PUBLISHED BY THEOWNERS CLUBHOUSE S.L

EDITION 41

1st NOVEMBER, 2017

O N - L I N E N E W S L E T T E R

IN THIS MONTHS PACKED ISSUEANDREW ROBSON, BRIDGE MASTER CLASS - HALLOWEEN LIVE MUSIC NIGHT - 25th

NOVEMBER RACE NIGHT - NOVEMBER & DECEMBER EVENTS - CLUBHOUSE FRIENDS, DAVID & ELLIE SIMONS - INFORMATION EXCHANGE: DRIVING IN SPAIN

Dear Fellow Owners,.

As ever, the Owners Clubhouse continues to develop and embrace change, with something on offer to suit all tastes.

The 29th September saw Andrew Robson, the UK?s number one ranked bridge player, sharing his knowledge with La Manga Club Owners. What a coup for Jo Fish and the rest of our bridge stalwarts! .

On the 25th October the Clubhouse was invaded by police, thankfully in a friendly way, when the N332 Road Safety Organisation staged their informative and enlightening "Driving in Spain" presentation, giving many of the 80+ owners in attendance much to think about. 

Live music returned to the Clubhouse when the ever-popular Jenna McNeil and owner Dave Lee closed a fabulous Halloween Party at the Clubhouse on Tuesday, 31st October..

Recently a brand new, state of the art Bose sound system was installed on the rear dining terrace. Featuring individually controllable speakers, the system will allow performers to be heard wherever diners are seated. At the same time a soon to be fitted noise baffle screen will limit sound going in the direction of our Los Molinos neighbours.

"Clubhouse Friends" features ?regulars? David and Ellie Simons, who are long -time supporters of the

Clubhouse and make full use its facilities, particularly the bar and restaurant! .

Next month, the 25th November sees the return of the popular Race Night evenings. Come along! -  it will be a fun night and there will be winners!!! Also during November, Gill is planning a couple of mid-month Christmas shopping trips to nearby

Cartagena and La Zenia. Watch the Facebook page for dates. ..

Finally, a big thank you to Rosie Rodenhurst and her enthusiastic team of helpers for giving up their time to decorate the Clubhouse for Christmas. As ever, the Christmas Day lunch and New Year?s Eve party are sell-outs. .

With best wishes,

Stewart HarrisChairman, Owners Clubhouse

Three days w ith the world?s top bridge teacher. A report by David Simons.

La Manga Club welcomed the UK?s number one ranked bridge player, and probably the world?s best teacher, Andrew Robson, when he held a three day masterclass at the Owner?s Clubhouse at the end of September 

It was summer 2016, and over a glass of wine (or two) Jo and Robin Fish were extolling the teaching and playing skills of Andrew Robson. Andrew  writes the weekday bridge column in The Times, has played for many years at international

level and continues to be a  regular in the England team. He has also played with most of the most famous names in the bridge world and has written numerous books, virtually all of which have been read by Jo.

Jo thought (out loud) about how wonderful it would be if we could persuade him to come and teach at La Manga.

I was with Jo and Robin at the time and had previously arranged for Andrew to teach at Cheltenham Bridge Club, but didn?t know whether he would travel overseas. I wrote to him and just over a year later La Manga Bridge Club enjoyed the best three days it has ever experienced. We set a limit of 50 attendees, twelve tables of four plus Jo and I as standbys in case anyone had to drop out for any session.

During the three days we covered topics as varied as how to bid those hands where you may not have lots

of aces and kings, but have unusual distributions, to how to listen to the bidding and watch the play of opponents to determine

which of your opponents holds a specific card ?not by guesswork, but by deduction.

Andrew does not believe in standing in front of an audience and lecturing, but instead has ingenious sets of magic cards which enable each of the twelve tables to be playing  the same hands simultaneously. The hands would have a particular point of interest and by us playing them first, and then again with Andrew leading us through them, the penny would drop. The idea that eight or nine hours of bridge in a

day might be too much for some was quickly dispelled ? the enthusiasm, laughter and general noise levels confirmed people were enjoying themselves. However, Jo and I were slightly disappointed that our role of standbys was hardly ever needed!

