ay D l na ial o ti ec Na sp
Rolling Stone plays to the monkeys FREE
Mum-on-the-Rock’s Pokemon perils Autumn 2016
Issue 1
Gerald - last of the boatmakers In conjuction with 2016 Gib Rocks Autumn
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Regulated authorised the Gibraltar Financial Services Comission, Autumnby 2016 Rocks 2 Gib and to conduct insurance mediation. 8/2016
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First words
HE launch issue of GIB ROCKS cannot begin to reflect life in the office as the final deadline approached. It was the end of August and the heat was most certainly on... and I am not just talking about the scorching summer weather! Late ads, interviewees on holiday, designers disappearing, but despite all the challenges of launching in August, it has been an eventful and enjoyable journey. Looking for a niche in a congested market was anything but easy, which is why we decided on the compact size and being quarterly in frequency. We chose not to follow the crowd, but to aim for a different range of ideas and editorial, that reflects the diverse talents of the editorial team behind the Olive Press. Connecting with as many discerning locals and business leaders as possible, we hope that GIB ROCKS reflects closely what life in Gibraltar is like. Our aim is simple: to give Gibraltar a magazine to be proud of as we reach National Day. I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labour, as we turn our attention towards our special Christmas Issue in November. Enjoy Chris Birkett Publishing director
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Immensely proud
T gives me great pleasure to bring out another fresh, original product for Gibraltar. A long-time fan of the Rock since winning an award for a travel article in the Daily Mail two decades ago (The ÂŁ500 Ed Lacey award, no less - time to bring it back?), I am never short of amazement for its diversity and drive. Since successfully launching the Gibraltar Olive Press a year ago - and the website this year - I have got to know the place even better. Friendly and hardworking in equal measures, the Gibraltarians and the many foreigners and expats who have made the Rock their home, deserve a strong range of media products. I hope you will include GIB ROCKS in that category. Last, but not least, thanks to all the businesses who have offered good faith in supporting this launch.
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Jon Clarke Publisher/owner Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
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Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
Main choices Party time
“When he spoke of the Rock’s relationship with Britain I felt a flicker of patriotic fervour.” Cover story
8 “He began to weep. A kind of madness, shouting, ‘The monkeys don’t like my music!’”
Monkey man
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Gibraltar’s own Mum-on-the-Rock Polly Lavarello shines a light on the Pokemon Go consuming millions of teenagers
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Muscle boy
Just champion Find out what happened inside the Lincoln Red Imps team bus at their historic Champions League away tie with Celtic
It’s all go
Living history
A special guided tour around centuries of history in the Gibraltar Museum
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Last boatmaker
The 16-yearold Gibraltarian ‘Hulk who took the world by storm with his super-human strength
The craftsman who continues a proud tradition of boatmaking that has endured in Catalan Bay for centuries
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Clarke Media Ltd (Company Reg No: 113878) Suite 2B Main Street, Gibraltar Publisher/Owner Jon Clarke Publishing Director Chris Birkett Consultant/Design Clive Jacques
Editor Joe Duggan Contributors Rob Horgan, Belinda Beckett, Polly Lavarello
Production James Partington Admin/Accounts María González Distribution Richard Vickers
GIB ROCKS is a quarterly magazine published by Clarke Media Ltd (Company Reg. No 113878), Suite 2B Main Street, Gibraltar. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Publisher who accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the information, errors, ommisions or statements in the articles or advertisements and rejects any claim a company or individual may take on information contained herein. Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
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onkey an
The day Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones - high on LSD - played an unprecedented gig to Gibraltar’s Barbary macaques it ended in tears, writes Joe Duggan
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ARCH, 1967. And the most unique gig in Gibraltar’s history is about to get underway. Brian Jones, his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg and British singer Marianne Faithfull have stopped off at the Rock en route to Tangier to escape rain-lashed London. The Rolling Stones guitarist, mentally and physically debilitated from his reckless ingestion of LCD, has been busted out of his nursing home by the pair of rock and roll goddesses. In the middle of a nervous breakdown, ravaged with pneumonia and clasping his asthma inhaler, Jones was in no fit state to board a plane. Faithfull and Pallenberg, meanwhile, had spent the night merrily dropping acid. The in-flight menu onboard the private jet wasn’t for the fainthearted. “We all got on the plane, at which point we shared our acid,” recalls Faithfull. “Real smart. There was a stopover in Gibraltar. Brian was very excited about this.” Jones’ poor health found little sympathy with Faithfull and Pallenberg, who thought his incessant wheezing was a ploy to attract sympathy rather than a clear sign of ill health. In the pocket of Jones’s smart black and grey suit was a tape of the soundtrack he had composed for Pallenberg’s new
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Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
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film, A Degree Of Murder. Short of an audience in Gibraltar, he turned to the Rock’s most colourful colony of inhabitants to gauge their reaction. And that was not the National Day patriots. “He got it into his head that he wanted to play it to the Barbary apes,” recalls Faithfull. “So at Gibraltar we all got in a cab and off we went to play his music to the monkeys.” At the time, The Rolling Stones were at the peak of their creative powers. In their early days, the band had relied on cover versions of R’n’B classics for their output. From 1962 to 1964 it was The Beatles who reigned supreme. John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s songwriting partnership yielded such abundant rewards that they could even donate a single, I Wanna Be Your Man, to Mick Jagger and the boys. It was a gesture that Keith Richards and Jagger credit with kickstarting the Stones’ own creative surge.
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rom 1964 onwards, the quality of the Stones’ originally written material was astonishing. As Tears Go By, The Last Time, Time Is On My Side, Satisfaction, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Get Off My Cloud, Let’s Spend the Night Together, Paint It Black, Mother’s Little Helper, She’s A Rainbow - the body of singles the band released is unsurpassed in the history of rock and roll music. The Stones were cresting a wave of global success. The previous summer, a sell-out coast-to-coast tour of the USA included gigs at LA’s Hollywood Bowl and New York’s Forest Hill Stadium. Later that year, they played London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. But now in Gibraltar, Jones was preparing to introduce a new audience to his more avant-garde repertoire. It was the first time he had played the record outside of London’s IBC Studios. “We approached the troop of monkeys very ceremoniously,” Faithfull recalls. “Bowed to them and told them we were going to play them some wonderful sounds.” The Barbary macaques were about to hear a super-group creamed from 60s musical royalty.
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Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
SUPER CHIC: Pallenberg (right) and Faithfull GUITAR GOD: Jones (previous page) on stage
For Jones had assembled some of the era’s most talented musicians to play a menagerie of instruments on the soundtrack including jew’s harp, banjo and horns. Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones was recruited. The Yardbirds’ Jimmy Page stroked his guitar with a violin bow. “Brian had this guitar that had a volume pedal, he could get gunshots with it,” recalls Page. ”There was a Mellotron there. He was moving forward with ideas.” With the 60s counterculture and flower power in full bloom, such aural innovations were de rigueur. Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club kaleidoscope of sounds was just three months away from exploding into the world’s consciousness. But to Jones’s dismay, the music he had prepared for his lover’s new film was seemingly not appreciated by the Rock’s ape population. “They listened to all this very attentively, but when Brian turned on the tape recorder, they didn’t seem to care for it,” recalls Faithfull. “They seemed alarmed by it and scampered away shrieking. “Brian got very upset. He took it personally.
