Whether she is meeting ex President of Portugal Mário Soares or current President of Faro Câmara José Macário Correia, Judy never forgets her that two purposes in life are first the preservation of the Jewish heritage in the Algarve and second the care of the sick and needy.

Judy and Ralf Pinto had holidayed in the Algarve since 1985, and when in 1991 they arrived for a planned 6 month stay, she surprised Ralf by saying she would not be returning to their home in South Africa.  Although her son, then 26, accused her of abandoning him, Judy at the age of 51 had decided that she was going to make a new life here in the Algarve. Ralf left Judy in Portugal to start their ´new life´ and he returned to finish the ´old´one in South Africa. Judy is clearly a determined woman who does not shirk difficult decisions.

The quest for the Holy Grail - Len Port has a personal Holy Grail - it is his desire to write an outstanding novel that is likely to endure for a long time. It would be a novel with a profound theme, a simple plot, great clarity of language and lots of humour, so that it is easy and fun to read.

He has written other books, such as his most recent one on the religious phenomenon of Fátima, but for more than 30 years his personal Holy Grail has eluded him.

Aníbal Cavaco Silva, born and bred in the modest Algarve village of Boliqueime, has secured occupancy for the next five year in Lisbon's Belém Palace, official residence of the President of the Republic of Portugal.

Of the two main candidates in Sunday's presidential election, there was never any doubt that voters would go for the centre-right economist rather than his main rival, Manuel Alegre, a celebrated leftist poet. As expected, Cavaco Silva, 71, won emphatically.

Cavaco Silva is well qualified to be Portugal's head of state at this time of extreme financial difficulty.  Ironically, it was failure as a schoolboy living in Boliqueime that seems to have set him on the path to academic achievement and political success.

Eight years ago this week, former Algarve resident Sue Ellen Allen was sentenced in Phoenix, Arizona to a lengthy prison sentence that turned out to be both horrific and hugely uplifting.  She told me yesterday: “I have so much to celebrate this year. It is a miracle I am alive and I live in constant gratitude.”

In 1994, Sue Ellen and her husband, David Grammer, were indicted by a grand jury and charged with defrauding US investors of around 1.1 million dollars.  After pleading not guilty but believing they had little chance of acquittal, they absconded. In 1995 they were tried and convicted in their absence.

 THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL! There could not be a more apt motto to describe the philosophy of Dr António Paula Brito de Pina, President of APOS (Associação de Valorização do Património Cultural e Ambiental de Olhão).

President since the inauguration of the Association in 2006, for 25 years António was also a deputy for the Partido Socialista in the Olhão Assembly.

 The Algarve is well known for its superb climate, wonderful beaches, dozens of golf courses and of course the fast disappearing traditional way of life.  The Câmaras of the Algarve are at last beginning to market their patrimony and cultural life is beginning to blossom.

Peter and I came to Portugal 11 years ago and while he has spent much of his time researching and lecturing on Portuguese history, I used my professional training and experience to establish the Amigos do Museu in São Brás.  When Amigos was able to continue independently I left, and began to write articles on Portuguese history for the e-newspaper Get Real . 

The term carbon footprint has become something of a cliché but if we take time to look beyond the cliché and to examine the environmental and financial costs of energy inefficiency now and in the future, we may easily see that inefficient use of our energy resource makes no sense.

Jes Mainwaring believes passionately in the efficient use of energy in buildings and as an architect he is in a position to live up to his ideals.  "A building can be environmentally sound, energy efficient, highly practical and attractive to look at; and the extra building cost can be rapidly recouped in the savings on energy expenditure," he says.

The production of an archive of ´living legends´ in the Algarve has already assumed a different character.  Many people have written to getreal  to urge that the archive should include those concerned with matters other than pure culture.  I certainly agree.  

There are masses of people who are working hard and are making a difference to the way of life here in the Algarve.  One of longest serving of these individuals is Nan Richardson, who has been running the Refúgio dos Burros (Donkey Sanctuary) in Estômbar for nearly 20 years.