It was a 7th May...

Yes, it was a 7th May, a day like any other in any year and in any year in any country, in this age or in another, on this continent or on another... For example, we could mention it was a 7th May more than seven centuries ago when the first foundation stone of Barcelona Cathedral was laid or when, exactly 50 years later, the Charles University in Prague was founded, events that were both surely celebrated in great style.

And still on a 7th May, it is very possible that more than three centuries later in 1664, Louis XIV inaugurated his Palace of Versailles with the magnificent and grandiose pomp and ceremony that was so typical of everything the French court did at that time; and that 160 years later, on 7th May 1824, the genius of romantic music, Ludwig van Beethoven, would perform his Ninth Symphony for the first time, which a century and a half later would become nothing less than the European Anthem... Whoever would have thought! And that also on the same date but in 1891 and in Madrid, the first stone was laid for that which was to be the Royal Spanish Academy building...

We could continue mentioning numerous other events that have happened on a 7th May before or after, such as in 1948, when the Congress of Europe took place in The Hague, or before this and in Spain, when the famous actor Tony Leblanc (Ignacio Fernández Sánchez) was born, or when, later in 1960, the prolific Spanish writer Almudena Grandes was born...

Yes, all these and many more major events have happened on this day in different years, but for us, this date has even greater importance than any of these, as last Saturday, 7th May, we celebrated our professional silver wedding anniversary. Yes, Word Works was founded on 7th May 1991 in Madrid ... and what memories of that tiny office in Calle Santísima Trinidad we have! The second-hand furniture, the faithful Amstrad 1640, a cloned assistant and successor, and, of course, the latest in “portable” computing, the Macintosh 630 with a scanner and Apple laser printer ... Incredible! The last word in luxury for that translator and his partner who had only recently settled in Madrid!

Before its second year, Word Works moved to Pozuelo de Alarcón. By this time we were now three people and emerging from the recession of ’92. In Pozuelo we continued to grow, changing offices, buying more equipment and modernising. In 1999, we gained our first ISO (9002). Later there came newer versions, new standards, more advances, and here we are still... because at Word Works we continue to be what we read everyday on the sign at the entrance to the office:

“We are all those who have been, those who are and those who will be. We are all and we are one.

Thanks to everyone who has been, to those who are and to those who will be, for their personal and professional contribution.”

And above all... WE ARE COMMUNICATION!