July brings two major events at different ends of the musical spectrum. On 20 July Simply Red perform outdoors at Golf Costa Adeje as part of their farewell tour. The course has already staged concerts from Rod Stewart and Elton John in previous years and proved to be a superb setting.

Then on 23 July the Moscow Ballet bring Swan Lake to Playa de las Americas. That takes place at the Magma Arts and Congress building next to the main bus station. The modern centre, normally used for conferences and corporate gatherings is adding more cultural events to its programme and will bring some of the top orchestras down south from the capital.

Talking of Santa Cruz, it may be early to think of christmas but bookings are now being taken for the festive seasons big musical offering at the auditorium on the sea front. This year it is the Spanish production of Chicago, one of the biggest modern musicals around.

Here are a couple of useful websites if you want to keep up with forthcoming music and cultural happenings. www.tenerifemagazine.com and the governments English site www.whatsontenerife.eu  Enjoy the shows.

Just a quick note to say how much Lesley and I enjoyed our time at Las Rosas, it was good to see familiar faces and the welcome we got from you all at reception was wonderful.

Las Rosas looked great and the improvements have made a fantastic difference to the inside of the villas.

PS. Thank Steve for awarding me the massage it certainly eased the shoulder, which has been giving me problems after I broke my elbow in December.

My villa at Las Rosas is owned jointly with my wife and on 16th October last we visited the Consular General´s office at 20m Draycott Place, London SW3 2RZ, just a few minutes walk from Sloane Square Tube Station, where we met a Consular Officer – a lady, who was very courteous and helpful.

YOU MUST APPEAR IN PERSON AND TAKE WITH YOU:-

A) Form EX-14 IN DUPLICATE – two for each owner, this form may be downloaded from the Spanish Consulate´s website www.conspalon.org or alternatively obtained from WimPen´s Admin Office in Tenerife, and since this form is printed in Spanish and MUST be completed in Spanish online, PDF or on a typewriter, NOT HANDWRITTEN, I decided to contact WimPen whose Admin staff were very helpful and in addition to copies of the Spanish Form will also send you an English version as a guide, which will undoubtedly help facilitate your completion of the form.
Complete the Spanish form in front of the Spanish Consular Officer, who will then stamp the form and hand one copy of the form back to each owner. The retained copy will be forwarded to Madrid and in 1 – 3 months time the NIE Number will be forwarded to WimPen in Tenerife for personal collection in due course.

B) YOUR VALID PASSPORT and a photocopy of the page in your passport containing your personal details, but make sure you also copy the blank page opposite your personal details which will also be stamped and retained by the Consular Officer.

I am pleased to say that this service was provided completely free of charge. No passport size photographs were required, I did take my Escritura with me.

We arrived at the office at 10.50am and left at 11.00am – an excellent and efficient service, and we will collect the NIE certificates from WimPen when we next visit Las Rosas in August.

As indicated, the procedure is very simple and if any Las Rosas owner(s) would like to discuss the matter my email address is nallen772@btinternet.com

Nevilla Allen – Villa 50 – Weeks 35 & 36.

“After travelling for 3 days – arrived home exhausted! Met some terrific helpful people on the journey, Saw a lot of Spanish & French countryside.
Thanks to everyone in the office, particularly those that helped with the “bodywork repair” to our hire car with a sink plunger!!
See you next year.”
Mr & Mrs Cox – Owner Las Rosas

“Josi at WimPen Sueno Azul was marvelous, she tried and succeeded in helping everyone. I thought the price charged for the additional week was fair, no attempt was made on your part to profit from the situation – took all the stress away for me and my grandchildren. Thankyou”
Mr & Mrs Barrett – Owner El Marques

“Thank you for all you help at a difficult time. This experience has not put us off our visits to Las Rosas we will be back” – Many thanks to all the staff
Mr & Mrs Howe – Owner Las Rosas

“We cannot express our gratitude enough as to how helpful & kind everyone was in such difficult circumstances. I would recommend Las Brisas to everyone as at no point was anyone trying to make a “fast buck”, like many others around the world.”
Sara Denton – Las Brisas

Owners & visitors report “that the boys are doing a good job – keeping pathways clean & tidy the work has not interferred with our holiday”

The works are due to complete in Mid April.

The Government of the Canaries, together with the Tenerife Tourist Board, hotel association ASHOTEL and the authorities of Adeje and Arona, have set up a committee to fight against the fraudulent activities of Discount Travel Membership Clubs (DTMCs) on the island.

This initiative is a direct result of the conference on the threats posed to tourism resorts by DTMCs organised in May, in which RDO’s Head of Enforcement, Alberto Garcia, called for their eradication. Both RDO and the European Consumer Centre will take an active part in the new committee.

The number of DTMC sales decks in Tenerife has decreased drastically over the past year, thanks to the co-operation of the local authorities, the police and the Enforcement Programme.

DTMCs demand high amounts of money from their clients in return for the promise of huge discounts on future holidays, which often don’t materialise. This kind of fraudulent practice can seriously damage the image of tourist destinations like Tenerife, something the new committee aims to address.

In Lanzarote, Playa Blanca has been rewarded, very handy for guests at Las Brasas and Las Casitas resorts. In Tenerife, there is also good news, with Las Vistas beach in Los Cristianos adding to its annual collection of blue flags, very tempting to those staying at Los Claveles. Playa la Arena on the west coast is another beach that is no stranger to these awards, and is just a short stroll from Las Rosas and El Marques.

In total, the Canary Islands have been awarded 38 blue flags this year, a fitting reward for the efforts put in by the local councils. Of course if sea and sand don’t appeal to you, all of our resorts have excellent swimming pools with full services close to hand.