CalpeNoticias EN

Friday, 4th:

• 18 to 1 h - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (Fossa beach).

• 20 h - Start of Oktoberfesters. In the marquee of the Parc de la Creativitat.
• Photographic exhibition of the Foto Club Ifach on occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Casa de Cultura Jaume Pastor i Fluixà. From 4 to 31 October. Exhibition hall of the Casa de Cultura.
• Photographic exhibition on the occasion of the Centenary of the Fishermen's Guild of Calp. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Saturday, 5th:

• Guided tours of the old town, free of charge. Registration required at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20 / 96 583 85 32.
• Open air painting competition in the Old Town from 9 am.
• Bird Day, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, guided tour of Las Salinas to discover the species that live there.
• From 10 a.m. onwards. Oktoberfesters. In the marquee of the Parc de la Creativitat.
• Performance of ‘La comedia de las mentiras’, by Taules Teatre, organised by the Asociación de personas con discapacidad de Calpe, at 8 pm in the Auditorium. All proceeds will be used to organise new leisure activities and different workshops.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• Photographic exhibition on the occasion of the Centenary of the Fishermen's Guild of Calp. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Sunday, 6th:

• From 10 am. Oktoberfesters. In the marquee in the Parc de la Creativitat.
• 12 noon in the Plaza Colón, training and police review with presentation of diplomas and decorations to the Local Police.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Fishermen's Guild of Calp. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild)

Calpe has registered a decrease in the number of crimes of 9.8 percent in the months of July, August, and September, compared to the same period last year. These figures were announced at the Calpe Local Security Board meeting at the Town Hall, which was also attended by the Government sub-delegate in Alicante, Juan Antonio Nieves, the Mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala, together with the Councillor for Public Safety, Guillermo Sendra, and representatives of the Local Police, National Police and Regional Police.

The Calpe company of the Alicante Command of the Civil Guard has reported that the figures recorded in this third quarter represent a change in trend compared to those relating to the first six months of the year in which the number of crimes increased compared to the same period last year by an average of 19 percent. In July, however, crime fell by 4.2 percent, in August by 6.28 percent and in September by 18.9 percent compared to the same months in 2023.

Likewise, because of these figures, the percentage change in the accumulated crime rate (which measures the increase or decrease in crimes recorded from 1 January to the corresponding month, in relation to the same period of the previous year) has been falling since June. That month saw an increase in the number of crimes detected in Calpe from January to June of 19.14% compared to the same period last year. And in September this figure has fallen to 6.90 percent, 14 points less.

‘Although we still have an increase of 6.90 percent of crimes in the accumulated year in relation to 2023, we are optimistic about the figures as they have been progressively reduced, clearly indicating a change in trend,’ said the councillor for Public Safety, Guillermo Sendra.

At the same time, there has been a 6.8 percent decrease in thefts in Calpe, and an increase in the number of arrests of 19.94 percent. And it has been stressed that 96% of residents and visitors say they feel safe in Calpe, according to data from the DTI surveys conducted at tourist information points.

On the other hand, the Intendant of the Local Police, Juan Antonio Sánchez, has highlighted that from January to September, the municipal agents have conducted 17,760 actions, compared to the 17,200 conducted in 2023. In addition, the municipal staff has increased by 14 new officers, which has doubled the number of patrols during the summer months.

The mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala, thanked the work of the security forces in the fight against crime and stressed that the City Council is making an ‘unprecedented investment in the Local Police.’ ‘We are making a significant effort to ensure that the local police force works with all possible resources, such as new vehicles and two drones,’ and she announced the acquisition of four new motorbikes and a boat, as well as new walkie talkies, among other materials.

Addressing the security forces present, the sub-delegate of the government, Juan Antonio Nieves, said: ‘The cooperation and collaboration has been seen to be good among the security forces in Calpe and that is thanks to the work you do; you are what make it possible for citizens to have that subjective perception of security; I thank you and I encourage you to continue cooperating’.

Gender-based violence

The meeting also addressed the cases of gender violence, which currently in Calpe reach the figure of 93 active cases. Of these, three are at considerable risk and 31 at medium risk, which are managed by the Guardia Civil. There are also 42 at low risk and 16 at no appreciable risk, which in this case are managed by the Local Police. And it was noted that the Gender Violence and Minors Unit of the Local Police of Calpe has conducted a total of 674 actions, 193 more than in the same period last year.

On the other hand, the problem of illegal street vending and the need for coordination between the different security forces to deal with it was also discussed. This summer the Local Police have conducted 90 actions and confiscated material valued at 70,000 euros.

