrance, one inside the new Marquee which is slightly bigger than before, a corner having been squared off and the kitchen area having been opened up. Prices will be the same as last year, and Bruno promises that clearly-marked price lists will be on display.

Bars will open at 7:00 pm, with the music beginning at 8:00 pm. Dress code will the same as last year—smart casual.

The 2012 Summer Ball ticket prices were set at €10, which included a buffet.

This year the tickets are priced at €7.50 which will include tapas on the tables. You can buy your tickets from any of the Amovate Committee members you will find listed by clicking on “Committee 2012-2013” on the top strapline of this website, or reserve them by e-mailing us at:

info@amovate.com

But be quick—numbers are limited to 150.

Don’t forget the date and don’t forget to get in early as tickets could very quickly be in short supply. (At least we hope so!)

And most of us—as Rihanna and Jamie Cullum sang (with a few tweaks by us)—will be asking:

“Don’t Stop The Music”
Please don’t stop the music 
Please don’t stop the music 
Do you know what you started? 
I came here to the Gala Ball 
And now we’re gliding on the dance floor, 
Your hands around my waist 
Just let the music play 
We’re hand in hand, cheek to cheek and now we’re face to face 
Keep on dancin’ to it 
Please don’t stop the, please don’t stop the music 
Let’s escape into the music, bandleader let it play 
I just can’t refuse it 
Like the way you do this 
Keep on dancin’ to it 
Please don’t stop the, please don’t stop the 
Please don’t stop the music 

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THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND

The band was formed in 1998 by a group of international jazz musicians, all now living in the Algarve.

With musicians from England, Scotland, Holland, and Portugal, they quickly became established as the premiere group playing Dixieland and New Orleans style jazz music from the 1920’s in the area.

In 1999 the band was first featured at the Loule International Jazz Festival followed by a concert tour taking in all the major cities of Portugal, culminating at the prestigious Lisboa concert hall “Cultergest”.

Since then the band has quickly become the busiest band on the Algarve playing music for listening and dancing throughout the region. The band is regularly featured at Festivals, whether parading around the streets as part of the Lagos Jazz Festival or at Vilamoura Marina to promote the “Boat Show”.

International jazz musicians visiting the Algarve, are regularly featured with the band and in 2004 Mr. Acker Bilk, whose hit tune “Stranger on the Shore” can be heard as canned music in hotel lounges worldwide, toured with the band on his first visit to Portugal.

The current line-up is Dave Lawson (clarinet/saxophones), John Ballinger (trombone/vocals), Heike Brockmann (guitar/banjo), Luis Hilario (contra bass), and Tony Scriven (drums/leader/vocals).

Music Festival – A Note from the President

So, another of Amovate’s Music Festivals has come and gone and we hope everyone who turned up really enjoyed themselves.

We would like to thank you all for your attendance but I am sure you won’t mind if I say a special “thank-you” to the committee members and members who tirelessly and enthusiastically worked many, many hours both before the Festival, during the Festival and afterwards.

First they put the plans in place and worked so hard to set up all the various aspects of an event like these, and making sure everything was working and in the right place.

Then they continued to work through the Festival to ensure nothing was going wrong and, finally, on Sunday they swooped again on the Old School House and its grounds, ignoring tiredness and aching limbs, to clear everything away.

To all of you, a special debt of gratitude.

Thank you

 

Peter Johnson,

Amovate President

Here are some of the photos (some good, some not so good!!) from the Music Festival………..

Music Festival – Update

WHO ATE ALL THE PIES?

Well, hopefully, the audience at the Vale da Telha Music Festival will eat all the pies!

Amovate is pleased to announce that Borley’s Pies, whose pies, pasties, quiches etc., are locally produced in Aljezur, will provide the food concession for next Saturday’s event.

Borley’s will be selling the following products (hot or cold) for consumption on the night, or to take-away:

– Chicken and Chicken & Mushrooms;

– Steak & Kidney,

– Sausage rolls,

– Borley´s Cornish pasties

– Spinach quiche

– Also: Sausages (to take-away)

Amovate has also negotiated an arrangement with Borley’s to provide discounts, away from the Music Festival, to any Amovate member purchasing their products directly from the company.

If you buy from the bakery shop at the factory on the industrial estate between Aljezur and Rogil, Borley’s will offer a 10 per cent discount on presentation of your Amovate membership card.

And if you wish to have your pies, pasties, sausage rolls, quiches etc delivered to your home or business the discount will be 5 per cent.

Borley’s are also available to supply parties and events anywhere in the Algarve.

Don’t forget—full details of the Vale Da Telha Music Festival 2013 are Here:

https://amovate.com/index.php/2013/07/vale-da-telha-festival-da-musica-update/

but these are the details in a nutshell:

Admission is free and three acts will feature at the Festival which is scheduled to start at 7.30pm on Saturday (August 24th) running through to approximately 1am, in the grounds of the Old School House, Vales. Gates open at 7pm.

Anna Messias

The Festival is hosted by our own Brian “DJ Rockindad” Jutsum who will provide music in the intervals, whilst singer Ana Messias opens the entertainment, performing a range of material from Adele to Gloria Gaynor.

Claudio and da Gang, a 5-piece classic rock band come next, then Os Compotas Band—a five-piece outfit just

Claudio and da Gang

back from a series of shows in Lisbon and playing only the funkiest of soul music—round off the show.

There will be two bars available to the festival goers. And don’t forget the Borley’s Pies food concession on site!

