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:

     Friday May 14th  -  AGM and Dinner

November  -  Coach trip to  Porto

                   Just a few places left.

     Due the Covid-19 pandemic all arrangements

are subject to change or cancellation at short notice.

Bookings for the above can be made now via any Committee Member or use the contact page.

2020 and 2021 events and COVID-19

   We very much regret that due to the ongoing uncertainty regarding

the opening and capacity of restaurants most of our spring 2020 events were cancelled.

Based on our understanding of current restaurant rules we are

running only very limited events,  any

we are able to run will be  'members only'.

Also due to the significant risk of date or other changes

we are only taking bookings  from aboit 4 weeks before each event.

Details will be on the 'Events Diary' page as usuall.

Please also see the temporary items below:

1.     BREXIT and UK Members

Members who hold a UK passport might find the following useful, it is not relevant to members holding any other passport.

Most UK members have probably fully complied with all the regulations re registering and being legal in Portugal.  It is easy to have missed (or ignored) some of the regulations - there are so many.  Now that Brexit has finally happened any such ommisions are serious, as such please ensure you fully comply with all the regulations etc and that all your documents are completely up to date with expiry dates well in the future. Some of the processes are very time consuming and the later they are left the harder it will be to complete them.

If you suspect you might have problems and are unsure or unable to resolve them yourself  a new U.N. supported service is now available to help - the following text has been supplied and is reproduced below without any changes:

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The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) through its most recent project UKNSF – United Kingdom Nationals Support Fund - is providing support to at-risk UK nationals and their family members to complete their residency applications in Portugal in order to secure their rights under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

Working alongside the British Embassy  in  partnership  with  the  High  Commission  for Migration (ACM), IOM will  raise  awareness  among  UK  Nationals  living  in Portugal,  share accessible  information  on  residency requirements,  and  provide  direct  practical  support  in completing  applications  for  those  in  situations  where  access  to  information and application processes are difficult.

While information  provided  online and  through  other  media  will  be available  to  all, IOM  will provide  targeted  assistance  to individuals  who  face  specific  challenges,  such  as people  living in remote areas, people with  disabilities or chronic  illness, those  facing language  and  literacy  barriers,  or barriers in accessing relevant technology.

The UKNSF project developed by IOM Portugal works to ensure suitable geographical coverage across the country, guarantying that support is delivered to meet the diverse needs of a diverse British population, ensuring an inclusive approach to supporting UK nationals and providing practical support to the at-risk UK nationals registering or applying for residence status in Portugal.  

For  further information visit our website here and OIM Portugal Facebook page here.

If you are a UK national living in Portugal, you can get in touch with IOM Portugal office by these means:

Helpline: +351 913 886 456

Email: UKnationalsPT@iom.int

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2.   Coronavirus / COVID-19                              (update 27th January)

Understandably there are major concerns over the worldwide Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic.

To date this pandemic has resulted in the deaths of over 2,500,000 people worldwide in a little over a year. For comparison the Flu pandemic at the close of the first world war (just 100 years ago) killed an estimated 40 to 50 million people while it raged.

We will continue to monitor the situation and current CASA event status information will be maintained on this page as it changes.

The well-being of our members is a major consideration and we will only arrange  physical events when we believe they can be held legally and safely.

Obviously should you be feeling any of the advertised symptoms you should not attend any group events.  Similarly if you have recently visited any of the countries with a severe outbreak, even if you feel well, you should avoid all groups or meetings for a minimum of 14 days.

Please follow the advice of the Portuguese health authorities in terms of recommended steps to help prevent any further spread of the virus. Consult regularly with the official Health Service Corona Virus  web page for ongoing updates (in Portuguese). You can also find all the latest information via 'Safe Communities Portugal' on their website in English and several other languages, they are also on Facebook. 

Please do not rely on random advice that appears regularly on individual personal pages on social media - much of this is false and often downright dangerous!

There is also a national 24/7 medical advice hotline for use if you have become concered about your condition on 808 24 24 24, (support should be available in English by pressing 5). This service is the Portuguese equivalent of the UK  111 health advice number.

If you suspect you have contracted the virus do NOT go to a local doctor or Health Centre where you risk infecting other patients. Phone the above Hotline for advice, they can arrange your collection by ambulance if necessary.

Coronavirus - Vaccinations

Portugal has started to roll-out vaccinations to all residents in a series of phases, 'Phase 1' is ongoing and 'Phase 2' should start during April. The booking system is automated, as such and as always with computerised systems, they only work properly if the data held in the system is correct. Regardless of nationality you might want to review the following points, British nationals should have recently done this for Brexit.

If you have recently received a text message from the health service about this process then you can probably assume that everything is OK.  If you have NOT received such a message then work through the following, from the top:

i)  If you are not Portuguese you must have a valid current Residencia, possibly one of the temporary paper ones.

ii)  You should be up to date with Financas/IRS.

iii)  You must be registered with Social Security and have an S.S. number.

iv)  You must have a 'Cartao Utente' from the health service.

v)   You must be registered with your local  Centro do Saude.  If you have not attended there in more than 2 years or have moved since you registered, your registration might have been 'archived'. It is easy to re-activate by taking in your identity documents (above) to the administration desk. Ensure that your registration here includes your current Portuguese mobile number not a foreign or 'fixed line' number.  All vaccination bookings will be made only via automated SMS to this number.  (Register a relative's or friend's number if you don't have one of your own)

Contrary to some reports to be found on Facebook you do not need to be registered with a family doctor.

(Verified at Silves Centro do Saude 27/01/2021)

Portimao/Barlavento hospital 'Trolley Service'

A group of volunteers run a 'complimentary' tea/coffee & biscuits trolley service for both patients and visitors throughout the hospital.  They depend on goodwill donations to fund the supply of tea/coffee and biscuits  but at present are running out of funds.  Can you help a little?

If you are in the area you can deliver contributions of tea, coffee or biscuits direct to the hospital.  Please note that due to some patients dietary restrictions they are only allowed to distribute 'plain' biscuits not chocolate, jam, cream or other fillings/coatings.

If calling at the hospital is not safe or practical for you then any member of the CASA Committee will happily accept your donation and arrange for it to be forwarded.

The ‘Tail’ of Fat Belly Nelly

(Fat Belly Nelly is a large china piggy bank who likes to attend social functions, she eats coins, and given an opportunity also paper money)

As is customary in January Fat Belly Nelly decided to diet, she had gained an amazing 114 Euros over the festive season  – when interviewed by CASA & Friendly Sunday Lunch representatives,  Fat Belly Nelly said coyly ‘ I only realised my belly had swollen to such an extent when I looked down and could no longer see my wiggly ‘tail’;  she said that she desperately needed to do something about it, but in hindsight realises she has lost too much weight and needs to fatten up a bit, so will continue to attend all possible Social functions in order to get back to a reasonable weight.

               Thank you to all who helped fatten ‘Fat Belly Nelly’

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 C.A.S.A. Chairman Margaret Brito 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!