Join Amovate Now!
Can we remind everyone to renew their Membership —or, if you are not an Amovate member, you can now apply for membership to share in the benefits.
So, what’s in it for you?
Let’s look at the facts: The Algarve is now home to more than 100,000 resident foreign retirees according to the US News and World Report.
Identifying places their readers should consider for their retirement they put the Algarve at the top of their worldwide list, saying:
“The area includes the stunningly beautiful Algarve coast, medieval towns and fishing villages as well as open-air markets and local wine. This area has cobblestoned streets and whitewashed houses with lace-patterned chimneys.
“Health care is international-standard, and medical tourism is a growing industry.
“The Algarve also offers great weather, with 3,300 hours of sunshine per year. That’s more sunny days than almost anywhere else in Europe, which allows you to enjoy some of Europe’s best-kept sandy beaches.
“The Algarve’s 100 miles of Atlantic coastline has jagged rock formations and award-winning beaches”.
So, you’ve made your choice and for people in this community of Vale da Telha and the broader area of Aljezur, you have chosen the quieter life of the Algarve’s beautiful West Coast.
Here you are. And you can now sit back in your retirement bubble and enjoy the beauty all around you—sun, sand, sea, glorious vistas and sunsets.
Or, you can go proactive and join up with other like-minded people to make sure that the lifestyle you have chosen is protected from unwelcome changes, to play a pivotal role in charitable activities to improve the life of those less fortunate or just to enjoy taking part in numerous social actitivies.
That’s where Amovate comes in. AMOVATE is the Associação Dos Moradores e Amigos do Vale Da Tel, or the Association of Residents and Friends of Vale da Telha, available for people of all nationalities who have links to the area.
It is a non-profit making charitable organisation and our HQ is the Old Schoolhouse, which you can find as the road just 150m or so past Vales divides to Vale da Telha on the right, Arrifana on the left.
And we feel there is something symbolic about that, because we’d like to think this former Schoolhouse IS an important junction in the social life of people on this plateau outside Aljezur.
It’s the only community centre we have up here, and it does offer more than perhaps a lot of people imagine.
We are a link between the community and the local council, or Camara, as we hold regular meetings with the President and /or his staff to raise any relevant issues. We cannot solve ALL the area’s problems, but we certainly do whatever we can, subject to the budgetary restraints on the local authority.
And as you all know the bigger we are in terms of membership the more the authorities will listen to what we have to say as a united front. So it’s not only vitally important that we keep our existing members but that we continue to expand by attracting more members from all sections and all nationalities in our fast-growing community.
It is vital that our voice is heard, especially with the Government’s plan for Vale da Telha soon to be published, a plan that will have some impact on all our lives. We need to be in a position where we can lobby on behalf of our members to make sure that is a positive impact.
We understand from long-term resident John Morgan that Vale da Telha is the birthplace of Afpop, Associação de Proprietários Estrangeiros em Portugal, now headquartered in Portimao, which illustrates how keen the people up here have always been to play a part in their community.
It’s a tradition Amovate is continuing on a more local level, and we’d like more of you to come and join us, adding, as the saying goes, more power to our elbow!
Also you can just enjoy yourself as a member of Amovate. We know most of you follow your own pursuits, your own hobbies and recreations, and that’s as it should be.
But the Schoolhouse has plenty going on that you may wish to add to your list of pursuits and your busy schedule, once you become aware that they are there for you.
Regular classes include Keep Fit (with a superb and widespread selection of modern gymnasium equipment for the use of members), Pilates, Line Dancing and more.
The classes at the Old School House have continued to thrive and it would be fantastic if everyone who uses the rooms and or attended classes joined up and become a members. We really do need to increase our numbers to show our strength.
We also have a hugely popular Tennis Club, using the three well-maintained Amovate-administered courts on the road heading towards Monte Clerigo.
We are closely linked to the thriving Vale da Telha Golf Society and we work hand-in-glove with local bars, cafes and restaurants to stage fun-packed and musical events throughout the year.
Over the past three or four years Amovate’s profile has been raised to the extent where our Charitable work and social activities have been featured regularly in the local and national media as well as newspapers back in the UK.
