José Alcalá-Zamora, member of the Royal Academy of History and Professor of Modern History, recently participated in the Friday debates at Nuestra Casa retirement home in Villalba, organised by FCC volunteers. Alcalá-Zamora recited a selection from his more than 5,000 sonnets; in particular he drew on his recent book Verses on new love (Versos del amor nuevo), his 30th publication.

Alcalá-Zamora is multifaceted: in addition to his involvement in the academy, he is also a marathon runner and triathlete, collects vintage firearms and plays chess. After his presentation he entertained questions, including one by Eulogia Llorente, who praised the speaker's grandfather, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora, who was Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic, for his work on expanding education at the time. Llorente passed away a few days after the presentation.

Basilio Rodríguez, Director of Sial Ediciones and Founder and Chairman of Spain's PEN Club, gave a presentation entitled "Communicate, convince and seduce. Body language". He discussed the use of simple non-verbal communication techniques to improve interaction with others, and he gave a basic overview of Kinesics, a science which focuses on posture, gestures, facial expressions and smiles. He recommended that the residents see two recently-released and well-known films which clearly illustrate his points about non-verbal communication, namely The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan, and The Illusionist, by Neil Burger http://www.cineol.net/gente/4642_Christopher-Nolan http://es.movies.yahoo.com/artists/b/neil-burger/index-1425516.html.

The objectives of the FCC volunteer programme, implemented in April 2009 as part of the company's commitment to corporate social responsibility, are aligned with those of the Esther Koplowitz Foundation, which has been working for years to help the needy.