He became hysterical and began sobbing. Anita and I had been on this trip for many, many hours and we were in another place altogether.” With Jagger and Richards providing the vast bulk of the Stones musical output, Jones’ original material was marginalised in the band. In his current fragile state, the Barbary’s cruel rejection was a shattering blow. “He screamed at the monkeys, trying to get them to come back, and then when they wouldn’t, he began to revile them in terrible language,” recalls Faithfull. “It was awful. And then he began to weep. A kind of madness, shouting, “The monkeys don’t like my music!” Two hours later, the trio departed the Rock with their nerves frayed. To calm them all down, Faithfull read out Oscar Wilde’s Salome during the flight from Gibraltar to Tangier. The fading Jones was on an irrevocable downward spiral, culminating in his death at the age of 27 in July, 1969. The guitarist was found drowned in his Sussex mansion’s swimming pool. His soundtrack did at least stay on the film to A Degree Of Murder became Germany’s entry at the Cannes Film Festival. The album was never officially released, denying the world the opportunity to hear Jones’ only solo album. But scamper up the Rock today and you’ll meet the descendants of a few of the album’s only audience. But don’t expect them to rave about it.
SATANIC MAJESTIES: Jones (left) with other Rolling Stones band members (Above right) Marianne Faithfull
Musical PS; GIBRALTAR has hosted some world-famous artists over the years. From guitar virtuosos, to rootsy folk and from reggae legends to kicking electronic beats, a broad range of artists have rocked up to the Rock. Suzanne Vega’s 2003 St. Michael’s Cave gig was a standout performance, with Gibraltar’s own Surianne opening the intimate set. Santana’s 1992 Victoria Stadium show was a grander affair. Organisers shipped in a 90,000 watt lighting system that was so powerful they had to warn the RAF. Elton John played his first Gibraltar gig during 2004’s Tercentenary celebrations, and flamenco legend Paco de Lucia played for a Miss Gibraltar crowd. Bob Marley’s Wailers and 60s folkster Donovan have also wowed local crowds with live shows. Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
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Party like it’s 1992!
PATRIOTS IN PANAMAS Everyone dresses up for National Day
As Gibraltarians prepare to celebrate their 25th National Day festivities, Belinda Beckett finds out what it all means, particularly with an eye on Brexit
WE have a Sovereign, Mr Speaker. We love our Sovereign. There are no vacancies for a new Sovereign for Gibraltar!”, Gibraltar’s feisty Chief Minister told parliament, two days after Britain voted for Brexit. It’s the kind of tub-thumping speech Fabian Picardo usually reserves for 10 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
September 10, when Rock citizens take the day off work to wave the red-andwhite flag and party like it’s 1992, when National Day began. But the tsunami of patriotic fervour that engulfs Gibraltar for one day in late summer has been building since the UK referendum, when 96% of Gibraltarians voted to remain in Europe and Spain’s unpopular Foreign Minister
All National Day Photography: David Cussen.
National Day 2016
offered his own take on it, live on Spanish national radio. “The Spanish flag on the Rock is much closer than before,” crowed Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, and you could almost hear Gibraltar’s collective hackles rise. National Day is a celebration of the people’s decision never to allow the red and yellow flag to flutter over Gibraltar, and Brexit hasn’t rocked their
BLOWN OUT: Balloons are no longer part of National Day celebrations for environment reasons
viewpoint one jot. As Picardo even vowed, “If the price of continued access to the EU is joint sovereignty with Spain, then the people of Gibraltar will not pay it.” With sovereignty sentiments running high in a landmark year when National Day marks its quarter century with a ‘silver jubilee’ event, fireworks were always guaranteed one way or another. Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 11
A little bit on the side
Monkey business NATIONAL Day 2016 coincides with the Year of the Monkey and commemorative monkey stamps on sale at the post office are being snapped up by collectors. Gibraltar’s own pesky Barbary macaques used to enjoy National Day too... for the party leftovers. But town centre scavenging has tailed off since the ringleaders were exported to Scotland and monkey-proof waste bins were installed to put a lid on the problem. 12 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
But although statesmen and parliamentarians from all over the world get VIP invites to the political rally, including Spain, Margallo’s name is not on the list. I was worried I’d be ‘persona non grata’ myself when I went ‘undercover’ to experience this exuberant national holiday ‘like a local’ a few years back, last year. Would I get lynched by the Spanish? There I was, on their side of the frontier dressed from head to toe in red and white, like a soldier in uniform caught behind enemy lines. Or mobbed by the locals for impersonating a Gibraltarian, brazenly clad in their national colours? But in Casemates Square, where I was sucked into a red-and-white human vortex, I was perfectly camouflaged – no more likely to be singled out for attention than a grain of sand on Eastern Beach. And anyway, non-locals are welcome to join in the fun. Some 10,000 citizens (one third of the Rock’s population) packed into Gibraltar’s show plaza that day and it was red hot verging on white hot – even the weather was celebrating! There were people in wheelchairs decorated with portraits of the Queen, dapper gents in natty union jack waistcoats, matronly ladies in white shoes carrying red handbags, kids in red and white face paint, dogs in red and white party outfits and teenagers in T-shirts printed with patriotic slogans: ‘Wake up and smell the coffee. Gibraltar will never be Spanish.’
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ardly anyone was drinking coffee, though. Pints of bitter, bottles of stout, Guinness and Magners pear cider were the order of the day. No-one was drunk, in the ordinary sense (they must have been reading the government’s Alcohol Awareness leaflet). But everyone was high! ‘What are they on?’, I wanted to know, so I could get some. But they’d been drinking from the cup of patriotic fervour and, if you aren’t Gibraltarian, it doesn’t have quite the same effect.
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You meet many kinds of Gibraltarians on National Day: the patriots who sing their National Anthem to the rooftops and all the way to the Spanish border; the shining stars – Gibraltar’s got talent and musicians, singers, dancers and acrobats are practice-perfect weeks before their 15 minutes of fame on the National Day stage; and the ones who like to dress up - practically all of Gibraltar (excluding their dogs). Momy Levy, Gibraltar’s very first civic Mayor, has had his outfits tailor-made for the occasion for as long as anyone can remember. And everyone loves a party, whether they’re of Italian or British origin, Catholic, Jewish or Hindu... Gibraltar is shining proof to the world that immigration can work.
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he Self Determination for Gibraltar Group (SDGG) set the National Day ball rolling with what was intended as a one-off bash to mark the 25th anniversary of the Rock’s own referendum in 1967, when Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to remain British. (They did it again in 2002, with the same result.) That first ‘Party in the Piazza’ (aka John Mackintosh Square) was so mobbed it became an annual holiday fixture and moved to Casemates to fit everyone in. In 2008, the Gibraltar Social Democrats scrapped the political rally and moved the party back to the piazza where it became more like a village fete, with stalls selling homemade jams and cakes. Civic awards were presented by the Mayor. One of Fabian Picardo’s first acts as the new GSLP Chief Minister in 2011 was to reinstate the rally and return the event to Casemates, which once more resonated to rousing speeches from politicians of all party colours. The Rev. Ian Paisley Jr. gave a podium speech one year and London’s Foreign Office joined in the National Day tradition by flying the Gibraltar flag from
AWESOME AGENDA The full programme for National Day 2016
Whitehall. Today, invitations go out to House of Commons MPs, House of Lords peers, representatives from Gibraltar’s 13 fellow British Overseas Territories (including the Falkland Islands and Bermuda) and politicians from Mallorca and Catalunya who also have an axe to grind with Spain over their battle for independence. Allies from Scotland and Northern Ireland who are also battling Brexit are expected to be out in force this year. Gibraltar won’t be dragged out of EuGib Rocks Autumn 2016 15
Little bit more on the side
rope without a fight. David Cameron was there, virtually, in 2013. No British Prime Minister had ever made an address at the Opening Ceremony before. I was watching from the car park above the ICC Centre – a great vantage point – when the face of my own national leader loomed large on the big screen. When he spoke of the Rock’s relationship with Britain as ‘solid, sure and enduring’ I felt a flicker of patriotic fervour myself. I’m not the nationalistic type but the speeches were pretty stirring if you like that kind of thing. And Picardo gave it full throttle. “Hell will freeze over before any flags fly in Gibraltar that are not our flags,” he declaimed. “What we’re never going to do is concede one grain of the soil of our land, one drop of our water or one breath of our air. It’s ours.”
