Jávea over the past 22 Years.  As seen through the pages of the BULLETIN 

            by Donald Twyford

If one week is a long time in politics, just consider how long twenty one years has been in the history of Javea! I would suggest more than two hundred for this has been the most dynamic period of change in the history of the town. 

This review of the past twenty years attempts to show the main changes to the town and the environment, together with the principal preoccupations of foreign residents during this period as reflected in the  pages of the JICS Bulletin.

 
The Society came into being in June 1988 and was the the inspiration of two retired senior executives of Shell: Kees Romeijn and Colin Marcus. The first Bulletin was issued that month in the name of The Association of Foreign Property Owners in Javea as the first meeting - at which the official name was changed to Javea International Civic Society - had not been held. The first editor was Clive Read and he remained in the post until December 1999. Billie Cook took on the role for one year and since then the editorial chair has been shared between the Jeni Jackson Phillips / Ian Philips duo; (I have never quite understood quite how the honour is decided between them but have always suspected that it was done on the toss of the coin with the loser getting the job!)

 
A few general remarks to start. I should confess that I have not re-read all the 240 editions from first to last page, (there are some limits to my masochistic tendencies!) Instead, I have simply picked out the juiciest plums from the headline items over the past twenty years and I hope that these are of interest.

 
However, most of us know that over the past fifty years Jávea has been transformed from a small medieval village into a medium - size, modern coastal resort. Until then the twenty or so families of Jávea, (whose names are familiar to all of us), were living in a small, isolated agricultural and fishing village. It was inevitable that such a transformation would have a profound effect on the character of Jávea and inflict  some damage to the simple charm and natural beauty of the village frequently called the Jewel of the Marina Alta.

The beauty of the town - In my view, (and this is shared, I believe, by the large majority of residents who knew the town twenty years ago), the changes made since 1988 and especially in the last five years have been the greatest experienced in the history of the municipality. And in the main these changes have had a negative effect on the charm and beauty of Javea.