Part of the Friends’ mandate is to fund projects of historical or heritage interest related to Gibraltar. Details of significant projects with videos/photos appear below and we aim to add more.
Gibraltar: Challenge, Change & Continuity
The Friends of Gibraltar Oral History Project (1930 to 1970)
The Friends Of Gibraltar’s oral history project is now online.
The Friends’ Oral History Archive covers the period 1930-1970. It contains accounts of the Spanish Civil War; the Evacuation; Gibraltar during the Second World War; Gibraltar’s ‘Secret War’; the emergence of the Cold War era and Gibraltar’s long path from Colony to self-determining British Overseas Territory.
This online version of the archive has 62 audio interviews, with an archive index, synopses and transcripts. There is also a slideshow page with two sound pieces and further images. The dramatic story of the sinking of HMS Eagle as told by interviewee Fred Davenport; and a nine minute audio piece edited from the interviews, with a slide show of images from the archive. This piece was played at the launch of the archive and presentation to The Chief Minister (2014); and at the annual Friends Day (2014).
The full archive which as well as the interviews contains personal papers and photographs is available at The Garrison Library Gibraltar, and the Imperial War Museum
Convent Murals
These were discovered behind plaster at the Convent (governor’s residence), and restored in 2017. Below are two videos of the results, the first a “before and after” restoration series, and a longer stop-motion video of the restoration process. Please see GHT’s Press Release for more information.
Before and after images
Stop-motion of the restoration process