Newspaper plays a vital role at a special reading club in Malaga province town

It is a place where life could look like it is coming to an end. Yet at the same time it is a place where there is as much or even more life than in other places. The San Juan de Dios residential home for the elderly is a building made up of several floors and 7,000 square metres in the middle of the charming town of Antequera in the north of Malaga province. It has a kiosk shop, a laundry, a hairdressing service and flat rate fees for physiotherapy. In front of the building there's a busy road that leads towards Los Dólmenes, ancient burial sites where the dimension of time also takes on a different meaning.

Behind the building there is some green space, small paths for taking a stroll and a space where they keep some animals. There are chickens and a donkey called Capote. A total of 97 residents occupy 76 rooms. The average age is a respectable 87 years. All who enter here stay put.

When we report on older people, we almost always dwell on their worries and illnesses. But here at San Juan de Dios what matters is their take on life, their points of view. They are people who have been teachers or farm workers, housewives or office workers. Here, in this institution oriented on Christian values, they have found their last home. Stories from an old people's home are difficult to tell because hardly anyone wants to hear them. Death is omnipresent and too much is left to the imagination as to what happens behind closed doors - all too often we envisage the worn-out figure of a helpless old person.

None of that happens at San Juan de Dios, where the daily routine is much more than physical care and personal hygiene. There is a ritual that is practised every day from Monday to Friday. Like a book club, but instead it is based on the dissection of that daily feed of information that comes in the form of a newspaper.

The main common room of this residence becomes a place to comment on current affairs and spark debate, with one key extra benefit: to exercise the brain. What have been the latest moves in Juanma Moreno's regional government? What happened at the illegal rave in Campanillas that led to all those arrests? Why are house prices in Malaga becoming unaffordable and what are the consequences? The answers are coming in the next hour.

The faces, outlined with wrinkles, all look towards one person. That person is holding the newspaper of the day and he goes by the name of José González. "The SUR [newspaper] because it is very complete and because it is the newspaper of a lifetime," is his choice.

In reality, José's presence lowers the average age, but his age does not really count as he is not a resident. He is 33 years old, is from Salinas and works as a social educator at San Juan de Dios. "My role is to make them happy in their last days and to make their last days last longer."

In this vocation to prolong lives, José discovered on his arrival at the centre that the mental stimulation of the residents could be improved. "They were looking at each other or watching a lot of television," he says. He came up with the idea of setting up this reading club and started by buying the newspaper every day. He paid for it out of his own pocket. With the good reception of his initiative came the newspaper subscription and the ritual became a formal activity. Watching José comment on the news with humour and tenderness is a lesson in closeness and empathy. Sometimes he adds a healthy dose of irony or takes advantage of the spiciest headlines to appeal directly to the elderly. "I'm like the naughty grandson," he says with a smile. If the crime page tells of a hit on a local drug dealer, José asks "who here has ever smoked a joint." A few hands of octogenarians, albeit timidly, go up.

Attending the morning reading of the newspaper is also a live demonstration of the social function of a newspaper. The people living in the San Juan de Dios residence are always aware of what is happening in the province and in the rest of the world.

No mobile, no mouse, no laptop needed. Miguel Pérez has been over 80 years old for a few years now. He still has some hair left and leans forward when asked a question. He does it to hear better because, although he has had his hearing aid changed a few times, it is still not quite right. Miguel was a teacher and was known for having a prodigious memory.

The only annoyance he gets now is when he realises that his memory sometimes fails him. He is one of the regulars attending every day to listen to the newspaper being read out loud. "I've read them all my life," he says. Among his favourite headlines, he says, are those from SUR. 'Fake news', a blitz of news or a flood of clickbait: all these concepts are alien to this honourable audience. Information flows are based on the credibility offered by the traditional newspaper.

Not everyone was an avid reader of newspapers before arriving at the San Juan de Dios nursing home. Magdalena Mayor took up the hobby thanks to this reading club, which is made up of long-serving members. "I am very grateful to José. He makes us have a good time here, even though he is sometimes a scoundrel," she says, also with a smile.