By ALBERT FENECH
Modern communication being what it is (what it is NOT is verbal communication!) thousands of Maltese who holiday overseas throughout the year mark their return with a simple phrase on social media – “back on the Rock”.
Needless to say, I hate this expression, nay, detest it. Some time back a female office acquaintance sent me such a message on mobile. I rang her and gave her a piece of my mind.
Malta and Gozo are not rocks (although they are in a geophysical sense!); they are an oasis in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Fronted on the south by an eternally turbulent Libya and fronted on the north by the uncertainty that has always been Sicily, Malta is an oasis of stability in betwixt and between.
It is packed with history, historical events and historical palaces and as I have often written and will write once more, it is stacked with a history that ranks as the greatest in the world crammed into such a small space. As I have also often remarked, dig anywhere and you will unearth something historical whether a Punic tomb, Phoenician pottery or adornments, Jewish inscriptions, Roman implements or what have you.
My greatest lifelong friend was GLYN GENIN who sadly passed away on 11th October 2019 and who lived in Bonfire Lane in Horsted Keynes where I was a frequent visitor for over 20 years and previous to that in Plumpton where he also lived for many years.
Dear Glyn also loved Malta. After we schooled together at Strand Grammar School in Brixton, Glyn started his career as a photographer with the Brixton Advertiser, nearby which we both lived, in the early 60s.
This was coincidental because at the time we had just left school and there was a fire in nearby Beulah Hill College. Glyn took pictures and presented them to the Brixton Advertiser. They were impressed and asked him whether he wanted to join them as a photographer!
Later, he then he joined the Financial Times and was soon after appointed Picture Editor of the internationally acclaimed and influential FT, the youngest ever and longest Fleet Street picture editor in the annals of Fleet Street history.
He will be remembered for many things including his stewardship of the Picture Editors Awards for many years and chair of the UK Picture Editors Guild in Fleet Street which I attended on a number of occasions. The British Prime Minister of the time attended every year for the awards and I had the honour and pleasure to meet British PM Tony Blair who shook my hand thoroughly when informed I was Maltese and said “my great greetings to lovely Malta”
After his first visit to Malta with me in 1962, Glyn immediately fell in love with Malta and returned scores of times to visit and stay with me and my family and to take pictures for the FT for Malta features which were frequent during the regular changes made by Malta’s most internationally-acclaimed PM, Dom Mintoff during the 70s and 80s.
Malta and Gozo are dotted throughout with many scores of public gardens freely open for the community to enjoy. By far the major of these is San Anton Gardens in Attard. When I was a boy this was the highlight of my year – a day’s visit to the Gardens.
This itself is an oasis because it is a well-laid-out botanical garden, paved throughout, with a number of fountains and ponds replete with gold fish, a garden filled with exotic trees and plants including a variety of palm trees, cypress, jacarandas and araucarias some of which have thrived there for over 300 years.
My greatest thrill was to visit the aviaries filled with parrots, canaries and budgies and naturally one or two resplendent peacocks. Adjacent cages contained a variety of monkeys and chimps, chameleons and various lizards and exotic snakes.
The Government’s Project Green Scheme for environmental initiatives announced it has now received fourteen offers for the €3.8 million regeneration of these historic San Anton Gardens.
Other major gardens dotted around Malta and Gozo are the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens in Valletta, the Hastings Gardens also in Valletta, the Sa Mason Garden in Floriana and the resplendent Chinese Garden of Serenity in Santa Lucija.
Also on a class of their own are the extensive wooded gardens at Buskett with extensive passageways for pedestrians and the holding of a number of annual events, the major of which is L-Imnarja in July, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. In days of yore, one of the wedding vows was that the husband would ensure to take his wife to the Imnarja Festa there on 29th June, every year!
Other major gardens are the Bologna Gardens in Attard, the Salina National Park at St Paul’s Bay, the splendid Villa Rundle Garden in Victoria, Gozo, the Laparelli Garden in Valletta, the Spinola Palace Garden in St Julian’s, the Argotti Botanic Garden in Floriana and the Limestone Heritage Park and Gardens in Siggiewi.
Added to these are scores of public gardens dotted all over the islands.
So, is Malta “The Rock” …. NO, NO, NO …. far, far from it!
By Albert Fenech