Everything is ready for the Oktoberfest, the Beer Festival organised by the 2025 Festival Committee, currently Prefesters, which kicks off this Friday in the marquee set up in the Parc de la Creativitat. The first keg will be tapped at 8 p.m. on Friday 4 October to kick off the festival, which will last until 8 October.

As well as beer, the Oktoberfest will be serving German and Spanish food at popular prices, and there will be live music and children's activities. As well as the beer, another of the big attractions of this event is the live music. On the 4th, the German music group Don Ewaldo & Magenta and the DJs Raúl C. and Javi Más are scheduled to perform.

On 5 October the day will begin with the installation of inflatables for children from 11 a.m. and the preparation of a giant pella. From 13:30 to 14:30 the children's rock band Ramonets will perform. In the afternoon there will be performances by Xaranga La Motora, Memphis and Don Ewaldo & Magenta. In the evening La Gran Babylon and Xaranga Los Mataos are scheduled to perform.

On Sunday 6th October at 10 a.m. there will be a motorcycle and classic car rally, at 10:30 a.m. there will be a popular lunch and throughout the day Don Ewaldo & Magenta, Los Astrolabios and DJ Jota & Friends will perform. On Tuesday 8th the party will start again at 8 pm with the performance of Don Ewaldo & Magenta and at 11 pm Fiesta Remember ‘El templo de la música’ with Paco García KKO and Xavi Plastik.

This initiative, managed by the prefesters to raise funds for the 2025 patron saint festivities, consists of a beer festival taking advantage of the tradition that has existed in the town in this type of event for more than 30 years.

‘With the Oktoberfest we kick off the most festive month of the town and at the same time it allows the festival goers to raise money for the upcoming festivities,’ said Ana Sala. For her part, the councillor for Fiestas, Mariola Mulet, highlighted the work of the prefesteros in organising this event, which brings back the traditional Oktoberfest.

World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10 October, and to mark the occasion the Department of Social Welfare has organised various activities under the slogan ‘Calpe, with mental health’. This campaign aims to give visibility and raise awareness of how important it is to take care of our mental health and to know the resources that exist in the municipality.

The Social Welfare Department of has produced an informative guide that defines and explains the resources available in the municipality of Calpe in terms of mental health. The guide covers social and educational resources as well as employment and associative resources. This leaflet will be distributed at each of the commemorative events to be held from today until 10 October.

Throughout the ten days of the campaign, several infographics related to mental health that invite reflection and prevention will be launched on the City Council's social networks. In addition, until 7 October, the façade of the Town Hall, the Casa Nova and various roundabouts will be lit up in green, as green is the colour that symbolises mental health.

Another action is the performance this

Thursday 3 October in the Auditorium of ‘Vesania’, a play by the company Producciones Contrahecho. The play depicts a space in which four people, ostracised from society because they are considered mentally ill, try to survive and reflect on a world that no longer exists for them. Their life, in this place halfway between a mental sanatorium and limbo, is a metaphor for the ruin and civilisation already lost. Admission is free until full capacity is reached.

The programme includes two sports days of basketball and football for the users of the Maite Boronat Occupational Centre. And on 10 October, World Mental Health Day, the institutional manifesto on Mental Health will be read out in the Plaza Miguel Roselló. This event will feature the batucada of the Maite Boronat Occupational Centre.

The Councillor for Social Policy, Itziar Doval, explains that ‘The idea from the outset is to equate physical health with mental health to have resources to help improve it. There is a clear objective with these celebrations and that is to give visibility and raise awareness of the importance of mental health in our society. There are many factors that can damage our state of wellbeing and affect our mental health, because we are extremely vulnerable. We can all, at some point, feel overwhelmed by circumstances. Insecurity, fear, bereavement, illness. The truth is that there are situations that we do not know how to manage alone and it is essential to ask for help in time.

The organising Committee of the National Amateur Theatre Contest ‘Antonio Ferrer el Cartero’ has already selected the three plays that will be performed this year, which reaches its 12th edition and will take place every Sunday from 3 to 24 November.

A total of 112 plays have been submitted from all over Spain and the selected ones are: ‘La habitación del niño’ by Carpe Diem Teatro, from Tomelloso (Ciudad Real), which will open the event on 3 November, ‘Cuando no ves la luz’ by Twister Teatro, from Rivas Vaciamadrid (Madrid), which will perform on 10 November and finally ‘El trastero’ by Amigos del Teatro from Castellón, which will perform this play on 17 November.

