I am writing this because Dr Ian Tomlin passed away last month. His health, in the last four years or so, has been increasingly diminished and his death, though very sad for all of us who knew and admired him, did not come as a surprise.

I remember being summoned some 16 years ago to a 'meeting' at the Corinthia Palace Hotel. It had something to do with music.  So off I went and met a number of people, some British and it seemed to me then that most of them had lived and worked in Hong Kong and had decided to retire in Malta. Among them was Dr Ian Tomlin who, it turned out, was behind the meeting. Dr Tomlin had established the Ian Tomlin Music School at the Edinburgh Napier University. He had also helped establish a Clinic for Hearing Disabilities which had its home in the campus for several years. Indeed, I was eventually introduced to Prof. Alfred Tomatis a French Ear, Nose and Throat specialist involved in the Clinic and who had invented The Tomatis Method, and I had interviewed him. Dr Tomatis has since died but his Method is still in use.

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Following the meeting at the Corinthia and with the help of the Music School in Edinburgh and the then British High Commissioner Howard Pearse, also a music lover, Dr Tomlin founded the Malta/Napier Music Scholarship Trust which is still going strong and of which I have been a member all these years. The Trust has been awarding scholarships to gifted musicians in Malta. While in Hong Kong Dr Tomlin had also supported Hong Kong students with scholarships. How lucky we are that this generous man had chosen to retire here.

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He featured in First in 2002 in the popular series My Favourite Room. Joe Demanuele had interviewed him and taken photos in his home, Mytton Lodge in Madliena, originally a quarry which he had turned into a patch of earthly paradise. Over the years he held dinners and parties in the gardens to raise awareness and funds for the Trust. In the interview he said how when he went to Hong Kong he was still 22-years-old "and everything was so different there." He joined the British shipping and trading company Butterfield and Swire but also did different part-time jobs, "ranging from a television news announcer to a policeman... and everyone had to do some voluntary work so I joined the auxiliary police, ending up as superintendent." Later he set up his own trading company but those were hard times because this was the time of the notorious cultural revolution in nearby China. "That was way back in 1967 and I thought that if I could get through that I could get through anything!" The cultural revolution brought bombings and hatred and the effects were also felt in Hong Kong. "In the police/ military headquarters we coordinated efforts against terrorists. One brushed with death all the time. One Sunday night I was driving through 'Happy Valley' and the car bumped over something. It was a bomb which had not gone off!"

In his Eulogy at Dr Tomlin's Funeral and Service of Thanksgiving held last month at the Pro-Cathedral of St Paul in Valletta and which was conducted by the Chancellor, Mr Nicholas Ashton, Senior Lecturer at the Ian Tomlin Music School,  told us that Dr Tomlin "had developed a strong early love of music as a result of singing in the school boys' choir. An invitation to sing at the Royal Albert Hall with the choir prompted Ian to make an early vow to himself - that one day he would pay for a box in the Hall in his name, so that he could enjoy concerts there, particularly the Proms. This promise - as with so many things in Ian's life - would actually come to pass."

Mr Ashton told us how when World War II ended "Ian completed his education and was conscripted for his two years of National Service in the British Army in 1948. He always admired the Army and its discipline, which, he said, 'made a man of me!'"

Ian met his wife Sarah in Hong Kong and married in 1964. "In 1966, he took the decision to leave Butterfield and Swires to form his own company, with his friend Ron McAuley.... In the 1980s he formed another company, this time on his own, Richards Mytton Ltd. and soon embarked on an enterprising new initiative, The Hong Kong School of Motoring Ltd, which, as many residents of Malta will understand - flourished considerably on an island with a large population in close proximity!" It was during these years that Dr Tomlin "through his dear friend Jimmy Macgregor, developed a strong association with Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. By 1997, when Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule, Ian had retired and sold the Motoring School. Unable to cope with British weather after more than 40 years in Hong Kong he chose to live in Malta. He once more took a great interest in the musical life of Malta and realized there was so much talent in these islands."

Mr Ashton, who is also Programme Leader for the B. Mus Degree at Edinburgh Napier, said it had been his greatest privilege, as it has been for all his dedicated colleagues, to have played a pivotal role in the training of these young people "and it would not have been possible had it not been for Ian's extraordinary, selfless generosity. Their education and formation as musicians lay very close to Ian's heart and gave him enormous pleasure, and he visited the University for many years during the Edinburgh Festival, another bonus! The University awarded Ian an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 1995, of which he was enormously grateful and proud."

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Mr Ashton described the Maltese students who had enjoyed scholarships since 1999 as "invariably among the most gifted of all the students in the School - who are distinguished by uniquely Maltese qualities: a deep sense of culture and history, a profound love of music, a sense of spiritual expression, intelligence and an inexhaustible capacity for hard work combined with a level-headed approach to building a career; all of these qualities perfectly exemplify Ian's own gifts."

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          The music at the Service of Thanksgiving was uplifting. Some of the following former and present students played or sang: Alexander Vella Gregory who is currently completing his Ph.D at Edinburgh Napier University and who is prominent in the world of music here having composed many a piece. Gisèle Degiorgio whom Mr Ashton described as 'a pianist of rare refinement and intelligence' who is also very active in the world of music; Veronique Vella, the first woman in Malta to be awarded a Ph.D. in Composition; the singers Francesca Aquilina soon to appear at the Manoel Theatre in Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, Nicola Said and Clare Ghigo who sang so beautifully in December in an Anniversary concert celebrating Edith Piaf and who last night launched her CD Aprile with Gillian Sammut. Gabrielle Sargeant who will be leaving for Napier soon; the pianist Marcelle Zahra and lyric soprano Claire Debono who both enjoy successful careers abroad; violinists Jean Noel and Pierre Louis Attard; Flautists Laura Cioffi and Clara Galea and clarinettist Beatrix Calleja who will also be leaving for Napier later this year.

Whenever the Trust had a meeting at his home, Mytton Lodge, Dr Tomlin would smile at us and look pleased. His right hand has been since his arrival Mrs Jo Staff, his personal assistant who has also taken care of the considerable work involved in the management of the Trust and the scholarships. Fred and his sister Josephine Tagalan have looked after Dr Tomlin so loyally for some twenty-five years and made endless cups of tea and provided us with cakes at our meetings.

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Mr Ashton described Dr Tomlin as the epitome of the philanthropist: "the dictionary definition being the desire to promote the welfare of others expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes; kindness, unselfishness and humanity. Ian was all of these things - he lived his life with a huge spirit of generosity, warmth, love and devotion to all his friends. He will be hugely missed and always remembered with joy, love and immense gratitude." 

There is nothing I can possibly add to that. Thank you dear Ian for everything that you have done for Maltese musicians.

 

I have just seen the programme of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. This year is the centenary of the birth of Giorgio Bassani who wrote that excellent novel: Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini. A film of it was subsequently made by Vittorio De Sica. I have read this touching novel and seen the film several times.  Go to the Istituto on Thursday 11 February. The film with Dominique Sanda, Helmut Berger, Romolo Valli and other stars starts at 18.30pm. An extraordinary film which is not to be missed.