ANDREW ROBSON - BRIDGE MASTER CLASS

ANDREW ROBSON

The evening sessions consisted of supervised play in which Andrew spent time at each table giving individual advice, and playing the occasional hand. These two sessions proved amongst the most popular. On the last  night, as it over-ran, we had to call it a day around 10.30pm, much to the disappointment of some who wanted to stay through the night ? but we had started the masterclass at 10am, some twelve hours earlier.

One of the funniest moments took place on the last evening when four of our members, Vicky and Jerry Saunders and

Andy and Julie Patterson tried to catch Andrew out by recreating the famous hand from Moonraker, the James Bond movie.

In the film, Bond plays against Hugo Drax, the evil villain, in a high stakes game of bridge and takes him to the cleaners with a hand where Bond (aka Jerry) has only three picture cards, the Ace and Queen of clubs and the Queen of diamonds. Drax (aka Andy) has all the remaining high cards and yet is powerless to stop Bond making all 13 tricks with clubs as trumps. Bond girls Vicky (aka Bridget Isgood) and Julie (aka Leteisha Zeebridgeplayer)  watched on with amusement, as Andrew was called over for advice on how to play the hand. Andrew hesitated for just a moment, then burst into laughter as he realised the spoof!

The event cannot pass without mentioning Joaquin and the staff at the Owners Clubhouse. The food was fabulous and

the service second to none, particularly as the breaks were relatively short because we wanted to get back to more bridge

The Bridge Club owes a huge debt of gratitude to Jo Fish for having the original idea and organising the event, and massive thanks to Andrew for giving us so much fun. The only  conversation at the end was when can we get him back again.

ANDREW ROBSON - BRIDGE MASTER CLASS

Left to r ight : ANDREW ROBSON, JO FISH & DAVID SIMONS

It has been many months since there has been an inside live music event at the Clubhouse, let alone one which offered the opportunity to come in fancy dress. So, the 31st October Halloween Live Music Night party was eagerly awaited.

The star turn professional was the ever popular Jenna McNeil, and the LMC owner performer guitarist Dave Lee, though as we were to see later, inferring Dave is anything other than an accomplished musician, who would walk into most professional bands, would be a gross misrepresentation of his talents. 

In the days running up to the event Rosie Rodenhurst and her band of helpers transformed the Clubhouse

into a truly wondrous, magical and scary Halloween-themed space, the perfect setting for the night to come.

The evening started with welcome drinks and within

minutes it was apparent that owners had really entered into the spirit (forgive the dreadful pun) of the night, as ghouls, witches and walking dead appeared in their droves.

Joaquin and his team served up a great meal, which ended with a coffin shaped chocolate desert, a really brilliant idea.

HALLOWEEN LIVE MUSIC NIGHT

The judges, Stewart Harris, Gill Schofield and Peter Morrow, circulated and chose the winners of the fancy dress competition. A difficult task, as the effort people had put in was amazing. However, eventually Stewart called up and presented prizes to >

Best man Ken Knight, runner up Chris Hewlett, best lady Ellie Simons, and runner up Maureen Cummings.

The children also had fabulous costumes and Miles 10, Charlie 13 and Grace 9 (above, left to right) got a green spider ieach n recognition of their efforts.

The live music opened with a fantastic set from Las Brisas owner Dave Lee. His guitar playing is brilliant and so it was no surprise to see the dance floor rapidly fill with enthusiastic dancers. Witchy Woman attracting a coven of Macbeth style witches, who danced along in a suitably scary way!

Next came Jenna McNeil?s long awaited return to the Clubhouse stage and being the professional she is, she didn?t disappoint. There was not a spare space on the dance floor and Jenna?s final song, Uptown Funk, produced some fantastic moves, not all orthodox, it is true, but fantastic nonetheless!

Finally, Dave Lee joined Jenna to give fantastic renditions of the Bryan Adams classic, Summer of 69, and Rockin all over the World, the iconic Status Quo anthem. The two of them together were absolutely brilliant. Let?s do it all over again at next year's Halloween party. Make a note in your diaries.