Red, white and proud VISITORS shopping in Main Street may wonder why they’re seeing red - and white - in every window. But it’s not a new fashion craze. Traders in Gibraltar enter into the National Day spirit by vying to produce the most patriotic display. This year, residential blocks and patios were also invited to take part in a competition organised jointly by the Ministry of Culture and the SDGG. Previous prize winners have included The Cellar wine shop, M & S and Tommy Hilfiger Kids.
THERE’LL be sore heads before National Day. It’s the climax to 22 hot days and sultry nights of celebrations. The official carousing kicked off on August 19 with an Oktoberfest-style beer festival, complete with oompah band, which segued smoothly into the Gibraltar Fair. Art and photographic competitions and a classical concert in St Michael’s Cave carried the momentum forward to the Gibraltar Music Festival – a two-day Glastonbury in the Med (not mud), this year starring the Stereophonics, Ne-Yo, Bryan Ferry, KT Tunstall and Travis among a host of class acts.
Three week thrill
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A AERIAL THRILLS with the Twister Aerobatics Team
t the stroke of one o’clock, a barrage of biodegradable balloons rose in a red-and-white cloud into the sky – 30,000 of them, one to represent every soul in Gibraltar – blocking out the sun, momentarily, before floating away beyond grasp like distant memories. Which indeed, from this year on, they will be - banned on environmental grounds. The Straits’ dolphins, whales and seabirds who mistake them for food and eco-conscious animal lovers are happy with that decision. Instead, let there be smoke, puffing in red and white clouds from the top of Casemates police station and in coloured jet aircraft trails across the sky. Britain’s Aerial Twister Display Team are booked to perform a daring aerial ballet of close formation loops and barrel rolls, skimming Gibraltar’s territorial waters with just 500 feet to spare. With teenage discos and foam parties, trad jazz, kids fancy dress, a live rock concert and fireworks to finish, everyone is thoroughly entertained on National Day. That goes for everyone from tiny tots to tottering elders, the wheelchair-bound
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and even the deaf who are catered for with special seating, viewing platforms and a British sign language interpreter. For several years that’s been Zane Hema, who interpreted for none other than the Queen of England herself at the London 2012 Paralympics. None of it could happen without the assistance of charitable organisations and hundreds of willing volunteers but National Day also gives back. Last year the SDGG raised nearly £10,000. That hot September day, three years ago, I watched the crowds disperse after the 18 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
STREET PARTY Everyone’s out to al-fresco lunch
rally, emptying through Casemates’ archways in a red-and-white tide like water from a bathtub: the mums, dads, abuelos and pushchairs to lunch in one of the bunting-decked pavement cafes; the youth to strike sultry poses in disco bars; the pets to lamp-posts to figure out how to cock a leg in their restrictive fancy dress outfits. There was laughter in the air and courtesy everywhere. National Day is a happy pill! “Come too,” Gibraltarian friends entreated. But it was their day, not mine, and it felt time to leave although the party had barely started.
Last bit on the side National Day treasure WITH his dapper designer costumes in patriotic red and white, former Gibraltar Mayor Momy Levy is National Day’s unofficial mascot. And he wouldn’t want to miss 2016, his 80th birthday year. But monarchist Momy flies the flag every day of the year. His real estate business pays homage to royalty with photographs of the Queen on every wall, he always stands to attention for the National Anthem – even at home – and according to his biographer, Michael Freedman, ‘his relationship with his native land borders on being a love affair’.
That night I watched National Day reach its crescendo from the rooftop at home in Los Barrios: hundreds of red and white chrysanthemum-shaped fireworks exploding over the crest of the rock. It was spectacular and strangely humbling… I was coming down with another touch of patriotic fervour. “They’re more British than the British themselves,” joked my Spanish neighbours, who were watching too. But that’s not true. I’m British, they’re British Gibraltarian. Ask any one of them, it’s a different thing entirely!
NATIONAL TREASURE Monarchist ex-Mayor Momy Levy Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 19
CHILD’S PLAY: Pokemon peril
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Catch them all! The latest craze has almost everyone glued to their mobiles, but parents must remain vigilant in this ever-changing digital world, writes Mum-on-the-Rock Polly Lavarello
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IVE pasty teenagers stand on the corner of Main Street hunched over their phones, lost in concentration. In the middle of the summer crowds, their luminescent skin makes them hard to miss. What has dragged them from their lairs? One needn’t guess. These kids are just a small sample of those who have been hooked by the latest and possibly biggest gaming fad to ever hit Gibraltar (and the world). Welcome to Pokemon Go. It has been topping the app download charts for weeks now. Gamer or not, you will have heard of it. Pokemon Go has been creating headlines in one guise or another since its launch in July. In the U.S. players have been knocked over by cars, Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 21
“We don’t want this coming to Gibraltar. It’s not safe for our children.” However, many parents have expressed their delight that it has incentivised their kids to get out of the house and get some exercise. Up until now technology has often socially isolated children and encouraged sedentary behaviour, finally there is a fad which is encouraging them to get out of the house and interact with others ‘irl’. Local businesses have also seen the benefit of Pokemon Go. One pub on Main Street encouraged people to visit by letting everyone know that a certain Pokemon was have jumped out of traffic in mass exodus, Polly Lavarello available to ‘catch’ there. Moving forward, Mum on the Rock, there is no reason why businesses couldn’t fallen off cliffs and stumbled across dead Online parenting bodies. One joined the mortuary himcapitalise further. Internationally restaumagazine self after getting shot for breaking into a rants and bars have been encouraging property. He was attempting to ‘catch a gamers to come in and have a drink by pokemon’ with a friend. establishing lure points or lettings gamers charge their phones. On Facebook there is a Pokemon Go Giow has one game had such an braltar group where all the latest Pokemon impact? Well, Pokemon Go is sightings are reported by users. While this unique. Developed by Niantic, group is for fun and it clearly states that it it is a location-based augmented has been ‘made to allow all Pokemon Go reality game. This is the first time virtual players in Gibraltar to connect with one technology has been used so effectively another, arrange gym battles, let others within a gaming app. Pokemon evokes know where to catch different Pokemon’, it nostalgia among older players, but is also states ‘trainers of all ages are welcosimple enough for everyone to pick up, me, no matter if you are a pro or beginner’. making it appealing to those who are Unfortunately these groups are open to too young or too cool to remember the abuse and it’s something we, as parents, original series. What’s more, it is free to need to be aware of. To understand the download. While spending money will inherent risks of online gaming, it is help you fast track the game, every feature essential that we are aware of the different is accessible without getting your credit ways in which these games present risks. card out. It encourages players to move Aside from the potentially fatal hazard about, which makes it very easy to meet of smartphone distraction, Pokemon Go other players and adds to the fun of the poses another grave danger which the law game. is challenged to counteract. A matter of It hasn’t just hooked kids either, it seems weeks after Pokemon Go hit Gibraltar, The that few are immune to the charm of capRoyal Gibraltar Police (RGP) were already turing Pikachu. It wasn’t long until I found warning users how paedophiles could use myself pacing the cobbles of Irish Town the app to target children. The function on on the hunt for a Charmander. I encounthe game that is particularly causing contered many others out and about doing cern is a ‘beam’ that allows other players the very same. Mostly they were clusters to know where you are. RGP Detective of kids, one of which narrowly missed Superintendent Ian McGrail said: “I would being hit by a car. urge parents to speak to their children The local reaction to Pokemon Go seems about the app and the best ways to ensure to be mixed. Initially there was concerned they stay safe.” talk on local forums. One mother stated: Unfortunately parents can’t sit and wait
