Vigilo People

People

George Iles

My role within Din l-Art Ħelwa is as warden of the chapel of Santa Marija ta’ Bir Miftuh in Gudja.

I am a friend of the previous incumbent, with a similar background (retired British Army). I had been interested in doing voluntary work in the charitable sector and when my predecessor intimated in mid 2018 that he was giving up the wardenship, I threw my hat into the ring. Happily, I was successful and took over the reins in May 2018.

The greatest satisfaction and enjoyment in the role is meeting the wide variety of visitors, giving a potted history of the chapel and sharing an interest in the cultural heritage of Malta.

In addition, the involvement with other entities, both commercial and not-for-profit, that use the chapel has also been great fun. It would be remiss not to mention here the pleasure in meeting and interacting with the officers and other volunteers at Din l-Art Ħelwa.

Looking forward, the events I anticipate most keenly is the restarting of the Bir Miftuh Music Festivals hopefully, covid allowing, in 2022.

Joe Busietta

It was always my wish to join a voluntary organisation, and particularly one that is heritage-centred, for a variety of reasons but especially the opportunity to give something back to the community.

I introduced an automated Stock Inventory Register for all Din l-Art Ħelwa publications, branded products and cards that are at the offices in Melita Street in Valletta, and at the heritage sites managed by Din l-Art Ħelwa. This is a requisite by our external auditors. This system tracks the publications, branded products and cards sold and provides the monetary value of stock on a monthly basis at each site. Moreover, the Stock Inventory ensures there is enough material to meet demand without creating overstock or excess levels.

I also established a Statistical Data Base – a regulatory requirement by the National Statistics Office and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. This involves extensive input by the wardens of the various sites which is provided through their monthly reports. This data base helps in providing a better understanding and accurate description, planning and movement of each site on a monthly basis.

My role is to actively keep both the Stock Inventory as well as the Statistical Data Base updated – this has been ongoing for the past 12 years at the Valletta offices and online. Both processes were put in place with the full involvement, cooperation and support of all the wardens, who also accept occasional changes and updates that are required from time to time.

It would be ideal to make the general public more aware of the many informative Din l-Art Ħelwa heritage publications, and to take part in the annual Book Fair at MFCC to sell our books.

Anthony Mangion

My very close ties with Ħal Millieri, as warden of the medieval chapel of the Annunciation, reach back to my university student days in the late sixties when the newly founded Din l-Art Ħelwa with its very active youth section had embarked on the rehabilitation and subsequent restoration of the chapel and its environs. Ħal Millieri is one of the lost medieval hamlets of Malta which emerged sometime in the thirteenth century on the site of an abandoned Roman farmstead that had survived into Byzantine times. Its chapel was rebuilt in the mid-fifteenth century and is decorated with a unique set of hieratic mural paintings which give added splendour to this prime heritage site. It was in the 1970s, through the personal insistence of the late Judge Maurice Caruana Curran, that I took over as chapel curator following its clean-up and accessibility to the public. His infective enthusiasm and his love for this beautiful chapel, which as his first project he had so very much at heart, were the stimulant and inspiration that have kept me going through my five decades of volunteer guardianship with Din l-Art Ħelwa. Throughout these years I have followed closely the vicissitudes of the Ħal Millieri chapel, including the restoration of its frescoe cycle in 1974 and the exciting archeological dig that has shed light on that medieval settlement. At Ħal Millieri I have met international art connoisseurs and officials from world famous restoration centres, many VIPs, and a veritable legion of visitors, both foreign and local, whom I always have the pleasure of accompanying on informative tours of the site. My years at Ħal Millieri have also brought their share of adversity. Past acts of vandalism, conservation problems impacting the church fabric and its frescoes, damage from heavy storms, and the passing away of good friends of Ħal Millieri have punctuated my volunteer work, but this has never dimmed my enthusiasm and determination to continue with the good work. In the early days of Din l-Art Ħelwa I was also a member of the Ħal Millieri and Birmiftuħ Trust, an ad hoc committee that was responsible for the guardianship of the two medieval chapels which had been entrusted to Din l-Art Ħelwa through public deed by the Maltese church authorities.

Due to climatic considerations that impinge on the fragility of the frescoes, and to help maintain a controlled environment, the Ħal Millieri chapel is open regularly on the first Sundays of the month; but throughout the year I am often asked to cater for special requests by individuals or particular groups. I also organize the annual open day that coincides with the traditional religious service on the feast of the Annunciation in late March. My work at Ħal Millieri, which I visit on a quasi-daily basis, includes the close monitoring of the chapel and its frescoe paintings, maintenance work on the chapel and its garden with the assistance of friends and helpers, and regular liasion with the Din l-Art Ħelwa office. I am also currently endeavouring to bring together a small team of dedicated volunteers who would be able to continue offering their services in the future. My volunteer work has now spilled beyond the Annunciation chapel, and very often I find myself representing the whole area of Ħal Millieri with the Żurrieq local council, and also assisting with the upkeep of the nearby chapel of St John the Evangelist.

Looking back over my past five decades of volunteer service at Ħal Millieri I can truly say that the experience has been most rewarding, and I look forward to more years of guardianship of the chapel. I also take much pride from the fact that my volunteer work forms part of the coordinated efforts of a larger Din l-Art Ħelwa team that gallantly spearheads the protection of our natural and cultural heritage.