A new team of organisers and presenters will be running the 2006 edition of L-Istrina with the theme Bis-Sahha Tieghek, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) official Andrew Psaila said.

The event will take place on Saturday 30 December at the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre in Ta’ Qali between noon and midnight.

President Edward Fenech Adami said L-Istrina’s success does not only depend on PBS but also on the many volunteers working behind the scenes.

“L-Istrina has become a Maltese institution and an essential part of Maltese society,” he said.

Dr Fenech Adami said there is always the need for its contribution and appealed to the Maltese public to support it.

He added that the organisers did not set a target this year, but he hoped that people donate as much money as they did in previous years.

A team of experts was set up and Peppi Azzopardi from Where’s Everybody, who will not present it this year, will give them the hand-over.

The team is made up of Robert Farrugia from Eden Foundation, Mark Sultana and Gordon Pace from The Park of Friendship (Razzett tal-Hbiberija), Antonella Vassallo and Steve Agius from PBS, and Reuben Caruana from Sign It.

Svetlana Muscat from One TV and Louise Tedesco from Net TV will also participate in the event.

Mr Psaila explained that that PBS appointed a committee to choose the charities and organisations that will benefit from this year’s L-Istrina. So far, there were 77 applications, he added.

TV presenter Peppi Azzopardi thanked the thousands of volunteers who helped in the previous editions of L-Istrina and appealed to the public to donate for a good cause.

He praised the work done by Mary Fenech Adami and added that one can learn how to help people without any publicity.