The awards ceremony is scheduled for 24 November. And on that day, as the culmination of the competition, there will be a performance of ‘Coplas del alma’ with Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, in which the renowned Spanish actor will take a journey through the great authors of Spanish poetry from the 16th century to the present day, such as San Juan de la Cruz, Santa Teresa de Jesús, Federico García Lorca, Antonio Machado and Miguel Hernández. He will be accompanied by José Manuel Cuenca on the piano and the baritone Luis Santana who will sing songs of the period.

The event will be held at 18.30 in the municipal auditorium and admission will be free. A total of 7,500 euros in prizes will be awarded: 3,500 euros for the best show and 2,000 euros for each of the other two groups selected as finalists. There will also be prizes for best direction, best leading performance and best supporting performance.

The National Amateur Theatre Contest ‘Antonio Ferrer el Cartero’ was born in 2012 with the aim of paying tribute to amateur theatre and its tradition in Calpe, as well as to the Antonio Ferrer “El cartero” (The postman) from Calpe, alma mater of the local scene, and undoubtedly, one of the actors with the greatest personality that this land has given.

The Júcar Hydrographic Confederation has authorised the Town Hall to carry out the urbanisation project works to adapt the municipal plot located behind the Silene Nursery School so that the Regional Ministry can install the provisional modules of the second secondary school until the definitive works are completed.

A few months ago, the Town Council approved the transfer of a municipal plot of more than 30,000m2 located just behind the Silene Infant School in Ifac so that the Regional Ministry can install prefabricated classrooms there for the students of the overcrowded centres and the complete new IES. The Consistory will invest €3,200,000 from its surplus cash for the clearing, urbanisation and adaptation of the land that will house the section.

The urbanisation works will be carried out on two plots of land of around 6,900 metres each, which will house classrooms for an infant and primary school and classrooms for the second secondary school. In addition, access roads with pavements, a parking area and a landscaped green area will be built, occupying a total surface area of 33,600 m2. Drinking water supply and sewage disposal will be provided by the municipal water mains. The authorisation includes the fencing of the plot.

This procedure has been carried out urgently, in fact the CHJ has only taken a few days to grant its authorisation after the presentation of the municipal project. This means that the tendering procedure for the works can begin this week, with a completion period of four months. Once the works have been completed and the classrooms have been installed, the 160 students who started the course in the Casa de Cultura will move to the new facilities.

Parallel to this process, the tendering process for the definitive works of the second Institute continues, with a base budget of 14.899.419,51€. The architects Pablo Peñín Llobell and Miguel San Juan, drew up the basic and execution project for the new institute in October 2023 and the construction project was approved in December 2023. Last July, the Public Procurement Platform announced the tender for the works contract, and in August the only bid submitted was opened, which is currently being studied. The government team believes that the works could be awarded by the end of 2024 and the works executed by the end of 2026.

The mayoress Ana Sala has declared that ‘we meet the demand of the educational community and while the second institute is being built, we offer the Conselleria the space to locate the provisional section, we cannot go faster, we have streamlined all the procedures so that Calp has the necessary educational infrastructure’.

Calpe Town Hall has already begun preparations for the Fira de Nadal now in its tenth year, which is back with many new features. This year the fair will be held in the Plaza Mayor square and not in the streets of the old town as before, but the main novelty is that instead of concentrating on the December long weekend, this year the fair will be held throughout every weekend in December.

The main objective of the X Fira de Nadal 2024 is to promote the business and associative fabric of Calpe, as well as providing an additional attraction for tourists visiting our town and encouraging the active participation of the inhabitants of Calpe in the promotion and consolidation of local businesses and associations.

The modifications introduced this year aim to offer the opportunity to participate to a greater number of companies and associations, while expanding the activities that, on occasion of the Christmas holidays, are organised by the Town Hall to promote local commerce.

From Monday 30th September until 25th October, the registration period will be open for associations, traders, service companies in general and hotel and catering businesses in the municipality interested in participating in the X Fira de Nadal (Christmas Fair). The registration process will be carried out at the Town Hall's electronic headquarters and Creama Calpe will provide information and answer any queries that may arise.

The Fair, organised by the Departments of Economic Promotion, Creama-Calpe, Citizen Participation, Revitalisation of the Old Town and Culture, will provide a free stall or stand where local traders, restaurateurs and associations can exhibit and sell their own products and manufactured goods.

The X Fira de Nadal will be held on 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29 December 2024, organised in two shifts: the first shift (from 5 to 8 December and from 13 to 15 December) will be aimed mainly at trade and service companies and non-profit associations. The second shift (from 20 to 22 December and from 27 to 29 December) will be aimed primarily at companies in the hospitality sector.

