Hi Paula
we are using fiesta.net website to find out dates, Theres been a lot of discussion about this on the quesadalife website so there is some local info on there regarding dates

In Benijofar, the fiesta of San Jaime is on the 25th July but the celebrations start the Sunday before with the offering of flowers and the crowning of the Queen and her maids of honour. In Rojales it is the fiesta of San Pedro and that is on the 29th June so again celebrations around this date. Hope this helps!!

Thanks for these dates - nice to have an idea of when the fiestas are particularly as we too have family coming over and it is nice for them to see the parades.

Why not add your details to our Events page to remind people! and dont forget you can advertise free on our Services page!

You have to be a citizen of the E.U. and be an official resident in Spain registered on the local Ayuntamiento padron, when its election time you will receive your voting card and the address of the voting office, usually a school or other local public building where you cast your vote.

Okay it's that time again, Sunday the 22nd of May local election time. Your chance to make a difference, if you are eligible to vote you can have your say. If you have voted before ignore this, if not, here is a brief explanation:
1: On polling day go to the polling station, if you live on any of the urbanisations, that will be the centro municipal, plaza blanca, in front of Goyo’s, between 9 am and 8 pm.
2: Have with you your voting card if you received it (not essential) and your passport, or residencia and as much ID as you can muster( you can never have too much paper)
3: You will find there are 3 voting tables called mesas, if you have your voting card it will tell you which table (mesa), if you don’t have the card then you will have to look through the lists which are hanging up to find your name and which table to vote on.
4: The voting envelope, in the polling station there is a booth, in the booth you will find envelopes and lists, choose the list which you wish to vote for (example; PP) this list has 24 candidates, fold the list and place in the envelope, VERY IMPORTANT Only 1 list per envelope, you must not mark in any way the list, your vote is 1 list in 1 envelope there are no pens in the booth because there is no need, do not underline or put an X, no marks whatsoever.
5: On the table you will see a transparent plastic box this is where you place your vote, when you approach the table you will be asked to identify yourself, hand over your ID the president of the table will read out your name and several scrutineers will mark you from their list, that way you only vote once, you then place your envelope in the box.

That is it you have voted
But who should you vote for …………. Coming soon

One member of the Eye on Spain forum who actually lives in Lorca posted on 13th May ..

"Been in & around town today & it's not looking good at all. There was really nothing open whatsoever as they are still inspecting all the buildings. The Architects & Surveyors have a colour coding scheme for damage; Green – No danger to occupyYellow – The owners can enter to collect their valuables etc, but they may not stay as important building work is needed, or the property may be demolished Black, or in some cases Red – No entry at all because of the danger of immediate collapse.
Nearly 6 out of 10 buildings so far inspected all over town are yellow ,red or black. There's not many green at all.For those of you who have visited Lorca & entered by coming off the autovia at j591 down to the fountain roundabout & turned left into the western end of town ( La Viña ), vast areas around here are to be demolished, including 2 out of the 4 apartment blocks on the left & possibly a 3rd. The opposite side of the road fares slightly better but behind is where the 3 story block collapsed (they'll be looking at the construction of this as it wasn't that old !)
The situation is no better at the eastern end of town with many buildings marked for demolition. Of the 3 mercadonas in town none are open ( The one in La Viña is quite likely to be demolished ), the old Eroski centro comercial San Diego is closed although the car park is being used for parking & the road by the main exit , has an emergency field hospital in it. The majority of the main street is closed off . The only supermarket, apart from some smaller ones that is open is the Eroski Parque Almenara ! Where I live in Campillo , quite close to the Parque Almenara, the small village supermarket had people queuing this morning !
The Huerta de la Rueda where the Thursday market is held is an emergency centre combined with rescue workers tents & accomodation & emergency food & water supplies. There's quite a few around here that are likely to be demolished , including the Convento de religiosas Clarissas which is a building of historical importance & will obviously be rebuilt as it's a listed building .
No matter where you turned there were people taking what belongings they could carry from their apartments, those that were considered safe to enter, & loading them in cars & vans. Others could only look at buildings that are in imminent danger of collapse & no one is going to be allowed to enter & will be demolished along with everything inside. In all honesty the amount of fachadas cracked, broken , some barely hanging on to buildings in every street you looked down , makes you wonder how they are allowing anyone to be in the town at all. We helped people carrying stuff to their car but they couldn't take everything & what's left they were hoping to be allowed back for.
The scale of the damage I found was far more than I was expecting , & there's not a part of the town that does not have vast amounts of buildings marked for demolition. If this had occurred in the UK I don't think they would be allowing anyone into the whole of the town , due to H&S, it's THAT BAD! This is going to take many, many years to sort out."

then this afternoon 15th May he posted further ..

"I've just been in earlier & it's even worse than I 1st posted . I had to come back through parts I wasn't in the other day & there's no part, nor...th ,south, east west that isn't badly damaged. There is no direct access from any part of the town to any other part. mind you , on the bright side in the areas that are only superficially damaged the builders are hard at work on repairs & the building companies are delivering materials ...... on a Sunday !"

Hi Bonnie
I also fly out Sunday for 5 days but the weather is looking ok as far as I can see, mostly sunny, fingers crossed.

Look here its the official Spanish weather site.
http://www.aemet.es/es/eltiempo/prediccion/localidades/torrevieja-03650

Monday forecast to be great, 20-30% chance of rain for the rest of the week, sorry. Maz

How long do they go on for and what is the cost?

BRAND NEW to the Costa Blanca, Shadoogie are a good time band, playing the sounds of the shadows and the best of rock and roll.

Scroll down a bit and you will see the Artists that are on at Hillside this month
http://www.spain-info.co.uk/La-Marina/Hillside-Aquapark.htm

Well we all got there OK ordered food then POWER CUT waited for a while now starving so left and went to Rojales for Chinese. So still have not seen this trio Shadoogio, anyone know where they are apearing next???????????

Or even the trio called Shadoogie ha ha

Don't worry Daisy, from what I've seen you havn't missed much.

Actually Sue, as they were doing their warming up at the beginning of the evening they sounded quite good. But that was all we heard. What a Shame.......I said Oh What a Shame he he xx