On 30 July, Pilar de la Horadada celebrated 38 years of independence from Orihuela in the Plaza de la Iglesia in front of a crowd of a thousand people, the XXXVIII Anniversary of the Segregation of the municipality of Orihuela, through the institutional act paying homage to the ‘Plus Ultra’ academy, directed by Carlos Martínez Ferrer.
The academy is a centre of studies that marked the educational development of Pilar de la Horadada from 1969 to 1977, preparing its students for the exams through elementary and higher baccalaureate.
The councillor for culture and education, Darío Quesada Ferrer, opened the event with a speech in which he spoke of the educational value and the cultural project that his council is carrying out. Afterwards, the attendees were able to enjoy a documentary that was screened, directed by María García Samper and edited by the Department of Culture, which showed the great importance of the academy, through which the teachers led an entire generation towards a different future than the one they had outlined, in a time of austerity, allowing them access to opportunities, that merged with the destiny of Pilar de la Horadada.
Three former students: Emilia Sánchez Moya, María García Giménez and Antonio Ballester López shared their experiences and testimonies at the academy, as well as the mark it left on their lives.
The mayor José María Pérez Sánchez and the councillor for culture, as well as recognising the work of the academy’s director Carlos Martínez, received on stage Florentina Adiego Aransay, Consuelo Zapata Samper, Mari Fina Moya Pérez, Isabel Castejón Martínez, representing her brother José Antonio and Mari Sol Izquierdo.
The mayor closed the ceremony by valuing the importance of the academy and the legacy it has left in Pilar de la Horadada. His speech ended with the sound of bells and fireworks that gave voice and light to the facade of the parish church, which, for so many years served as the scene of the process of segregation, and even the celebration of the birth of the municipality of Pilar de la Horadada.
The songs and voices of the musical group Mocedades, who were founded back in the seventies, along with the ‘Plus Ultra’ academy, staged in the tribute to Mocedades ‘Dónde estás corazón.