Depending on the number of participants and organisational needs, some participants may be allowed to take part in another round of dates in addition to the one corresponding to their business classification, if they so request in their registration.

This event is an opportunity to enjoy the Christmas atmosphere as well as to collaborate with numerous local charitable and festive associations. The Fair is rounded off with numerous leisure and entertainment activities, with musical performances, parades and concerts, dance performances, workshops, exhibitions, etc.

Last July the City Council approved in plenary session the rules governing grants and aid for the promotion of cultural and / or artistic training. This is the first time that cultural training has been given financial incentives, as is already the case with sports training.

The subsidies are intended for public or private entities, associations and foundations of music, dance or plastic and performing arts or any other cultural activity carried out in Calpe, to finance the expenses derived from cultural training.

To explain and clarify doubts related to the recent publication of the rules for the granting of aid a few days ago an information session was held in the plenary hall. The credit available for these grants will correspond to the budget allocated by the Town Council for the year, which in this edition amounts to €200,000. The subsidies will be distributed among the beneficiary entities proportionally up to 75% of the eligible expenditure of each entity, always within the limit of the budget credit.

The aim is to subsidise any type of organisation that has taken on cultural training as its own activity. The aforementioned subsidy must have an impact either on the quality and quantity of the services provided by the entity or on the reduction of the fee paid by the student of the entity.

The subsidies must be allocated to the expenses borne by the cultural organisation and may in no case, alone or in conjunction with other subsidies, exceed the cost of the activity to be carried out by the beneficiary. Eligible activities include: the hiring of teachers, their salaries and additional technical staff, supplies, rental of rehearsal spaces or payment of fees for the use of municipal spaces, non-inventoriable material, such as sheet music, management, consultancy and administration costs, cleaning, the percentage of tuition assumed by the beneficiary entity or teaching materials, among others.

The Councillor for Culture, Guillermo Sendra, pointed out the importance of these grants to promote cultural activity in Calpe, and stated that ‘all information regarding the rules for granting these grants is available on the notice board of Calpe Town Hall for more detailed consultation’.

Friday, 27th:

• 16h - International Tourism Day - Guided tour ‘Seafaring tourism’. Departure from the Casa de Cultura in the tourist train. Prior registration required at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20/ 96 583 85 32 or turismo@ajcalpe.es.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• 20 h - Theatre: ‘Els Villalonga’. Auditorium. Free admission.
• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.
• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.
• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Saturday, 28th:

• 10 h - International Tourism Day - Visit to the old town and Bofill buildings. Departure from the Casa de Cultura in the tourist train. Prior registration compulsory at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20/ 96 583 85 32 or turismo@ajcalpe.es.
• 17 h - International Tourism Day - Visit Peñón de Ifach and salt marshes at sunset. Departure from the Casa de Cultura in the tourist train. Prior registration required at the tourist offices 96 583 69 20/ 96 583 85 32 or turismo@ajcalpe.es.
• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).
• 19 h - XXI Musical Exchange Concert Campaign. With performances by the Orquesta de Pols i Púa de Meliana and Ensemble Ifach (from the Escola Calpina de Corda). Saló Blau.
• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.
• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.
• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Sunday, 29th:

• From 18 to 1 h - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Photographic exhibition on the occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

The NGO ‘Visió Sense Fronteres’ from Calpe coordinated by Isabel Signes returns this week to Kenya to undertake a new campaign for the prevention and treatment of blindness. This NGO has been visiting Kenya since 2011 at least once a year with the aim of performing cataract surgeries and sometimes with the aim of training ophthalmological staff in the area.

On this occasion the medical team made up of four ophthalmologists, three nurses, two optometrists and a volunteer will travel to the province of Samburu in the north of the country. The delegation has the collaboration of the Ma Math Charitable Trust Kenya and the Office of the Women's Representative in Government.

The project coordinator Isabel Signes will travel to the area from this Friday as she is invited as a lecturer by Mmust University in Kakamega and will take the opportunity to finalise the preparations. The expedition will leave next week, as it is planned to carry out surgical interventions between 7 and 11 October at the Kisima Health Centre. As in previous editions, Calp Town Council collaborates with Visió Sense Fronteres in its solidarity actions.

Visió Sense Fronteres is an association declared of public utility that works for the prevention of blindness in two of its most important causes, cataracts and uncorrected refractive error. Today, 300 associates and benefactors permanently support and finance Visió Sense Fronteres. The Visió Sense Fronteres team consists of more than 40 volunteers. In its 25 years of life, the NGO has assisted more than 101,150 people, performed 8,353 cataract surgeries and donated more than 35,400 glasses.  

