Then came the 1930s and the Great Depression. Unemployment was high, poverty was rampant while world events dominated.

The Hindenburg Airship burned, Charles Lindberg’s boy was kidnapped and later found dead, the Empire State Building opened, Amelia Earhart, American woman pilot disappeared on a round the world flight. Television was in its infancy and listening to the radio was popular with families. Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz made their enduring openings. But what was life like in Gibraltar? Remote from the First World War the Rock was enjoying a time of peace and plenty. Once it was no stranger to hardship, pestilence and sieges being the norm, but now a close knit and hard working community flourished. Lillian Pitaluga was born into this Gibraltar in 1932. “You could say I was born above the shop,” she told me with a humorous chuckle and continued, “my father worked for Saccone and Speed and we lived in the flat at the top”. No more flats Lillian, I was there recently and now an ultra modern open plan suite of offices provides a congenial workplace.

“I have only good things to say about growing up,” she recounted, “until the war and the evacuation provided a rude awakening.” Hitler’s ranting had erupted into a war that would change the world and Gibraltar forever. “With my sister, mother Araceli, and father Ernesto Homedas and other members of the family we were evacuated to Casablanca. For us youngsters it was a great adventure”. For the adults, torn from their way of life and plungedinto the unknown the sojourn in Morocco was difficult in the extreme. (The subsequent return and onwards to UK is well documented). “We went to the UK, mostly stayed in hotels in London. We had family in Lancashire and we spent some time with them. My father continued working for Saccone and Speed in Watford and I went to school there as well as making my First Communion and Confirmation.” Living through the war was a time of stress and worry and often no doubt miserable, but always with the promise of returning home.

“Oh no, not till 1949,” Lillian remembered. “My sister and myself were sent to boarding school but my parents did return before us.” It must have been a happy day when you were finally on the way home? I ventured. “Not really,” she surprised me, “I wanted to stay in the convent, it was a good safe life but my father urged me home.” She sounded wistful, but continued robustly, “I had a horrendous flight too, in those days we flew from Northolt, stopped in Bordeaux and Madrid and cross winds are nothing new so I ended up in Tangiers.” That sounded familiar! Post war Gibraltar was undergoing many changes but Lillian “got bored quickly once I had settled down so I decided to do a commercial course, but I was encouraged to go into teaching. I did my three years and on the day I returned to Gibraltar I met the man who would become my husband.”

And so you were married? I guessed too hastily and got sent to the corner (only kidding!). “No not then, five years later, you see,” she responded. “I had to pay back for my training and we did not want to live with in-laws, overcrowding being such a problem in Gibraltar even though new housing estates were being built.” This was a major change heralded by those returning from the war whose eyes had been opened to another way of life. “Joe was a high ranking civil servant and eventually we were offered a Government Quarter, one of the perks of the job in those days, and then we got married,” she twinkled at me. But you continued teaching at St. Mary’s? (in Johnston’s Passage in those days).

Her answer came swiftly, “Oh no, I gave up teaching, did not think twice about it really, it was what you did in those days”. The war years wrought a profound sociological change in women’s lives as before the war it was unheard of for a married woman to go to work. It was only after the frontier with Spain was closed in 1969 that married women finally broke the mould and went out to work to fill the vacuum left by Spanish workers. “Really,” Lillian was emphatic, “Franco did us a favour as I feel it was the start of us becoming a people, a lead on from the evacuation, we became more united, it had a very positive impact on us becoming aware of whom we really are, there were lots of convincing results.” I wondered if these changes have carried over into the 21st century.

“Women who want to follow a career and raise a family often face difficult choices and need a lot of support from partners.” I was curious to know if Lillian was speaking from her many years of experience as a Marriage Counsellor? “Oh indeed, up to a point. Women who go out to work learn a sense of self which leads to confidence as they excel at their chosen careers and this can leave very little time for family life. Love needs learning and in some ways I think it was easier for my generation than for young women nowadays.”

Gibraltar in 1988 was undergoing changes as Lillian’s husband Joe, who had traveled to the UN with Sir Joshua Hassan and Peter Isola many times, decided to take early retirement. He was not idle in retirement, forming a political party. “He felt it was the right time to do this, he had lots of support from like minded people, but not many were willing to openly stand for election. At those elections, like in most, new parties make little headway.” Joe’s retirement plans were short lived as sadly he died six months later leaving a void Lillian needed to fill.

“It was not easy as I remember twenty years later,” she had hesitated... “Put it this way,” she continued more strongly, “my family are part of my life, but my husband was my life.” When I had gone to meet her and rang the doorbell I had wondered what she would be doing as I was sure she would not be sitting idly by. Well, she was sitting, but busily knitting. “I’ve dropped a stitch somewhere,” she was occupied, “but never mind.” She smiled unperturbed, “all will be well”. Indeed. She has filled the years with “a little charity work”. Years devoted to Cancer Relief, Marriage Counselling and the Women’s Corona Society earned her a prestigious MBE in 1999 for “Services to the Community”, and more recently, with many others, a Papal award for the hard work undertaken by the Lay community in Gibraltar. Lillian certainly sprinkles her achievements with a dash of modest courtesy.

“I always think that when people get an award, it’s not because of what they do personally, but rather what they do with the people who are with them. It does not mean you are more deserving.” Our time was closing and I had a couple of questions left. Do you see a shift in family values? I asked this intrepid mother of five and grandmother to 13.

“Oh dear me yes, there’s always been the 14 year old who gets pregnant, but now there’s the drug culture to contend with. Gibraltar is lovely and cosy and while modern technology and travel is exposing our youth to good things, violence and all sorts of horrors are also awaiting. Maybe its old fashioned to say the family that prays together stays together, but I believe it’s a maxim that still has value.” My last question. What do you wish for Gibraltar in 2008 and beyond?

“What I would like for Gibraltar is for all politicians to remember that we want, all of us, what is best for Gibraltar. We are all on the same side and unity is paramount.” Hear, Hear.