On the 5th of October A Charity Party (Arraial de Beneficência) was held at the Poeta Emiliano da Costa School in Estoi. The event was jointly organised by the Rotary Club Estoi Palace International and the Agrupamento de Escolas Pinheiro e Rosa to raise funds to assist a local Estoi girl Beatriz who has a very rare degenerative eye disease and her nearest treatment centre is in Spain and she has to attend every 6 months. Her parents cannot support her medical and travel costs and her university fees. The Estoi community joined together to help her.

The Vale Da Telha Charity Bar Walkers raised more than €2,000 for local children last weekend—and they also raised a thousand smiles along the 2.2-mile (3.54km) route on the Algarve’s west coast.

The final sum is expected to be significantly higher once the last donations and collecting tins are in, which would make a total well in excess of €7,000 for local charities over the three years since this annual event was started by local resident Cath Baker.

Volunteer that is! It's all a big plus as far as I'm concerned and I've been doing it for 20 years here in the Algarve. From helping set up the first charity shop for APAA in Montechoro to Castelo do Sonhos in Silves and AAG here in Guia.

For the last 2 years I've been volunteering with an organisation called REFOOD but I'll come back to them later. First the reasons why.

ACCA, the children’s charity that is focused on helping needy kids across the Algarve, topped its record and kitted out 866 youngsters with learning essentials

The growing success of ACCA’s fundraising activities meant that more children than ever before started the new school year with confidence… and the basics that will allow them to take full part in classes, and progress.

Every Thursday and Friday morning from September to May children and young adults with physical and mental disabilities enjoy riding therapy through the Associação de Equitação para Deficientes no Algarve (Riding for the Disabled in the Algarve). However, volunteers are needed to provide help and support for many of them while riding.

The benefits of the therapy sessions include improved concentration and coordination, posture and, importantly, self esteem. The movement of the horse is particularly valuable as the rider, to keep balance, has to use the almost identical muscles and joint movements used in walking. The horse produces 1000 movements in three dimensions in 10 minutes - this is far greater than any therapist could produce in the same time!

On a beautiful sunny September morning, I nervously stood on a small, wooden platform, just below the castle at Sanlúcar de Guadiana, Spain, with seven other APAA supporters. We were waiting for our turn to cross the Guadiana River on a 720 metre long cable. Alcoutim in Portugal – our landing stage – seemed a long way off and the river was a long way down!

First to go was Fido, aka Jenny, President of APAA. Harness checked, tailed tucked in, she was off.

Hello everyone, a huge thank you for Friday — What an experience! What a great Day! What an achievement!
Our best estimates at the moment is a grand total of €3670.00, of which €1800 is what the eight APAA Zippers raised and the remaining €1870 was from our afpop EA Zippers for StreetLife.

BUT some of the sponsorship money is being paid in sterling and some in Euros . . . so the exact figure will not be known until all money has been received and we can see what exchange rate we get.

Centro Infantil da Vila da Luz has greatly improved its crèche playground. Local artificial grass company Mãos Verdes has donated 450 m2 of playground grass to the school.

Natural grass would not grow in the playground and over the years the area became basically a dusty, dirty area that the children couldn’t use in safety.