European Day

Torrevieja has over 140 nationalities living within its boundaries, not all of them European, of course. This year the civic celebrations for European Day were held in the main square in the town and there was an audience of several hundred present to watch the ceremony that began with some singing by the Nordic Gospel Singers.

When the Mayor appeared he raised the blue flag, with the golden stars representing the member states in the corner of the square. The Mayor then gave a short speech reflecting on the background to the EU and its relation to Torrevieja itself. This was followed by speeches from representatives of three of the 'foreign' communities residing in Torrevieja, the Belgians, the English and the Swedish. It was perhaps ironic that as the English representative gave his speech the weather that had been temperamental decided to go 'British' by starting to drizzle. That was not enough to dampen the occasion though, and a number of acts by folk groups from different countries such as Finland and Ireland followed.

I don't suppose they had a similar ceremony in Birkenhead or even Liverpool.