FAA organises regular fund-raising events in order to be able to run its office, fund its project to restore the Medieval Madonna of Mercy four-panel altarpiece at Rabat and run its campaigns.
The latest fund-raising event was held at Villa Bologna which has been called 'the most beautiful 18th century country house to be built for a Maltese family.' And 'of similar grandeur to the finest palaces on the islands.' Together with the neighbouring San Anton Gardens the gardens at Villa Bologna are the largest historic gardens in Malta.
As is well-known Villa Bologna is now held by the great-grandson of the 6th count Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland, Jaspar de Trafford who has already done miracles of restoration but the revival continues.The villa and gardens are truly being transformed. The family has incessantly worked to maintain and develop the house and gardens and turn this wonderful villa into a major socio-cultural centre in Maltese life. Because of the eclectic origins of the family what was once a Mediterranean country house in the style of the Italian Baroque has been transformed into what is essentially an English stately home under the Mediterranean sun.
And so, many members and admirers of Astrid and her team at FAA turned up to the concert for which the Trio Bellagio came out to Malta. Together with mezzo soprano Christine Dalli and Deborah Attard the evening turned out to be a most pleasant event. You know, the sort of evening, a popular programme in a beautiful garden where you don't have to concentrate on some obscure play with 'philosophical' pseudo-profundities; or some evening of noisy modern songs. The programme was unashamedly popular and sung in English, Spanish and French. There were arias from well-loved operas - La Donna e' mobile and Nessun dorma; Super popular songs such as Caruso, Il Mondo and old classics - Granada and O Sole Mio! all went down very well with an audience which ran right across the age spectrum - young and not so young were there enjoying a relaxing evening.
I was delighted when they sang Piaf's La Vie en Rose and Hymne a l'amour. The words of Piaf's songs are always so full of meaning. In the latter she is so sure that 'nous aurons pour nous l'eternite' - I wish I shared her optimism. Will she be getting together with quite a large number of lovers in eternity? Alas I believe the exhibition to mark the centenary of her birth this year which ran at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris closed at the end of August and I was simply unable to go and see it.
Si un jour la vie t'arrache moi
Si tu meurs que tu sois loin de moi
Peu m'importe si tu m'aimes
Car moi je mourrais aussi
Nous aurons pour nous l'eternite
Dans le bleu de toute l'immensite
Dans le ciel plus de problemes
Mon amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime?
Dieu re-unit ceux qui s'aiment
It is interesting to note that mezzo-soprano Christine Dalli who started her singing career early in life also holds a Bachelor's degree in Banking and Finance (London School of Economics) and since January this year has been working as a Compliance Executive with a leading compliance Service Provider.
There was food and drink too and during the interval that too was very well-organised.
Moreover local artisans had different stalls with items such as jewellery, filigree pieces, candles, pottery and the hardworking artist Stephanie Borg was there with her fine paper products, mugs, prints and art cards all designed by herself.
Why do so many of us support Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA)? Because it works hard to preserve our environment. This year for example it organised a very effective forum at Smart City on the open spaces of the South; it campaigned against the building up of the green area at Zonqor and helped to organise the ODZ rally. The NGO took an active role in the anti-spring hunting referendum, saved the trees in St James Ditch and went to court over the trees at it-Tokk. To encourage the greening of Malta, FAA organised a gardening course, as well as heritage walks, a series of very well attended heritage talks and a Great Seige seminar with top speakers. It supported Mosta, Qui si-Sana and Birgu on issues of over-development and continues to support other residents' groups all over Malta and Gozo, as well as giving free advice and support to whoever contacts this organisation. FAA is the funding partner of TerraFirma, a group set up this year to support NGOs with training, and encourage youths to take an active role in civil society. Most of this work is carried out by unpaid volunteers, among them one of the original members who helped to set it up: Helen Tomkins, to most of us better known as Helen Caruana Galizia, who lives in England and takes her turn in monitoring FAA's website. Three cheers to Helen, too, who is a real socialist and works incessantly to make our world better in different ways.
So yes, three cheers for the Bellagio evening and FAA and its team who are so altruistic and, against many odds, go on working hard so that our grandchildren will have some green areas and trees and beautiful buildings and not just a concrete jungle.