EasyJet’s Commercial Manager Mr Ali Gayward, stated “EasyJet has recently undertaken a review of underperforming routes, and following this review we can confirm that we will not operate flights between Gibraltar and Liverpool during our winter 2012 schedule.” Mr Gayward went on to say, “However, EasyJet remains committed to serving Gibraltar and has recently increased its summer frequency on the London Gatwick route.”

The three times a week service began on 29 March, as the eagerly awaited £76 million Gibraltar terminal neared completion. EasyJet announced its intention to launch a brand new route into Gibraltar Airport from Liverpool’s John Lennon then, to complement their existing London Gatwick schedule and compete against Monarch Airlines’ Manchester route – also three times a week.

Musicals singing star Elaine Paige arrived in Gibraltar today. She said she was thrilled to be back in Gibraltar, both excited and looking forward to her performance tonight as a guest in this year’s 50th anniversary edition of the Miss Gibraltar pageant to be held in the magnificent St Michael’s Cave.

She was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the order of the British Empire) for her services to drama in 1995. Her CV reads like a history of the post-war musical. She was the first to play the iconic roles of Eva Peron in Evita, Grizabella in Cats and Florence in Chess.

Her signature tunes include Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina, Memory and I Know Him So Well, her chart-topping duet with Barbara Dickson. Lord Lloyd-Webber regards her recording of As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard, in which she played the fading Hollywood starlet Norma Desmond, as probably the best performance of any one of his songs.

Tonight musicals fans can look forward to a medley of her hits. Elaine said “It’s such an exciting event and the venue looks absolutely beautiful, I’ve never sung in a cave before, this is another first for me!”

The Hon Neil Costa, Minister for Tourism, Public Transport and the Port was on hand to welcome passengers arriving from East Midlands into Gibraltar. Onboard the flight the Gibraltar Tourist Board’s Chief Executive, Nicky Guerrero, mingled with passengers and held an onboard raffle with a number of prizes donated by the airline and Gibraltar’s tourism industry partners. Also on-board the aircraft was Peter Canessa, Director of Gibraltar House in London.

Commenting on the launch Julian Carr, Managing Director, BMI Baby, said: “We are delighted to commence this new route from Gibraltar to East Midlands Airport. The service will provide a welcome link from Gibraltar to the Midlands.

East Midlands Airport is the gateway to Nottingham, Leicester and Derby and provides easy access to the rest of the Midlands and beyond. The route is already proving very popular, with customers taking advantage of the convenient flight times and great service offered.

Minister Costa said: “The start of bmibaby services is great news for both visitors and business travellers to Gibraltar. We are enjoying unprecedented access from the UK to Gibraltar and are able to increasingly appeal to a widened catchment area of visitors. With an exciting calendar of local events evolving through the summer this is an exciting time to entice visitors to Gibraltar. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the airline.”

The Governor was greeted by CBF, Commodore Tom Karsten, before commencing the formalities of the Salute with C.O. of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Lt Col Colin Risso. February 6 officially signifies the monarch’s Diamond Jubilee – 60 years to the day that she became Sovereign. For the Queen, this day denotes the very beginning of her reign and a great sadness at the death of her beloved father. The Queen is the second longest serving monarch after Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years. Only six kings and queens in British history have reigned for 50 years or more – Victoria, Elizabeth II, George III, James VI of Scotland (James I of England), Henry III and Edward III. In The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee message, released this weekend, she thanked everyone for the wonderful support and encouragement: “In this special year, as I dedicate myself anew to your service, I hope we will all be reminded of the power of togetherness and the convening strength of family, friendship and good neighbourliness, examples of which I have been fortunate to see throughout my reign and which my family and I look forward to seeing in many forms as we travel throughout the United Kingdom and the wider Commonwealth.” “I hope also that this Jubilee year will be a time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart as we join together in our celebrations,” she added.

At one o’clock yesterday there was a second event locally marking the celebrations with a Ceremonial Guard Mount outside the Convent where the Governor’s Guard and New Guard were furnished by G and I companies from The Royal Gibraltar Regiment. From the balcony, the Governor gave the salute holding the Keys to Gibraltar. Next to him was Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, Mrs Picardo and Lady Johns. On a cold but sunny day the balcony was filled with local dignitaries including Leader of the Opposition Peter Caruana, Speaker of the House Haresh Budhrani, Mayor Julio Alcantara, and Commissioner of Police Louis Wink and their wives. The Parade’s Commanding Officer was Lt Col Risso, Company Commander Major Williamson Parade Commander Lt Pierce, the Regimental Sergeant major WO1 (RSM) Payas, and Parade CSM WO2 Alvarez. The Governor’s Guard furnished by I Company was under Guard Commander Sgt Wood, the NCO IC Relief was Clp Hastings, and the Sentries LCpl J. Nicholls, Pte Celecia and Pte Green. The New Guard was furnished by G Company. Its Guard Commander was Sgt Lavagna, NCO IC Relief Cpl Warr, and the Sentries L Cpl T. Nicholls, Pte Lagares and Pte Walton. The Bugler was LCpl Alcantara. On parade too was the Royal Gibraltar Regiment Band under bandmaster WO1(BM) Philbin.