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for this fad to blow over. In response to the popularity of this game, there are similar apps in the pipeline, with a Harry Potter Go game rumoured to launch in early 2017. This new method of gaming isn’t going to die out, so the way in which we educate our children in online safety has to adapt. Those five pasty teenagers don’t just need some sun cream in their bags to keep safe, they need to be wary of any information that they are sharing online, where they are spending time, and who they are spending it with. There is no reason why Pokemon Go cannot be enjoyed, but in a day and age of ever-changing technology, parents need to be switched on to the latest fads and trends to best protect children. Virtual reality is now a part of our reality, everybody is part of this game - whether you choose to be or not. SWITCHED ON: Parents alert to possible problems
Polly Lavarello Mum on the Rock Gibraltar’s online parenting magazine
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Lincoln Red Imps made history when they beat Celtic in Gibraltar. Joe Duggan was in Glasgow for the unforgettable return leg, the biggest night in the club’s history
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UTSIDE Celtic Park, it’s standing room only on the Lincoln Red Imps team bus. Gibraltar’s champions have just lost 3-0 to the Glasgow giants in the Champions League. It’s a long walk back to the city centre. ‘Any chance of a lift, lads?’ I offer hopefully. Uruguayan manager Julio Cesar Ribas flashes a smile, and beckons me onboard. As I move to the back of the coach, Roy Chipolina gestures for me to take the spare seat at his table. Lincoln’s talismanic skipper swallows his disappointment and graciously agrees to an interview. “That’s the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in. It was like a cauldron. We could barely hear each other talking and we rely a lot on communication,” Chipolina tells me. “Patrick Roberts (Celtic’s right winger and man of the match) was just amazing. He was all over us. We just couldn’t stop him. “But games like this are only going to make us stronger. We go home proud.” Behind me, left-back Joseph Chipolina has waited patiently for us to finish. “Excuse me, do you mind if I sit down?” he asks politely. “I’ve been chasing Patrick Roberts all night and I’m absolutely shattered.” Twelve hours earlier, a damp Glasgow morning greets the Lincoln team. Outside their Radisson Blu Hotel, Argyll Street bustles with workers and July tourists. In the lobby, Roy Chipolina stirs his
ALL ABOARD; Homeward bound after the defeat. Bowed but not disgraced
CAPTAIN: Roy Chipolina is now focusing on long-term goals
Just cham
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PICTURES BY Joe Duggan/ GIB ROCKS
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coffee. Lincoln’s granite-jawed leader is calmness personified. A week before, at the start of their 40th anniversary season, I watched as Lincoln had rocked world football by beating Celtic 1-0 at Victoria Stadium. The febrile atmosphere of Celtic Park’s bearpit now awaits. “These are excellent times for Gibraltar football,” says Chipolina, who made his debut for the national team in 2001. “When we joined UEFA and now FIFA there were always long-term goals, and those were to see Gibraltar progress through the years.” He fixes me with a steely gaze. “We really believe if we put in the performance we can, we can pull off the biggest shock in European football today.”
mpion
Mick’s the Man
ORMED in 1976 from local police side the Blue Batons, Lincoln have risen steadily to become the powerhouse of domestic football. Fourteen consecutive titles is testament to their supremacy. Assistant manager Mick McElwee has been central to this prolonged success. Celtic fan McElwee, 51, won six titles as a player with Lincoln in the 1980s, after moving to Gibraltar from Corby. As manager, he guided the club to ten of their 22 league triumphs. “Even in my wildest dreams I wouldn’t have envisaged a match between Lincoln and Celtic,” says McElwee, who missed the first leg to attend his daughter’s graduation in York. “It’s not like a normal professional club where the players are just passing through. The club means a lot to these players. “Some of these guys I have been coaching since they were eight or nine. There is a tight bond here. “It’s like a second family for me.”
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And he’s not wrong. This team of policemen, customs officers, labourers and civil servants - who became semi-professional just three years ago - are, deservedly, on the threshold of one of the biggest upsets in sporting history. Lee Casciaro’s winning goal against the Hoops at Victoria Stadium exploded on to newspaper back pages all over Europe. This was David v Goliath without the slingshot.
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ormed in 1976 from local police side the Blue Batons, Lincoln have risen steadily to become the powerhouse of domestic football. It’s a close-knit squad, with Casciaro brothers Lee, Kyle and Ryan embodying the club’s family feel more than anyone (their father, Harry, is also the club’s vice chairman.) Glasgow is certainly a happy hunting ground for Lee, scorer of Gibraltar’s firstever competitive goal at Hampden Park in 2015. He’s centre of attention, filming a commemorative video of that goal with Sky Sports and being stopped by Rangers - and Celtic - fans for photos. But Lincoln have experienced colder times than the warm glow of the Champions League spotlight, he reveals. “Nowadays, we train in La Linea for two hours a day. Before that I had never trained on a proper football pitch in my life,”
26 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
STANDING PROUD: Striker Lee Casciaro (top) netted the first leg winner
ALL OVER: The Imps players (above right) in a post-match consolation huddle
he says. “When we were kids our parents used to bake cakes to sell before we went to Portugal or the UK for tournaments to help us get money. “I had friends who paid the club’s water and electricity bills because the club couldn’t afford to. “Seven or eight years ago we almost disbanded.” Aside from the glamour, the Celtic tie is a welcome cash bonanza. Roy Chipolina says ‘this will set up the club for years to come. For a club of our size, that’s like Celtic winning 50 million’. Chipolina is another lifetime stalwart, joining Lincoln aged five. Even after moving to England aged 12, he would return to Gibraltar and play for the club in the holidays. “We have known each other from a very young age. It’s like playing with your schoolmates in the playground, then you’re playing with them against Celtic. “Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves. I speak to some of the board members and they remember me running around as a five-year-old kid being a nuisance to the
senior players. “Today we find ourselves playing at Celtic Park. It’s a surreal story.” It’s certainly a remarkable tale. And with Gibraltar gaining UEFA, and now FIFA, membership, there is a sense of accelerated growth with football on the Rock. “Some people here give up everything for football,” says 23-year-old midfielder Anthony Bardon. “They have been fighting for this all their life. The Celtic match is the party piece for all that hard work. For the golden generation of players that are 28 and over, this is their moment.” Before kick-off, I watch as the Lincoln players inspect Celtic Park’s imposing edifice.