Os Compotas

 

 

 

 

 

 

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About Borley’s

BORLEY’S PIES has been operating in the Algarve since the 1960s and in recent years the company expanded with the opening of a factory outside Aljezur, which aims to preserve the Borley reputation while expanding the distribution extensively throughout Portugal.

A team of 10 produces thousands of pies each week at the factory and distribute them fresh all over the Algarve. There are around 20 products in the range, catering to Portuguese and English tastes.

The management team is set on preserving the traditional product, which was originally brought to the Algarve by Mr Borley, who has now retired in the UK.

The pies are made of the freshest meat from local traders, never using frozen meat, ensuring that there are no e numbers and no monosodium glutamate in the food.

All the preparation methods for the products are detailed and all the spices and secret ingredients are imported from the UK to give Borley’s their own distinct taste.

The new factory is registered to EC standards and, on opening, Borley’s Pies was said to be the only company in the Algarve that has the official stamp of approval to produce English food.

David Cameron – Chapter Two

 

 by Matt D’Arcy

DAVID CAMERON has been sampling the local Portuguese firewater, Medronho, during his holiday on the Algarve.

And the British Prime Minister has also been named ‘James Cameron’ by local Portuguese media, after the man who won an Oscar for his film of the Titanic’s disastrous maiden voyage.

No doubt that will strike a chord with the PM’s critics who accuse him of piloting Britain onto the rocks.

Cameron, who is staying in a friend’s luxury £3,000-a-week villa in the hills of Monchique—a secluded property surrounded by dense vegetation–was also teased about his “English” tan, which is the name the Portuguese give to the bright pink skin of newly-arrived British tourists.

He was photographed with the Mayor of Monchique, Rui André, who had invited the Prime Minister to an informal reception in the council building.

There they were pictured toasting each other with a glass of the finest Medronho da Serra, a strong and traditional fruit brandy that non-Portuguese speakers call “firewater”, from the hot sensation as the strong spirit travels down the throat and is felt through the sinuses.

The Prime Minister’s pink face prompted one local website to caption the picture:

”Sorry Mr. Prime Minister, is that the Medronho Monchique or too much sun?”

Another described him as “Primeiro Ministro Britânico James Cameron” which might explain why he was able to visit local shops, restaurants and beaches virtually unrecognised!

But his presence is expected to provide a boost for tourism in the area, which is why he was invited to visit the local town hall, where the reception was “simple and relaxed” according to the mayor.

He now hopes that Monchique, already much sought-after by the British, who account for 20% of the local population, may now witness increased interest from UK visitors and property investors.

Cameron signed the city’s Book of Honour and received yet another basket filled with local Monchique specialities including some of the powerful liquor with which they toasted each other.

There, the Mayor reminded Cameron that the late Margaret Thatcher was also a fan of the area, having been spotted twice enjoying a meal at the Paraiso da Montanha restaurant.

The Prime Minister, saying the landscape and views of the region are “fantastic” added: “I am very happy, and plan to return. Here everything is close by and I have opted to go to a different destination each day, to the beach and other places in the Algarve region.”

Locals say the PM has visited a local “chicken shack”, a restaurant specialising in grilled or roast chicken cooked with the local piri-piri hot sauce, and also takes coffee each day in the town square.

The Camerons are accompanied by their three children – Nancy, 9, Arthur, 7, and Florence, 2 – and are guarded by more than a dozen security officers from Scotland Yard, providing 24-hour protection, as well as officers from the English and Portuguese secret service.

Desidério Silva, president of the Algarve Tourism Board, has no doubt that the presence of “one of the world’s most important figures” in the Algarve will be highly beneficial to tourism.

“Out of all the destinations in the world he could have chosen, the fact that he selected the Algarve for a relaxing family holiday is a real testament to the region’s qualities – beautiful weather, beaches and scenery, hospitable people, good food and total peace of mind,” he told the Algarve Resident newspaper.

Jams, sea salt and wine are among the products that the president of Turismo de Algarve has sent to the PM at the British-owned farm in Foia where they are staying.

Silva’s “food parcel” contained a selection of regional produce including a carob concoction, sweet potato, cinnamon, sea salt, olive oil, chilli paste, the inevitable sardine paste and more importantly a selection of red and rosé wines from the Lagoa winery.

The Prime Minister was not the only high-profile visitor to the Algarve last week.

Pamela Anderson was having fun at a Vilamoura nightclub with Portuguese-Brazilian Ferrari GT3 racing driver Lorenzo Carvalho, who was celebrating his 22nd birthday.

The skimpily-dressed Baywatch star, who was in Portugal for the first time and admitted she was not here for work reasons but for “pleasure”. “I’m here to make sure Lorenzo has a good time,” she told the press. “I adore it here and can’t wait to get on the beach.”

The famous glamour queen, considered one of the world’s sexiest women, made a 20-minute appearance at the lavish party and received a €150,000 fee for her brief presence, according to reports in the Portuguese press.

And recent visitors have included David and Victoria Beckham, Claudia Schiffer, Cristiano Ronaldo, José Mourinho, Hugh Grant, George Benson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer , Ernie Els, Colin Montgomery, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and various members of the European royal families.

Cameron photograph sourced from:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=389543964478823&set=a.133229403443615.18869.128070753959480&type=1&theater

 

Piranha Bar Summer Party

As part of the Amovate in the Community project to support local businesses, the Piranha Bar will be hosting a Surf Summer Party on Saturday 3rd August starting at 20.00 hrs.

It is an outside event, being staged in front of the Piranha Bar………..so come along, and enjoy the sunset and the music