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I came to Gran Canaria for a holiday around 12 years ago with my partner Tammy Pax aka Steve, we fell in love with the place and decided we would come over and look for a bar to open ourselves, we looked at a few places and then returned home to think about our options. We decided to put the idea on hold, and instead buy an apartment.So we flew out again and looked around, after looking for days we found the one we wanted and returned back home and arranged the finances, we returned back to Gran Canaria a few days later to buy the apartment, it all happened so quickly and we were the new owners within a week.
I wanted to spend 6 months in Gran Canaria and 6 months in England, as I loved my job back home teaching and working with disabled people which I had been doing for the last 10 years.
Steve had other plans as he fell in love with Gran Canaria and wanted to stay permanently. We spent two years going back and forth and while we were here the idea was to relax and not work, but having been here for 1 month I had to do something, so I started working in Pub Nestor with Barry and Stuart the original owners. The idea again being that we were only here for 6 months, but when I was due to leave Barry announced that he was getting married and asked us to stay longer until after the ceremony. Steve was not arguing as he wanted to stay. Then we became friends with Ricky Glass who worked with us at Pub Nestor for a while, he was a Drag Queen and on one occasion we said we would like to drag up for fun, so we did.
Ricky did our makeup and we went out on the town, we had a blast, we did this a few more times, only for fun before leaving to go back to England. While in England we kept in touch with Barry and Ricky, and Ricky told us he had been asked to open a bar in the Yumbo centre, hence the birth of Ricky’s cabaret bar. Opening in July 2002. We were back out on holiday for another six months in the October, Steve and I would drag up on the odd occasion and go to Ricky’s once again for fun, and we would get up at the end of the show to do the dances with Ricky. He worked mostly on his own and was then joined by Jose, who sadly passed away a few years ago.
Two days before New Years Eve 2002, Ricky told us that Jose had let him down for the show as he had double booked himself elsewhere and would we do the show with him, we had two days to learn six numbers each, I was petrified. On the night, and after 8 Jack Danials and a valium, we were on stage and it was amazing, everything went well, or what I can remember.
In January 2003. Ricky phoned me and asked if I would help out behind the bar for the evening and I agreed. Two days later they offered me a full time position in the bar and on the terrace which I happily agreed to. Six months later I was asked if I would like to join the show as a drag queen, I reluctantly said yes as I was not sure if I would be able to do it. I was the sort of person at school that refused to join in at drama as I felt an idiot on the stage and got embarrassed. So I tried and enjoyed and spent the next five and a half years doing the shows. Whilst there we were joined by Andi Martine and his partner James, we all became friends. Andi always had the dream of owning his own bar as we did years before. The dreams of the four of us became a reality and after lots of blood and sweat Sparkles Showbar was born, we had the pre launch party on the 2nd of June which went amazingly well, and plans are underway for the official launch so watch this space.
Love to all
Miss Dinah Might