FULL OF HOPE: Lincoln red imps arriving at Glasgow airport before the’re biggest ever game
Its 60,000 capacity could house Gibraltar’s entire population almost twice over. Once the strains of You’ll Never Walk Alone roll around this vast arena, it’s down to business. Celtic aren’t taking prisoners. A green-and-white whirlwind, roared on by a partisan home crowd, slams into Lincoln. The visitors seem to have weathered the danger, but three Celtic goals in six first-half minutes is a cruel reminder of football’s unforgiving hierarchy. After the break, the Imps rally, Lee Casciaro almost scoring with one chance. But this was a mountain too high. At full-time, Lincoln depart to loud applause from the home fans. On the coach back to the hotel, there is pride in what Joseph Chipolina describes to me as a ‘fantastic experience’. “I’m a Liverpool fan so it was amazing coming out to You’ll Never Walk Alone. I had goosebumps,” he says. “One can only wish to play in games like that every week. It was a dream. “The manager said afterwards, ‘You’ve lost to a team with a massive history. Keep your heads up high. Next season will be huge.’”
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Cigar king Albert Stagnetto has led one of The Rock’s most enduring companies since the end of World War Two. Joe Duggan hears his incredible story
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OMEWHERE, possibly stashed in one of his three Main Street tobacconists, Albert Stagnetto has one of the world’s most famous cigars. “Winston Churchill never visited our shops,” says Albert. “But somewhere along the line I got one of his cigars. “It happened when he came to Gibraltar and somebody picked up one of his cigars and gave it to us. But I’m not sure where it is now. It was so long ago.” At the age of 88, it’s one of the very few details he can’t recall with razor-sharp clarity. For Albert is a rich mine of local knowledge and there is not much he doesn’t know about the Rock. He is also chairman of one of Gibraltar’s most successful companies, Lewis Stagnetto ltd. Business acumen, a classic Gibraltarian trait, runs through his veins. “I put the secret of my success down to perseverance and hard work,” explains Albert. His forefathers needed plenty of both. When Albert’s grandfather Louis arrived in Gibraltar from Malta in 1870, he and brother Salvatore joined their uncle in the tobacco import trade, opening the first Lewis Stagnetto tobacconist soon after. Salvatore left for Argentina, where he died in an accident, leaving Louis to run the business and care for Salvatore’s son, Ernesto. “I knew Ernesto very well,” says Albert, talking to GIB ROCKS at his plush, historic office above a shop on Main Street. “He stayed with us until the war broke out in 1939. We never saw him again after that.”
28 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
PROUD: Albert outside one of the shops on Main Street
Albert’s own war years read like something out of Casablanca. Aged just 12 when Gibraltar’s civilians were given 24 hours to leave the Rock, he was evacuated to French Morocco. “We travelled from Tangier to Rabat by train.The journey was superb. Very exciting. I was never frightened of what
was going on. But I didn’t know what was going on,” he continues. Within six weeks the relative calm was shattered when Vichy French forces gave them 24 hours to leave. “We gathered together what we could and headed back to Tangier by train,” he says. “A large number of Gibraltarians were brought back to Gibraltar by boat. The ship wasn’t going to be allowed to dock, but people in Gibraltar rioted as they wanted their families to land.” (Three days later, eight ships containing these evacuees made it to England through a submarine-infested Bay of Biscay.) Meanwhile, in Tangier the war seemed far away. Germans, Italians, Japanese, Spanish and British blended together easily. But the Moroccan port was a hotbed of espionage. “There were Special Branch people from all sorts of countries,” continues Albert, who spent five years in Tangier. “One time, the British secret service shipped in a bomb for the French Underground. “Some poor man was unloading the suitcase with this bomb and threw it into the boot.
I
t killed him and another five Gibraltarians. Terrible.” By February 1945, Albert had returned to the Rock, where Lewis Stagnetto had flourished with Albert’s uncle Pepe Caruana at the helm. Gibraltar’s tobacco industry had also assisted the Allies’ war effort in unexpected ways. “Allied pilots shot down in France would head over the Pyrenees and find their way down to Gibraltar,” recalls Albert. “If they were caught by Franco’s men they would be handed back to the Nazis. “Gibraltar’s tobacco trade brought cigarettes and money into Spain by boat, before collecting these pilots, who would hide along the bay, and bring them into Gibraltar.” Until then, tobacco had been Lewis Stagnetto’s mainstay (cigarettes were even rolled on the shop premises). But the business was about to get a new boss with a bold vision. “My father handed my brothers and I the keys and said; ‘Now you’re running the
HISTORY: Albert in his office (above); meeting Princess Anne (right) and Churchil (below)
show’. I was just 17,” says Albert. Three years after Lewis Stagnetto gained its first alcohol licence, it had 30% of the Rock’s wine and spirit trade. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength. Five generations on, the company boasts four Main Street shops and supplies duty-free tobacco to Gibraltar Airport, yachts, naval and merchant ships. It owns six bars and restaurants, including Gaucho’s, the Star Bar and the Clipper pub, and has interests in 21 more. The years may have brought change and new opportunities, but Gibraltar’s main business artery has been tobacco. “Main Street hasn’t changed,” says Albert, who has seen it all, even greeting Princess Anne here a few years back. There is a photo of it on the wall, alongside one of General Montgomery. “People come to Gibraltar to see Main Street, not the monkeys.” Long may it reign. Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 29
commercial spotlight With Prior Park set to open its doors, Headmaster Peter Watts provides an insight into Gibraltar’s new and exciting school
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VER the last six months an extraordinary amount of renovation work has been taking place up at the former Sacred Heart School. The site has been transformed into Prior Park School, the fourth to join the Prior Park family and Gibraltar’s first independent, co-educational, senior school. The overhaul has produced a 21st Century secondary school with subject-specific teaching areas that will educate 240 boys and girls. Prior Park opens with Years 8, 9 and 10 - Years 11 and 12 (6th Form) will open in 2017. Class sizes will hold a maximum of 20 children with a staff to student ratio of 1:10. Headmaster Peter Watts explains: "We want our pupils to be recognised as individuals, supported and stretched in all that they do both in and beyond the classroom, and our small class sizes facilitate this. “At the same time, we want them to feel they belong and have much to offer to their communities, both within school (in their tutor and House groups) but also beyond the school gates." Work has been extensive and has revealed a building which will make best use of the light and the natural vegetation found high above the city. From algebra to zumba, the range of activities and opportunities the school hopes to provide is as extensive as the views over the bay towards Morocco and Spain. All of this has been made possible by an extraordinary team effort from those on the ground in Gibraltar, but also by those
21st century education
30 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
HEADMASTER: Peter has plenty to smile about
at Prior Park College in Bath. A close relationship has been forged and will continue to develop with additional opportunities to broaden horizons, such as extra subject teaching via Skype, being on offer to the Gibraltar school. “By supporting every student, we strive to ensure that each has the opportunity, resource and confidence to excel in their passions and talents and to grow into resilient, capable and independent-minded young men and women,” adds Watts. With the planned opening day for September 7, 60 boys and girls will arrive as the inaugural students. It is a momentous occasion, as Watts concludes: “Our school is excited about becoming an integral part of the Gibraltar community.” For those parents interested in finding out more about what Prior Parks School can offer their children, an Open Morning is scheduled for October 28. To pre-register for this event please email Gibraltar@ priorparkschools.com
All the staff at GM International would like to wish the whole of Gibraltar an enjoyable National Day 2016! 17 Tuckey’s Lane, Gibraltar Tel: +350 200 41110 email: info@gmihomes.com www.gmihomes.com
Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 31
to the Back cavemen Neanderthal caves, dolphins and Victorian batteries all in one new whistle-stop tour
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HEY may have first been inhabited by Neanderthals some 55,000 years ago but interest in Gibraltar’s Gorham’s Cave is currently higher than ever. Receiving UNESCO World Heritage status tends to have that effect. Embedded in the south-eastern face of the Rock, the four distinct caves are considered to be one of the last known dwellings of the Neanderthals in Europe. When first inhabited, they would have been a safe 5km from the shore, but due to changes in sea level they are now only a few metres from the Mediterranean. The caves have become a major contributor in providing a clearer picture of the Neanderthal story on the world stage as well as presenting evidence of climate, sea-level and ecological change. Taking advantage of Gorham’s new lofty
status the team at Dolphin Adventure. Best known for running dolphin watching trips in the bay on their super-stable yellow catamarans, they have decided to branch out and offer budding historians and tourists alike an action-packed and informative tour of Gibraltar’s only UNESCO World Heritage site. “I am absolutely delighted that we are able to offer this new tour,” says the company’s founder Tony Hawkins. “It’s a great day out to learn and witness a site that is so historically significant, right here on the rock, and the caves are a live project and things are still being discovered.” Each Sunday morning, visitors are first taken round to Parson’s Lodge by Rosia Bay. VIEW: New tour The lodge, once a Victorian coastal battery, of Gorham’s is now an educational facility which analyses Cave the Neanderthal finds from Gorham’s cave. From there, visitors are taken to the historical caves, where they receive a talk from local experts, before being taken out to where the shore would have been in 53,000BC, seeing the caves from the same viewpoint as our Neanderthal cousins. Before returning to shore, the 1 hour and 45 minutes tour packs in a dolphin hunt, so you can get up close and personal with the sea’s friendliest creatures. The trips cost £25 and set off at 9.30am, but the huge demand has also seen the introduction of sunset tours. To book, call Dolphin Adventure on 00 350 200 45649.
