Written on 9th May 2023 by Shirley Roberts The last 24 hours have been a ‘fascination of social media’. Coming out the other side I am making a personal statement. Strong feelings on all sides mean that some views are one dimensional. I would just like to offer a little contribution to ‘both sides’. Five…
By Shirley Roberts Do you remember the day when pounds, shillings and pence gave way to decimalisation? Overnight maths lessons changed, and all that learning was confined to history. Do you remember those typing lessons on manual typewriters which gave way to electric and then to computers? Do you remember using Tippex to correct typing…
By Shirley Roberts Written by Shirley Roberts in 2025 We are often asked for the dates and outline of all the fiestas in Soller. Some are planning their holidays around the dates and others want to avoid them. The Soller Valley fiestas on this list are local and will happen whether there are visitors in…
By Shirley Roberts with reference to Diario de Mallorca The Joan March hospital is the building in the high distance seen from the Soller Road. It is often called ‘Caubet’ by locals which is the name of the estate where it was built. Caubet was the small village and the hamlet which housed the chapel, the…
By Shirley Roberts on 17th September 2022 A market is a market is a market except when it a Mallorquin market. At heart they are for local people to see and be seen and to conduct weekly business. Mobile phones and computers on the go are a feature of life here as everywhere else but…
Written by Gillian Garden a member of the congregation – June 2022 The first Anglican congregation in Mallorca was founded in Alcudia in the 1860s by Robert Bateman, the director of a British company draining the marshes there. It did not continue after his death but was restarted in the Terreno area of Palma in…
From 1959, Mallorca was in the middle of the Cold War with the construction of an American base on the highest peak of the Sierra de Tramuntana. Antoni Janer Torrens ARA Balears In the Balearic Islands, the scars of the Cold War are still clearly visible. On September 26, 1953, the Madrid Pacts were signed. After founding…
A little nod to Social History by Shirley Roberts Pic of Hampstead houses 2022 Urban planning has immediate and long term effects and changes the course of history for many locations. If I take you back to the North London which existed before I arrived in the world you would find mansions and servants. The…
By Shirley Roberts and Pics by Gary Lloyd Rees The location under the Puig Mayor and the Alfabia ridge means that nature in all its majesty is evident every which way you turn in Fornalutx . Its cultural heritage lies in its existence, pre the Conquest of Majorca in 1229, of a thriving manufacturing community. Its…
By Shirley Roberts The North West coast of Majorca holds many treasures. From Valldemossa, the coast road to the Port of Soller is a journey of the world. Take that turn and the delights which Arch Duke Luis Salvador of Austria found here all those years ago remain and have been extended. The Archduke was…
