The murder in Alicante of Miquel Grau - the last Francoist victim before the transition to democracy

I must have walked past this memorial dozens of time while out and about in the city or catching the tram from Lucheros station. The final victim of the Francoists during the transition to democracy in Alicante in 1977. Miquel Grau I Gómez. Murdered at Lucheros in October that year while putting up posters to celebrate the Valencian Day that had been outlawed under the years of the dictatorship. He was killed by a brick thrown from a balcony by a fascist supporter. His funeral was attended by nearly 20,000 people and the armed Guardia Civil broke up the procession from the church to the cemetery and seized the coffin. His killer was initially sentenced to a lenient 12 years in prison and even that was later reduced to 6 years on appeal. I am grateful to the Historical Memory group in Alicante for ensuring that Miquel is not forgotten and his story shows just how recent the days before democracy in Spain really are.

An exhibition marking the eightieth anniversary of the fall of Alicante

I was lucky enough to be in Alicante on a saturday morning in late May when the exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the fall of the City to Franco's forces was on. Even luckier, the museum in the old fire station housing the display was open - something that you need to check in advance if you are planning a trip as the hours are seriously restricted now. It was a beautifully created exhibition with some extraordinary contemporary artefacts and lovingly crafted displays. I found the work on the displacement of thousands of refugees, who had hoped for evacuation from the port side, to the holding area at Los Almendros before being transported to the concentration camp as San Isidro particularly moving. As was the long list of those who died immediately before and after the fall of Alicante - many from suicide as they knew what awaited them at the hands of Franco's thugs. There was a model of the Stanbrooke, the only ship to break the naval blockade and effect a limited evacuation, and I was just pleased to see that those involved in the historical memory work around the Civil War are still doing such great work.

A machine gun post up in the hills behind Arenales

Up in the hills behind the new hotels that have sprung up at the south of Arenales, rising up over the Clot De Galvany nature reserve, lies this absolute beauty of a machine gun post. It's a bit of a clamber up to reach it but it really is stunningly well preserved and well worth the effort. Although at some point it looks like the rough stonework has had some repointing it is not sealed up and you can step inside and back in time and peer out of the gun slots with their view across the road network and land to the south. It's tiny inside, probably a one man operation and possibly more for observation purposes. Alongside it runs what look like the remains of a trench network - long filled in with the sand from the dunes but with their stone lips intact. I am pleased to be able to add this important and historic relic to the overall picture we are building up.

The exploration of the collapsed and hidden defences in the Clot continues

I've come to the conclusion that there is a mass of hidden and undocumented Civil War military history buried away in the Clot De Galvany and I am on a mission to uncover it. We know about the well-preserved bunkers and installations on the official trail but I'm after the areas secrets. Having found one collapsed and overgrown bunker near the lake a few months ago I now have an eye for the tell tale signs and am sure these parts of the Republican defensive wall were built in clusters and strategic lines. So, I was well chuffed to spot this the other side of the nature reserves fence and squeezed under to take a look. The straight concrete line is the lip of a trench behind what would have been a domed and camouflaged gun emplacement. The trench has been filled in with sand down the years and the bunker has collapsed but the curved wall is still visible although well overgrown. You can also pick out some of the internal concrete shell that the stone disguise would have covered. Another important discovery.