Prunella Scales & Tim West sail round the Bay of Gibraltar with Ocean Viking skipper Ginge Sargent & mate

When popular actors Prunella Scales and her husband Timothy West came out to Gibraltar at the invitation of Ginge Sargent, the Skipper of Ocean Viking, they were on a tight schedule. There was so much to see around the Rock as well as fitting in the rehearsals for the Year of the Sea Show. A top priority for the couple was a sail round the Bay of Gibraltar, the very same Bay that has witnessed so many of the historic events featured in the show. Ginge pointed out many of the landmarks, including Nelson’s Anchorage and Rosia Bay, where the Victory was brought after the Battle of Trafalgar.
In spite of the chilly November breeze the couple enjoyed their envigorating sail. They then returned to The Rock Hotel for a rest prior to the evening’s performance before Gibraltar’s Governor and Chief Mininster. There were many invited VIP’s as well as those who had travelled from the Costa to see what was described by the former Director of Culture as “The jewel in the crown of Gibraltar’s Year of the Sea”.
If you’d like to come sailing with Ginge, contact us now to make your booking.

by Elena Scialtiel
It was a wave of applauses for British stars Prunella Scales, Timothy West, Stephen Roberts and Terence Allbright and the Gibraltar National Choir when the notes of Rule Britannia’s last chorus faded away in the John Mackintosh Hall auditorium at the end of their Year of the Sea Concert held on 16th November.
The nautical programme included many popular solo songs that baritone Stephen Roberts lyrically interpreted, accompanied on piano by Terence Allbright and by the melodious ensemble of local voices, harmonised by Lili Olivero’s indefatigable baton. There were ample intermezzos of dramatic readings, intensely delivered by renowned theatre, big and small screen actors Prunella Scales and Timothy West.
From Shakespeare to Haydn, from Stevenson to Hardy, from Liszt to Churchill, a variety of touching tales of sailors, ships, sea battles and sunken gold were told and sung, with special regard to Nelson’s bicentennial, whose solemn commem-oration’s echoes still resounded at the neighbouring Trafalgar cemetery.
The illuminated graphics complimenting each piece and enhancing the production were the product of months of research and were controlled from a computer at the back of the theatre by Angela Sargent.
The concert involved extensive commitment for The Gibraltar National Choir, nevertheless not unfamiliar with apparently insurmountable challenges: challenge actually seems to tickle its founder, president and musical director Lili Olivero’s ambitions to ‘think big’ and ‘out of the box’ and make it the soundtrack of happy events earning Gibraltar a name and fame on the musical map.
The idea for presenting the production here was first suggested by Stephen about a year ago when he met local co-organisers Ginge and Angela Sargent. They were out for a sail aboard their friend John Tanzer’s yacht ‘Aquila’. Back in UK, he reported their conversation to his actor and pianist friends, who enthused at the prospect of paying their first visit to the Rock. The proposal gathered momentum when Lili Olivero and the The National Choir’s participation was negotiated, providing a star-quality accompaniment worthy of their celebrity guests.
Book Launch
Husband-and-wife team Timothy and Prunella also took the opportunity of their Gibraltar gig to locally launch their literary work “So You Want To Be An Actor?”, a practical hand-book for aspiring thespians, whose signed copies are now enriching the libraries of the many Gibraltarian amateur dramatic groups.