Winners of Paphos Hearts of Gold Award 2015 announced
By Bejay Browne
A devoted charity worker who has been instrumental in
raising thousands for the Paphos Renal Unit, and a young,
courageous blind boy are the winners of the ninth annual
Paphos Hearts of Gold awards.
In addition, two new awards – the lifetime achievement award
and the Jasmitha Singh award for courage – were also given
to a committed charity head (postumously) and a brave
inspiring boy.
The winners of this year’s awards were announced by Patron
Marios Joannou Elia at a packed ceremony at Palia Ilektriki
cultural centre on December 11th.
Thirty one adults and 16 children were put forward for this
year’s awards. Graham Brown and four year old Iordanis
Demetrof (Dani) were chosen by a panel of ten judges and
announced by Joannou Elia, who is the patron of the awards
for the second year.
The two winners were each presented with a solid gold
hand-crafted heart on a pin, which is created and donated
every year by Aphrodite Jewellers, as well as a certificate
and a bouquet of flowers.
A tearful Graham Brown,
winner of the adult award, said: “I can’t believe that I’ve
won, there are so many wonderful people here today and I
didn’t even imagine I would be chosen.”
Graham is the chairman of the Cyprus Kidney Association, and
has worked tirelessly over many years to support the Paphos
General Hospital Renal Unit by providing much needed
equipment.
He suffers from a hereditary kidney disease, and has kidney
dialysis three days a week for five hours a day.
Graham also received a two-night stay and dinner at the
luxury Almyra Hotel.
Four year old Iordanis Demetrof (Dani) is the winner of the
junior section and the youngest to ever hold the title.
Dani was born blind and has had to undergo a number of risky
and painful treatments abroad. Despite the pain he goes
through, he is a happy child who has shown great improvement
and will undergo further treatments in the coming months to
try to regain his sight.
Tom Handley was the posthumous winner of the lifetime
achievement award. Tom passed away earlier this year and his
wife Jan, was presented with his award.
Tom dedicated his life in Cyprus to the Paphos cancer
patients support group and was the chairman until ill health
meant he had to step down earlier this year.
Karim Svintovsky is eight years old and was presented with
the Jasmitha Singh award for courage. Jasmitha is a previous
winner and died earlier this year, aged just 15 years. The
award was presented by her mother, Satiya.
Karim is a brave boy who
loves school and had a severe squint in one eye which needed
correction and was helped by the Dashin Foundation. He can
now read more easily and join other in sports activities. He
has also been a great moral support to his mother through
tough times and is described as inspiring, bright and
clever.
Joannou Elia spoke about the importance of being motivated
by goodness, the importance of community and social
behaviour and praised all of the nominees. He stressed that
all of the nominees are winners.
Nominees, their families and friends, members of the judging
panel, and representatives of the social welfare committee
were all present at the ceremony which took place to a
packed audience of around 200.
The Zingers, an amateur singing group who were also
nominated for raising thousands of euros for local
charities, greeted guests with festive songs. Chris Hopkins
was this year’s photographer and James Walton the
videographer.
All of the nominees received a certificate and a flower
presented by British Vice Consul Christina Smith and Maria
Zavrou of the Paphos social welfare committee.
The Heart of Gold Awards recognises children and adults that
live in the district of Paphos who have shown tremendous
courage, strength and determination, worked tirelessly in
the community or for charities, overcome tragedies with a
smile or simply been a great help and support to neighbours
and friends.
Pictures and a video of the event will be available at the
dedicated Facebook page
www.facebook.com/paphosheartsofgold
The annual award is supported
by Paphos Municipality, Aphrodite Jewellers, Massiva
printing, the Cyprus Mail, Paphos Post, Sunshine radio, the
British High Commission, Almyra Hotel.
Christmas night market a huge success
By Bejay Browne
A Christmas night market held in Paphos was a huge success
and saw hundreds of people turn out in support of the event.
Held on December 10th between 5pm-9pm, the night market was
the third to be organised in the town by Revival Fashions
and the Paphos Post newspaper.
