The projects of the Soller Valley PUBLISHED IN THE MAJORCA DAILY BULLETIN TUESDAY 1ST DECEMBER 2015 Photographs by Rachel Fox So many projects that have been a long time in the planning are finally coming to a conclusion in the Soller Valley. If you have travelled our way over the past few months you will have been involved in delays and diversions as the road between Soller and Palma received much love an attention. New stone walls, road widening in parts, road drainage systems and new roundabouts have been created before our eyes. This has been at a cost of one million euros and has involved hundreds of workers. I am not sure whether the Stone Wallers did the job for money or for love because it is a testament to great work by people who love their craft. The final road surfacing is the latest work and then they will be packing up leaving us with a great job well done. Meanwhile down in the Port of Soller the local Pere Cerde School completes stage one of its makeover. This is a saga of a school that is desperate to grow so that it can accommodate children locally up to the age of 12. To change it to a school of the required size has meant acquiring the building next door and doing massive works. In the short term to allow growth the school was allowed to take over half the municipal car park and the building that used to house the tourist information office. The playground extension and new walls have been been the work of the autumn and now its nearly ready. There are moans and groans about losing car parking but local families are delighted that this work means that stage one of growing the school to the size they want is actually happening. In the heart of Soller this week sees the opening of Calabruixa Petit our new bookshop. Calabruixa is a much loved name of the bookshop that stood in the Lluna for many years. It closed down on the sad death of one of the owners and the price hike for all the premises in the Lluna. Everyone was saddened by the loss of the bookshop and the great ladies that ran it. A child of Soller – Aina Verbeek is the girl with a vision to bring back the name and a small version of the bookshop to a lane just minutes from where the old one used to stand. On Thursday 3rd December 2015 at 7 pm she is hosting an opening to which you are all invited. The partying may well extend into the street as the shop is on the small side but who cares. We are all delighted at the return of Calabruixa to Soller. Up the mountain and into Deia and we are all very excited at the launch of a new Radio Station. Mountain Radio goes on line through the airwaves to the world on December 5th. This date centres Mountain Radio in our place in the universe. It is the sound, gossip and ears of everyone who loves the Soller Valley and all it stands for. An online radio station with mobile app and a listen live stream from their website, broadcasting worldwide from the mountains of Deia. Hayley Newbury is a ‘Radiohead’ from Liverpool who has brought all her skills to great use in her family relocation to Deia. So many innovations and trends have started their life in Deia and now a radio station with a full daily schedule. The creativity of the people who live around here never ceases to amaze me. Tucked away in the village houses there are global businesses being run, books being written, artists in all their forms creating and so much more. We all watching with huge interest as Mountain Radio takes off. You can even listen to the Sollerweb slot on Fridays telling the story of the events of the week in the Soller Valley with our trademark country music obsession. This week finishes on such a high with the phenomenal publicity that Michael Portillo and his Great Railway Journeys TV programme has brought to the Soller Valley. It is said that this was watched by over 4 million people this weekend as it was on BBC2 on two consecutive nights. This was priceless publicity for the Soller train, tram and the whole valley. There is no doubt that our home has been introduced to a new generation of people who will be booking their holidays from Boxing Day onwards. It is more than possible that 2016 might be a bumper year for Majorca and the Soller Valley in particular. Heres to busy, happy days…