With the slogan ‘Let's make our town grow’, Calpe Town Council is launching a campaign to promote census registration and data updating. To this end, the Town Register Department will be distributing from next Monday at the Citizen's Advice Bureau a piece of paper with a QR code explaining the obligation of every person to register on the census in the town where they live.

It also provides information on the documentation required to register on the census or to update data in the event of a change of address, as well as the procedure for carrying out these formalities. It also indicates how Spanish citizens should proceed in the event of moving to another municipality or country. The QR also provides information on the advantages, aid and programmes available to those who are registered on the census.

The paper support on which all this information appears contains the seeds of a plant inside. When the paper is submerged and placed in a pot, a plant sprouts. The idea is to establish a parallelism between the campaign slogan ‘Let's make our town grow’ and the growth of the plant contained in the information paper.

Last December the National Institute of Statistics notified the Town Council that the figure for the municipality, resulting from the revision of the municipal census as of 1 January 2023, is 25,854 inhabitants. This represents an increase of 1,758 new inhabitants since the last official figure. However, reaching this figure and avoiding the decline in the municipal census entails an intense task for the City Council.

In the last few years, the Municipal Census Department has implemented various actions to prevent population loss. One of the problems detected is the lack of information among citizens, who in many cases are convinced that they are already registered or are unaware of the need to renew the census if they are foreigners.

The Town Council estimates that hundreds of foreign residents are not registered with the INE because they have not renewed their registration in the municipal census, as by law EU residents registered in the Central Register of Foreigners or non-EU residents with long-term residence permits must renew their registration in the census every five years and the rest of foreigners every two years.

For this reason, the Town Hall has launched several campaigns, aimed at all citizens, foreign or not, resident in Calpe, to encourage them to register or renew their registration. Recently, the councillor responsible for the census, Paqui Solivelles, met with various foreign groups to inform them of the need to register and explain the procedure.

The Mayoress of Calpe, Ana Sala, and the Councillor for Residents, Marco Bittner, have held a meeting with the Deputy Delegate of the Government, Juan Antonio Nieves, to convey the need to strengthen the administrative services aimed at the foreign population of Calpe. Among them, they have requested that Calpe can host the itinerant service of the National Police to issue the Foreigner Identity Number (NIE), as well as the DNI service, which is issued in Calpe from time to time. The subdelegate has referred them to discuss this matter with the National Police, with whom a meeting is planned for the near future.

In this way, the aim is to prevent the foreign population living in Calpe from having to travel to obtain this document, which, once issued, allows them to request the digital certificate, in the case of Calpe, at the Citizen's Advice Bureau. And with the digital certificate they can carry out a large number of procedures.

Currently, 62% of Calpe's census population is made up of foreigners, so having a personalised service, with procedures such as the NIE, ‘would greatly promote the integration of these citizens, as well as improve their quality of life,’ explained the councillor for Residents, Marco Bittner.

During the meeting, the mayoress Ana Sala stressed the importance of offering administrative services that are adapted to the specific needs of the foreign population. ‘Calpe is a diverse and multicultural municipality, and it is essential that all our citizens, regardless of their origin, have access to adequate care to facilitate their integration and participation in local life,’ she said.

The Government Deputy Delegate of the, Juan Antonio Nieves, has informed them of resources to improve the attention to foreign citizens such as the existence of a program-contract of the Generalitat Valenciana that allows the City Council to hire a technician paid by the regional administration and that would be destined to these functions, something that the City Council is already studying to apply for.

Friday, 20th:

• From 18 to 1 h - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (Fossa beach).

• Presentation of the book ‘Peques detectives’ by Piedad Isabel Parra Garrido with illustrations by Laura Sofia Bittner Pozo. At 18:30 in the Saló Blau.

• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.

• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).
• Festivities in honour of Ntra. Sra. de la Merced. At 9 p.m. opening of the festive marquee in the parish church of La Merced and at 10 p.m. Nit de Coques and performance by Los Astrolabios.

Saturday, 21st:

• Festivities in honour of Ntra. Sra. de la Merced. At 18:15 procession and floral offering from the Plaza Mediterráni and mass. At 22:30 Musical performance by Los Anclas.

• From 18:00 to 1:00 - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Exhibition ‘Coast’ by Erin de Burka. Exhibition Hall of the Casa de Cultura. Until 30 September.

• Exhibition ‘Augmented Reality’ by Pedro Santos. Exhibition Hall of the Ajuntament Vell. Until 30th September.