32 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 33
CULTURE The Rock’s incredible past is brought to life at the Gibraltar Museum, discovers Joe Duggan
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IBRALTAR Museum’s scientist Geraldine Finlayson stops at a painting of the SS Utopia.The passenger ship sunk off Gibraltar en route to New York in 1891. Its Italian immigrant passengers were dreaming of a new life. Instead, 90% of them perished in just 10 metres of water. “In Gibraltar when we want so say something was a long time ago, we say, ‘That’s from the time of The Utopia,” she says. “It was so close to land people could hear the screams.” Every piece in the museum is suffused with such extraordinary detail. Stories and characters swirl around this old military building, and Geraldine effortlessly summons them to life as she guides me round. The Rock’s multi-layered history incorporates Neanderthals, Romans, Moors, Spanish and British. And its two oldest inhabitants, Nana and Flint, are the first you meet. “We know that they spoke, although what they said we don’t know,” says Geraldine of the museum’s two Neanderthals, who date back 60,000 years. If they could speak to us, Nana and Flint would have some terrifying tales. In their day, Leopards, rhinos, wolves, hyenas and wild boars stalked Gibraltar. No wonder Nana and Flint stuck to the caves. In the museum courtyard, excavations have unearthed water conduits from medieval and Moorish times as well as one sabotaged by the British military in the
Living h
34 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
early 1700s. “We found somebody had gone to great lengths to poison the water,” says Finlayson. “We found a dead dog in there to poison the water for their approaching enemies. “But the fact that all these water conduits
MUSEUM EXPERT: Geraldine Finlayson holds a piece of Gibraltar’s past while (right) Nana and Flint
history are here tells us that something about this part of town collects water.” (Indeed, the museum hopes to cure its own rising damp problem by using one of the 200-year-old drainage systems it has uncovered.) In 1930, the museum’s founder, General
Sir Alexander Godley, called for donations from Gibraltar’s population. Many are incredible. Two Egyptian mummies washed up from a sunken ship. Trophies from the Royal Calpe fox hunt. A Maltese horse carriage used by Gibraltar’s Martinez family until the 1970s. “There was only one horse in Gibraltar and it belonged to the owner of this carriage,” says Finlayson. “It was used as a taxi and to ferry newlyweds down Main Street. “There is a link with the museum and the Gibraltar people because of these donations. That’s very special for a community museum.” Other discoveries have come from the museum’s own work, which includes dives around the Rock. A size-five shoe sole from 1820 was plucked from the Seven Sisters muck just off Gibraltar’s dry dock. Its owner’s footprint, and the sole’s waxed thread, are still visible in the leather. But the booming construction around the Rock has also unearthed hidden delights. “Whenever there is any type of construction in Gibraltar the museum is consulted to see if there needs to be an archaeological brief,” says Geraldine. Even the building, on Bomb House Lane, holds clues to Gibraltar’s past. The fireplace carries the insignia of the British Army’s Principal Ordinance Officer (the man in charge of Gibraltar’s entire ammunition supply) who lived there. The museum’s Moorish Baths bear the scars of a shell that exploded during one of the 18th century sieges. Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 35
The baths, built around the 14th century, were once the personal domain of Gibraltar’s king. “Apart from the Alhambra there is nothing in Spain to compare with the site,” said James Edward Budget Meakin, an expert on Moorish history, in 1906. Details are everywhere, from thimble-sized Moorish whistles to Roman ship anchors made out of lead. Royal Engineer Charles Warren painstakingly recreated every road, building and window on the Rock when he crafted the museum’s eight-metre scale model of Gibraltar in 1865. (Interestingly,Warren later resigned as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police after failing to crack the Jack the Ripper case). “This is a wonderful place to work,” says Finlayson. “Even the building is steeped in history. “Wherever you dig in Gibraltar you find something. There is another city underneath us.”
GIBRALTAR GEMS: Moorish baths and (right) donated carriage
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Teenage muscleman Leon de Roeck pumps iron with Rob Horgan, as he gears up for the WPC Weightlifting World Championships
FAILURE is not an option!’ That is 16-year-old weightlifter Leon de Roeck’s motto. Since he was eight, he has had one goal - becoming the strongest man in the world - and everything he has done since then has been working towards that goal. Incredibly determined, Leon is working harder than ever ahead of this year’s World Championships. Claiming three world titles at last year’s WPC Weightlifting World Championships in Portugal and smashing 11 world records in international competitions over the past 12 months, Leon is looking to cap off 2016 in style. Now officially the strongest ever 16-year-old at his weight, Leon’s drive and focus is rarely seen in someone so young and is frankly quite inspiring. “My name will go down in history; I will be the world’s strongest man,” Leon tells me, with steely determination in his eyes. “There is no rush. I will go through the age categories and keep smashing records at every level.” He adds: “I am proud of the records I have already set, but there was never any doubt. “It is easy to be so sure and so driven when you do something you love. “I have been hitting the numbers in training and I am not just breaking records but smashing them.” After setting six world records in the Under 15 age group at the last World Championships, Leon added five more in the Under 16 category at the European Champions in Manchester in June. With his sights now set on the World Championships in Louisiana, USA, Leon is ‘100% 38 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
Leon is on the DETERMINED: Leon smashed records in Portugal World Championships last year
certain’ that he will set more records come November. Extremely self-assured but by no means arrogant, Leon’s confidence comes from the numbers he hits as he blows the competition around him out of the water. In fact, the records set in Portugal are even
taking world higher than the current ones in the 16-17 year old age bracket, which Leon has now moved up to. Freakishly strong for as long as he can remember, he was banned from playing with kids his own age in primary school as he was too much for them.
