I refer to the news item reporting that, during a visit to Malta, the granddaughter of Winston Churchill visited the monument to the former British Prime Minister at the Upper Barrakka Garden.

When the Valletta Rehabilitation Project upgraded the gardens in 2004 the intention was to restore all the monuments in the garden as well. Most of the monuments had in fact been restored and, unfortunately, the information got lost in all the publicity about the paving of the garden, indeed a very important project in its own right.

Four monuments were however not restored by the time the garden was opened and, as usually happens in Malta, these were forgotten after the garden was opened. They are two stone monuments that needed much more attention and two bronze monuments.

The two bronze monuments were the ones to Winston Churchill, one of our best portrait bronze monuments, and the life size monument to Gerald Strickland, a truly outstanding elegant work.

We had projects for both monuments prepared by the firm of Sante Guido that worked on many bronze monuments in Valletta and elsewhere. We were at the time trying to obtain part sponsorship for these projects. Unfortunately, however, both projects are quite costly as the bronze is in serious need of conservation. The garden is very much exposed to the elements and also to pigeons, the worse enemy of bronze monuments.

I do sincerely hope that these two projects can be taken up again as they both deserve attention.