Latest CASA News & Notices

This page is primarily to provide notices or any other club information which has changed or become available since the last Club Newsletter.

New information is added at the top, older items are generally retained below.

Booking is currently open for:

13th May -  Lunch in Lagos

Bookings for the above can be made by e-mail to bookings@casasocial.club or by using the

form provided on the contact page or

if you have any difficulty using these then CASA members

may contact any committee member for assistance.

We are pleased to announce that at the March A.G.M.

a new C.A.S.A. Committee was elected.

This has now taken over from April 14th.

Charity Donations - Spring/Summer 2024

At the 2024 A.G.M. suggestions made by members covered three different charities. Voting at the meeting was that each should be given €500.

The three charities and the dates the donations were made are:

4 July – Nucleo Do Algarve Da Alzheimer Portugal
The Algarve branch of the national Alzheimer organisation runs a support centre in Portimão. We met
up with two representatives (Margarida & Edith) in their Lagoa office to hand over our cheque. The
donations will be used to cover some of the costs of furbishing a new ‘relax’ room for Alzheimer’s
sufferers and their relatives/carers. (Unfortunately the photos taken have been lost).

1 July – Lar De Jovens Nossa Senora Do Carmo
This residential special school in Lagos is badly in need of renovation after years of insufficient funds. A special project under the control of volunteer Steve Farmer (Picture 1, 2nd from left) has been carrying out the work as funds become available. Our donation cheque was presented by our Chair (Picture 1, centre) and Treasurer (Picture 1, third from right) and this will go towards refurbishing a sitting room for the residents. On the right of Picture 1 are our two members who suggested the school as recipients of our donation.

3 August – Casa da Nossa Senhora de Conceiçao
This residential school for underprivileged girls in Portimão is primarily run by the local camara, but is badly underfunded. While the basics (the physical structure and food) are covered, any additional expenses have to come from charitable donations. The local lodge of the Freemasons, via their representative David Guildford (pictured trying to work out how best to assemble the new net in Picture 3), are providing much of this support. The camara recently refurbished the physical aspects of the outside ‘sports’ area, but were unable to provide any of the extras. Our donation has provided a new adjustable net which can be used for multiple games such as badminton and tennis, some racquets and shuttle-cocks. More sports equipment is on order and should arrive shortly. Some of the resident girls came out to watch (Picture 4, for privacy reasons we have had to mask out their faces) while the equipment was then ‘tested’ by two lodge members and their wives (Picture 5).

Donation to 'Back to School Project' - August 2023

More information about the annual 'Back to School' project run by Castelo do Sonhos will be found lower on this page, we are pleased to have helped with this appeal since 2017.  This aims to help local families in need who are unable to afford the cost of the annual return to school for thier childfren.

Photos below show Sue Butler-Cole (left) on completion of the purchase of back-packs and suitable contents on our behalf and these in the process of being made-up for distribution.

CASA Trophies

We are delighted to report that, through the extreme generosity of a CASA member, we now have a superb new set of trophies. These replace the previous set which were also donated by a member around twenty years ago.

The new trophies are  expected to make thier first appearance at the Treasure Hunt in October.

Donations to Charity - 2018

As no other requests were received at the AGM we have again made a donation to the Castelo do Sonhos  "Back To School"  Project (see 2017 item below for more information). According to a 2018 survey the average annual cost to families of one childs school supplies is now €487, beyond the reach of poorer families. (See pages 18 and 20 of the 25 August 2018 edition of The Portugal News for more information).

With the money kindly donated by attendees at the annual CASA BBQ at the Holiday Inn we have been able to purchase 20 teenager back packs and assorted stationery items. These were delivered to the charity on 30th August where they were addded to 30 other backpacks and 50 gymbags etc. donated via various organisations.
The photo below shows Lena Reitbergen from the CASA committee with Dra. Liliana Rodriques who runs Castelo do Sonhos. Behind Liliana is Sue Butler-Cole who provides invaluable assistance to Castelo do Sonhos by interfacing with ACCA and other clubs and organisations. We would also like to thank ‘The Golf Shack’ who kindly supplied the backpacks to us at a discounted price as their own contribution to the “Back to School” project.

