Almancil International Rotary Club (AIRC) celebrated the end of the Rotary year in style on 5 July with a grand dinner meeting held at the Conrad Hotel in Quinta do Lago. With a delicious meal prepared by the Conrad chefs, the meeting was attended by more than 90 Rotarians and guests.

Outgoing President Hermes Alberto outlined the achievements of the club during his term which included many fund-raising events which helped local charities and schools including donations to Associação Social e Cultural de Almancil towards a new crèche, surfing and paddle boarding lessons for children with special needs, dental treatment for adults with learning disabilities and much more. He praised all the members who had worked so hard on the Rotary Youth Exchange Scheme and, not forgetting the school’s cookery competition organised by Rotarians Alan Winn and Peter Hinze.

Estoi Palace International Rotary Club (RCEPI) held its annual Presidential handover on 30th June at Aquarelle Restaurant in Almancil. Outgoing President, Jim Ditheridge, reflected on what a fantastic year the Club had experienced. Almost 25.000 euros was donated to local projects including the Algarve Oncology Association Mobile Breast Screening Unit, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, ACAPO Association for the blind, ReFood, Riding for the Disabled, Education and many more worthy causes.

Four years ago the Algarve Oncology Association (AOA) gave a presentation to the Estoi Palace International Rotary Club and an idea was born to help them with the purchase of a much needed new mobile breast screening unit with state of the art technology.

The original vision changed slightly along the way, as the AOA applied for European funding to supply the state of the art equipment, including tomosynthesis which improves detection rates, and also to fund a research project as breast cancer in the Algarve. The world average of breast cancer per 100.000 is 55.14 women, the European average is 73.8 women and in the Southern Algarve a staggering 91.6 women, so the need for high tech detecting equipment was critical.

The Nandi Charity Shop is a registered charity supporting the needs of stray and abandoned animals in the western Algarve. It operates two shops in Lagos, selling second-hand clothes, handbags, books, household items, toys and furniture.

After the heat wave the sunny skies were replaced by damp cloudy conditions for the start of the June ride in Paderne. The possible threat of a sudden shower did not stop 18 riders taking part in the ride on the 21st. 

Lead rider Bris Phillips led the ride up into the hills to Cachopo where a stop was made at the cafe in the village square. By this time the sun had arrived and it was nice to enjoy a break and a drink under the vines which shade the outside terrace.

It has been a busy scholastic year of preparation for 51 of the many disabled young people in the Algarve who ride horses and ponies for their recreation, therapy and sport. These youngsters come from a variety of schools or institutions and usually ride weekly at various riding schools in the Algarve: QPA Bensafrim, Pinetrees Almancil, Vilamoura Equestrian School, and Loulé Riding Club.

A Rotary club is not usually where you would expect to find romance but for four members of Almancil International Rotary Club (AIRC) this is precisely what happened. Claire Rusbridge, a widow, joined the club in the summer of 2015 hoping to make some new friends.
In September 2015 she went with a few members to Cork in Ireland for a Rotary Convention. It just so happened that Alexander (Sandy), also widowed was also at the convention and spotted Claire. The attraction for both was instant and soon afterwards Sandy joined Claire in Portugal and transferred to become a member of AIRC. It didn’t take him long to propose and they were recently married at Os Agostas in Santa Barbara de Nexe.

The 15th Annual General Meeting of the St. Patrick's Society of the Algarve was held in the Lagoa Hotel on Thursday May 18th. 35 members attended the meeting and the dinner following.
After a lively discussion regarding the future of the Society, the following members were elected as officers for the year 2017 / 2018:
Chairman : Jim Brownlow.
Secretary : Teresa Ferreira.
Treasurer : Neil Rodgers.