Torrevieja paints the town red, white and blue

Torrevieja’s international community celebrated the Queen’s Jubilee in style. The five hour extravaganza was filled with pride, laughter, song, dance, music, fireworks plus a quiz, kids, games, classic car display and a picnic, in what was the biggest British Celebration ever witnessed on the Southern Costa Blanca.

An estimated three thousand or more people dressed up in red, white and blue, brought their deck chairs, flags, picnics, a great attitude and thoroughly enjoyed the day.

The event started around 4.00pm and the 1,000 seats at the 100 tables were quickly occupied, as picnic baskets were opened, along with more than a bottle of wine or three…

From Babes in arms to great, great grandparents, one and all came with just one thing in mind; to enjoy themselves and savour the moment, or is that two things!

The entertainment started right on time with an enchanting performance from the Dance and Stage School.

Footwork Dance Academy then took to the stage, all one hundred plus members of them and performed a specially created show, just for the event, complete with special costumes and a routine that had the hair standing on people’s arms as the patriotic music filled the air.

Their routine concluded with pulling a huge Union Jack over the heads of all of the dancers and engulfing the troop.

A fantastic display that had the entire crowd on their feet.

A hard act to follow for sure but one lady that could do that without difficulty was Maria O’Hara who wowed the audience with her beautiful soprano voice in her tribute to Katherine Jenkins.

As the saying goes, she could certainly hit all the right notes, and high ones at that.

A beautiful singer with a fantastic voice who is quickly making a name for herself as one of the finest female vocalists in the region, and beyond.

Well known and popular vocalist Nick Gold was up next and showed that he is just getting better and better with age, although he doesn’t look like he’s aged an day over the past decade!

It was then the turn of Maurice and Alma who had some fun with their marionettes and with those evergreen Rascals, who found lots to do to keep the children amused, with their traditional games such as egg and spoon and sack races.

The idea of the event first came about as a small tribute show to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s jubilee.

Nothing more than a concert in the park and a picnic.

The main protagonists were to be the Phoenix Concert Band and this excellent ensemble were next onstage to entertain with a selection of popular music which everyone song along with.

More picnics and drinks were brought out and then Keely C performed a few popular songs made famous by British artists over the last sixty years.

The tap dancing Crazy Ladies performed their routines, the Torrevieja Barbershop Harmonisers harmonised and Nick Price played some more hits from the past sixty years, as the sun set and the audience readied themselves for the finale.

And what a finale is was too.

The Phoenix Concert Band took centre stage with a chorus provided by the Rascals, the Harmonisers and others, to begin a sing-song of famous British songs, followed by such emotional pieces of music as “Rule Britannia”, “Land of Hope & Glory”, ending with the “Crown Imperial”, accompanied by fireworks.

The finale concluded with a thousand people singing, the National Anthem. The flags waved, everyone sang until they were hoarse.

However, still in a party mood, 200 or more, stayed and danced to all time favourites from Cliff Richard, The Rolling Stones and other household names such as, The Beatles.

Graham Knight, Director of the Foreign Residents office was overwhelmed by the support the event received from Torrevieja’s International community, not just the British, but the Irish, Spanish, German, French, Scandinavians and others who made it a fantastic success; a mini-Hyde Park in the centre of Torrevieja.

Graham wrote to all those that helped with the organisation of the event “Already, this morning, I have received a number of emails and phone calls commenting on the enormous success of yesterday’s ‘Queen’s Diamond Jubilee’ celebrations in the Jardin de las Naciones.

“Even the Spanish press have managed to fill a few pages of today’s newspapers. There can be no doubt that the event was an outstanding success in every respect, and for sure, the biggest and best jubilee celebration in all Spain.”

By Keith Nicol

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Euro Weekly News Media

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