Forty years after spending a year training in Malta, a group of former nurses turned up at Whitehall Mansions, Ta’ Xbiex reminiscing on the good old days of 1967/68, when “Malta was less built up and had emptier beaches”.

The group of 10 ex-Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service members, accompanied by family and friends, paid a visit to the building which today serves as the embassy of a number of nations and the British High Commission.

They were welcomed by Acting British High Commissioner Janet Hancock as they posed for a group photo, and then proceeded to the verandah overlooking Msida creek, where the girls remembered the good old days.

The ladies, some of whom have not returned to the island in 40 years, said Malta was “unrecognisable” and asked what had happened to the lift at the Upper Barrakka Gardens, which they used to use to catch a dghajsa to take them to the then Bighi Hospital, Kalkara and Joe’s Bar which was close by.

Some remarked that they could only recognise Kingsway, as Republic Street was called in the 60s, Café Cordina and cheesecakes. Others said they were shocked on returning to such a changed Malta. They remarked how Mdina was a more silent city during their stay.

They recalled Maltese friends and wondered how many who today were 40 years old they had helped deliver. Florence, whom the girls keep on teasing due to her nursing pioneer namesake Florence Nightingale, said her fondest memory of Malta was seeing her first baby.

The girls carried out work at Whitehall Mansions, Bighi Hospital, Mtarfa Hospital, Luqa Airport and Villa Gzira. They also worked in district clinics around the island and visited mothers and their babies.

So, how did a group of 20-year-old British girls spend their time in Malta back in the late 60s, was the main point of interest. After a general laugh, maybe concealing secrets of long gone days, they said there was practically no nightlife at the time, so they used to go to Valletta or else hire a taxi from Tony’s Taxi and chill out at the beach. Favourite spots? Mellieha Bay, Golden Bay and Armier Bay. One of the girls pointed out that Strait Street was out-of-bounds, yet they still went into the famous street to enjoy cheap food.

The girls remembered how they used to see more dressed in black working lace or white-clad girls going to church. One of the ladies enquired why was the Mormon Church, or as they called it the Gospel Church, closed, and unlike to what happened to the Barrakka lift, I could answer that the church has been turned into the Robert Samut Hall, where Mepa board public meetings will be held in the future.

But that’s another story.