'Malta in the Millennium'

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The Introduction - 'Just an idea!'

It was a beautiful frosty Sunday morning in February, the sky a clear blue and the backdrop was the magnificent Duns Castle in Berwickshire.  On the final day of the 60s group ‘Duns Castle Reunion’, we recalled the fantastic events of Saturday evening, which had concluded with the reverberating refrains of Keith Holmes playing well known Mediterranean tunes on his mandolin in the Great Hall.  After a superb dinner,  the group had been quite clear in answering the question “How do we match this?”  The reply was “Malta, Malta in the Millennium”.  What a contrast, what a dream, but was it achievable!!

Some weeks later, at a weekend ‘committee’ meeting in Oxfordshire, we poured over the travel pages of a selection of Sunday newspapers.  We set ourselves a very tight agenda and agreed that at least the six of us present would travel in September 2000 as an ‘advance party’, using any knowledge we might gain for future ‘expeditions’. The file ‘Malta in the Millennium’ had been opened, the mini Reunion would take place, but planning at that stage consisted of a dozen scribbled lines on Viv’s notepad with no concept of how things might evolve in the very few months of planning which lay ahead.

After considerable research by Viv (Simpson) & Tim, Chevron Air Holidays, Air Malta and the Park Hotel, Sliema were confirmed as the main ‘operators’ for 'The Reunion' and that glib statement hides a mammoth amount of administration, speculation and frustration throughout the planning process.  The Tal Handaq ‘jungle drums’ had broadened the group way beyond the envisaged 60s era, with both Staff and Pupils being represented. Our Reunion had also been announced in a press release in the Sunday Times of Malta and numerous additional contacts from the Island located the Tal Handaq Web Site and contacted us via E-Mail. The final reunion group numbered almost 70 and included  those resident on the Island.

The preferred excursion options of the rapidly expanding list of travellers and the finalised flight dates, forwarded by Chevron, resulted in Viv confirming the detailed itinerary reproduced below.

The hard work was over and on the evening of Tuesday 12th September two separate groups of Tal Handaquians gathered at Heathrow and Gatwick. Suddenly, due to aircraft unserviceability,  a number of us at Heathrow were ushered to a coach and transported to Gatwick to catch the alternate flight.  Was this an ominous sign? In no way;  Keith Holmes took out his mandolin and to a chorus of songs from Tal Handaq School productions ‘The Party’ got off to a great start.

The events which followed were just superb and we hope that over the next few weeks, with the aid of photographs and feedback, we can produce a mosaic of the experiences, intense emotions and tears from those who made up ‘The Party’.
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