Health and safety training for feast enthusiasts

Village feast enthusiasts who are involved in street decoration are to receive health and safety training in an attempt to reduce the possibility of celebrations being ruined by tragedy.

The training will be offered on the initiative of the National Association of Feast Street Decoration, set up last year, and will result in a certificate, association present Godfrey Farrugia said.

He urged band clubs to ensure that at least two or three of their members attended the course that would be offered within the next few months.

Dr Farrugia said the association would also be publishing a code of ethics for members and guidelines on the decorating of streets and the storing of decorations. He was yesterday speaking during a symposium on the cultural value of feasts, organised by the association at the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa.

During his address Dr Farrugia referred to the consultation document published by the Church last year.

In the document the Church listed a range of proposals on the celebration of village feasts with the aim of restoring the religious and community aspects of the celebrations.

The Church proposed, among other things, giving village festa enthusiasts three years to control outrageous behaviour during morning band marches, after which offending band clubs would be struck off the Church’s list of events.

Dr Farrugia said the Church had to understand that feasts did not belong solely to the Church.

The solution to any problems posed by feasts was not to panic, as the Church document seemed to do, but to plan and consult with civil society and NGOs and come up with a solution that was void of “impositions and arrogance”.

The Curia’s Pro Vicar General Mgr Anton Gouder, who was present in the audience, said certain words were uncalled for as the aim of the document was to have “good feasts” and not to ruin them for anyone.

Police Assistant Commissioner Neville Aquilina, also speaking as a member of the audience, encouraged organisers to ensure feasts did not get out of hand by giving in to demands of some young people for whom the feast was merely a party.

He did not think there was anything wrong with piques between band clubs as this fuelled the competitive spirit that resulted in better street decorations. He was, however, concerned about the excessive rivalry.