Friday night concert in Ocean Village

We might not have a boat ready to start a circumnavigation tomorrow, but Team Britannia has certainly made its mark on Gibraltar in the past week.

Kicking off with the Thundercats powerboat racing in Catalan Bay last weekend, it’s progressed to daily offerings of music. And while I was a latecomer to it all, I loved Friday night’s concert in Ocean Village Gibraltar, a broad programme of acts covering everything from pop and rock to jazz. The highlight for me was the Gibraltar National Choir singing quite possibly the best Beatles medley ever, and 13 year-old Millie Devlin belting out “Skyfall” with a power and maturity way beyond her years. “It takes a lot to silence a bunch of sailors,” I was told by some of the crew from visiting type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond, “but Millie did just that. We were gobsmacked!”

The backdrop to all the acts was a huge video screen behind the stage, with a Team Britannia logo showing while the music was on, and a promotional video playing in between. This is all a lead up to Saturday night on board the five-star floating Sunborn hotel, where what would have been a gala dinner the night before our departure around the world will now be a champagne reception, raising funds for Blesma and Calpe House Trust. Some of the items up for grabs in the charity auction sound pretty impressive, but more about that in another post.