Rumour has it that the management of La Stella Band Club, which owns the Astra Theatre, are endeavouring to convert their band club into a gambling den. It is also understood that in order to achieve this aim they will demolish the attractive staircase that enhances the club’s entrance. Consequently, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) will henceforth be involved in the relevant alterations.

I gather that many an eyebrow of band players and club members has been raised with this initiative, as they cannot comprehend how the statute of their club, which specifies in crystal clear terms the society’s main role, could be changed at the stroke of a pen. Many supporters are also questioning whether this drastic alteration to the club’s mission has had the approval of the society’s spiritual director, as well as that of other local philanthropic bodies chief among which is Oasi, whose leaders struggle day in day out to prevent our young people from becoming addicted to gambling and drugs. Everybody agrees that gambling spawns crime. Common sense should be never thrown to the wind.

I opine that if this rumour has any grain of truth in it, the committee’s ambition might be spurred by the income that the club may eventually generate from gambling. However, I can vouch that, notwithstanding the fact that during the decades I spent at the helm of this club, we had been likewise worried with the fluctuation in the society’s annual income, we always sought genuine means to weather the storm. Among those that come to mind are the presentation of popular shows at the society’s theatre, the acquisition of property and building sites, the holding of mini trade fairs and, last but not least, the organisation of annual package holidays abroad under the cherished name of Astra tours.

These legitimate enterprises always helped us offset the major part of our pre-occupations.

I wind up by quoting an appropriate Italian proverb which I hope will never materialise in our circumstances: Chi va al gioco perde il loco which in English reads that he who gambles loses his location. I sincerely hope that no gambling house will ever tarnish the La Stella Band Club and Astra Theatre built in Victoria with the hard work of many loyal leaders and supporters.

Paul M. Cassar

Ex-Secretary General

and President