By the age of 13 he was playing rugby with the under 18s at Estrecho Rugby Club in San Roque. Even step-father Cyrus Licudi had to stop play fighting with eight-year-old Leon as it would leave him ‘battered and bruised’. As Leon’s mother Michelle tells me, ‘he came out like the Hulk and hasn’t stopped growing since’. Currently weighing between 103kg and 110kg (depending on competitions) Leon expects he will move up to 125kg in the next two years. Eating five to eight meals a day, Leon’s food bill costs his mother a staggering £250 a week - mainly in chicken, steaks and rice. (Thankfully the government and his school, Bayside Comprehensive, fund him, for which he is ‘extremely grateful’.) And despite usually sticking to a ‘healthy diet’, Leon occasionally treats himself to a McDonalds, where his order includes seven double cheeseburgers, four portions of chips and two extra-large cokes. But Leon insists he is gaining weight at a safe pace and that his weightlifting career has always been ‘safety first’. “I have never had an injury,” he says. “I have always surrounded myself with good people who ensure I perfect my form so I don’t hurt myself.” At eight years old, Leon worked under the watchful eye of ex-body builder Paul Baw and then Francis Sanchez, who showed the youngster the ropes. Nowadays he trains at the Gimnasio Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 39
Municipal de Palmones under the guidance of owner and Spain’s strongest man, Juan Carlos Heredia, AKA ‘El Porruo’. He also trains with MMA fighters in Gibraltar but cannot compete as it could Leon’s typical hamper his weightlifting McDonald’s order career.
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utside the gym in the Bay of Gibraltar, a mural of El Porruo is painted on the wall. On my visit, El Porruo watches closely as Leon goes through his training routine, squatting 180kg like it’s nothing at all. A nod and smile tell me all I need to know. “One day, Leon will have a mural of him painted on the wall,” El Porruo says. Leon also pays occasional visits to the Mar-
40 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
Seven double cheese burgers = 1974 calories Four large fries = 2040 calories Two Extra Large Coca Colas = 620 calories Total = 4634 calories
bella gym of six-time Mr Olympia, Dorian Yates. “The old pros are great to learn from and are always keen to teach me,” Leon says. ‘El Porruo is great; he is always here, offering advice and making sure I look after myself. “Dorian is also a role model for me and is always happy to offer advice if I need it.” He adds: “I have no shame in asking for help. I want to learn from these guys so I can be better than them.” And that is the aspiration of Leon de Roeck in a nutshell: to be the best. When I asked him if the gym was a daunting place as an eight year old, he resoundingly said ‘no’. “I saw these guys in the gym and I always thought ‘I want to be bigger than you; I am going to be bigger than you’. “I want young kids to look up to me and think the same way.”
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Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 41
Abacus, a financial firm synonymous with trust, is moving to a fabulous new office. Chris Birkett gets the inside track on the move from CEO Christopher Pitaluga office was held togeCther by sticky‘Thetape’ HANGES -
CHRIS PITALUGA sits in his old office at the ICC centre surrounded by packing boxes, contemplating the last 21 years working at financial company Abacus. The move to their new offices around the corner on Main Street is happening as we speak and he simply can't wait. When asked how the company has changed over two decades, Chris, 55, describes it as a ‘huge, incredible transformation’. “When I arrived in 1995 we had no more than 10 staff and the desks we worked from were leftovers from liquidated stock,” he recalls. “The office was literally held together with sticky tape!” It’s understandable then that the move to the new luxury offices is a welcome one. Chris continues: “We now employ over 50 staff with a healthy mix of nationalities, although the majority are local Gibraltarians.”
Moving on up!
Hto PwC
ISTORY - From Coopers & Lybrand
A brief history lesson reveals that the Abacus brand was first introduced in the mid-1980s when the firm became part of Coopers & Lybrand (C&L), then one of the UK’s leading international accountancy practices. C&L subsequently merged with Price Waterhouse in 1998 to become the global accounting giant, PwC, which included Abacus as a distinct member firm in its own right. The team are proud of their historic association with the PwC network of which Abacus remained a member until July 2012, when to become an independent firm.
Nthrow away
EW OFFICES - Just a paper dart
The new offices are so close to their existing home you could literally throw a paper airplane out of the window and hit the target. An impressive space at 5-9 Main Street, there are three floors of spacious offices, including a big reception area, meeting rooms and board room. There’s even a ‘break away’ space and kit-
42 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
CEO: Chris looking forward to the move
chen for the staff to chill out and enjoy their lunch, complete with inspirational wall art. It is a long way away from the old facilities at the ICC although Chris is keen to state that his time there has been a happy one. “The new offices are almost a rebooting of who we are and what we do,” he explains.
Offer a low risk Sstrategy, not get-rich-quick schemes TAFF AND SERVICES -
Staff are of paramount importance to Chris and the other directors at Abacus and one of the main reasons the move has happened. “The new office space is approximately a 50% increase in our working space, giving
commercial spotlight us a much more pleasant environment for our staff and ourselves to work in,” Chris explains. Chris is not your usual CEO, he is affable, friendly and easy to talk to. His family have been in Gibraltar for centuries and the Arsenal fan is passionate about more than just financial services. He is also a man committed to delivering a high-quality, low-risk service to his clients and protecting the good name of Abacus and it’s people. “Abacus is run by a strong board of directors, who offer a sensible mature approach to your money. Good governance is the key to the success we’ve had to date”. “We offer a low risk strategy, not get-richquick schemes, this may slow our growth but we are happy that both we and our clients can sleep at night knowing they have a worry-free, bomb-proof future. What we bring is a higher degree of quality to what we do, even if that means less quantity. ”
lifestyle changes, but Ba stablepossible position REXIT -
Even Brexit hasn't diminished Chris’s confidence. “I came into the office on the Monday morning after the referendum and sat my team down. My first question was: ‘how many of your clients do you see being impacted by Brexit?’ and there was only one! “Now, I can’t say we won’t be affected in the long term and I am not trying to be blasé, but our strategy to date means that other than possible lifestyle changes for myself and the staff, we are in a very stable position.” It’s exciting times at Abacus not only with
MOTIVATIONAL MUNCHIES: Chill out zone for staff
the big move but also the launch of a new product directed at the local Gibraltar Market. The new pension will be launched later in the year and Chris sees this as huge potential growth for the company. He also urges people to be ‘less passive’ when it comes to their financial future and ‘explore what’s available in the marketplace’.
Fhave to carry me out in a box’‘They’ll AST FORWARD 10 YEARS -
When asked about his hopes for Abacus, he jokes: “That there would be someone else managing it!” But admits: “I don’t see myself retiring at all and I would like to be carried out. “What I actually mean is that I can take a step back in the knowledge that we have the right people in the key roles to manage the business and transform it for the next 10 years and beyond.” CONCLUSION Abacus is a forward-thinking company with a strong history and if the CEO and staff are anything to go by, clients’ financial needs should be in safe hands. Visit the new offices at 5-9 Main Street.
