MARIOLA RUSSO the defacto inspirer of Gibraltar’s social services and undoubtedly the most beautiful Gibraltarian of her generation.
MariolaStagnetto, as she was before her marriage, was brought up in a traditional Gibraltar home of the late nineteen twenties where she was taught good manners and above all else the need to help others. Now she fully appreciates the benefits of the strict discipline imposed by her parents although at the time she was not so well disposed towards the regime. . She had two brothers, Louis the eldest and Johnnie the baby of the family.
Before the Second World War Mariola was a semi boarder at the Loreto Convent. In those days the Convent accepted as borders Spanish girls who lived in the hinterland and these came from Algeciras, Sevilla, Ronda and elsewhere in Andalucia. The nuns enjoyed a glowing reputation. She became close friends with many of the boarders and keeps some of them as friends to this day. She lived in a house in Main Street and at 8.30 was driven to school where she remained until the driver collected her at 6.30. She stayed on to play netball and tennis, do her homework and practise on piano, cello and even the harp. As she had taken supper at the school all she did upon her return home was go to bed , she might as well have stayed at the Convent as she was a boarder except for the sleeping. But unlike the boarders who stayed during the weekends she was able to enjoy her family life for two days a week.
The nuns also encouraged the girls to take singing and dancing lessons and taught them how to walk and sit and even gave elocution lessons. Hence their reputation for providing an all round education.
Alas all good things come to an end and the Second World War intervened to spoil this idyllic existence. The family was evacuated to Casablanca but just before re-embarking on the cargo boat to be brought back to the Rock her mother received a cable from her father instructing the family not to board but to take the train to Tangier where they were to remain until the end of the war. They were followed by sufficient families to enable some six Christian Brothers to set up a school to teach the Gibraltarian boys in Tangier which was then an international zone filled with spies and intrigue.
Mariola’s first impression was of many small boys selling food from trays strapped to their bodies. These were not local boys but the refugees from Eastern Europe struggling to survive. They had an important subconscious effect on her which would come to the fore years later back in Gibraltar.
Mariola was fortunate in that her mother decided that she would be looked after by a governess and be educated by a variety of tutors to enable her to take the School certificate and to be bi lingual in French and Spanish. These lessons, mano a mano, took place from 9 – 1 every weekday. The examinations were taken at the school run by the Christian Brothers. Her parents had put her name down, virtually at birth, for Woldingham School run by the Sacred Heart nuns: however Hitler intervened to prevent the place from being taken up. It is her opinion that she had a better all round education and learnt more from her tutors than she would have done at boarding school.
Along with the other Gibraltaraian girls she took part in many concerts, pantomines, bazaars and even knitted scarves and balaclavas to raise money for the Red Cross. This was her first experience of working to help others; a valuable lesson she was to remember all her life.
In 1944 her father called the family back to Gibraltar and Mariola found the garrison swarming with Royal Naval and Army subalterns. She was fortunate that the Governor General Sir Thomas Eastwood had a young son, Tom, who was smitten with her and so she found herself spending her days at the Convent. There were the traditional picnics in Spain and most weekends the Governor and his guests would be driven to Buller’s Beach. At that time relations with Spain were excellent which was reflected in the courtesies extended to the Governor. The party would be driven in an open Humber, with the Governor’s flag flying to the aduana,where a guard awaited inspection . In those days most of the coast was classified as military and the beaches patrolled by pairs of Guardia Civil. The Governor had acquired a wooden beach hut which was looked after by the two guards who patrolled that part of the beach. Upon his arrival they would appear out of nowhere, salute and say ‘ Mi General todoesta perfecto, todoestalimpio’. Hands would be shaken, packets of cigarettes slipped into their hands and they would be invited inside to take a copita de jerez. After which they continued their walk along the shoreline.
The party which on many occasions included the daughter of Sir Stafford Cripps whose boyfriend was an army officer, would sit down to listen to the wind-up gramophone and eat the picnic supplied by the Convent cooks.
She can remember many influential Spaniards sending their cars into Gibraltar to fill up the boots with whisky and quality British clothes from Garcia Ltd. In 1947 General Sir Kenneth Anderson arrived as the new Governor and in 1952 was succeeded by General Sir Gordon MacMillan.
Her social life was not confined to the Convent as she used to go up to the Mount where Admiral Burrows used to dispense generous hospitality and also take his guests out fishing in his cabin cruiser.
After the war there arrived on the Rock a contingent of former Italian prisoners of war awaiting repatriation to Italy. The Italians lived in tents and if work was found they were allowed out of the camp. Before she got married to Adolfo Russo, an Italian, Antonio Vitale, a graduate from the University of Foggia, used to visit Main Street to teach her his native language . It was not long before Adolfo decided that he would join the lessons but alas he had no ear for languages and would not learn his grammar. Soon he confessed that he came to the lessons just to sit with her. Antonio, one day when Adolfo was not present, arrived with a bound book which he said he had made himself and gave it to her. She found that it was a book of poems mostly about herself. She made the mistake of confiding in her mother, who immediately told her father, who demanded the book and threw it into the fire. She never forgave her mother for betraying her confidence but with hindsight she saw that they had her best interests at heart.
