Starting the second week of September, Top Catz dance classes will begin again for adults and children aged from 4 years old.  

Image: All About that Bass is a tap dance.

Classes will be held in the Rafael Cedrés school in Tias; in the school Concepción Rodríguez Artíles in Puerto del Carmen;  and possibly another venue. Classes available are: tap dance, Irish, Flamenco, Sevillanas, jazz, hip-hop, Broadway Musicals and classical Spanish dance. 

Image: Afro-Funk is a mixture of African dance, funky style.

Private lessons are also available, for Hawaiian-Tahitian dance, or Arabic dance.   read more »

A family are looking for someone to care for their child after school.

 read more »

We are happy to announce to the animal lovers of Lanzarote that the Animal Shelter Sara is launching a Sterilisation and Identification Campaign together with the local authorities to offer these at... half price!!! Yes, you read it right: 50% discount!!!

Sara has been meeting over a period of time with the island’s local authorities to negotiate subsidies for residents and their efforts are coming to light in the shape of the "Save Lifes, Sterilise!" Campaign.

There are many benefits to sterilising your pet, not only in relation to the animal's health but it also minimises the urge of the males wandering off looking for females when they are in heat, also avoiding unwanted litters and in turn decreases abandonment, to name but a few. You can also find a list of other benefits here (10-beneficios-de-esterilizar-a-tu-mascota)

There is a limited number of subsidies available and they will be granted on a strict first come fist served basis, so if you had been thinking of sterilising your pet but didn't have the funds to do it, don't miss your chance.

Currently there are only 3 participating municipalities: Arrecife, Haría and San Bartolomé .

But do not despair if you don't live in any of these, as other town halls have showed interest in adhering to this campaign too. We will  read more »

The British Consulates in Gran Canaria and Tenerife have written this practical guide to receiving medical assistance in the Canary Islands. They spend a lot of their time assisting British nationals who find themselves in difficult circumstances when it could have so easily been avoided.

NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR IN THE CANARY ISLANDS?

HERE’S WHAT TO DO…

IF YOU ARE RESIDENT:

1. Call 112 in an emergency (they speak English) - the patient will be taken to by public ambulance to the nearest public health centre (Centro de Salud) or hospital.  read more »

Confused callers have looked to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for advice on bizarre issues ranging from where to buy English bacon in Europe, how to recruit a butler in Lebanon and how to avoid nudists in southern Spain, it has been revealed.

The FCO has released details of the ten weirdest consular calls it has received in the past year, as a reminder to Brits overseas that they should only look to use its services for genuine emergencies.

The calls included:

· A man planning to move to Spain who was worried he would encounter nudists walking through the streets  read more »

As the EU Referendum set for the 23rd June 2016 was very topical over the weekend, we thought it was a good time to share this information issued by the British Embassy.

A  simple eight-point guide on how to register to vote follows:

How you can register to vote in the EU Referendum

1. A referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union will be held on the 23rd June 2016.

2. If you were registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years, then you can register as an overseas voter and have your say. #yourvotematters.

3. Go to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote and fill in your data. All you need is your National Insurance number, passport details and date of birth. (Even if you don’t have an NI number, you can still register.)  read more »

I spent a fascinating morning with Juan Brito, one of the Lanzarote’s artisan craft workers who is passionate about the traditional Mahos / Guanche method of producing ceramic pots.

There were six students in our class, which started with the explanation of the preparation required in order to produce our local ceramic. The first stage is to go out and collect the special stone found on the Risco de Famara, the alfarerias have special permission from the Cabildo to harvest the stone, the restriction being that the land has to be covered over again once the stone has been removed, to protect the natural landscape. This stone is then bashed by hand to reduce it to fine particles, then water is added to create the modelling mud. Thankfully Juan had already prepared ours to this stage for us!

Next a layer of black sand was spread out on the work surface, on top of that a layer of fine brown dust, then the stage 1 mud was added and kneaded to mix thoroughly. Juan made this look easy, but when we volunteered it was hard even to dent the mixture, never mind knead it, the mixture didn’t move unless you knew the technique!  read more »