The Frontier Closure 50 Year On : Part 3 – Family Ties
“They would shout across and there would be this conversation in the air…deaths would be announced by shouting across” – Ambrose Avellano
On 8th June 1969, Spain’s General Franco closed the land border between Spain and Gibraltar. Overnight supply lines were cut, families were separated and telecommunications ceased. In Part 3 – Family Ties I look at the impact the frontier closure had on families, both those with relatives on both sides of the fence as well as those who grew up behind it.
Many thanks to all those who contributed to Part 3: Ambrose Avellano, Sylvia Ballantine, Paula Galliano, Dr Joseph Garcia, Clive Golt, Aileen Gordon, Tina Orciel, Juan Carlos Teuma, Tito Vallejo Smith, Philip Valverde & Louis Wood.
The excerpt of Palabras al Viento is included in this episode by kind permission of the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation.
The photograph used to illustrate this mini series is reproduced by kind permission of the Gibraltar National Archives.
‘Going South’ is performed by Philip Valverde and was written by Frank Valverde
The Gibraltar Stories theme music is by DP Music on www.melodyloops.com mixed with Gibraltar atmospheric sounds
Gibraltar Stories is produced, edited and presented by Lindsay Weston
The Closed Frontier
(Photo: courtesy of the Gibraltar National Archives)
Display of newspaper clippings at the ‘Closure’ exhibition curated by the Gibraltar National Archive
(June 2019)