Santa Cruz is about to be transformed into Rock City!

The countdown is well and truly on to the first-ever Rock Coast Festival, described as the largest music and cultural event ever held in the Canary Islands.

Top artists, including Iggy and The Stooges, Marilyn Manson and Fatboy Slim will be flying in to Tenerife for the three-day spectacular on May 24th, 25th and 26th.

A mixed weekend of weather produced waves of half a metre high one day followed by waves of up to five feet on another.

The challenging conditions made for an excellent spectacle as hundreds of people gathered on the El Socorro beach to watch a surfing competition.

Barcelona Football Club has stressed its commitment to Tenerife and the encouragement of young players.

With their backing, two technical schools have been opened, one in the south of the island, the other in the north. FC Barcelona does not envisage others as the club says it prefers quality to quantity.

FCBescola Tenerife has bases in Adeje and in La Matanza and was recently delighted to welcome former player and member of the Blaugrana coaching squad, Julio Alberto to make the official presentation. He was a player for FC Barcelona during the 70s and 80s and is now director of the FC Barcelona School which is responsible for administering the various soccer schools located throughout the world.

The municipal sports hall of Granadilla de Abona hosted the Canary Table Tennis Championships.

The tournament was organised by the Canary Federation for Table Tennis and the municipality’s Department of Sports headed by Marcos González. A large number of athletes came from all parts of the Canary Islands, with Rubén Hernández and Elena López winning the gold. Silver went to Borja Exposito and María Pérez.

The semi-finalists were Francisco Javier Báez and Vicente Pérez (men) and Nayra Duque and Leticia Gil (women). 

 

Life expectancy is increasing.  While this is good news for us as individuals, longevity will place a heavy burden on the state – and the state is not prepared, warns the International Monetary Fund

Gran Canaria is to host a tribute concert to an award-winning musician who brought a whole new dimension to the traditional Canary instrument, the timple.

José Antonio Ramos was born in Las Palmas in 1969 but died suddenly in 2008, leaving a vast legacy. He performed both as a soloist and with national and international artists and was able to play jazz, flamenco, Celtic music and even electronic pop on the timple, a traditional Spanish string instrument.

Eighteen talented musicians will be getting together on May 29th in homage to the JAR Big Band. They will include renowned saxophonist, Andreas Prittwitz who has lived in Spain for over 30 years and produced most of José’s work.

The concert takes place in the Sala Sinfónica at the Auditorium Alfredo Kraus. Ticket details on www.auditorioaflredokraus.com

 

Two leading unions have presented a grim picture of the future that awaits public services in the Canaries following sweeping cuts

Students who protested in La Laguna against rising fees caused considerable damage to the city’s university.

Canary Islands’ president, Paulino Rivero has assured that building work on Tenerife’s new south hospital can continue.

He made his pledge during a visit to the new health centre in San Isidro and guaranteed that three million euros would be allocated in the budget so the long-awaited project would not stall.

Only two weeks ago there was a demonstration in Los Cristianos to protest about the length of time it was taking for the new south hospital to open.

Sr. Rivero blamed the latest delay on modifications in design and funding which, he said, had been demanded by the civic platform Pro Hospital South. As a result of this, a new project had to be drawn up.

Against all the odds, an Adeje project which combines the old with the new has been judged a finalist in a European architectural competition

The “Museo Sacro and Plaza de España de Adeje” had the handicap of not being completed, as well as being up against 346 finished projects from 36 European countries.

The local council is thrilled at the news that it has been recognised in the European Prize for Urban Public Space.

Excavation work to try and find bodies of people murdered in the Canary Islands during the Franco regime has been abandoned.

The decision has been taken following the lack of evidence during digs, particularly on La Palma. However, historians have stressed their research will continue but this will be done through interviews and historical research rather than physical digging.