Benalmadena Honours Welsh Community Champion Cath John Benalmadena names Welsh Association president Cath John its foreign resident of the year, honouring 30 years of charity fundraising and intercultural work. A Welsh singer who has spent three decades bringing the Costa del Sol's international community together for good causes has been named foreign resident of the year in Benalmadena's annual awards. Cath John, president of the Welsh Association of the Costa del Sol, receives the award at the town's person of the year ceremony, which takes place this Sunday at the Casa de Cultura in Arroyo de la Miel and will recognise ten people and organisations for their contribution to life in the municipality. John, 54, has been honoured specifically for her contribution to intercultural relations in Benalmadena and for her involvement in cultural, social and charitable activities. Her reaction to the news was genuine disbelief. She described the award as an unexpected moment and said she was both surprised and shocked to learn she had been chosen. She said she felt incredibly honoured to be selected, especially knowing there must have been so many deserving people nominated, adding that Benalmadena means a great deal to her and that being recognised by the town she loves and feels part of makes the award very special. Her path to the Costa del Sol began in Bettws, Bridgend, in South Wales, where she was born in 1972. She arrived in Benalmadena in 1995 with her family, all of whom are well known and respected on the coast's entertainment scene. Known locally as the voice from the Valleys, John has been a solo artist on the coast for decades while also fronting the popular vocal group Mama Cath and the Soul Sisters, a trio that has become a fixture at charity fundraisers across the province. The organisation she leads was co-founded in 2011 by John and other Welsh nationals living in Malaga province, with a straightforward aim: raising money for charities in Spain and Wales. Since its creation, the association has organised the large-scale St David's Day celebration in Benalmadena every 1 March, an event that each year raises funds for the association's chosen charity. Alongside it, the group has run numerous other events, including the St George's Day festivities, raising thousands of euros over the last fifteen years for national and international charities, with a particular focus on cancer research and children's charities. In her characteristically direct way, John spreads the recognition well beyond herself. She said she cannot do any of it on her own, that fundraising brings people together, particularly the Spanish and international communities, and that whenever the association organises an event for local charities, people turn up, get involved and give generously. There are always volunteers willing to help, she said, adding that she has always loved the community spirit in Benalmadena. She described the sense of community as the real engine behind everything the association does. Whenever someone in the area needs help, the response is immediate and generous, and the fundraising calendar has become one of the places where the town's residents meet each other across the language line. Accepting the award, John said she shares the honour with the association's volunteers and supporters and with her family, whom she called the backbone of every event she organises. She also thanked the town hall, both for the award itself and for the support it gives the association's fundraising events, saying she is accepting it with immense gratitude on behalf of everyone who helps make the events happen. The ceremony on Sunday will recognise ten individuals and organisations across Benalmadena society, with awards honouring achievement and contribution in fields ranging from culture and sport to business and community work. The foreign resident award, which places John among the town's people of the year for 2026, carries particular weight in a municipality where tens of thousands of residents were born outside Spain and where the relationship between the local and international communities shapes daily life. For a town that has spent decades absorbing new arrivals from every corner of northern Europe, the choice of a Welsh fundraiser as its foreign resident of the year says something clear about what Benalmadena values: not longevity nor visibility, but the quiet work of one person who has spent thirty years moving between communities and making sure neither side forgets the other.