Found in the municipal archive of Albaida: 1955 and 1969. Two dates with no relationship between them,
but DID YOU KNOW THAT…
1955
On January 14, the neighbor of Carrer de Baix in the Barrio de Sant Antoni, Miguel Escrivà Alfonso, applies for a license to play in the streets of Pòsit and Gràcia starting from ball, through an income or rent. His instance, despite being an illiterate person (he signs with the footprint of his big toe) is very juicy:
"… that the game of ball in the streets of Pósito and Gracia had reached an increase never known in this city, and in order to see if it increases every day, since this population as soon as it knows that it exists some ball game, the enthusiasm vibrates in the hearts of countless Albaidenses who already their ancestors longed with pride for this noble game, and with the aim of being able to resume as much as possible…”.
The Development Commission writes a favorable report because it promotes football, which is so rooted in the Valencian Region, it is a street with few houses and does not disturb its neighbors so much and it leaves the possibility for young people to go to cafes and centers of vice and corruption; but Mr. Escrivà must bear in mind that the occupation of the public road is ceded in concert to the manager Elías Seguí Valls and he will have to pay him the municipal tax of the product of the arbitration on occupation of the public road. The following year, the Festivals Committee organizes a Regional Tournament of "Raspallot" where 14 teams from 14 surrounding towns participate with prizes for the top 5 and a prize for the winners of 400 pesetas and a cup. The games are played on Carrer Major up to the corner of Carrer de "les Güeles" or Sant Vicent, with planks on the rakes of the sidewalk on the left. In addition, there were stands covering the two fifteenths. The champion was the team from the village of Llutxent against Bufali. The anecdote or popular legend is told that during one of the disputed games they had to stop playing because a procession of a bat was passing by and one of the players said:
-Hey, dad, what's up with my girlfriend?
And the way things are, at the end of the years, that little girl who was on the arm of her godmother, was the wife of the player who said the sentence.
That same year, 1955:
José Soler Vidal (painter, sculptor and ceramist) better known as Monjalés (member of the Parpalló Group) held exhibitions. Monjalés died last summer, 2023, in Valencia at the age of 91 (DEP)
The town's cement company "Vulcania" invoiced the town hall
and ... 69 years have passed (the older ones will remember) since the tragic bus accident in the port of Albaida with 14 dead and 26 injured and which is echoed by the national press (weekly "El Caso"); same years
…14 years later…
1969
That year and before man reached the moon, on March 9 they buried the Albaídí painter Josep Segrelles and Albert (painter, poster artist and illustrator). In addition, among other things, the first e-mail is sent through arpanet (precursor of the internet), the Woodstock music festival is celebrated, the musical group La Trinca is founded, Joan de Borbó resigns to be king (the dictator Franco appoints Joan Carles de Borbó as his successor), a boy named Eduard Forés is born in La Pobla del Duc
The mayor of Albaida (Cándido Martínez) sends a letter-edict requesting the publication in the province's gazette of the levies (tax payments). Among others, the carriage and bicycle fees. The tax was paid for the special depreciation caused by metal rim carriages on provincial roads. Albaida had 4,928 people registered that year. 4 taxpayers were subject to the payment of the tax for owning animal-drawn vehicles (carriages with cavalry). A curiosity : ten years earlier (1959) there were 64 taxpayers (44 major cavalry carriages, 19 minor cavalry and 1 luxury carriage).
28 taxpayers paid for the possession of a tractor and its rolling on municipal roads.
177 taxpayers were owners of velocipedes who also paid to roll in the streets. Another curiosity from the registers: twelve years earlier (1957) there were 204 owners.
The velocipedes wore a plate, which was their license plate. The velocipede is a light vehicle with one, two or three wheels for a single person, which gives it momentum by turning the wheels using pedals. This word derives from Latin and means "fast feet”, what we now know as bicycle.
We counted 20 different brands in the register:
BH (Basque brand of Vitoria), derby (Catalan brand Rabasa de Mollet del Vallés), Ducati (Italian brand manufacturer of auxiliary motors to attach to bicycles and written on the register with two "t's"), Ducson (also from Mollet del Vallés), slender (Catalan brand Gimson de Figueres), GAC. (Gipuzkoan Eibar brand), Gil (Valencian company of Elda dedicated to tires), invitational (we found nothing), Lube (Biscayan company specialized in motorcycles from Barakaldo), Martin (no information), Mobylette (from the GAC house), mountain (Catalan brand dedicated to the production of motorcycles), Orbea (also located in the town of Eibar, that year it is about to go bankrupt and becomes a cooperative), perfect (no information), Peugot (French brand without the "e" in the registry. Peugeot Cycles' rich history of innovation and competition began there in 1886), Rafter (we found nothing), Regia (Italian brand that made wheels), I laugh (Catalan company that started in the world of bicycles and then moved on to mopeds. The father of the painter Salvador Dalí was the notary in charge of certifying the creation of the company Riera i Juanoloa-Rieju-), Sevenr (ilicitan brand of bicycle engines), Terrot (Victorian company "Torrot" of robust touring and road bikes that in the register is written with "e" and I thought it was also a mistake by the official, but no, the Torrot brand, in the 50s, signs an agreement of manufacture with the French brand "Terrot". But the agreement did not last long and in the sixties, Peugeot absorbed Terrot and left Mr. Iriondo - its founder - then Mr. Luis Iriondo, smart and stubbornly, he changed the "e" to the "o" and thus continued his business of "lightweight" mopeds and motorcycles).
Joseph Moll
Health and ball
