move up new opportunities at

Queensway Quay Resales

Cormorant Wharf.

2 bedroom apartment. 121sqm with 15sqm terrace.

£375,000

Ragged Staff.

3 bedroom apartment. 124sqm plus 9sqm terrace.

£375,000

Ragged Staff.

3 bedroom apartment. 129sqm with ISsqm terrace.

£360,000

Town House.

3 bedroom town house. 168sqm plus8sqm terrace.

£425,000

Dexterous House.

1 bedroom apartment. 62sqm plus 18sqm terrace.

£215,000

Ordnance Wharf.

4 bedroom villa. 192sqm with 18sqm terrace.

£650,000

Moorland House.

2 bedroom apartment. 99sqm with 22sqm terrace.

£320,000

Ordnance Wharf.

2 bedroom town house. 120sqm plus 21sqm terrace.

£425,000

How often does a young Gibraltarian get to name a shipafter herself?

'I name this ship Vanessa-C...and I wish a safe voyage to the captain and crew, and to all who sail in her.' With those words Vanessa Wester, born Vanessa Beanland, released the bottle of bubbly and a triple piece of local history was made on a starkly chilly Saturday afternoon alongside the Cruise Terminal at the North Mole.

why triple? Well, it was the first time any ship had been named in Gibraltar, it was the longest vessel ever to berth inside the port, and, of course,it was offi cially named by and after Vanessa.

And there was a further little quirk of fate, as Vanessa's fa ther, Malcolm Beanland, told me; 'The ship that this has replaced was also called Vanessa, after Vanessa Redgrave. And,' he continued, 'twenty six years ago my wife Mariecarmen and I named our daughter — after Vanessa Redgrave.'

C in Gibraltar

The Wncssfl-

Not an earth-shattering coinci dence, but intriguing enough for me to ask how this had all come about. Malcolm, Associate Man ager & Board Secretary at Gibtelecom and author of the his tory of telecommu nications on the Rock, "Gibraltar Calling!" was happy to provide the details.

Malcolm continued. 'He's Dutch but he lives on the Isle of Wight,and his shipping line itself is named af ter Carisbrooke Castle, one of the island's ancient stately homes.'

And,although the new container tered plane and were staving at the Caleta Hotel.Jimmy Ferro,Captain of the Port, also attended. e romantically-minded father-in-law decided that Vanessa herself should carry out the naming ceremony in her native country, Gibraltar

The praise for the smooth run ning of this 'Gibraltar First' event went to local bunkering company Gibunco, whose Man aging Director Freddy Pitto and team person ally oversaw the smooth running of the wintry afternoon.

Oueensway Quay Sales & Information Centre

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it turned out that Vanessa, a certified accountant, had moved to England some time ago after marrying Robert Wester. Robert is a banker whose business has a lot of dealings with the shipping in dustry, and, more significantly, his father Willem is the owner of the Carisbrooke Shipping line. So, when the time came to replace the old Vanessa-C after around thirty years of surfing the seven seas, he decided that instead of giving the new ship a new name he would call it Vanessa once again, but that it would still be new inasmuch as this time it would be named after his daughter-in-law.'He likes all his names to have some significance,' and general cargo .ship Vanessa-C had been built in a Rumanian yard, the romantically-minded father-inlaw decided that Vanessa herself should carry out the naming cer emony in her native country, Gi braltar,

And so it was that 1 found my self standing alongside the enor mous container and general cargo ship inside the port, watching the fifty guests arrive for the simple ceremony. They had come from Holland, Germany, Spain, Britain and Rumania, landing together at Gibraltar airport in a s|>ecially char

It was a first for me, too,as I had never seen a ship naming in real life, though I knew the formula from a thou sand films and news reports. I also knew that even the highest digni taries have had to pretend to laugh when they just cannot get the bot tle to burst the first few times, but Vanessa's aim was true and her arm was strong - there was applause and cheers of delight(and relief)as the bottle burst against the bow and the cover concealing the name Vanessa-C slid away.

Vanessa herself was an account ant who gave up her profession to go into teaching at an English com prehensive school, although at present she has taken time off from school to look after Iner and Robert's six month old son Michael.

She was educated in Gibraltar at Governor's Meadow Middle School before going on to Westsidc Girls' Comprehensive. A keen fol lower of local amateur dramatics, she took partin several productions including Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, produced at Ince's Hall by Dr John Cortes and his brother Joe.

Malcolm Beanland told me that Vanessa was always active in some way or another, and that she swam for Gibraltar in the Island Games at Aland a few years ago.'She was also very strong academically' he added;'after becoming a Certified Accountant she then went on to be come a qualified teacher. And she is also qualified as a swimming coach.'

Malcolm and his wife Mariecarmen (nee Olivero) have another daughter, Sharon Chavez, who lives with her Mexican lawyer husband Arturo in Mexico City where she lectures in .science and medicine atthe university,conduct ing her classes in English for her Mexican.students.The couple have a two year old daughter Isabel, whom Malcolm and Mariecarmen try to visit at least once a year.

After the launching the guests toured the ship and attended a re ception in the Cruise Terminal where both Vanessa and Jen Sorensen of shipping agents Sorek Shipping presented paintings of the Port of Gibraltar to the ship's cap tain and to Carisbrooke Shipping

1 name this ship... after mcl Vanessa Wester lets go of the champagne Ltd. The paintings were the work of local artist Yin Mifsud.

The Vanessa-C is a container ship that is also expected to carry bulk cargoes, steel coils, forest products and general cargo.It weighs 10,438 tonnes dead weight and has an overall length of 145 metres and a beam of18 metres.Although empty when it was in Gibraltar, having sailed its maiden voyage directly from the Rumanian shipyard, it is equipped for dangerous goods in two of its holds.

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