Our thanks go to the many people who helped Gill Schofield organise the night, and also to Joaquin and his boys and .girls for looking after us so well.

HALLOWEEN LIVE MUSIC NIGHT

Lef t t o r ight : WINNERS KEN KNIGHT & ELLIE SIMONS

DAVE LEE

JENNA McNEIL

November started with sponsor Margarete Hell ings giving a presentation Senior Co-housing.

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Hot on the heels of last months hugely successful Halloween Live Music Night comes entertainment of a different type, with the return of the popular Race Nights on Saturday, 25th November.

December is always a special month at the Clubhouse and the demand for the Christmas lunch and New Year's Eve Party was huge as ever. So much so that both events are sold-out and have long waiting lists.

In view of this may the committee ask for the cooperation of Owners

on one aspect of the booking process.

Some people are not only booking for both Clubhouse events, but also for Christmas day and New Year's Eve events at other venues, They are then deciding which to attend days before the functions and

cancelling their other bookings.

This practice often denies other Owners the opportunity to attend the Clubhouse festive events, as by the time

multiple venue bookers cancel, Owners on the waiting lists have already been forced to make alternative arrangements.

We are sure Owners who make multiple bookings simply don't appreciate the consequences of cancelling late in the day.

However, the reality is that it does cause problems and so we respectfully ask Owners to stop this practice. Thank you.

If there is sufficient demand, Gill Schofield, Clubhouse Event Manager would be happy to organise Christmas shopping trips to La Zenia, Cartagena, or Murcia. Please email her on

NOVEMBER & DECEMBER EVENTS

What, brief ly lead you to La Manga Club?

David: In my working days, when I was running Somerfield Supermarkets, we used to hold a celebrity charity golf tournament. I didn?t play golf but attended in the evening to present the prizes. One year, about 20 years ago, at the presentation dinner I was sitting next to (the very lovely) Debbie McGee talking about golf , and  the fact that we were both at a golf dinner but didn?t play the game. We decided to try and learn the game enough to play together in the competition the following year. Rachel Heyhoe Flint who was also at the dinner was telling me how good La Manga was  and how the Academy was a great place to learn the game. I came here, went to the Academy, ...Debbie and I played together in the competition the following year...and we duly came last...but I fell in love with La Manga.

Ell ie: My story is simpler. I had been on my own for about ten years, was travelling to Spain to look at progress on a property I was having built at Roda and to spend time with my then boyfriend . On the EasyJet flight to Murcia, I sat next to David, who had been divorced and on his own about 10 minutes (slight exaggeration)... and the rest as they say, is history. This was 2008!

Which community do you l ive in and when did you f irst buy at LMC?

We live in Viewpoint which as the name suggests has fabulous views of the Mediterranean. 

When did you f irst visit the Clubhouse and how does that compare to today?

Neither of us can remember our first visit to the Clubhouse

(what a surprise!) but both recognise how much it has improved over the last few years. The food, the menu and service  are all so much better and this has led to a vibrancy that wasn?t there before.

What 's your favourite meal and why?

Ell ie: Dover sole and I love the freshness of the vegetables that usually come with it.

David: Harder question for me as I love so many of the dishes but probably if pushed would go for suckling pig, with lots of crackling.

Favourite member of the Clubhouse staff ?

All so very friendly and really hard to choose so rather than name a member of staff, we particularly have loved going when Gina Louise is singing.

Favourite ?t ipple'?

El l ie: Gin and tonic.

David: A good bottle of red wine.

Standing at the bar or sit t ing down? Indoors or outdoors?

Indoors sitting down in bar area, wins every time .

Best funct ion or event you've at tended at the Clubhouse?

David: Has to be the Andrew Robson bridge masterclass.

Ell ie: The two pink parties, this year and last year, were both been such fun. However, we are writing this a couple of weeks before Halloween ?.. which is also bound to be a fun night.

Fondest memory of the Owners Clubhouse, and do visit ing family and friends l ike to use it?

So many, and we do enjoy taking family and friends to the Owners Clubhouse.

