Memories are made of this!

It was good to hear that The Times is celebrating its 75th anniversary of keeping Malta informed of all that is going on in our islands of Malta and Gozo. And how proud I am to have been just a little part of its history.

Today, at the age of 87 I can still recall some happy days firstly as a sports reporter of The Times and The Sunday Times (of Malta as it was then) and, later, sports editor of The Sunday Times before joining Malta Drydocks as welfare officer in late 1959.

In May1947, I had just returned to Malta having resigned my commission in the Royal Engineers. The war was over and I had been posted to the war office in London where I was living with my late wife Vera and one-year-old daughter Lauren. Unfortunately, Vera got homesick and could not settle in London without her family here in Malta, so my plans for a permanent commission went astray and my resignation followed.

So here I was in Malta in 1947, with my wartime gratuity but without a job... but not for long. Early on I got to know the late Captain Joe Agius MC, then, if I remember rightly, managing director of Allied Malta Newspapers who introduced me to dear Mabel; Mabel Strickland, of course. It was she who started me on a 13-year spell in journalism after being interviewed by the late Tom Hedley who was editor of The Times at that time. Then, I believe sports editor Scott Hall had left Malta and the late Robbie Decesare had taken over and there was a vacancy for a sports reporter, which post I was able to take over. And for the next 13 years I was a member of the Allied Newspapers family - "one of Mabel's boys".

But we were a close band of journalists who did not have the wonderful facilities that journalists have today.

No laptops, no IT to help us on our way; travelling by public transport to most sporting events I was sometimes lucky being able to borrow my father's car. Reporting a football match at the Gżira Empire Stadium was almost a full day's work.

I remember the first Saturday match I had to cover at the stadium between rivals Sliema Wanderers and Floriana. Robbie, a keen Sliema fan, having, of course, been one of their star players before joining The Times, warned me that Mr Hedley was an equally keen Floriana supporter adding: "Be careful what you write!" It was my first experience of using the (supposedly) press box, which was unenclosed. As I entered through the turnstiles I had to push my way through a bunch of supporters and climbed a few wooden steps to find a wooden bench already occupied by two or three other reporters. I was welcomed with far from pleasant looks. But we soon settled down together, getting used to the remarks from supporters aimed at our integrity.

Those were the days when, after the match, we had to go back to St Paul Street, in Valletta, and type out our report and send it in to the foreman in the linotypes. Next the reporter had to wait for the first proof, send it back for correction and eventually set it on the sports page with the other sports events, having corrected the whole sports page and giving it the OK before being able to go home, sometimes after midnight. What a difference today with laptops allowing one to do all the work direct from every event.

It was mainly football then, including midweek matches among the RMA regiments.

But we were a happy band of brothers, the likes of the late Tony Montanaro (then editor of Il-Berqa) and later, of course, editor of The Sunday Times for so many years, the late Joe Griffiths, Lewis Portelli, Carmelo Costa, Reggie Holland, Frankie Camilleri, Remiġ Sacco, Benny Pace and others, all of whom would cover the junior matches on a Saturday and phone in the results to the sports editor on duty. And then there was the evergreen still-going-strong photographer Frankie Attard who was our top sports photographer together with the late Charlie Grech.

I must not forget also the then sports editor of Il-Berqa, the late Ġużè Diacono, whose reports on some soccer matches appeared to be an exact Maltese translation of the Times report. But he always had a great smile when we accused him of not being at the match - a great guy!

Those were the days of the Christmas Tourney, when teams from Europe came to play against our leading teams. When a game had to be played on Christmas Day, Robbie and I took it in turns to cover the match. I was often told that my reports on Christmas Day were better than most, having rushed through lunch and drinks!

But, of course, my closest colleague was Robbie and until I was appointed sports editor of The Sunday Times he was my immediate boss. During the week we would take it in turns to prepare the sports pages but Saturdays were my days and it was then that a new young man joined as a sports reporter, a lad who was snooker world champion, a young man by the name of Wilfred Asciak who went on to become a director of Allied Newspapers Ltd. We are still great friends today and often recall the old days when, on a Saturday evening, we would wait for the UK football results in the Reuters wireless room upstairs and work out the League tables ourselves.

I spent 13 happy years with Allied Newspapers and, even when I left, I continued to report on the Sunday horse racing at Marsa. I have happy memories of those days before journalism became the great profession it is today. As, together with John Mizzi and John Manduca, probably one of the oldest "old boys" of Allied Malta Newspapers still around, I can only wish The Times and all those who work for this great newspaper all that is good in the future.