She was 18 whenAdolfo Russo, who was ten years her senior,started to court her and aged 19 and eleven months when they were married. They honeymooned for a month in Mallorca and upon their return to the Rock moved in to the house in Cumberland Road in which she still lives.
Four children arrived in quick succession – three daughters and a son. Then followed an eleven year gap at which time all the children were away at boarding school and she felt something was missing in her life. The result was the arrival of another daughter who it turned out was brought up as virtually as a single child.
Mariola now has eleven grandchildren.
Due to the lack of housing many Gibraltarian families coming back from the evacuation had to live in nissen huts in various parts of the Rock; the discomfort of these families was made worse by there being little work for the breadwinners. At the time there were no Government welfare payments and so these families were living just on the breadline and the arrival of a child meant increased hardship as some of these families could not afford the basic requirements to bring up a baby.
In those days the average couple tended to have eight or nine children rather than the 2 or three of today.
Mariola is known as the de facto founder of Gibraltar’s social services and this is due to the insistence of Lady MacMillan who decided that as there were virtually no social services on the Rock societies should be started to fill the gaps. After the birth of her fourth child she was ready and able to help form the Gibraltar Children’s Welfare Guild. At the time, incredible as it sounds today, some mothers used to go to St Bernard’s hospital to give birth and have no clothes, nappies or booties . SAFFA did exist but only looked after Service families but it gave the nascent Guild considerable practical help and advice. Mariola recruited a wonderful team of Gibraltarian ladies who above all else could knit, sew and cut. This team used to compile baby bundles which were given to the hospital to be given to those mothers who had nothing. Each baby bundle would include 12 towelling and muslin nappies, flannelette nighties coatsand booties. The matron would send down the names of those mothers who required help. These children were entitled every three months to a new pair of shoes and clothes until they reached school age and some even continued until they were 15. Vast bales of wool and fabric were ordered from the Crown Agents and converted into skirts, trousers and pullovers. Mothers and children used to come to her house in Cumberland Road and queue for the replacement clothing and footwear. A special discount was negotiated with Bata. By this time there was a sort of Social Welfare and the mothers would be given a chit to hand in to her; this in a way was a form of keeping a record of family names and the ages of children..
Mariola also had to turn her hand to fund raising. She successfully persuaded many companies to contribute a fixed sum each year and then she recruited associate members whose membership fees meant an invitation to tea at the Convent once a year. She also organised charity concerts under the title ‘Children entertain – for the Children’. She invited each nursery school to provide two acts – ideally one singing, one dancing. The shows were performed at the John Mackintosh Hall to full houses.
After the departure of Lady MacMillan, the wife of successive Governors became the Guild’s President. Eventually the need for the Guild no longer existed and it was closed down in 1983.
During that time she was a member of the Social Welfare Committee and was also chairman of the Social Welfare Advisory Committee.
Mariola started her work for the Blind in the sixties. For over thirty years she was closely involved with both charities. The Society for the Prevention of Blindness was founded on the Rock in 1930. It stopped work during the war but resumed in 1945. The powerhouse was Dorothy Ellicott as secretary, with the Catholic Bishop the chairman. It was Dorothy in 1962 who persuaded Mariola to take an active role.
Mariola became Honorary Secretary and then when Bishop Devlin’s health caused him to retire from being chairman, she became the first person to be chairman who had not been a Bishop. She remained chairman for nine years and when she decided to step down she suggested to the committee that the chair should revert to the Bishop and so Bishop Charles Caruana is the present chairman with herself as vice chairman.
There is now a strong committee, donations are excellent and there are flag days to which the public is most generous. Three years ago there was another name change and it is now the Gibraltar Societyfor the Visually Impaired which embraces the total spectrum of eye diseases. The present Governor, General Sir Robert Fulton, is the current Patron.
Soon after Admiral Sir David Williams’ arrival in 1982 as Governor he invited her to a formal dinner at the Convent. Before the dinner he invited her to join him in the dining room as he had something to show her .In the centre of the table was large silver cup on which had been inscribed ‘To the Captain and crew of HMS Ark Royal with grateful thanks from Adolfo Russo’. It turned out that the cup had been given by her husband as a thank you to the Captain for bringing out his Victory class yacht. It was to be used a sailing trophy. Sir David had visited the Royal Navy vaults to select silverware to bring out to Gibraltar and his eye had been caught by this magnificent cup with a Gibraltar provenance.
Mariola Russo remains a key member of the Gibraltar Society for the Visually Impaired and is full of memories of life on the Rock since the before the Second World War – lavish balls in full evening dress and white tie were held and also fancy dress dances, not forgetting Scottish dancing. How life has changed in all spheres and nearly all for the better.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours for 2006 Mariola was awarded the MBE for services to the Gibraltarian Community. This was public recognition of her dedication for some fifty years in selflessly helping others.