FRIENDS OF THE CLUBHOUSE - DAVID & ELLIE SIMONS

ELLIE , HALLOWEEN NIGHT

INFORMATION EXCHANGE - DRIVING IN SPAIN

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POLICE ROAD SAFETY AWARENESS GROUP.

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The long arm of the law has finally caught up with the Owners?Clubhouse at LMC???. but in a posit ive and constructive manner, reports Lindsay Biscomb.

On Wednesday 25th October a packed Clubhouse, some 88 people, was treated to an informative and entertaining presentation on driving safely and legally on Spanish roads.  Mark, from the local, voluntary,

road safety awareness group, N332 and Francesco, a member of the Guardia Civil traffic branch, covered a wide range of topics designed to dispel any uncertainties about driving the roads of Spain. 

Francesco began by pointing out those documents that should be stowed in the car when driving.  Some of these are mandatory but all are advisable.  They include the ?Permiso de Circulacion? (Log Book) and where applicable, the ITV Card (M.O.T. Certificate).  Additionally, your Driving Licence, Insurance Certificate and your ITB Ticket, which needs to be displayed in the upper right- hand corner of the windscreen. However, notarised copies of the above documents are acceptable if the originals are not available.  Note also, that just having your driving licence number will suffice. Remember though, without some evidence of a current driving licence, you will be committing a criminal offence.

Guidance was also offered in the event of an accident. It is only necessary to call the police if the other driver has no evidence of their driving licence, injuries have been sustained by one or more parties, driving under the influence of alcohol/ drugs is suspected or there is a very clear dispute about who is responsible for causing the accident.

One extremely useful piece of advice was what number to call should you be involved in an accident. If a Spanish speaker, call 062; if a non-Spanish speaker the emergency number Is 112.

N332

INFORMATION EXCHANGE - DRIVING IN SPAIN

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POLICE ROAD SAFETY AWARENESS GROUP.

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.Mark spent some time discussing those obligatory safety items to be carried in the car while driving:

2 x warning triangles (to be placed 50 metres from the vehicle but visible from 100 metres).

? ?1 x high visibility jacket .

? ?Spare wheel (although recently manufactured cars hold toolkits to re-inflate the wheel).

? ?Tool kits to fix the punctured wheel.

? ?Fire extinguisher ? but only when pulling a trailer, or caravan.

Helpful suggestions were made as to how roundabouts should be negotiated as well as general advice using mobile phones, blue tooth and GPS devices in the car. Mark further enlightened the audience about the advanced technology currently in

use by Spain?s traffic police. From the Pegasus radar equipment on board helicopters in the service of the traffic police to the drones that can be launched from patrol cars to monitor traffic. From the DGT app which gives road updates on the weather, traffic jams and roadworks to the Traffic Eye which is found mainly on the motorways to monitor seatbelt and illegal mobile phone usage. Mark concluded by reminding all of us that there is a website ? www.dgt.es ? which provides a huge amount of valuable information about driving in Spain. 

As a finale to the evening Mark introduced us to one of his organisation?s sponsors, Securitas Direct. Lisa and Angel from the company provided a valuable overview of their personal and home security devices which they sell in Spain and elsewhere. These are technically very advanced, comprehensive, reliable and robust but most significantly, simple to use.  

Many thanks to N332 and Securitas Direct for a most illuminating evening.

In conclusion, it is stating the obvious that a well maintained vehicle is always going to be safer and also less likely to attract the attention of police. With this in mind it is important to use the services of a reliable and professional garage, such as Ross Motor based in Los Belones. English and Spanish speaking, they will keep you on the road and hopefully give you peace of mind when dealing with the authorities generally.

N332

SPONSOR OF THE MONTH: ROSS MOTOR

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Three years ago the Clubhouse terrace was a bare, unattractive space, which was tired and devoid of atmosphere, as the photograph below illustrates. Contrast this with the image two down, What a contrast!

New toldos have been added and the gardens transformed, making the Clubhouse probably the best dining space on the resort. Not content with all this, a new, state of the art, multi-speaker Bose sound system has recently been installed, which produces fabulous quality sound and delivers it to every corner of the terrace.

A NEW SOUND SYSTEM FOR THE DINING TERRACE