Club's First Presential Meeting in Pandemic Era

In July the Costa Press Club held its first meeting since pre-pandemic days – or, as president Jesper Sander Pedersen put it in his welcoming speech, the first for precisely 519 days. The meeting was held at Finca Naundrup in Calahonda: a central point for members coming from both ends of the Costa del Sol as well as points inland.

To mark the occasion, dinner was followed by brief talks on the subject of their choice from several members and guests. Mijas town councillor Bill Anderson raised the issue of the integration of foreign residents in local life, leading to an interesting debate on what it takes for a foreigner to feel like a local and, conversely, how foreigners might come to be perceived as locals by their Spanish neighbours.

Nicole King, who worked in the past for an optics company, made an impassioned plea on behalf of children everywhere, entitled ‘Having a vision’, and vowed to reveal and fight against some of the malpractices she had become aware of.

The club president contributed a talk called ‘Fighting the fictional beauty’, citing a newly passed law in Norway requiring influencers to label re-touched photos on social media, which led to an animated debate, particularly among the professional photographers present at the meeting.

The open mic session was brought to a close by Anette Skou, former head of the Mijas Foreign Residents’ Department. Anette, who retired in 2020 after 35 years of service, recalled the early days of her pioneering work in Mijas, saying that without the coverage given at the time by publications such as Lookout magazine and SUR in English it would have been practically impossible to reach the people it was intended to help. She expressed gratitude for the support of the foreign media ever since, and was warmly applauded by Costa Press Club members.

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