when Churchill & Elsenhower walked this way'

One blistering afternoon in July I took a nice cool walk in the World War II Tunnels, courtesy of Let's Go Limited who operate the Rock's very latest visitor attraction from a reception area by Princess Caroline's Battery.

Richard Soiza's company has, in partnership with gov ernment, invested heavily in refurbishing sections of the tun nel network; allowing visitors to safely enjoy a part of our mili tary heritage that was previ ously available to just a privi leged few. Easy walking on the well-lit, gently sloping concrete paths allows visitors to concen trate on the tunnel sights (and sounds of a continuous stream of commentary) without having to worry about their footing. Com prehensive cctv coverage and a network of emergency 'phones gives the reception area an up-todate picture of which parties are when?and exactly what's going on.

The Let's Go professional li censed guides conduct small par ties from Haye's Level firstly to look into Fordham's Accommoda tion, then via Liddell's Union up to Clapham junction, out onto Jock's Balcony then via Willis's Engine Room to Princess Caroline's for a comfort break at the Reception Caf eteria. Then, having experienced the WW2 tunnels, they may take a guided excursion to the 18*^ century Upper and Lower Union Galleries, excavated by white muscle and black powder shortly after the Great Seige.

Throughout my visit 1 was con stantly surprised by the amount of information and the attention to detail provided by our Let's Go guide. At Haye's Level a stunning collection of wartime pictures, dis played by agreement with the Im perial War Museum, effectively demonstrated both tunnel con struction and the wartime activity within them;although it reminded some of us that much of our herit age data is recorded in archives

The view from Jock's Balcony,unoquailod in Gibraltar or anywhere else,is accentuated hy the transition from tunnel to rock ledge abroad. Our guide explained many of the mysteries of tunnel building and the innovations in troduced to make living inside the Rock a practical proposition and as comfortable as wartime conditions would allow.

We also saw a display of origi nal equipment used by the Royal Engineers to cut these very tun nels in the first place. These pneu matic drills, drill stand and rock bits are on loan from Flat Bastion Magazine, a good example of co operation in sharing resources for the benefit of our visitors. Our guide, in a potted history of mili tary tunnelling on the Rock, ex plained the design criteria, the sequence of operations and the resulting operational network in a concise, matter of fact way. His explanation of mining terms; of adits, galleries and winzes, was un derstandable by even the meanest intelligence (mine) and was enli vened by anecdotes not only of the miners but the military defenders who subsequently occupied the sites. But I won't be giving those awav; you will have to go and hear them for yourselves.

The view from jock's Balcony, unequalled in Gibraltar or any where else, is accentuated by the transition from tunnel to rock ledge, low light contrast to high, from inside the Rock to soaring above the isthmus. Whilst our guide described theadvancing saps from the fortress at Santa Barbara and the Rock gunners' response, I watched kites wheelingbelow. That view, that feeling, is worth the en trance fee alone.

Welcome to the World War II and 18th Century Tunnels

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Back at the Reception Cafeteria, an imaginatively edited collection of Imperial War Museum photo graphs provides a visual descrip tion the evacuation. Many of the pictures appeared new (to me any way) and mightwell evoke anemo tional response from people who lived through those times, or in deed who recognise family mem bers. With some foresight. Let's Go have arranged these pics in theCaf eteria so that we can all go to see them for free and, just maybe, be tempted by the tour..,, well, I was.

Kathryn Concalves, who was selected by Mount Produc tions to attend World Bikini Model International 2005 in Malta as Gibraltar's representative, has just returned to Gibraltar. Kathryn spent9days taking part in rehears als, promotional events and cul tural activities and was selected for a casting by Streetcraft Jewellery and also offered a four month con tract for promotional activities re lated to accessories including glasses, mobiles and clothes.

The contest which took place in front of the Dragonara Casino Pal ace,a beautiful building which has been standing for 135 years, saw Alina Gheorghe from Rumania,se lected as overall winner, with the Channel Islands, South Africa and Poland as runners up.

Kathryn proudly promoted local products in Malta and was also pleased that she had done her best to promote the Rock.

"Attending this competition has been a wonderful experience. Malta is a wonderful place and very simi lar to Gibraltar. I had the opportu nity to meet different girls from around the world and got the chance to see what the modelling/ pageant world is like with it's good and bad moments. It was also a great opportunity to learn about myself. 1 would definitely encour age other young men and women to enter Model Search and avail themselves of the opportunity to attend these international compe titions if given the chance as it is a great experience and one that 1 would repeat."

