Ask about a ´Day out in Benifallet´ ticket. A fantastic gift for anybody.
A unique souvenir to initiate a visit to fantastic Benifallet!
Tickets are to be available to include activities with and without a menu from paticipating restaurants and Courtesy of ´People that do´
THANKS BE TO MY MUM!
I guess this route was inspired by my mother Patricia, who was a travel courier for many years (in the 50´s and 60´s) taking coach loads of people from London on tours to: France, Switzerland, Spain and Italy.
She had felt sorry for the tourists in Coventry as it seemed that they had come along way to take a photo of the ´tacky´plastic´ Lady Godiva clock - The bronze statue in the centre was good but ohhh the clock!....
´Peeping Tom´ would pop out of a triangular hole on a wall on the hour to watch Lady Godiva ´wiggle´ and ´lurch´ her way around a train track! Ha! You could say that this was, ´The Manneken Pis´ of Coventry!
Many tourists could be seen with their wide angle lenses at the ready looking at the spectacle in amazement, for all the wrong reasons!
I had just finished a National Diploma in Art and design and was going on to do a degree in Falmouth and needed to make some money. My mum advised me to paint a scene or two of Coventry to see if they would sell to ´The Poor tourists´!
So I tried.....
I set up an exhibition near to the famous ´Lady Godiva´ bronze statue one Saturday and amazingly sold out of my water colour sketches! To an 18 year old this money-making lark was fun and seemed easy so I cancelled Falmouth and the rest is history!
Is a directory of ´people that ´do things´ for Benifallet to encourage tourism to the area, for the love of the area.
´People that do´, At the Galeria de Benifallet
How the idea came about - The Connection:
Lady Godiva, bronze
Tacky plastic!
My mum showing off Barcelona.
My mum may not be with us now, physically but I feel her holding my hand.
Tourism for Benifallet/Tourism for the area: In a time of crisis it has become apparent that the tourist footfall in the area needs to be increased. The ´Benifallet Community Project´ has been conceived as a way of increasing the interest in Benifallet through ´art and participation´.
This is a long term project that will take a time to evolve. So with careful consideration and official permission, a new website for has been constructed through the Galeria de Benifallet. The website will have the capacity to to sell tickets for the places of interest and activities in and around Benifallet, as those in the the towns in the Terres de l´ Ebre region. Aided through directory contacts this is ongoing and evolving as more activities and restaurants are included.
´People That Do´, consists of web designers, publicists, tourist office managers (in Benifallet, Catalonia and abroad), tutors and tour guides set to bring people to the area. When the time is right.
Thanks to everyone who has sought to aid the cause, donating their time and skills to create this opportunity for Benifallet -
´A Way Forward´
We will all stand to benefit when Benifallet becomes more interesting, of course there will be hurdles but there is no deadline!
What tourists want: At the age of 18 I developed my first series of paintings depicting historical Coventry, the city in which I lived. There was a need to supply souvenirs of the city to the many tourists coming to Coventry every year.
After receiving recognition for a series of 16 watercolour paintings the work was put into print. This first collection of images was followed by more of Coventry, then the beautiful towns of Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa, Stratford -upon -Avon and Warwick.
Retail experience: In 1995 I moved to Surrey where although I continued to paint, I concentrated on interior design and retail. Here I helped establish a number of art galleries and interior shops over the next ten years. Then change was needed.....
I then moved southward and after a brief time of living in Kent, again I ended up painting local scenes (of Canterbury this time) and going into print. One of the most memorable projects for me at this time was the re-merchandising of the famous ´Canterbury Tales´ visitors centre.
After this I spent time patenting a design process that I had invented some years before that created marble/stone paint finishes, This resulted in a ´New Paint Product´.
Wanting a change of life after a ´Dragons Den´ experience with investors in the ´New Paint Product´, I moved to Benifallet where I´ve established a gallery, produced a series of souvenirs of the area and set up permanent exhibitions of paintings.
I am now concentrating on ´creation and instruction´ of the ´The Benifallet Community Project´.
A project that Is close to my artistic heart!
Galeria de Benifallet
Yes, that was me at 19!