Mor family reflect on bittersweet communion at frontier gates

Catherine and Robert Mor visited the closed frontier gates 48 years ago with their parents to celebrate a first holy communion in a striking image that shows the reality of the closed border era.

Mr Mor, aged around eight years old and dressed in white, had his communion earlier that day and was brought to the frontier to mark the occasion.

The photo of the family at the frontier gates shows his sister Catherine Cleverly (née Mor) stood to the left of him dressed in green, and his parents Robert Mor and Marie Carmen Martin Peran on the right.

The family were waving to grandparents Manuela Peran and Jose Martin Toledo, who had been cross frontier workers residing in La Linea prior to the frontier’s closure.

Mrs Cleverly described how their mother Marie Carmen had been separated from her parents during those closed frontier years.

Marie Carmen, who was from La Linea worked as a nanny for the Attias family locally, had decided to move to Gibraltar taking a risk on a relationship with Robert as she was unmarried at the time.

Mrs Cleverly remembered how there was tension in the family with the cross border union and her mother lived with the Attias family until they were wed.

On the communion day, family friend Brian Edmonds took images of the family and joined them for lunch.

Mr Mor celebrated his First Holy Communion in May 1978 and following the ceremony at St. Theresa’s Church, which was officiated by the late Bishop Rapallo, the family headed straight to the closed frontier.

“We wanted my Spanish grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (my mum's side of the family) to see me in my communion attire, even if only from a distance,” Mr Mor said.

“They stood about 200 meters away on the Spanish side. Because binoculars were a luxury back then, they must have had such a faint view of me. I can still vividly picture my mum shouting across the border barrier just to speak with her family.”

“Mr Brian Edmonds was with us and had volunteered to take our photographs. He captured a wonderful photoshoot of my family and me at the Alameda Gardens and the old casino on Europa Road.”

“Afterward, we had lunch at a restaurant called Casa Antonio, which is gone now, but sat right where Bahia Bar is today. Looking back, it was a long, profoundly bittersweet day tempered by the sadness that my mum's side of the family couldn't cross over to celebrate the milestone with us.”

Looking back on the day, Mrs Cleverly said she appreciates the struggles her parents went through and the sacrifices people like her mother made.

She has mixed feelings about the provisional implementation of the treaty, like many she wants Gibraltar to retain its Britishness, but she is trying to be positive about the change.

“Time will tell,” she said.