It’s going to be a musical summer, as always, in Tenerife, there are jazz and opera seasons coming up in the capital Santa Cruz but down in the south there is an equally amazing mix.

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.

Owners will be aware that for those with an Escritura it is necessary to obtain an NIE Number for their villa(s) in Tenerife & Lanzarote and since it is a simple procedure to apply direct to a Spanish Consular General Office in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, I thought it would be of interest to relate my experience for the benefit of other owners who may be contemplating applying for an NIE Number.

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.

Now the dust has settled a little , we have been pleased to hear from many of you and thought we´d share some of the emails received:

“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

A relatively small island, but bursting with major sporting events, that’s Tenerife, and september has a bumper bundle to offer visitors and long term residents. It starts with the Vuelta Ciclista, a cycle race that starts on the island of La Gomera, before taking in a wipe sweep of Tenerife. That is soon chased by the 2 day Adeje car rally, and the month closes with the Tenerife Ladies Open golf tournament in Costa Adeje.

The Vuelta Ciclista starts on September 2 in La Gomera, before winding through Tenerife to end in La Laguna on the 6th. On September 4th, the days stage will end up in Los Cristianos, a great chance for the good people of Los Claveles to enjoy some of the fun and celebrations.

The Adeje Rally zooms into action on September 11 and 12, and although it visits the neighbouring areas, Adeje will see the best of it. The action is more sedate from September 24, when the worlds best lady golfers descend on Golf Costa Adeje to compete over 4 days in front of the television cameras. Los Claveles is a short trip away, but this time Sueño Azul in Callao Salvaje is in a prime position to pop down and enjoy some top sporting action.

If that all leaves you hungry for more, don’t worry, Tenerife has plenty of action to keep everyone thrilled and entertained.

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.

We have now released new rental prices for all of our resorts in Tenerife, Lanzarote and Spain for 2009/2010, including new discounts for owners.  Contact Wimpen Management for more information.

Book your Rental for 2009/2010

Sueño Azul is an ideal base for the perfect family holiday in Tenerife, with beautiful luxury villas sleeping up to six persons and within easy reach of the nearby town of Callao Salvaje with bars, restaurants and shops.

 Ana Maria Tavarez 18, was crowned the new Gala Queen in Santa Cruz de Tenerife late at night on the 18th February 2009. Celebrations continued well into the early morning, certainly a stunning costume and beautiful Queen.

Tenerife Carnival Queen 2009

Dear Owner,

Towards the end of January, the Spanish police raided the offices of Global Vacations Limited, a marketing company selling Club Class Concierge holiday club membership, arresting sixteen people on suspicion of fraud.

Victims of this alleged fraud will have been approached by resale company ETOO telling them that a buyer had been found for their points or week. They would have been told that the transaction would have to be concluded in person in Malaga. Once there the owners were met by Global Vacations Limited representatives who try to sell them Club Class Concierge membership. This may well have been alongside a cash-back offer through CashBack Europe Plc.

To assist the authorities in Spain with their investigations, evidence is now required from timeshare owners and the purpose of this email is to call on OTE members to inform their staff, post messages on their websites or their newsletters to encourage as many victims as possible come forward. A case can only be built up if sufficient evidence is provided!

In this instance, rather than forwarding complaints to OTE’s enforcement team in Spain, we have been informed that evidence should be sent to the complainant’s local European Consumer Centre, details of which can be found on the ECC website http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/docs/ecc_network_centers.pdf

Photocopies of all documents, a brief statement providing details about their case and photocopies of proof of payments made should be provided.

UK based consumers should send their complaints to:

European Consumer Centre

1 Sylvan Court, Sylvan Way

Southfields Business Park

Basildon

Essex SS15 6TH

Tel: 08456 04 05 03, Fax: 08456 08 96 00, email: ecc@tsi.org.uk