The 2 day Fiesta, August 7th & 8th, 2010
The 2 day carnival was an unqualified success with 80 Brits and an estimated 250 locals enjoying the events.
The celebrations really started on the 5th when Pablo and the local San Miguel rep organised a most enjoyable (and free!) trip to Burgos. First stop was the San Miguel factory where a tour of the works was followed by a meal with plenty of San Miguel and Mahou samples. The coach then took the group to the world heritage site of Atapuerca where the various levels and human discoveries were well described. A video in 2 parts can be seen below.
The week-end activities took place at La Secada end of the village - these were organised and led by many people - everyone can congratulate themselves on an enjoyable job well done.
The following list outlines the activities and the lead organisers - there are bound to be omissions in all these acknowledgements and thanks - apologies to those who haven't been mentioned. Nearly everyone helped out over the two days!
Saturday
11am precisely - Rockets (Phil Papard)
Children's activities and games (Julie Bridgeman)
Tortilla Competition (Penny Corrin)
Barbeque (the committee*; and the local people who ordered meat and bread and organised the cooking and food distribution. Sue Morton organised the veggie option.)
Duck Race (Hilary Papard
- selling ducks; Phil Papard - course preparation and duck marshal.)
Tug of War (Terry Whitaker)
Evening Dance to Twister with further entertainment from Los Agosteros. 50 Year summary speech and thanks on behalf of the expedition with a presentation to Pablo (Juan Corrin with Carolina Smith de la Fuente.)
Sunday
Caving trip in Reñada for 18 children from the village (Ali Neill)
Dance (Juan Corrin) and entertainment from the Derbyshire Fluffies (led by Liz Dibben.)
Photo of all participants (Paul Fretwell)
Football Match (Steve Martin) which Spain won. The original trophy from 1974 now resides behind the bar in Bar Germán.
Rockets (Phil Papard)
* Juan & Penny Corrin, Steve and Susan Martin, Pete Smith
Throughout the two days, Pablo ran a bar in the hired 10m x 10m tent (which covered the car park). An exhibition of caving photos, surveys and photos of locals and early cavers lined the tent (Juan Corrin). A photographic competition attracted a number of varied entries (Ian Chandler). Speleo-olympic games were organised by Tony Brocklebank and the Derbyshire Caving Club. Bob and Julie Cawthorne organised and ran the various draws - which proved to be popular fund-raisers - and also sold much of the remaining Matienzo 50 memorabilia - mugs, T-shirts, car stickers, pins (Peter Smith) and especially copies of the Matienzo 50 book - 140 arrived Saturday lunchtime.
The weekend activities were free to the locals. This was only possible because of fund raising events and the generosity of the following clubs and individuals:
Patrick Warren; White Rose Pothole Club; Matienzo Caves Expeditions; Bob & Julie Cawthorne; Jenny Corrin; Juan & Penny Corrin; Eldon Pothole Club; International Society for Speleological Art; Lank Mills, Liz Walton & family; Phil & Hilary Papard; Red Rose Cave & Pothole Club; Plymouth Caving Group; Derbyshire Caving Club and members of the Earby Pothole Club.
Many photos were taken over the weekend and these are scattered across various web sites:
http://s914.photobucket.com/home/Matienzo50/index
Anybody can upload photos to their own album on this Photobucket site. Login in as Matienzo50; the password is also Matienzo50.
Jesús Lucio García Caller has put together 3 excellent PowerPoint presentations covering the 2 days.
Presentation 1 : Presentation 2 : Presentation 3
Various FaceBook accounts.
A "formal" photograph of all the people who were around before the football match was taken outside the bar by Footleg. He has "Photoshop'd" this to include himself and merged various shots to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling as much as possible. A small version is shown below; the full resolution version which is freely available to download and print can be found here.
Some people turned up late and there is a "stragglers" photo available as well - a full resolution version is available for printing here. This has not been "Photoshop'd"; neither Footleg or Pablo appear on it and quite a few people aren't looking at the camera.
A 50 minute "Matienzo 50 Fiesta video (split into 4 segments) can be seen below. Use the higher resolution settings (480p, 720p-HD) if your system allows.
A few days later Noelia and Rosi presented a framed text. And on August 21st, the second Horticultural Show was held outside Bar Germán followed by lots of home-made food. (Photos can be found on http://s914.photobucket.com/home/Matienzo50/index)
On September 6th, El Diario Montañés, the local newspaper, published an article about the background and book.