A fond farewell to Sarah Puntan Galea

I remember seeing Sarah Puntan Galea’s curriculum vitae all those years ago – in 2002 I think it was. Sarah had applied for the vacancy of journalist with our newspaper and at the time Roger de Giorgio was our Managing Director. I had convinced him to take her on. We needed a native speaker of English who also had a good academic background and who wrote very well and did not need sub-editors and proof readers to make her copy digestible. Her CV was impressive. Certainly academically she was better qualified than any journalist we had at the time and I strongly suspected she was left wing, which left me with a good taste. (It turned out that my suspicions were correct.) After a good university degree she had trained to be a political scientist. She spent a few years working in London as a journalist in many different forms and for different companies, including Sky TV and Unilever, before turning freelance post 9/11 and working in Northern Ireland/Croatia/China and Morocco as a travel writer/photographer/teacher of English. Her stint with us did not last for long, unfortunately. I recall thinking that the editor at the time, now long gone, had not used her potential properly. She is an excellent writer and political analyst but instead she was sent to one boring press conference after another, more often than not, held in Maltese. Although one parent was Maltese Sarah had been raised in Britain so her knowledge of Maltese was rudimentary. What she was doing was not close to her heart and it was not long before she got itchy feet again and left to work as an English teacher/photographer/travel writer for 18 months in Japan/Australia/Indonesia and Israel. But she missed Malta so after winning an award for her travel writing at the Malta Journalism Awards she accepted a job offer from The Sunday Times as Assistant Editor and returned to take it up. She told me: ‘I spent two years learning so much from the then, and legendary, editor Laurence Grech, as well as editing Valletta magazine on the side, and FM for a short while.’

It was not long before Sarah took over the editorship of the Circle magazine. This is when we met regularly as it was during the 14 years that I was editing First and the now no more Gallarija when our lives included many launches, lunches and dinners which we both enjoyed, often returning to work at the dead of night. Sarah is always excellent company and very much herself. Although she is as old as my daughters, we always got on well. She remained editor of the Circle for nearly three years, also writing a column Dinner Table Politics for the Economic Update. This scooped her the Columnist of the Year Award from the Malta Institute of Journalists in 2009, no mean achievement in a Malta which is brimming over with local columnists. This is what she was best at not attending boring press conferences generally given by even more boring ministers and parliamentary secretaries or launches of bras, blades or beer. After her stint at editor – a far more stressful job than anyone who hasn’t been there can imagine – I can vouch for it – she swapped journalism for diplomacy. Sarah joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, based at the British High Commission here in Malta as a Political Attaché with special responsibility for climate and energy security and running the Economic/Commercial Section. It sounds rather like a big yawn to me this climate and energy security business, but Sarah is always enthusiastic about whatever she does – an enviable characteristic. For ever searching for the kind of career which really suits her different qualities and experience she has now been appointed Deputy Director of The Ditchley Foundation where all that she has gained in journalism, diplomacy and politics will serve her in good stead. Today she left for the Cotswolds where the offices of the Ditchley Foundation are based in a Grade 1 listed building.

Her Excellency The British High Commissioner Ms Louise Stanton organised a lovely dinner party a couple of weeks ago when some 30 of us were invited to bid farewell to Sarah. There I was introduced to her partner of some two years, Tom Devaney whom she had met at an expats event. Their friendship has now developed into something more serious.

To say that I spoke to Tom whilst enjoying pre-prandial drinks – Pimms in fact – is a little of an exaggeration. He is 6 foot 7, a rugby player, and I would have needed a solid ladder to talk to him eyeball to eyeball, as it were. But I managed to find out that he comes from a small place near Galway in southern Ireland and is an engineer and has been working with ST Microelectronics for the last five years. Tom is joining Sarah for a new chapter in both their lives.

The short but witty speeches during dinner were typical of Ms Stanton and Sarah. Down to earth and funny they recounted, each in her own British way, how Sarah got on as a diplomat, and above all, her enthusiasm even when she had to deal with such yawns as the EU Soil Directive.

Sarah had chosen a Thai menu and the High Commissioner waved her magic wand and her wish came true. The chef, I was told later, had spent around a week at the Hilton’s Blue Elephant when Ms Stanton was on holiday and there he learnt some tricks of the trade.

We started with a Thai chicken and coconut soup and then on to a Thai green chicken curry served with Jasmine rice and Pad thai noodles. Dessert was Caramelised pineapple with cardamom ice cream. All delicious. We drank a Scgloss Johannisberg Riesling (2008) and a Moscatel Valle de Limari (2008).

Her Excellency and Sarah moved from table to table so all guests on the three tables could enjoy their company, in turn.

Coffee and liquers were served on the lovely terrace where there was a gentle breeze for which we were all thankful. (Oh how I long for my heaters and a hot chocolate!) A lovely evening with only lovely people. Sarah seems to have found her soul mate and a job which is suited to her abilities and personality. Good luck to Sarah and Tom. I wish you both an interesting chapter in your lives.

An evening of Operetta

We are in for another treat on 12 December when Fiesole Artistic Productions and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura will give us another evening filled with emotion, humour and beautiful music at the Manoel Theatre. This Serata All’Operetta is going to be a tribute to European Operatta. By general request artists from the Laboratorio Lirico Europeo whom we have already enjoyed earlier this year will be performing selections with dialogue in Italian: duets, dancing and arias from our favourite operettas which have stood the test of time: La Principessa della Czarda, La Danza delle Libellule, Die Fledermaus,  The Geisha, Boccaccio, Il Paese Del Sorriso, La Duchessa del Bal Tabarin, La Tabernera del Puerto, Il Paese dei Campanelli… If this has not wetted your appetite yet then I don’t know what will. Tenor Andrea Bragiotto, Soprano Barbara Fasol, Soprano/soubrette Tiziana Scaciga della Silva, the traditional operetta comic Watter Rubboli and the pianist/musical director Maestro Debora Mori will be there to give us an enjoyable evening. Don’t miss it!