JULY 2006

FEAST OF ST ANNE AT PWALES

The Association of Lyceum Past Students will be celebrating the feast of St Anne at the Pwales chapel on Saturday 15th July with a short procession led by ALPS Spiritual Director Fr William Bartolo OFM Conv., starting at 6.45 p.m. Fr William will then say Mass at 7 p.m. The Choir of the University of the Third Age, under the direction of Mro Joe Fenech, will animate the Mass with its singing.

With this annual function’s continually increasing popularity, not only with ALPS members and friends but also with the Pwales community, this year the Council of Administration has cleared an additional area beneath the parvis for more seating capacity. Both the chapel and the Association’s efforts to care for it will be the focus of a half-hour spot at 12.30 p.m. on Radio 101 on Wednesday 12th July. Radio listeners will be able to listen to valuable and interesting information about the origins of the chapel and the restorations carried out by ALPS over the past few years to give it back its original splendour.

After Mass the choir will entertain all those present with some well-chosen pieces guaranteed to bring nostalgia. This part of the proceedings will be embellished with the participation of lyrical singers. One member of the choir has promised to bring along his accordion to further enhance the enjoyment all around.

As usual, light refreshments will be served to all those present.

B.B.Q. AT R.M.Y.C.: ANOTHER FEATHER IN THE HAT

The BBQ dinner held at the Royal Malta Yacht Club on Manoel Island on 19th June was another feather in the organisational hat of ALPS. In spite of its being on a Monday it was attended by well over a hundred people, with the guests of honour being ALPS Canada Branch President Milo Vassallo and his wife Rita who were visiting the island. Milo was visibly ecstatic at meeting several of his old schoolmates, several of whom had made a special effort to be there for him. In some cases acquaintances were renewed after decades!

ALPS President George Stagno Navarra presented him with a copy of The Chanticleer as part of a consignment to take back with him for distribution in Canada. On his part Milo promised that, now that he is retired, he will redouble his efforts to put ALPS Canada on a sounder footing, starting with a dinner for members in October.

The venue, the atmosphere, the food and the well-chosen music were excellent. The sight of the ALPS banner hung on an RMYC mast on the foreshore, with the background of sunlit and later floodlit Valletta across the water, was indeed memorable. And it was made even better with the very good company.
The “exit poll” taken by ALPS Council members while talking to patrons as they left yielded nothing but very good comments about how enjoyable the evening had been. George Stagno Navarra thanked all those, in ALPS and beyond, who had made it such a great success. The RMYC will certainly be on the list of favourite venues for future events.

NEXT SPECIAL EVENT: GRAND REUNION

The next special event organised by ALPS will be the Grand Reunion especially for those who left The Lyceum in July 1956 and those who entered in October 1956 (although all ALPS members and friends together with their “better halves” are very welcome). Following in the footsteps of last year’s very successful event, the Grand Reunion will be held on 7th October in the Main Hall of The Lyceum, Hamrun.

ALPS Membership Commission Chairman Anthony Aquilina has been hard at work amassing the names and last known addresses of all the 1956 entrants and leavers, but there is no guarantee that the list is exhaustive. Accompanying this issue of ALPS News is a specially designed form for all members to signify their intention to attend the Grand Reunion, in the process indicating names and addresses or telephone numbers of former students who might not be ALPS members but might be interested to attend. Any member who would like to take it upon himself to make copies of the form for other non-ALPS members to fill in is very welcome to do so.

All those who send in the duly completed form will be sent a formal invitation in due course. Anyone who has old photos of themselves with classmates may lend them to the Council of Administration for enlargements to be made and posted on boards for possible reprint orders.

Another thought that may or may not materialise is to invite any Lyceum Past Students who have any unusual hobby (especially involving models) to volunteer to exhibit them at the Grand Reunion. This is a new departure that may yet prove popular, but time will tell.

CLASS REUNION

Lyceum past student Anton Cutajar has requested the help of ALPS News to get across his wish of organising a reunion of his former schoolmates in Form 5B of 1971. Readers who were in that class can indicate their willingness to help and attend by contacting ALPS News Editor Laurie Vella on e-mail lauvel@onvol.net.

Anton himself can be contacted at “Hacienda”, Virginio Monti Street, B’Kara, on telephone 21 492715 or e-mail antoncut@euroweb.net.mt.