More than 60 stalls selling all sorts of Cyprus crafts and
goods took part and dancers and singers provided the
evening’s entertainment.
Performers included the American Academy School choir, Young
Stars Theatre and Performing Arts School and a Revival
Fashion show, which took place on a large catwalk.
“The event was lovely,” said one of the organisers Judith
Evans Davies, “and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The
stalls were busy which is great and we will probably put on
another night market in the spring.”
The event also raises funds and awareness of the Matthew 25
feed the hungry in Paphos project which, which is run by the
Paphos Christian Fellowship International- PCFI.
The project has around 50 families registered with the
programme and provides staple foods, dried goods and
necessities such as bread, pasta, rice, cereals and tinned
foods, as well as nappies and toiletries every week.
‘Matthew 25’ also had a stall at the event, helping to raise
funds for the worthy cause.
“We would also really like to thank everyone who donated
food supplies on the night and are still continuing to do
so,” said Evans Davies, “We are truly grateful for the
support.”
Candlelit Christmas carols in
Paphos
By Bejay Browne
A successful candlelit carol
singing event was held in Kato Paphos in December and was
led by soprano, Judith Evans Davies.
“We started the carol singing at the harbour about six years
ago and it’s now become an annual event. It’s something
lovely for Paphos and everyone gets so much enjoyment out of
it,” she said.
She added that it’s a chance for local churches and the
public to come together and celebrate the birth of Jesus.
“Hundreds of people gathered with song sheets and candles to
join in the experience and the true meaning of Christmas,
and it was a wonderful and uplifting experience.”
The acclaimed singer also performed a solo piece, O Holy
night.
A pianist and guitarist accompanied the carols and song
sheets and candles were provided.
The participants sang along to traditional favourites such
as, Silent Night, O come all ye faithful, and Hark! the
Herald angels.
Evans Davies said that the event was started by the local
PCFI church, (Paphos Christian Fellowship International),
along with the NTC (New Testament Community Church), and
Calvary Chapel Paphos, a number of years ago, with the idea
of ‘getting into the spirit of Christmas.’
Insensitive drivers parking in disabled bays causing
problems
By Bejay Browne
A group of disabled basketball players taking part in a
recent match in Paphos, told local politicians that
insensitive drivers parking in allocated disabled spaces and
on pavements, are causing disabled drivers huge problems
across the island.
“Tournament of Love”, which is part of a wider “We care”
campaign, saw able bodied players compete in wheelchairs,
alongside wheelchair users, in teams of three.
Each team was made up of local politicians and volunteers as
well as one member of the basketball team of OPAK, the
Cyprus Paraplegic Association. All played in wheelchairs and
the match was to promote inclusivity in the community.
“This is the first time that we’ve organised such an event,
and its part of a wider campaign we are undertaking to
support disabled people in the community,” said one of the
organisers of the event, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, from
NEDISY, the youth section of DISY. “The message is that no
social group should be treated differently.”
For people with disabilities this means proper
infrastructure that allows easy movement and access to
public places and transport he said.
The mayor of Yeroskipou, Michalis Pavlides, mayor of Paphos,
Phedonas Phedonos and councillors, Doros Paphities, Nicos
Similides, Chrysanthos Savvides, Polis Polydorou and Kostas
Rialas, amongst others, all took part.
Pavlides said he thoroughly enjoyed participating but that
it had had made him even more aware of the difficulties
which face wheelchair users on a day-to-day basis.
“We have to make more efforts, such as making more places on
pavements suitable for wheel chair access. We also need to
correct entrances to our parks and to create more disabled
parking spaces at Yeroskipou square.”
Letymbiotis said they have also been collecting unwanted
plastic bottle tops and tin cans to be sold for recycling.
The money raised will buy a wheelchair for the Kivotos
foundation in Paphos, which looks after children with
special needs.
A basic wheelchair costs around 700 euros, he said, adding
that OPAK use special ones to play basketball, which come
with a 3,500 euro price tag.
NEDISY have two recycling bins in Paphos where people can
drop bottle tops and tin cans, one outside the municipal
library in Paphos town (opposite the town hall), and the
other at Yeroskipou Square.