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the CALPEEE Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Sunday,22nd:

• Peñón de Ifach Swimming Crossing. From Cantal Roig beach, departure at 8:30 am.

• Festivities in honour of Ntra. Sra. de la Merced.. At 10 a.m. Children's go-karts and performance by Xaranga Clau de Fa in Plaza Colón. At 11:45 a.m. Cycle tour from Plaza Colón to La Merced. At 12h. Mass, at 13:30h. Batucada Batugaria, at 2 p.m. giant paella enlivened by ‘El payo que canta’.

• From 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Craft markets. Calle Alemania (Arenal-Bol beach) and Plaza Mediterráneo (La Fossa beach).

• Photographic exhibition on occasion of the Centenary of the Calpe Fishermen's Guild. In Plaza Colón, Plaza Constitución, Plaza Beato Sendra, Plaza Manuel Miró and in the port (next to the Fishermen's Guild).

Next week the Club de Pilota Valenciana de Calpe will participate in the Belgian town of Montignies-lez-Lens in the final phase of the Champions League de Llarges. This is a competition that brings together the 12 best teams in Europe and will be played on 27th, 28th and 29th September.

Coinciding with this important sporting event, the International Promotion Department has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the municipality in the Belgian market, a very important outbound destination. Through various promotional activities, Tourism aims to raise awareness of Calpe's tourism offer, focused on wellbeing, sustainability and cultural richness.

The aim is to position Calpe as an attractive destination for those visitors who are looking for authentic and quality experiences, outside the high seasons.

In addition, new collaboration opportunities are being explored with Montignies lez Lens, to strengthen ties and promote cultural and sporting exchange. This collaboration opens the way for relations between the two towns with the aim of promoting cultural and sporting exchange, as well as exploring new opportunities for tourism development.

The participation of the Club de Pilota Valenciana de Calpe in this top-level competition has been the perfect excuse to showcase the charms of our town in Belgium.

The Regional Ministry of Education has approved the decree for the creation of the new Les Salines Secondary School. According to the decree, the new centre, which has provisionally begun its activity in the Casa de Cultura Jaume Pastor i Fluixà, will have, when the new building is constructed, a capacity for more than 900 students: 600 of ESO, 210 of Baccalaureate and 96 of FP. In addition, it will be equipped with 20 units of Compulsory Secondary Education, 6 of Baccalaureate and 4 of Vocational Training (2 of Basic Vocational Training and 2 of Intermediate Vocational Training).

The new school is called Les Salines, as agreed by the School Council in homage to the natural environment of the town and after a participatory process in which several schools in Calpe submitted name proposals.

On the other hand, the awarding process for the company responsible for the construction of the definitive facilities is underway. This project is expected to become a reality in the shortest possible time, with the aim of offering the educational community adequate and modern facilities.

The creation of the IES Les Salines responds to the need to decongest the current IES Ifach and improve the quality of education in Calpe, ensuring proper attention to the demand for schooling in the different educational stages.

Calpe Town Council, through the Tourism Planning Department, has launched a campaign under the name ‘Take care of Calpe today. Enjoy it always’ with the aim of promoting responsible and sustainable tourism in the town.

The campaign consists of the dissemination of mupis with an image of the Penyal d'Ifac Rock from which a multitude of plants and plant species sprout and with a skirt full of trees to raise awareness among tourists and residents about the importance of caring for the environment. A leaflet will also be distributed with a decalogue of good practices to achieve a more sustainable Calpe. In this sense, there is an incentive to explore and protect Calpe without leaving rubbish, taking care of the biodiversity during the visits, to contemplate the fauna of Calpee from a distance, to reduce the use of water in showers and irrigation, as well as to use the containers correctly and to make a responsible consumption of energy. Tourists are also invited to share local traditions, to shop in Calpe's shops, to taste the local gastronomy in the town's restaurants and to stroll through the streets keeping the environment clean and well cared for, among other tips.

The leaflet will be distributed through letterboxes as well as from the tourist offices and has been published in Spanish, Valencian and English.

On the other hand, the campaign will be disseminated through bicycle mupis, mobile mupis that will spread the message of the need for a more responsible and sustainable tourism in different parts of the town. And the campaign will be completed with an online part through social networks and mobile geolocation.

This initiative is part of Calpe´s Tourism Sustainability Plan e and its offline part will be subsidised by the Patronato Costa Blanca of the Diputación de Alicante.

