In our December 2009 UK News & Views (sent to UK supporters along with the December Newsletter) we announced that we have again been offered a week's accommodation at an apartment in the La Manga Club resort, in south east Spain.  We are hoping that a supporter will auction the week as part of a fundraising event: which could be dedicated to RTU, although we are happy to share the proceeds with another local charity you are involved with.  We are also happy to receive bids for the week from individual supporters. Just email the UK office. This page tells you more about the resort, the apartment and when it is available.

A couple or family could enjoy a week in Spain, and benefit RTU at the same time!

The successful bidders last time were the Tarn family from Newcastle. Read about their great week at La Manga further down this page (click here).

We have been generously offered the chance to auction another week’s stay in an apartment in the Bellaluz community at La Manga Club resort in Spain. La Manga is in Murcia, in south east Spain, on the Costa Calida (the Warm Coast). Murcia Airport is only 20 minutes away, with flights available from 15 airports around Britain. (Alicante Airport, an hour’s distance, offers a bigger selection.) 

La Manga Club is a top sports resort, with 28 tennis courts (various surfaces) and 3 golf courses (it has won several ‘Leading Golf Resort’ awards, and is the European tennis training centre).  There is also a bowling green. In winter, northern European football teams - both national and club - come for winter training.  Last autumn there was a cricket competition.  

The club area is the same size as Monaco, well laid out and very green with pine, olive and palm trees. Although it is a sports resort more visitors come just to laze around a pool, walk in the woods, pamper themselves in the Spa, or go to the beach than come to play sport.  To find out more, visit the resort’s website www.lamangaclub.com.   Bellaluz is a low-rise development surrounding a square with a supermarket, restaurant and bar. There is also a big pool area. A lot of the residents live there full-time, and apart from August it is generally quiet.  As well as the nearby Mediterranean coast, La Manga Club is only a few kilometres above the Mar Menor, Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, with beautiful beaches, warm water, and water sports facilities. 

The apartment itself is on the ground floor, with one twin bedroom and a sofabed in the lounge. It is being offered to RTU by Anne and Tom McCartan (who live permanently in Miradores, another nearby apartment area in the resort) and is available at any time of year if their family or friends are not using it!  Anne writes:  “It is a fairly small one-bedroom apartment. I enclose my poor attempts at photography, taken in October 2007 (ignore the dates on the photos).  The apartment has reverse air conditioning so it can be cooled or heated, but this rarely needs to be used. The resort generally has over 300 days of sunshine a year. Winter daytime temperatures are usually around 20ºC, and about 8-10 at night.. In summer it is usually in the thirties but with a sea breeze which I find more comfortable than Essex on a summer’s day. April and September are usually great months.

“There are several restaurants and a Hyatt hotel on the resort. These are pricey, but only 2km away at Los Belones we have several very good restaurants which are very reasonable, and hundreds more at Cabo de Palos (a local fishing village), and on  La Manga Strip’s 24km long key, which separates the Mar Menor from the Med and is where the northern Spanish have their holidays. We go to church at either Los Belones or Cabo de Palos.”

If you would like to check dates with Anne and Tom, they can be contacted on mccartananne@yahoo.co.uk or 0034 968 338393 (NB this is a Spanish number). At the time of writing this, May and August 2010 are not available. You don't need to finalise the dates before auctioning the week!

How to run the auction

If you would like to auction the week, get in touch with Max Philbrick at the UK office. It's a case of first some first served, although we are happy to accept a provisional reservation!  The week should ideally be auctioned just for RTU, eg at some special fundraising event where you might have other other donated gifts to auction; or just as the 'only lot'.  (You are likely to get a better price if there are quite a few things to bid for: take a look at www.ideasfundraising.co.uk/organise-charity-auction.html for more advice. 

Or if there is a local charity auction in aid of some other good cause already planned, we are happy for the week at La Manga to be included, provided RTU gets at least 50% of the proceeds.

If you just like the idea of a week at La Manga for yourself, you can email us with a personal bid. If we have no firm auction reservations by the middle of February 2010, we will look at any personal bids we have received! Before you bid, you may want to check with the MacCartans that the apartment is available at dates that suit you.

NB to be quite clear, the offer is for the self-catering accommodation only; travel arrangements are your own responsibility.

What did the last successful bidders think?

"La Manga Club is a sports orientated holiday resort catering particularly for golfers, football and tennis players. The resort does however cater effectively for those that have no interest in sport, with plenty of shops and restaurants and a number of  swimming pools with large areas around them for sun bathing.  

"The flat is excellent with all the facilities you might need and is ideal for two people, a little cramped but acceptable for four people. It is situated close to the Bellaluz shops and the Bellaluz pool which is a conventional 25m pool. Even in the peak holiday period the pool was never full and for significant times during the day had less than 10 people in it. We spent a lot of time at the pool area which also had a small bar and many sun beds for sun bathing. 

"You can walk for many miles through the woods surrounding La Manga and see stunning views of the Mediterranean from the coastal cliff top walk. A visit to the gun emplacement to the west of the resort is well worth it. The beaches of the Mar Menor, some 5km from the resort are excellent and safe for young children as they have very little waves and no sudden increase in depth.  You must make at least one visit to historic Cartegena, which offers a very pleasant traffic-free shopping area, substantial port and extensive historic Roman remains. 

"We didn’t hire a car as they were particularly expensive in 2009. We stayed on the site for most of the time, did some walking and visited Cartegena using a free bus provided by the large department store there. We explored some of the coast, and the close-by national park by cycle - hired at La Manga.  

"Anne and Tom, the owners of the flat were particularly helpful, answering any questions we had and going beyond the call of duty by inviting us to a party with their friends and taking us to the owners' club for a very pleasant meal in the open air."