Attard Youth Fest 2002

The first cultural event held at the newly refurbished Attard parish centre on September 7 and 8 attracted people of all ages.

The activities included six art workshops held in the mornings. All materials required had been kindly donated by Cretacolor through C. Boffa Ltd, sole representative, together with Galea's Art Studio.

Beate Bergholz, Cretacolor export manager in Austria, came to Malta for the occasion. Sculptor Joseph Casha, co-ordinator of the workshops, exhibited five sculptures in stone and terracotta. He awarded prizes to the best six works of art which were displayed and offered for sale on Sunday evening together with other works of art donated by the artists/teachers who also exhibited their own work, paintings and ceramics.

Josephine Cuomo conducted one of the workshops on Saturday and also gave a very interesting demonstration of parchment craft on Sunday. The other artists who took part were Jenny Caruana, Louis Darmanin, Marlene Ferry Camilleri, Gerald Camilleri and Lawrence Zrinzo.

Parliamentary secretary Jesmond Mugliett, who officiated during the inauguration and Labour MPs Evarist Bartolo and Carmelo Abela were shown around the workshops and overall exhibition. Ministers Louis Galea and John Dalli, and Fr George Dalli and Jean Paul Mifsud of the YMCA were among the distinguished guests.

There was also a spiritual workshop demonstrating alternative ways of prayer. This was co-ordinated by Fr Stephen Mifsud, MSSP, who was also responsible for all the spiritual activities, including Sunday Mass, discussion forum and a prayer meeting. The YMCA choir Tensing, together with members of the Attard Youth Centre, organised a singing workshop which culminated in a very enjoyable performance on Sunday evening.

The evening programmes consisted of a variety of singing and dancing activities by members of the Attard Youth Centre together with a short play based on the novel Oliver Twist. The parish centre was packed with people who were very appreciative of the high standard of entertainment on stage.

All proceeds of the Youth Fest will be donated to the YMCA (Valletta) programme for the homeless and to the newly renovated parish centre.

The theme of the Youth Fest was "Unity without Frontiers" and this was no meaningless slogan as one could immediately sense the feeling of solidarity between all the participants, both young and not so young.

It was an unforgettable experience for many people coming from different backgrounds working together with the one common aim - to help others.