‘We wanted to use a striking image for the campaign in order to attract attention and call for reflection that if we do not take care of the Calpe of today, the Calpe of the future will be only a virtual reality, we will have nothing,’ said the Councillor for Tourism Planning, Mireia Ripoll. And she insisted that although the campaign is aimed at both tourists and residents, we want to emphasize the message that the tourist has the same responsibility as the locals to make Calpe a more sustainable and friendlier town’.

The Culture Council has begun restoring three emblematic spots of the historical and artistic heritage of the municipality that are in a state of deterioration. Specifically, these are two parts of the old wall and the Gastón Castelló mural in the Plaza del Mosquit.

The Culture Council has detected the deterioration of two areas of the old wall, specifically at the base of the Torreó de la Peça, where the mortar has been peeling away until the stone is exposed. The same is happening in the part of the wall closest to the bell tower. The rain and the weather have been eroding the structure so that the stone has been left bare.

For this reason, work has already begun to hire a specific restorer who will determine whether it is necessary to act urgently or whether the work can be prolonged through a tendering process.

Another of the artistic enclaves of the municipality that requires restoration is the mural by Gastón Castelló located above the tourist office in the Plaza del Mosquit. It is a large-scale mural by the Alicante painter and muralist Gastón Castelló, which is an allegory of old Calp: fishing, the Peñón de Ifach, crops and its inhabitants.

After the inspection of the archaeologist and the municipal architect together with the Culture councilor, it has been detected that the mural has detached several tesserae and the need to start the restoration process as soon as possible has been determined.

The Culture councillor, Guillermo Sendra, pointed out that: ‘it is a question of preserving our heritage in the best possible conditions; in recent years no action has been taken to maintain the wall and the wear and tear is becoming more and more visible. The same goes for the mural by Gastón Castelló, which is a unique work that we must maintain and enhance’.

Calpe Town Council plans to purchase adapted vehicles and equipment that will allow people with some kind of functional diversity to improve their experience when visiting the municipality. With this, it intends to make progress in its bid to become an inclusive tourist destination.

Specifically, four adapted vehicles are to be acquired: on the one hand, an all-terrain Joëlette chair that will allow its occupants to go hiking or for family outings in places inaccessible with conventional wheelchairs; on the other, an electric OPair bicycle, which is a bicycle with a built-in wheelchair, as well as two tandem bicycles that offer the possibility of enjoying cycling in pairs, allowing a person with reduced mobility to share the experience of pedalling with a companion.

In addition to these vehicles, two amphibious chairs and ten packs of amphibious crutches will also be purchased to improve accessibility on the beaches. The amphibious chairs allow users with reduced mobility to enjoy the experience of bathing in the sea (or in the pool) and at the same time facilitate their movement on the sand. And the crutches are characterised by a larger contact surface that prevents them from digging into the sand, as well as greater buoyancy and adequate support that facilitates entry and exit from the water.

With all this, Calpe aims to improve and expand the offer of inclusive and accessible tourism in the town. The project is part of the Tourism Sustainability Plan for Destinations (PSTD) with the support of the Valencian Regional Ministry of Tourism - Turisme Comunitat Valenciana - and the Secretary of State for Tourism in the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (in Spanish: PRTR) financed by the European Union - Next Generation.

The PSTD of Calpe establishes the need to make progress in the elimination of physical barriers in the town, which prevent or hinder people with disabilities from enjoying the tourist destination or any of the products and services. In fact, Calpe has a plan specifically aimed at accessibility: the Strategic Plan for Accessible Tourism. A line of work also contemplated in the Calpe Strategic Tourism Plan 2020 - 2030 as well as in the Calpe DTI Master Plan.

The purchase of these vehicles and equipment for people with functional diversity is currently under tender and has a base budget of 30,000 euros. Once this material has been supplied to the Town Hall, the tourist offices will make these adapted vehicles available to citizens who request them, while the amphibious chairs and crutches will be available at the adapted beach points.

This is the first action launched by the City Council as part of a wider project to consolidate inclusive tourism as part of the Tourism Sustainability Plan for Destinations. The project also includes carrying out annual awareness-raising and training campaigns aimed at all tourism stakeholders and citizens, as well as the installation of a lift in the Museu de la Senyoreta among other actions.

‘One of the strategic objectives of the Department of Tourism is to position itself as an inclusive destination, open to all visitors, so that anyone, regardless of their disability, can enjoy the places and tourist resources that Calpe has to offer,’ said the Councillor for Tourism Planning, Mireia Ripoll.

The plenary session of Calpe Town Council has unanimously agreed to ask the Regional Ministry of the Environment to declare a forestry health emergency due to the extreme situation being experienced by Aleppo pine trees as a result of the long drought that Spain is suffering.

