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Spring Fair at Holy Trinity
3rd May 2008.

We will be holding a Spring Fair this year in the Church Grounds from 10.00 am – 2.00 pm.
If you would like to help either:
To run a stall
To help on a stall – Help on the day
To be involved in assisting with Refreshments Have any goods which you feel we could sell?

Please contact Val or Jim Thwaites 291 220 452
email: vandjthwaites@yahoo.co.uk

It is our aim to have the following stalls:

Cakes Preserves Plant Stalls Books The Church Stall Bottle Stall New Goods Bric-a –Brac
(no more needed Thank you!!)

Tombola

PLUS ANY OTHER BRIGHT IDEAS.

We would be happy for people to run their own stall, and give us a negotiated donation, and provide their own table.

Theme: “The Dances of the Flowers”Programme
26 March

6 p.m. – Exhibition: THE SPLENDOUR OF FLOWERS – Jewellery and ornaments of bygone Epochs – InfoArt – SRTT – 20 Avenida Arriaga, Funchal - Until 11th April

Prize Giving of the Flower Exhibition 2007
28 March
10 p.m. to midnight – Academic Serenade – Corpo Santo Chapel

3 April
Flower Carpets – Avenida Arriaga and Largo do Chafariz
Flower Market – Sculpted flowers, natural size – Avenida Arriaga
Animation in the City Center
3 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Municipal Band of Funchal and the Camacha Cultural and Recreation Association
6 p.m. – Concert with Trio New Sounds from GCEA - (Artistic Education Co-ordination Office) – Avenida Arriaga

4 April
Animation in the City Center
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Folklore Group from Rochão and the Camacha Recreational and Cultural Association
3 p.m. to 9 p.m. – Folklore Group of the People’s House of Camacha and the Ethnography and Folklore Group of Boa Nova
5.30 p.m. – Concert with Clarinet Ensemble from GCEA – Avenida Arriaga
8 p.m. – 53rd Flower Show - Until 9th April in Largo da Restauração

5 April
Wall of Hope Ceremony
10 a.m. – Children’s Parade
Itinerary: Avenida Arriaga, Avenida Zarco, Rua Câmara Pestana and Praça do Município
11 a.m. – Symbolic construction of the Wall of Hope with thousands of flowers – Praça do Município
Release of pigeons and a children’s show with an animation group of GCEA.
Guard of Honour of the Wall of Hope
Animation in the City Center
3 p.m. to 7 p.m. – Funchal District Band and the Camacha Cultural and Recreation Association
5 p.m. – Concert with Clarinet Ensemble from GCEA – Avenida Arriaga

6 April
Animation in the City Center
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Folklore Group from Curral das Freiras People’s House and the Folklore Group from the Campanário People’s House
4 p.m. – Grand Flower Float Parade, with the participation of several groups and more than one thousand participants.
Itinerary: Leaving from Praça da Autonomia, then proceeding along Avenida do Mar e das Comunidades Madeirenses (Southern stretch), Rua Dias Leite, Rotunda do Infante, Avenida Arriaga, Avenida Zarco, Rua Câmara Pestana and Praça do Município
Themes and Order of Appearance of the Groups Participating in the Float Parade:
- João Egídio – “Dance of the Fennel Flower”
- Alice Rodrigues – “Flowers and Music”
- Maria José Pita – “Recollecting…”
- João Nunes Atanázio – “Flower Dances: The Gardens”
- Caneca Furada Samba School – “Charming Little Flowers”
- Fura Samba Association – “The Flowers’ Waltz”
- Geringonça Animation Association – “The Anthurium Ballet”
- Francisco Dias – “Flowers Over the City”
- Isabel Borges – “From Funchal, A Flower to the World”
This programme is subject to change

From 7 December to 6 January, 2008

During the Christmas season, Funchal is the stage for a wide variety of cultural, ethnographic and artistic events. There are tableaux vivants and street performances all over the centre of Funchal.
The central reservations of Avenida Arriaga have been decorated with regional and seasonal motifs. They begin on 7 December but reach their height after 27 December.
There are concerts in the Municipal Garden, in Avenida Arriaga, at the Municipal Theatre, in several churches and at the stage beside the Legislative Assembly on New Year’s Eve.
And then there are the Christmas carols that pervade the streets as if by magic to everyone’s delight.

