The Anglican Chaplaincy of St. Andrew,
Costa Del Sol East, Spain
News Archive
2019
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Thank you December 2019
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Christmas Fair November 2019
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Visit to Recycling Centre November 2019
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Autumn Fair at Calahonda October 2019
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Quiet Day on Creation October 2019
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Harvest Thanksgiving October 2019
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Joint Chaplaincy Eucharist September 2019
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Bring and Share Lunch September 2019
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Welcome to our Church Wardens July 2019
Thank you
Many thanks indeed to everyone who has helped and supported recent social & fund raising events - the Christmas Fair, A Touch Of Class Christmas Show, Wednesday Coffee Mornings, Iceland bag-backers and Carollers and also everyone who helped with the Carol Services and refreshments afterwards. Plus the extra lesson readers & Welcomers!
You may be interested to know that Prayer Cards from the Candle Appeal were sent locally, the UK, France, USA & even Wales! With 309€ raised for Chaplaincy funds. There have been some lovely comments from recipients ~ it’s always good to know that we are remembered…
Christmas Fair 2019
We all got in the Christmas spirit early when we held our Christmas Fair at Los Boliches on 23rd November. The fair was a great success and enjoyed by all. It was organised by Sheila with the help of members of the Church from all four locations. It is always a joy to have some of us from each centres together, and so many others who contributed to the event to make it such a success.
Thankfully the rains had cleared, but as it was too cold to have chairs and tables outside it was quite hectic inside. A big cheer and thank you to all who worked so hard and gave so generously raising 1438 euros for the Church.
Visit to the recycling centre
On Friday 15th November nine members of St Andrew’s visited Urbaser, the recycling and sorting plant in Casares to learn more about the processes carried out to sort and manage our waste.
The Church of England´s five marks of mission aims to support, encourage and enable the whole Church of England to pray, speak and act prophetically on environmental issues, which threaten the flourishing of the whole of creation.
“The moral crisis of climate change is an opportunity to find purpose and joy, and to respond to our creator’s charge. Reducing the causes of climate change is essential to the life of faith. It is a way to love our neighbour and to steward the gift of creation.” Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
With this in mind Hilary Tompkins kindly organised our trip to the Urbaser Plant on a coach trip which was organised by La Cala De Mijas Ayuntamiento. The Foreigners Department were instrumental in organising the visit. Aranzazu Lopez, the councillor for FRD and the environment initiated it..
Urbaser's broad aim is to process waste so more is recycled and less ends up in landfills, reducing the environmental impact.
The Urbaser plant processes waste from 516,600 inhabitants (rising to 2 million in the Summer) from western Costa del Sol, which comprises of 11 municipalities from Torremolinos to Manilva. This means the treatment of 350,000 tons of waste per year. The plant runs 24 hours a day 365 days a year with a staff of 300.
We arrived on a sunny crisp morning and visited the various processing areas of the plant on the coach.
First, we saw that when a lorry load of general ‘organic’ rubbish arrives large items such as furniture, white goods, computers and electrical items are removed. (These of course should not have been put in the bins but taken to the Punto Limpio). The rubbish then goes through manual, mechanical (including a huge washing type machine) and magnetic processes to remove as much recyclable material as possible.
We all have access to recycling bins but the sad fact is that the other waste bin for ‘organic’ material only contains 5% of organic waste! There is a huge number of items put in these bins, such as glass, plastic and cardboard, that should be placed in the other recycling bins.
The recyclable material extracted is further sorted and compacted into cubes ready to be transported to specialist recycling centres. For instance, there are 6 or 7 types of plastic that have to be separated.
What is left of the ‘other’ waste is divided into organic and none organic.
The non organic is compressed into cubes and behind the plant they are literally building a mountain from it. They are layering cubes, then covering with soil, to build the man-made mountain which has chimneys to release gasses produced by the waste. The waste also produces liquid which is taken away to a specialist plant to purify.
The organic waste is fermented for two months to produce compost. This is then filtered and a further 2% of glass is extracted before being sold.
At the end of the tour we went into the lecture theatre and saw a film further explaining what the plant does, and were able to ask questions.
The feeling from those that attended the visit was that there should be more publicity on what exactly is able to be put into the recycling bins. There is still a lot of confusion about this, in particularly what plastic items are accepted.
This is a very good article with information on what goes in which bin:
https://twostepsfreelance.com/2019/10/18/recycling-in-malaga-part-ii/
350,000 tonnes of waste a year is a huge amount, perhaps we should all examine not only how much we can recycle, but try to cut down on how much we produce, by choosing how we buy our products, how they are packaged, and not buying unnecessary items that end up in the bin! Plastic is a real cause for concern. There are links to interesting articles below.
At the end of our visit we were given a ‘goody bag’ of items that had been created using recycled materials. I hope we all make good use of them and they do not end up back in the waste too soon!
Thank you Hilary for organising this interesting and thought provoking trip.
Useful links:
Facebook group abot recycling in our area:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2163521540628002/
An interesting article to read:
https://twostepsfreelance.com/2019/10/18/recycling-in-malaga-part-i/
Article on what goes in which bin
https://twostepsfreelance.com/2019/10/18/recycling-in-malaga-part-ii/
An article regarding Plastic
https://twostepsfreelance.com/2019/06/26/plastic-is-not-fantastic/
Urbaser website:
https://www.urbaser.com/en/
Urbaser info sheet on Casares Plant
https://www.urbaser.com/descargas/fichas_ingles/costa_del_sol_in.pdf
If you would like to watch the video that we watched in the lecture theatre you can find it here (in Spanish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1uI9woaJQ8
Autumn Fair at Calahonda
With the weather forecast predicting rain, we were delighted to hold our Autumn Fair in glorious sunshine on Saturday 19th October at Calahonda.
