Gozo Lace Day

The annual Gozo Lace Day was held for the tenth consecutive year at the University Gozo Centre last Sunday. The event consisted on exhibitions, demonstrations and talks on Gozo lace making.

Mr Speaker Anton Tabone and Bishop Emeritus Nikol Cauchi were among the distinguished guests.

Consigla Azzopardi, co-ordinator of the Lace Making Programme, said that the three-year lace making course has been offered at the University Gozo Centre several times and that diploma courses started being offered last October. She later presented students with their certificates.

Mr Tabone praised the initiative taken by the University of Malta to approve the Diploma course in Lace Studies. He referred to lace making as an art and he said that Gozitans should feel proud that such a craft has been practised for so long in Gozo. He said that the next step would be that of upgrading the course to a degree. He congratulated the students who successfully completed courses in lace making.

Mgr Cauchi delivered an interesting speech on the history of crafts guilds in Europe, including the Maltese Islands. He also said that nowadays co-operatives are being set up instead of guilds. There were exhibitions by students of Lace Programme projects and textile crafts, a stand of the International Organisation of Needle and Bobbin Lace (OIDFA) and another of the Malta Lace Guild.