Paphos actively seeks golf tourism
By Bejay Browne
Paphos is actively seeking to attract and expand golf
tourism to the district, a move which will also help to
prevent the phenomena of seasonality, according to
officials.
Head of the Paphos regional board of tourism, Nasos
Hadjigeorgiou , said that sports tourism,( under which
umbrella golf falls,) is one of the ways in which interested
parties are tackling the problem of seasonality, which is
adversely affecting tourism.
“There is a common effort and a more aggressive attempt to
promote the special experiences of Paphos, such as golf,” he
said.
With that in mind, 50 specialist agents and companies from
eight different countries, mostly across central Europe,
which offer golfing holidays visited Paphos, to check out
what the area has to offer. Europe has around 8 million
golfers.
Hadjigeorgiou said that through a collaborative effort by
tourism professionals, the four golf courses and hoteliers
of the district, along with the support of the Cyprus
Tourism Organisation- CTO and the regional board of tourism,
the agents will see and experience Paphos golf first hand
The organisations involved in this move believe that
extending hospitality to tourist operators and stakeholders
from abroad, as well as the promotion of tourist packages,
will contribute to the goal of establishing Paphos firmly as
a golf destination. Numbers of golfing arrivals have seen an
increase over recent years.
The tourism head said that the local tourism board considers
further development of golf tourism and sports tourism in
general as a high priority, and he added that this can be
achieved by upgrading flights from countries which are
sources of sports tourism, such as the Nordic countries and
Ireland.
Stakeholders believe that the golf courses are a solution to
seasonality issues concerning tourism in Cyprus, as many
European golf courses are closed from October to March, due
to poor weather.
Paphos mayor refuses to pay outstanding waste management
fees
By Bejay Browne
The Paphos mayor’s refusal to pay outstanding waste
management fees could mean municipal trucks are refused
entry to the main rubbish site, the chairman of the board of
Paphos refuse disposal sites (HYTA) said.
The spat concerns the operation of the MSW (municipal solid
waste) site at Marathounda in Paphos which currently serves
the entire district.
Board chairman Andreas Chrysanthou said that mayor Phedonas
Phedonos’ move was populist and that, although he had
previously stood side by side with the mayor to eradicate
corruption from the
town following the arrest and conviction of a number of
local officials including the former mayor, Savvas Vergas,
he was now going too far.
“In the past, we fought corruption side by side, and I stand
for and believe in transparency. But if we now have to
fight, so be it. If the municipality doesn’t pay us, we
can’t pay the company operating the waste site, and the
company has the right to shut it down,” he warned.
Chrysanthou said the mayor has refused to pay outstanding
charges to the landfill organisation based on assumptions
and allegations, which have no legal justification.
“This is a very complicated matter, some of it to do with
years ago when Vergas was the chairman of the board of
directors. There are claims that at that time money was
‘stolen’ by overcharging, but this has not been proved in
court.”
The board has a contract to honour with the site operators
who are currently handling the garbage management, the
chairman said.
He said that the board has unanimously agreed that unless
the amount owed is paid, the board will instruct the waste
company not to accept any garbage from Paphos municipality.
However, the minister of agriculture has said he will meet
all concerned and try to find a solution.
Phedonos is refusing to pay because of previous allegations
of corruption and because he argues that the board is paying
too much for the service and should never have extended the
contract with the company once it expired on July 14.
“It was supposed to be extended for another six months so
that the conditions of the new tender could be prepared,”
Phedonas. “Yet it is December and this has still not yet
been prepared. There is something wrong with this
situation.”
He added that the extension to the contract was also carried
out in an illegal manner.
Chrysanthou said they had no choice but to extend the
current contract, as fixing and approving new terms is a
lengthy process, involving the government.
The head of HYTA said that they have already issued four
written warnings to the mayor, and the last demand they gave
him was an eight page letter which explained the situation
clearly.
Chrysanthou said that the board is pushing for an open call
for the tender process as soon as possible, which he said
will be carried out transparently.
“We are hoping to reduce the charges from the operator of
the site still further.”
He said these are currently stacked at around two million
euros a year.
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