Abacus Financial Services Limited 5-9 Main Street, Gibraltar email: contactus@abacus.gi Tel: 00350 20078777 Licenced by the FSC no. FSC1168B
Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 43 Private Wealth • Corporates • Funds • Accounting • Pensions
Last of the boatmakers Catalan Bay’s Gerald Lopez is the final link in a centuries-old Gibraltarian tradition. Joe Duggan hears his tale
THIS is a tradition that is dying out,” sighs boatmaker Gerald Lopez. Outside his magenta cottage, the Mediterranean’s turquoise waters crash onto Catalan Bay. It’s a windy Saturday afternoon, and a smattering of bathers brave the foaming waves. Small fishing boats huddle against the shore. It’s a timeless scene. “I am the last one left. It makes me very sad.” Gerald lingers over lovingly-bound albums of photographs from La Caleta’s years gone by. Black and white images of local fishermen gaze back out. He is directly linked to this past. For Gerald is the last man standing in a Catalan Bay boatmaking lineage stretching back to the 18th century. He is Gibraltar’s sole remaining craftsman who can build wooden boats known as barcillas - in the original style of Catalan Bay’s first Genoese settlers. It’s a tie that brings him pride, but also an aching melancholy. “If there was a boatbuilding school here, I could have passed my skills on to young kids. But I don’t think people in Gibraltar are interested in doing this anymore,” says Gerald. 44 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
Although the 55-year-old now works as a supervisor for the Gibraltar government, his passion for boats still consumes him. Nowadays, his boats are more likely to be raced in September’s annual Catalan Bay Regatta than be used for commercial fishing. But La Caleta’s history as a fishing hub means the exact same boats were used by past generations to harvest the waters around Gibraltar and sustain the local community. Indeed, fishing remained the area’s lifeblood until well into the 20th century. “I used to see people on Sunday morning with boxes of fish. My grandad would fish for sprats to sell,” recalls Gerald. From the 18th century, Catalan Bay’s community of Genoese fishermen quickly swelled. A 1725 census showed 414 Genoese from an overall population of 1,113. By 1813, a third of Gibraltar was either Genoese or Italian. In Catalan Bay, a Genoese dialect was spoken until the early 20th century (in fact, as late as the 1970s a visiting Italian linguist Fiorenzo Toso discovered old fishermen who still spoke Genoese). The language has now died out, but traces of this past still echo around Catalan Bay, from the village’s elegant Genoese-style
shutters and courtyards to Genoa House apartment block. Gerald’s boats are another snapshot of an era gone by. He and his wife Giovanna are descended from Genoese settlers. During a recent trip to the north Italian region, he admits becoming ‘quite emotional’ at seeing the
LAST MAN STANDING: Gerald with one of his boats outside his home
same long-stemmed boats along the harbour at the village of Cinque Terre. The local fishermen were astonished when Gerald told them the same design had endured for centuries in a tiny enclave hundreds of miles away. “I learned this trade from an old man in Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 45
Catalan Bay, called Julio Stagno,” explains Gerald. “He used to build boats round his house and I would go and look at him. I learned everything from him. He was a shipwright {boatmaker} by trade. There were a lot of boat builders here then. “From then on, my passion was to build boats. I just had to build boats. I built my first boat when I was eight.” To the astonishment of Catalan Bay’s community, this inquisitive little boy had stepped up to join the ranks of the neighbourhood’s most famed craftsmen.
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ged 12, Gerald begged to be sent to Blands shipping yard to repair boats for his school work experience. There, he alighted upon a revolutionary new method for making the boat’s ribs. “One day, we were being shown how to work with marine plywood,” he said. “I thought, ‘What if I can cut a small piece of marine plywood and drive a copper nail into it?’ I did it and it held. “Nobody had used that method here. The ribs for boats were made out of trees. They used to see a tree and say, ‘That curve is alright’ and cut it in sections.” When he was 15, he built his first big boat with wood salvaged from a strong incoming Levante. He sold it for £350. The same year, he joined the naval dockyard as an apprentice shipwright, repairing frigates’ lifeboats. “During the Falklands War, the SS Uganda was turned into a hospital ship over the weekend here,” he says. “I worked overnight with other tradesmen on it. It set sail on the Monday.” His bid for perfection pushes him to tweak and modify each new boat. But there is always a standard formula. Building a scale model is the starting point. Each vessel adheres to roughly the same dimensions -15 ft long and 5 ft at its widest. The boats’ long, elegant stems are faithful to the distinctive Genoese style. Each takes around five months to build. “The planking (or base) of the boat is
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TIMES PAST: Catalan Bay and fishermen
always done with red pine,” says Gerald. “That is best because it swells more than other woods so it is easy to shrink.” He pours boiling water over the planks, softening them enough so he can bend them. “Old shipwrights used to get a tube of boiling water and use steam but I have to use a kettle,” he says. “These types of wooden boats last for 80 years easily, if they are cared for.” They’re fast, too, adds Gerald. If you want to see the regatta you have to run along the beach to keep up.
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erald’s trove of old photographs offer a fascinating glimpse into Catalan Bay’s ties with the sea. In one, a priest blesses a boat in front of a crowd outside Our Lady Of Sorrows church. Another, taken in the 50s, shows Gerald’s mother near the beach (when the 1958 film, Wonderful Things, was filmed in Catalan Bay, both Giovanna and Gerald’s family worked as extras, rowing actors Frankie Vaughan and Jeremy Spenser out to sea). Many of Gerald’s boats are named after family members. The Jesstef, outside his home, honours grandchildren Jesse and
Stefan. A few yards away, the Francesca is a tribute to his daughter. His favourite, the sleek 38, is moored in Mid-Harbour Marina, ready to take to the waves for this month’s rowing regatta, held in Catalan Bay since 1926. Gerald has sold some of his boats for up to £1,800, but he could have made thousands more. “I never gave much importance to what I did,” he says. “But do you know how many people have said, ‘We will pay you to use your boat as a mould’? “No way. Then my secret is gone. I don’t think there is a price I could put on it. “My shape is my shape, it is unique. I would break the 38 before I gave it to someone.” The modest Gerald takes a lot of coaxing to come outside for some photos. As he shows me around a few of his boats, he admits he has no more in the pipeline. “It’s too much work,” he laments. “It’s sad that I’m the last one who knows how to do this. “But my four-year-old grandson Jesse is showing a lot of interest,” he beams. “He loves it.” Perhaps Gerald isn’t the last boatmaker after all. Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 47
Final thought
30
Years, the average life expectancy of Barbary macaques.
142
Length in metres of Sunborn Hotel in Ocean Village.
31
Miles of paved highways in Gibraltar.
63.5
Wet days on average per year.
1502
207
cruise liners docked in Gibraltar in 1915 carrying more than 290,000 passengers.
the year Gibraltar adopted its first official ensign. The current flag was formally adopted on November 8, 1982.
Figure it out! 1800
Length in metres of Gibraltar Airport runway.
1894
Gibraltar’s oldest hotel - the Bristol - opened.
1954
2009
The year the Queen last visited Gibraltar. She toured the Rock with Prince Philip along with Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
2013
Miss Gibraltar Kaiane Aldorino - crowned Miss World with the final held in South Africa
2850
Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May test an Audi R8 against the McLaren Mp4-12c on Gibraltar Airport runway.
Average annual hours of sunshine in Gibraltar.
32,194
100,000
Gibraltar residents, in 2012, making it one of the most densely populated locations given its 2.25 sq mile land mass 48 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016
1931
Gibraltar Airways launched. It was sold in 2008 to EasyJet.
Cost in Pounds Sterling to Gibraltar Football Association to play each ‘home’ game in Faro, Portugal.
10,427
The number of words making up the editorial pages of this launch issue of GIB ROCKS
170,000
The square footage of the World Trade Centre due to open later this year.
Gib Rocks Autumn 2016 49
50 Gib Rocks Autumn 2016