The day began on a high and ended even higher. We had representation from all the churches in our chaplaincy which was lovely. Our own Fr. Nigel worked tirelessly along side Rev John Sutton cooking bacon and sausages for an endless line of diners.
There were stalls rented by none church members and a well stocked bar run by the Lions Club La Cala. The visitors were kept entertained by A Touch of Class and Reflections (barber shop).
We ate and drank, bought some interesting stuff, chatted, and were entertained. It was a good Chaplaincy day out. Pauline Hulme co-ordinated the day and a whole team put it all together. Well done, everyone, thank you Heavenly Father for giving us the strength to do it.
Like any other event it took a lot of hard work, planning, publicity, preparing the goods, setting up tables and chairs and gathering together bottles, bric-a-brac, crafts and food and drink, and clearing away, but it was done with good servants’ happy hearts.
Seeds were planted, and good will extended to the local community including a local lady who had never been to church before. To our great delight she arrived the day after for our 9.30 service, and on top of all this a good amount of money has been raised for our Chaplaincy. Such LOVE.
I don't think anyone could have failed to soak up the happy friendly welcoming atmosphere from start to finish.
Quiet Day on CREATION
On Friday 11th October fifteen of us enjoyed a quiet day at the home of Linda and Peter Hammond. The morning was spent exploring various reflections on creation that Linda had set up around the garden, lots of food for thought and discussion when we got back together. Food of a different kind was enjoyed with a delicious ‘bring and share’ lunch. Then in the afternoon we had to get our brains working with a quiz Hilary had prepared for us on Environmental issues. The day concluded with a Celtic Communion Service at where we all handed in pledges of efforts we are going to make individually to help the environment. Thank you to Peter and Linda for their hospitality and also to Hilary for all the hard work involved in preparing the day. We came away inspired to do more to care for God’s wonderful gift to us of this world which we enjoy.
Harvest Thanksgiving
The Harvest Thanksgiving Services took place on Sunday 6th October. Services took place at all four worship centres at the usual service times, Alhaurins being an ‘informal’ eucharist for all the family, and in the evening at 6pm there was a joint Harvest Praise Service featuring the TAPAS choir, followed by refreshments. Harvest gifts of dried and tinned food were collected to support local Caritas
Joint Chaplaincy Eucharist
September 29th 2019
The Joint Chaplaincy Eucharist at Benalmádena followed by brunch was well attended this morning, and enjoyed by all. Thanks to all those involved :)
Bring and Share Lunch
September 8th 2019
Who knew that there was a ‘Buy your Priest a beer day’?
There is! It is on the 9th September, so the folk from Alhaurín took the opportunity to do just that at the ‘bring and share’ lunch held after the service on 8th September.
We met together for a bring and share lunch at the home of Andrew and Alan along with friends and neighbours, and were able to gift the three Priests present with a bottle of Spain’s finest!
It was a very enjoyable afternoon with delicious food and good company. Our ‘Bring and Share’ lunches have not been held for some time, but hopefully this will be the first of many more. Thank you very much Andrew and Alan for your hospitality.
If you would like to host a ´bring and Share Lunch´? If don’t have enough tables and chairs etc, don´t worry we can help out. We just need the offer of a garden and a willing host.
Please contact Caroline on 697 867 377 or email carriemachome@gmail.com
Welcome to our Church Wardens
July 2019
This month our newly elected churchwardens were officially welcomed into their posts.
John Brown was welcomed during a service at Alhaurin and Jen Sutton during a service at Calahonda. We wish them both the very best as they carry out their duties throughout the Chaplaincy.
If you don’t already know Jen or John, here is a short introduction. They have a wealth of experience between them and would delighted to meet you and have a chat, so please introduce yourself when you see them around the churches.
Jen:
“Hi, my name is Jen Sutton. Lots of you know me already, but if you don’t “This is me” as the song from The Biggest Showman says!!
My Christian Ministry really began in Peru where my husband John and I lived for eight years as part of the church planting team of the newly formed Diocese of Peru and Bolivia. That was back in 1976.
We returned to UK where John continued working for the South American Mission Society. I brought up three children and I also taught Spanish. In UK we were members of the fabulous All Saints, Woodford Wells in the East of London on the Essex border. From there to Hornchurch where we enjoyed three years of ministry.
In 2014 Spain became our home and St Andrews Chaplaincy became our attending church. I was church warden from 2016 until Oct 2017, and after a break got on board again in April 2019.
I am excited about working with Rev Nigel Stimpson and my fellow warden John Brown, as well as the Council and all the congregations to explore what God has in store for us all. I pray we may all be truly blessed in the months and years ahead.”
John:
“I was born in a small Scottish town called Wishaw, moved to England to Warrington, and from there to Southport before moving to Spain with my wife Sue in May 2017.
I have a long background of being involved with the Church, serving as an officer in the Boys Brigade before becoming and Elder in the Church of Scotland.
On moving to England, I worshipped within the United Reformed Church and the Congregational Church, working as their National Youth and Development officer for a period of 25 years.
I provided support and motivation to Churches up and down the country. During this time, I prepared and led worship and encouraged people of all ages to develop their faith. This included many trips to the Holy Land and other opportunities for people to explore their faith.
I am excited and privileged to serve St. Andrew’s as Church Warden and look forward to us all working together and sharing our faith journey.”