The 50 filled backpacks collected via A.C.C.A. (including the 20 from CASA) have been delivered to Castelo do Sonhos and they started handing them out to the schoolchildren on 10th September.

GDPR

On May 25, 2018, a new European Union (EU) data protection law, the 'General Data Protection Regulation' (or GDPR), took effect. The GDPR gives all individuals resident in the EU more control over how their data is used and places certain obligations on all organisations that collect, hold or process information of those individuals.

Please see the last item on the 'Legal' page if you require more information.

Donations to Charity - 2017

At the 2017 AGM there were no proposals made for donations to charity this year. The committee was recently aproached by member Sue Buter-Cole on behalf of Castelo do Sonhos, the Silves based childrens charity, in respect of their annual “Back To School” project.

Whilst the Portuguese state provides free schooling with staff, text books etc. it does not provide the 'consumables' such as notepads, pencils etc. that children need. This must be supplied by their families and for the poorer families this can be a significant problem and many children start school after the summer holiday without these items.
The Back To School Project was originally started by Castelo de Sonhos for the poor children in the Silves area and for many years Celia & Dave Mossman (who have since returned to the UK) were the main organizers.  When ACCA (the children's charity from Almancil) became involved the project just grew & grew.  This year  ACCA have donated 50 (empty) backpacks to Castelo de Sonhos who now need to fill them.
C.A.S.A. has purchased and donated €100 worth of these materials for distribution in the ACCA backpacks.

You can obtain more information, including contact details, for the project and ACCA from this item on the Portugal Resident website:  http://portugalresident.com/back-to-school-appeal-to-support-needy-children

The photo below shows the previous C.A.S.A. Chairman Margaret Brito (right) presenting the purchased materials to Liliana Rodriques who runs Castelo do Sonhos.

Online Digital Security

Following difficulties with sending e-mails to some members early in 2017, now resolved, we have made improvements to the security of this website and to club e-mails. This should not impact your use of the site. If you do experience problems please contact us using the contact page or the contact information in the latest Club Newsletter.

From 5th June 2017 when you access this site you should always see the 'locked padlock' symbol to the left of your browser address bar. This indicates that the communication between your browser and the web-site is encrypted by using the 'HTTPS' communications protocol so that the contents can not be seen or interfered with by any third party.

Donations to Charity - 2016

As was arranged at the 2016 AGM two charitable donations were made during the summer of 2016, the larger being to the Bombeiros who carried out  sterling work over the 2016 summer. 

Donation to Encontrar Sonhos

In response to the proposal by Do Eves at the AGM the sum of €160 has been donated to this charity and used by them to purchase food supplies for the coming term. This is a very worthy cause that helps local over 18 year olds with mental disability.

The money represents the value of 'vouchers' issued to members during the last 12 months but not used.

Donation to Portimao Bombeiros

As the Bombeiros have been very busy recently doing a superb and vital job it has proved a little difficult to arrange the presentation. This was finally completed on Wednesday 24th August.  Portimao Bombeiros have used the €1,500 donation to purchase 160 new 'BOMBEIROS' red sweat-shirts as modelled by the two gentlemen on the left and right of the photo below.  The cheque was presented to Dr. João Nuno de Figueiredo Mergulhão (Vice President) by Margaret Brito (Chairman of CASA Social Club) assisted by João Brito acting as the Portuguese interpreter for the club.
Standing between the Bombeiros in red in the photo, from left to right are:
    Filipe A.T. Pinto (Deputy Command)
    João Brito
    Margaret Brito
    Dr. João Nuno de Figueiredo Mergulhão
    Celeste (Treasurer)
    Mário A.F.B. Freitas (Director)

These exceptionally brave men and women work relentlessly, day and night, to keep us all safe. The fires this year again tested them to the extremes, but they consistently rise to the dangerous challenge and we owe them our infinite gratitude.

Bank Account

Effective from the 2016 AGM we have changed the club bank account, if you need to make any payment by cheque or bank transfer (eg Multibanco) please confirm  details from a recent Club Newsletter or the Treasurer.  The old account is closed!