One of the most beautiful postcards of St Publius feast that is celebrated annualy on the second Sunday after Easter at the locality of Floriana is undoubtibly the one featuring the all lit-up facade of the Floriana parish church. A spectular scene that can be seen, enjoyed and savoured from St Publius Square, being the official name of one of the largest urban open spaces on these islands, commonly known by one and all as il-Fosos tal-Furjana.

A scene that attracts not only Florianites towards the majestic temple of their birthplace, but also a lot of Maltese and Gozitans that love and enjoy religious feasts. Fascinated by what beholds them are also a large number of tourists and foreigners that visit us. After all this is the feast that heralds in the annual festa season, which reaches its climax during the summer months.

But this scene, which can be viewed and enjoyed for free by all, comes with a price tag. Most probably few are those that while soaking in the beauty of the coloured lights, realise that the Floriana parish church has to pay a substantial electricity bill to provide this spectacle during the period of the parochial feast.

For this recurrent expenditure bill to be drasticaly reduced, a fund-raising campaign has been launched so that the 6,000 electricity bulbs are replaced by LEDs. It is estimated that the funds needed for this changeover will be in the region of €7,000.

It is worthwhile to remind one of some interesting facts. According to Comm. Antonio Agius the Arcipretal church of Floriana was the first church in Malta to have electricity power. After all, even the suburb was the first to have this service, as the first Power Station was built in its confines.

It was in fact a most natural thing that the Floriana parish church was foremost, on these islands, to have its facade illuminated by electricity, as visualised on photos dating back to the begining of the last century.

At the begining of this century, exactly in 2005-2006, the parish church embarked on a project that did away with the contractor that annualy rigged up and dismantled the electricity festoons on the facade and dome of the church and instead, a group of church volunteers, spent hours fixing a permanent installation. This voluntary work has helped a lot in reducing the expense.

Therefore, the changing of the bulbs, from filament to LEDs, is the next natural step. These enviroment-friendly bulbs will also reduce emmissions in the athmosphere.

All those who wish to participate in this project, especially those Florianites who reside away from their birthplace, can help by donating €2 for this cause. Benefactors will be given a ticket to participate in a raffle to win big prizes.