2012 promises to be a busy year for the Regiment which will be conducting public duties in London late April, mounting guards at Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palaces and at the Tower of London, and firing a Royal Gun Salute at the Tower on the Queen’s Birthday 21, April. Yesterday, there were other military personnel viewing the ceremony from Momy’s balcony, opposite. Meanwhile the Diamond Jubilee programme made public yesterday includes a whole series of events. Next month the Royal Engineers Association will hold a parade and march up Main Street. The Diamond Jubilee Drama Festival which starts Wednesday 14 March will see a varied programme of plays over a few days. Later in April the Trafalgar Theatre Group will put on the Diamond Jubilee Play ‘Crown Matrimonial’. There will also be Diamond Jubilee Concert in St Michael’s Cave by the Gibraltar Philharmonic Society 24 May, and as from 28 May and original dance production by the Gibraltar Academy of Dance called ‘An Audience with The Queen’. Other events until the end of 2012 are: The Big Lunch, Lighting of the Beacon, The Queen’s Birthday Parade, and sporting events.

A new radar has been installed to keep an eye on shipping as part of the Port Authority’s tracking system, designed to provide information on ships’ movements.

The strategic location of Gibraltar explains why, for centuries, the Rock has been used as a naval fortress and why so many battles have been fought over this tiny peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

Today, this same quirk of geography has allowed Gibraltar to become a maritime centre of excellence. Located at a crossroads of Mediterranean and Atlantic shipping lanes, Gibraltar is ideally placed to provide a wide range of services to vessels of all sizes and types and handling today’s large cruise liners is no exception.

Gibraltar is a bustling commercial centre. With over 100,000 vessels transiting the Strait of Gibraltar each year, the Rock has become a major bunkering station – the largest in the Mediterranean – and offers a wide range of other shipping services.

Bayside Drama Studio

1. Bayside & Westside Drama Group presents ‘Too Much Make Up’ a drama by Julian Felice

2. Bayside & Westside Drama Group presents ‘Mary Jane’ a drama by Julian Felice

3. Santos Productions presents ‘5, 6, 7, 8 – 36’ a comedy by Christian Santos

Thursday 15th March 2012 – 8.30pm

Ince’s Hall Theatre

1. Santos Productions presents ‘Strong’ a drama by Christian Santos

2. Jaguar Productions presents ‘Albert(30 years later)’ a comedy by Richard Harris

Friday 16th March 2012 – 8.30pm

Ince’s Hall Theatre

1. Trafalgar Theatre Group presents ‘Late Entry’ a comedy by David Tristram

2. Santos Productions presents ‘We Will Never Know’ a drama by Christian Santos

3. International Theatre Studio presents ‘Happy Birthday Me’ a comedy by Simon Williams

All these events and anything and everything happening in Gibraltar can be found in our “What’s on Diary”.

The Amateur and Challenger tournaments played simultaneously remain as popular as ever and entries are still being taken for these. The whole event runs from the 24th January to 2nd February, 2012.

Organiser Brian Callaghan, who received an OBE in the New Year’s honours list appointed by Her Majesty The Queen for his services to tourism and chess (see below), is delighted with the growth and success of the festival.

“I am ready to welcome all the top chess players in the world to our tournament at the end of this month, and looking forward to the best 10 days of chess yet. It is indeed an honour to be hosting the 10th edition of the festival in Gibraltar, important too because it falls in the Diamond Jubilee year,” he said.

The 2012 tournament promises to be stronger than ever before and will be enjoyed by a huge internet audience, thanks to Gibtelecom’s innovative technology and the unique, built-for-purpose webcasting suite installed at the Caleta Hotel. Hosting the broadcasts this year is Macauley Peterson, a freelance mediamaker. He was voted 2008 “Chess Journalist of the Year” by the Chess Journalists of America, and has written in Chess Life, Chess Life Online (U.S.A.), New in Chess (Netherlands), “64″ (Russia), Chess (U.K.), and elsewhere.

The survey was commissioned by the private jet hire company PrivateFly.com who offered a brief description of each shortlisted airport to potential voters. Of Gibraltar they said: “The runway is actually intersected by a main road which closes every time a plane lands or departs. The Rock of Gibraltar looms large on the stunning approach, causing unusual wind patterns and turbulence. One voter commented “Challenging winds and a great view – not to mention a slight feeling of superiority when you cross the closed road!”

The final result gave Gibraltar 8^th place, the winner for the adrenalin junkies out there was the bay of Traigh Mhor in the Outer Hebrides.

Two participants got more than a shock from the icy cold sea when they found a large bag bobbing along on the waves. The bag it turned out contained over 30 kilo’s of cannabis resin, which the shocked swimmers handed over to the police on their return to shore.

Exit polls had predicted an easy victory for the GSLP, with the expected margin being 9%. However, as the 17,475 votes were counted it became obvious it would be a much closer outcome. A jubilant, and possibly relieved, Mr Picardo declared it was “a privilege to lead this nation of ours” and held his political triumph as the dawning of a new era for Gibraltar – the theme of his manifesto.