Scrooge, Sannat and Christmas

Having read the letter by Anthony Mercieca, the mayor of Sannat, Sannat Council Is No Scrooge, (January 17), in which reference to the committee for the Sannat parish feast was made, this same committee felt that it should hold a meeting whereby certain points mentioned in the first part of the letter would be clarified.

The parish feast committee categorically denies that it tried to obstruct the Christmas decorations that were being organised by the local council of Sannat.

The parish feast committee is certain that professional persons/companies/contractors are usually subcontracted whenever the council undertakes any kind of work. Thus, these would be able to take responsibility for the whole project, and no negative comments would compromise or put a halt to the ongoing task. The contractor referred to in the letter is the same contractor commissioned by various local councils and who set up decorations for main roads without fearing any obstacles such as rough weather. In fact, it was the same contractor who found no problem to be responsible for last year's Christmas decorations in Sannat.

The members of the feast committee deny that any one of them tried to dissuade the contractor responsible for the Christmas decorations in Sannat.

The metal masts pertaining to the local council which are gratuitously allowed to be stored in premises used for the feast decorations, were readily released, and were installed in Sannat Road where the local council holds office. Actually they are still standing there up to the present day. The policy of the feast committee is that wooden masts will not be lent out during the winter season, as the huge volume of running rain water could be a detriment to them.

The committee denies that anyone from the local council ever approached them for the use of any masts belonging to the Sannat parish for the Christmas decorations. Albeit all this, the metal masts, which belong to the local council, needed to have extensions added to them so that they can be used, while the wooden masts, which belong to Sannat parish, cannot possibly be altered.

The Christmas decorations belonging to the local council were made for the council by members of the feast committee, on a voluntary basis. The council only paid for the cost of the materials used. These decorations are held by the local council.

Last year, members of the feast committee, out of a sense of collaboration, readily helped in bringing over masts from the Cultural Committee for Gozo, to be used by the local council for their Christmas decorations.

The feast committee appreciates the council's initiative to install a crib next to the parish church, however they would like to make it very clear that no one, neither from the feast committee nor from the Church authorities, was asked to supply electrical power to the crib. If a request were to be sent, neither the feast committee nor the entity responsible for the parish church would turn it down. However, it would have been imprudent if members of the feast committee or other entities were to proceed and install a lighting system on the property of others.

It is indeed always a pleasure of the Sannat Feast Committee to collaborate in full with the local council, as indeed always happened in the past. The local Church authorities have always co-operated in distributing council flyers with the Church Bulletin, as well as reading out council notices from the Church ambone.

When a group of visitors from Pisoniano was brought over by the local council, for the feast of our patron saint, the feast committee, in its limited disposition, helped out financially in the expenses involved in this event.

It is indeed our wish that this ongoing collaboration be strengthened in the future.

It would have been more fitting for a letter of appreciation to be sent and addressed to the various voluntary groups who strive to work so hard out of their love for our village of Sannat.