Catwalk Productions Interna tional, the Maltese organisers, and Mount Productions are hoping to be able to stage the 2006 edition in three venues combining Malta, London and Gibraltar and more formal discussions will begin shortly.

With its coldest temperatures measured at -68 degrees C,the vast frozen wastes of the Arctic Ocean represent one of the most hostile environments on earth. In fact the most northerly stretches of the ice-cap — covering an area larger than the United States — are so cold that even polar bears avoid it... though elsewhere they are so serious a potential threat that carrying heavy-calibre automatics or rifles is part of everyday life.

"In a village north of Spitzbergen,when 1 wentto put on my fur-lined over-boots to wear outdoors, 1 only realized that the pair I had chosen were not mine when I found a Colt 45 tucked into one of them"John Harrison recalls. "I looked around and saw that almost every pair of boots had a ri fle or revolver tucked into one of them!"

Harrison, managing director of Gibraltar-based Ibex Insurance, was a member of a nine-man inter national team which in April this year hoped to reach the geographi cal North Pole from the Borneo Ice Camp at 89 degrees — a distance of some 120kms which they ex pected to cover in ten days, using high-tech satellite position-finding equipment but otherwise without any support. Their trek was in tended to raise cash for various charities and between them the nine actually collected £220,000 from business contacts and other sponsors.

"The ice trek would have meant walking for 10 to 12 hours each day," Harrison says."No dogs, no esldmos...just ourselves pulling our sledges with all of our food and equipment and a couple of highpowered rifles in case we were at tacked by polar bears."(Their con cerns were well-founded. Polar bears are the only carnivores which regularly hunt man as their prey and each year between 10 and 13 people fall prey to them.)

In the event,although the group — who dubbed themselves the'Po lar Pilgrims''and were nine of the only 40 people who were scheduled to tackle the arduous walk to the North Pole this year — reached Spitzbergen, the Russian authori ties threw a spanner into the works and Harrison and his colleagues had to abandon their attempt.They will repeat the polar trek in April next year.

"After traveling all day we ar rived at our forward base in Spitzbergen on Friday April 2 only to be greeted by our expedition leaders with the devastating news that the Russians had withdrawn all helicopter rescue and support services from the Polar region," Harrison explains. "Furthermore, they had not established their weather monitoring station which is set up under an international treaty for the month of ApriI."The range of stories that circulated all came back to the same thing... someone within the Russian au thorities had not been paid his 'fee'!"Anyone who had started their attempt before April 2 was air lifted off the ice. This included a "devastated" Ann Daniels who was attempting to be the first female to undertake a solo crossing from the Russian side."We termed our pre dicament 'Political Meltdown'," says Harrison."And the frustrating thing about all of it was there was nothing we could do. Like every one else, we had already paid the Russians in advance for their res cue and pick up services and fortu nately we had taken out insurance to cover all expedition losses."We donated our food supplies amounting to a staggering 900,000 calories (20 days supply between us)— to the Norwegian Red Cross. And we undertook three days of testing our kit and clothing in what 1 can only describe as the most hos tile environment 1 have ever expe rienced or seen. The temperature was down to -51.5 degrees!

"In this temperature, it was es sential to keep ail parts of the body covered to keep frostbite away.1 did take off my three layers of gloves for 30 seconds to see what it was like and I was surprised to feel how numb my fingers became in so short a time! We knew that such a trip could not be considered as a 'walk in the park' and that we would have many obstacles outside of our control. We knew the weather would be one and we had planned for this. The Russians, on the other hand we knew we could not plan for.. and in the end they let us down."Harrison admits that postponing the expedition was a major blow,but adds that although he offered to return the cash he had collected to the various sponsors, none had "pulled the plug.".

He and the other'Polar Pilgrims' have re-scheduled the Expedition for the same time next year as April is the only month when conditions allow any attempt to reach the North Pole. In the meantime he will be visiting South Africa in Septem ber to personally hand over the cash he raised to the Zululand or phanage for children with AIDS.

Harrison raised money for the Khulani Aids Orphanage for chil dren aged between nine and 17 who were born with HIV.The home is partly a school and work centre where local villagers make hand made shoes — the Khulani mocca sin — that arc sold in the UK through branches of Clarks as part of the international 'Fair-Trade' scheme. This not only provides them with training and a trade but also, more importantly, with ongo ing revenue. "All the money we raised will go direct to the home and the children," Harrison adds. "All expedition costs were met en tirely bv the team members".

In what I can only descrihe as the most hostile environment I have ever experienced orseen