La Xara resident Joy Goodrick has been awarded an MBE for her charity work over the past years.
The 81-year-old was awarded the MBE after six people, including a Spanish councillor and Father John, nominated her.
Since her husband died 16 years ago, Joy has volunteered for HELP which includes work in the shop in La Xara every Monday, as well as helping with fundraisers which have seen the charity raise money to buy special care beds, wheelchairs and other useful equipment.
When asked how she was notified, Joy Goodrick said: "I received a call from the Embassy in Madrid who explained to me that I had been made an MBE. I was completely dumbfounded, but my family and friends are extremely delighted for me."
Joy Goodrick, who has been visiting Spain since 1962 moved here permanently in 1993. During her working life she cared for sick children and continued her charity work with HELP.
The official award ceremony will be held in the autumn at Buckingham Palace and she will receive her MBE from either the Queen or another member of the royal family.
By Oliver McIntyre
The law, aimed at providing terminally ill patients the right to a ‘dignified death', allows them to reject artificial means of life support, including halting already ongoing treatment such as by disconnecting a respirator.
It also allows the use of palliative sedation in terminal cases, which could be used to minimise the suffering of someone who elected to be removed from life support.
The rejection of artificial life support can also be made in advance via the creation of a living will, which doctors will be obligated to respect in the event that injury or illness has left a patient incapacitated to express his or her wishes.
Unless there are medical contraindications, terminal patients will have the right to receive palliative care in their own home, and in the company of family members. Those who must be hospitalised will be guaranteed their own, unshared hospital room.
The Junta's health chief, María Jesús Montero, who oversaw the drawing up of the legislation with input from health professionals, scientists and others, said the law in no way addresses euthanasia (actively provoking death) or assisted suicide (helping someone to actively take their own life), both of which are criminal offences under Spanish law.
She said Andalucía's ‘right to die' law was inspired by cases such as that of Inmaculada Echevarría, the Granada woman who fought a legal battle before finally winning permission to be disconnected from her respirator in 2007, or the malpractice accusations against doctors at Madrid's Severo Ochoa hospital over the sedation they administered to terminally ill patients.
As from July 1, nationwide regulations regarding who supplies electricity to around 1.2 million people in Alicante Province will change under the government's new Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR) scheme.
Between now and then customers who use less then 10kW of electricity each month have to decide which of the five suppliers they want to be contracted to and make the necessary arrangements, anybody who fails to do so will automatically be contracted to the company they are currently with.
The TUR scheme has been put in place in order to help reduce bills for people who habitually use less energy than others.
Anyone wishing to change to another company can do so at no cost, and failure to elect one of them will not result in supplies being cut.
Watchdogs are advising people to wait until the situation regarding costs become clearer before making any decisions about changing suppliers.