Newspaper, magazine and website editors have asked us to provide more stories from this area, admitting that before Amovate stepped in it was almost a forgotten part of the Algarve.
Not any longer. The dynamism and energy of Amovate’s committee and our members has ensured that the profile of this area has been raised, to the benefit of local businesses and its people.
Our charitable activities are constant and highly rewarding. Remember Amovate is the organisation that facilitated the presentation of a staggering €50,000 worth of fire fighting and rescue equipment to the local Bombeiros.
These past years alone our charity funding has included cash donations towards wheelchairs to boost Cath Baker’s Beer Walk, to the Bpi Bank Christmas presents for needy local children, JCA for helping in purchasing equipment for the new Senior Football Team, a donation to the Aljezur Church to help fund replacements after a robbery in the church and payment towards bathroom changes for a disabled young boy in Burgau, donations to the St Vincent de Paul Society, donations to the Aljezur Bombeiros.
Amovate’s well-connected media and publicity section assisted to raise the profile of all these events, boosting their fund-raising potential and making sure that their efforts were well publicised in the local and national Portuguese and English language media.
Events organised by the Amovate Entertainment Committee were all a huge success, especially the Summer Solstice, the Fun Day and the Master Chef competition. And several other events organised by Amovate at local restaurants were well attended as part of our ongoing commitment to support local businesses.
But there are other demands on our resources as well. Some costly repairs to the Old School house are needed, and we are in negotiations with the Camara for some assistance in meeting the costs as we have already paid out considerable sums for painting the building, weeding the grounds and replacing the wooden frame of one of the large windows to make sure it does not alter the appearance of the building.
So, that’s Amovate in a nutshell. We really do hope that you will renew your membership to enable us to carry on the good work, or, if you are new to Amovate (or to the area) you may want to join and become part of this active organization which exists solely for the benefit of the people in this area.
Amovate is constantly active on your behalf and that of the community.
Some years ago we launched a campaign to have electricity supplier EDP improve the service to Vale da Telha residents in the face of constant power outages—and soon saw an investment here by the company that greatly improved the service. But we will continue to press for a further improvement to eradicate the problem.
Remember, too, that we restored the lakeside walk, making it possible to complete the full circuit by bridging that notorious gap along the path.
We supplied wheelchairs and other equipment to Portimao Hospital’s orthopaedic unit, a laptop for a rehabilitation centre that had helped two of our residents, a pain-relieving ripple bed for another charity and many other donations to various charitable causes.
Amovate played a key role with Dr David Quinton, one of our members, in launching the drive for two state-of-the-art defibrillators to be placed with the Bombeiros and in the Hotel Vale da Telha for the use of residents, with dozens of volunteers being trained in CPR at Amovate Old School House HQ.
Our “Amovate in the community” programme was launched to place various functions with local restaurants and bars to support them through the recession, and has been warmly received and backed by the community.
We need to keep our membership growing so we have an even louder voice in the community, which makes it more possible for us to get things done.
It is in the interests of us all to increase the levels of our membership numbers and retain that strength-through-numbers ethos that has raised our profile in the area.
To that effect we would like to ask all members and former members to please renew their annual subscriptions and help us to continue making a difference to our Community.
And if you have never been a member, then please think about joining us and playing your part in making Vale da Telha and the surrounding areas an even better place to live.
You can do this by:
………clicking on the Membership form below, to download your form. Alternatively, if you are unable to print the form, you can collect one from the Amovate office. Complete the form and place in a sealed envelope with the appropriate fee. Once completed and handed in to the office, your Membership card will be ready for collection in a few days.
New Members (with their completed form and fee), and existing Members who wish to renew (with their old Membership Card and fee) can hand in these items to the office (Fridays 4pm -5pm) or to a Committee Member. They can also hand in a sealed envelope with the card/form and fee any day when the Amovate building is open, and post it in the Post Box which is situated on the far wall of the bar area (above the desk). Their new card will be ready for collection in a couple of days.
Please not that Membership fees are as follows:
Single Membership – €10
Thank you for your support.
