President resumes engagements after 'difficult' six weeks

President George Abela returned to public engagements today when he welcomed a group of schoolchildren who visited the San Anton Palace kitchen gardens as part of preparations for a Community Chest Fund event - Gonna Mdawlin on June 19.

The young children from Birzebbuga primary and San Anton Junior School, were able to experience the traditional picking of potatoes with the use of a mule, while the President spoke to them about the palace and its gardens.

They were taken to the Palace as part of ongoing programme by the Health Department, the Education Department and the group Frott Artna.

The kitchen gardens, which form part of the private gardens of San Anton, will be opened to the public on June 19 in an event coinciding with Father's Day. There will be entertainment and food provided by the palace kitchen, and vegetables will be sold in aid of the Community Chest Fund.

Dr Abela said the past six weeks since he injured his back in a fall in China had been difficult, but he was greatly encouraged by the hundreds of messages and letters of support he had received, notably from schoolchildren. Such support, he said, enabled him to be positive.

He said he was starting to do a lot of walking but did not know when he would be able to return to jogging.