As explained by the councillor for the Environment, Pere Moll, the prolonged drought in turn produces the proliferation of pests and in this sense, he pointed out that many pine trees are being affected by a parasite called Pine Wood Nematode which is spread to other pine trees by a native beetle. The wood nematode sucks the sap from the tree and causes it to wither and dry out.

‘This is a real problem and because of the impotence that this situation causes me, we are presenting this proposal so that the Regional Ministry declares the pine drought as a forest health emergency in the affected areas of the Valencian Community and mobilizes the necessary resources to deal with this critical situation,” he said, pointing out that Calpe is the first municipal corporation to request this from the Generalitat (Valencian regional government).

Calpe Town Council is also requesting an extraordinary budget allocation to finance a comprehensive contingency plan that includes measures for prevention, early detection, control and recovery of the affected ecosystems. It also asks the Regional Ministry to implement an Urgent Action Plan, which includes early detection and monitoring of the disease, as well as control of the vector (the beetle that spreads the disease), the elimination of the sources of infection and the elimination of diseased forest stands and their replacement by other native species, as well as the promotion of research into the disease and a plan to raise public awareness.

Beach regeneration

On the other hand, the plenary session of Calpe Town Council has also unanimously approved a request to the provincial Coastal Service for the regeneration of the municipality's beaches, especially those of Arenal-Bol and La Fossa. The proposal argues that these beaches have lost sand, specifically in the area of the Fossa beach closest to the Penyal d'Ifac and several areas of the Arenal beach such as in Borumbot or in front of the Hotel SolyMar.

According to a study carried out by the Institut d'Ecologia Litoral (IEL), this situation is due to the coastal dynamics of Calpe, i.e. the effect of sea currents. For this reason, Costas is requested to carry out a natural regeneration of these beaches, in a sustainable way and in accordance with the indications established in the study.

In Calpe, the only time the beach was regenerated was in the early 1990s when work was carried out to restore the Arenal - Bol beach.

Footbaths

Another of the issues dealt with in the plenary session was that of the footbaths on the beaches. In this regard, following the numerous problems in the operation of this infrastructure which have occurred this summer and which have led to many complaints from beach users, it has been agreed to request Turisme Comunitat Valenciana to delegate powers for the operation of the system of collection, pumping and distribution of water for footbaths on the beaches of Arenal-Bol and La Fossa. The aim of direct management is to improve the efficiency of the service.

This point was approved by the government team (Somos Calpe, socialist municipal group and Compromís) and Defend Calpe, with the PP voting against.

Modification of the Transport project

The plenary also gave initial approval to the modification of the Calpe public transport service project. Some improvements have been introduced after having been sent to the different administrations and operators involved, such as the use of more sustainable buses, which will involve an increase in the fee paid by the Town Council to make the service viable for the concessionaire, greater coverage to schools and the establishment of a violet point together with the Local Police checkpoint, a service on demand and which will allow women to take the bus more safely.

This is an initiative aimed at improving urban bus transport and will have three lines. The project will now undergo a new period of public information and if no new allegations are received, it will be definitively approved, which will allow it to go out to tender.

This point was approved by the government team and Defend Calpe with the abstention of the PP.

Calpe Town Council, through the Department of Economic Promotion, has launched a new Bono Comercio campaign with the aim of continuing to encourage shopping at local businesses.

Individuals over 18 years old (as of 1st June 2024), registered in the municipality, can benefit from this campaign. They can purchase through a consumer vouchers platform - bonocomerciocalpe.es - worth 20 €, 50 €, 100 € and 150 € each, which can be exchanged in the establishments participating in the campaign. In this edition, the maximum nominal value of the voucher has been increased for the first time to €150 (previously the maximum value of the voucher was €100).

The vouchers are 50% subsidised so consumers double the value of their purchase. Each citizen can apply for a maximum of €150 in vouchers and each voucher purchased can be redeemed on a single purchase which must be equal to or greater than the value of the voucher.

SMEs, small self-employed entrepreneurs or professionals with less than 50 employees can join the campaign by applying online through the platform provided by the collaborating entity Associació d'Empresa i Comerç de Calpe - empresarioscalpe.es - until 16 September. The deadline for submitting applications for the purchase of vouchers by consumers will be from 17 September to 12 October (both included).

The City Council will allocate 500,000 euros to this initiative, which will mean a total injection of 1,000,000 euros, between the municipal contribution and the citizens' investment. If at the end of this first phase there is still money available, a second call for applications will be launched in order to offer more opportunities for both traders and customers to benefit.