7 December

Starting Program:

Background music in Funchal downtown
Itinerant street revelry in Funchal downtown
Christmas decorations in Avenida Arriaga, in Largo da Restauração, in the Municipal Gardens of Funchal and also at the Legislative Assembly
Projects:

“Baroque Manger in a Box” - Avenida Arriaga
“Children’s Christmas: A Christmas Adventure” and “White Christmas” - Avenida Arriaga in front of the Regional Secretariat of Tourism and Transport
“Ethnographic Village” - in Largo da Restauração
“Gastronomic Christmas - Tastes and smells of Madeira” - Rua António José de Almeida, close to the Regional Legislative Assembly
“Christmas Manger” - Auditorium of the Municipal Garden
“Christmas and New Year celebrations” 2000/2006 - photo retrospective” - Avenida Arriaga in front of “Loja do Cidadão”
“Jesus Child of the World” - infoarte, SRTT - Avenida Arriaga, 20
Decoration in Avenida Arriaga in front of the Sé Cathedral, as part of the project “Thank You Flanders”

Market night

December, 23.rd

23 December is Christmas shopping day at the market. It is also the day at the market when we can feel a really traditional festive spirit before Christmas. The market and the bars around it stay open all night making it one of the longest and most fun-filled nights of the year in Funchal.

The 23rd is the day when the Madeirans traditionally buy their Christmas fare. Farmers come to Funchal from all over the island to sell their products at this busy time. Mercado dos Lavradores is suddenly too small for so much demand and so the surrounding streets are closed to traffic and fill up with farmers’ stalls.

It’s the perfect day for a visit to the market to see and buy all kinds of regional products: fruit, vegetables, flowers, sweets and traditional Christmas drinks.

In the early evening there is a carol concert in the fish market. There are bands, folk dancers and lots of fun throughout the area.

The bars and restaurants often stay open all night and fill the area with revelry until dawn.

Twelfth Night songs

January, 5th - 9.30 pm

On the evening of 5 January, the Madeiran folk-singing group Encontros da Eira will be performing traditional twelfth night songs in Funchal’s Municipal Garden Auditorium.
The Encontros da Eira Cultural Association collects preserves and disseminates traditional Madeira music. The group has recorded several disks and given many concerts and is a reference in the world of music in Madeira today.
On the evening of 5 January, Twelfth Night, Encontros da Eira will be giving a concert entitled Cantar os Reis, Cantar as Janeiras in Funchal’s Municipal Garden Auditorium.

Don’t miss this show, which closes the 2007-2008 New Year celebrations in Madeira.

Source: Madeira Tourism

A family from Ireland are looking for lost relatives. This picture taken in 1937 and if anyone recognises any of the people in this picture please contact us so that we can pass on the information.
Editor@themadeiratimes.com

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Christmas Holiday Rush to the Sun After Worst Summer Ever

Following the wettest summer on record in the UK, TravelRepublic.co.uk, the nation’s third most popular online travel agency, is recording unprecedented levels of bookings for Christmas holidays to sunshine destinations. Hotel room nights for Christmas holidays are up 240% year on year. With Christmas still nine weeks away, overseas hoteliers can expect to see a huge influx of UK visitors during the festive season.
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Paul Furner, Managing Director of TravelRepublic.co.uk, commented “The combination of the terrible summer and the prospect of the clocks changing this weekend have prompted a surge in bookings for Christmas holidays to the sun.
Currently, a week’s holiday in Tenerife at Christmas, for example, is selling for as little as 280 pounds. With such competitive deals in the market and winter due to really bite at any moment, I would expect the trend to gather even more momentum in the coming weeks.”

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