News

Formentera's fresh crop of accredited artisans

Wednesday, 21 June 2017 00:23

Construccio paret pedra seca The Formentera Council's Office of Trade has reported that six craftworkers have been granted accreditation as artisans and one as master artisan. Both credentials, Carta Artesana and Carta de Mestre Artesà, certify an individual as apt to take part in craft markets and specialty festivals, while the latter also accredits a minimum of ten years' experience and ability to give classes in one's area of expertise.

The master artisan's card was awarded to Javier Alvarez de Lara, specialist in dry stone wall construction. Recipients of the standard artisan's card included Carolina Yuste and Mónica López, both endorsed as artisan object decorators; Alba Maria Álvarez, who received her card specialising in pepes (fabric dolls); Miguel Morey is authorised to work as a fine carpenter; Helena Maria Amaral as a leatherworker and Maria Isabel Escandell as a coppersmith.

Tests were administered by the Formentera Council's technical team on craftwork assessment. To date on Formentera, there are ten people accredited as master artisans and 64 as standard artisans.

Rollout of pilot compost collection programme in Sant Francesc

Monday, 19 June 2017 19:54

Foto rp materia organica CiF environment councillor Daisee Aguilera, alongside heads of the Rezero foundation and the Leader group, Rosa García and Pep Martínez, respectively, presented a pilot programme for compost collection in Sant Francesc.

Fifty area establishments considered large-scale waste generators—bars, cafés, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, the Formentera hospital and a nursery school among them—will take part in the four-month trial, which began yesterday. Participants have been supplied with small, specially-designed bins that door-to-door collection crews will empty every evening.

According to Councillor Aguilera, organisers hope the endeavour will lead to collection of some 300 tonnes of organic waste, which will then be composted locally and used as fertiliser across Formentera fields. The €80,000 pilot programme, paid for primarily by the Formentera Council, will also receive €32,000 in funding from Leader.

Rezero, the waste-prevention firm heading up the project, has indicated the undertaking will mean savings of €60,000, the cost of shipping waste to Eivissa. Data from the trial phase will be used to study expansion of compost collection to other parts of the island.

On World Refugee Day, Formentera reaches out to children and teens

Friday, 16 June 2017 07:37

The Formentera Council's Office of Social Welfare has put together a set of activities to break through to the island's young children and teenagers about the realities of life for refugees.

From 5.00 to 7.00pm today, the Sant Ferran de Ses Roques primary school will play host to an afternoon of games and activities exploring some of the issues facing individuals who have been forced to flee their homes. On Tuesday, June 20, for World Refugee Day, the island's youth centre will stage a screening of “My Friend,” a documentary that recounts the unrelenting travails of Afghani women struggling for a voice and a say in their fates.

Torre des Pi des Català restoration nabs European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention's special mention

Friday, 16 June 2017 19:05

Torre des pi des catala retallada Local architect Marià Castelló's project to restore Es Pi des Català defence tower, an initiative that moved forward thanks to backing from the Formentera Council, garnered the European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention's special mention. A distinction given by the Col·legi Oficial d'Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC), the Agrupació d'Arquitectes per la Defensa i la Intervenció del Patrimoni Arquitectònic (AADIPA) and the Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalunya's regional government, the honour was bestowed in a ceremony that took place yesterday afternoon at the COAC's head office. A panel of jurors credited Castelló with “precision, simplicity and effectiveness” in his delivery of the remodel.

CiF president Jaume Ferrer and patrimony councillor Susana Labrador congratulated Castelló on the honour. According to Labrador, praise for the project's respectful treatment of the Es Pi des Català heritage site was “particularly exciting since the Council's goal, from the start, was to preserve the tower as an essential feature of local heritage and make sure everyone who wanted to could enjoy it”.

First prize went to another project dealing with man-made buildings as patrimony: the conversion of Convento das Bernardas, in Tavira (Portugal), by architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. One of the world's leading lights in terms of architecture, Souto de Moura received the Pritzker prize (architecture's equivalent of the Nobel) in 2011.

On completion in 2016, Es Pi des Català tower became Formentera's first defence tower equipped to receive visits. It is open on Saturdays 10.00am to 1.00pm.

Meet Formentera's summer lifeguard crew

Thursday, 15 June 2017 11:33

Foto grup socorristes The Formentera Council presented today the names of the 24 individuals that make up the island's lifeguard service. At 9.00am this morning, CiF president Jaume Ferrer and Bartomeu Escandell, chief of the president's office, gathered for a photo-op with the full crew in Sant Francesc's central plaza, plaça de la Constitució.

During high-season, which starts today and continues to September 15, twenty-four people will be in charge of assuring Formentera swimmers' well-being. Safety and rescue services are maintained May 1 to October 31—in the second half of September the crew's ranks slim to 15, then drop again to ten for the period from September 30 to October 31. The pre-summer brigade also numbers ten lifeguards.

This year for the first time, patrol of the Es Caló beach Ses Platgetes will also be maintained. Likewise, June 1 marked the return of supervision at Cala Saona, which began last year.

Patrol at Es Trucadors
Another change involves the purchase of a five-metre boat, with which the crew will keep watch over Es Pas des Trucadors. Just yesterday, lifeguards attended a refresher course on day-to-day functions like prevention and minor care for incidents like jellyfish stings and heat stroke.

Likewise, the Formentera Council has added to its arsenal items such as first-aid rucksacks, oxygen-therapy devices and two defibrillators for use in Es Caló and Cala Saona.

Accessible beaches
Beachgoers should bear in mind that Arenals and Es Pujols beaches are equipped to allow swimming for people with reduced mobility. The service can be requested by phoning 609.76.85.06 and is available between 12 noon and 5.00pm whenever the green flag flies.