Up earlier than usual for a Saturday morning to trundle the Association's display up to the village hall for the forum. Despite being 30 minutes early, there were already people there bagging the best places. In that particular 'event', we didn't do too bad either. Maggie and I were there until 5pm with only an hour's break for a sandwich lunch. El Presidente came for that hour! The day went well with several renewals and 9 new members - our best total yet.
Happily left Maud and Daniel to clear up as we were due in Agullana for the presentation of the cheque. The weather was fine and a large number of the inhabitants turned out. Lots of smiles and warm feelings came heading our way. A really lovely experience to feel part of something that was viewed as a gesture of solidarity and not of charity.Our Mayor was presented with a stainless steel plaque, there was an apéritif and we were given a guided tour of the village. In it's hayday, the village had over 3,000 inhabitants but with the decline of the cork industry there are now only about 1,000. We have passed through the village often enough and stopped in the village square so it was interesting to have time to see other nooks and cranies.
Given that a minister for sport under Franco once lived in the village, sports facilities are better than one would expect for a place of this size; the fire came close enough to burn the football goal posts. Still, there again, the open space of the pitch saved the village itself from the fire. The Café Sociedad, the Catalan equivalent of a"working mens' club, was a wee gem with its shady terrace and cheap prices. Here the Mayor treated us all to a drink before we went off to have dinner (which we paid for ourselves before anyone thinks that we were on a freebie) in a local restaurant. There are three plus the café and they all earn a living. Surely there's something to be learnt from Spain where most small villages have at least one restaurant?
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