The Maltese would be talking about the feasts they once had in 15 to 20 years time unless action was taken to encourage young people’s involvement, lecturer and researcher Andrew Azzopardi said today.

Speaking during the presentation of results to a questionnaire coordinated by St Mary and King George V Band Club of Mqabba, Dr Azzopardi said there were indications that unless care was taken, feasts would die.

He noted that three quarters of feast volunteers were manual workers and the decline in manual labour and migration to other towns and villages was leading to a drop in participation.

The questionnaire was held among more than 500 people aged between 15 and 30 who are involved in their village feasts. It was carried out as part of an EU-funded project, which cost around €30,000, that explored what attracted young people to participate in the organisation of village feasts.

Three seminars to discuss the results would be held in the coming days and a national conference on October 18.

Chris Schembri Baldacchino, one of the project leaders, hoped the study would provide guidelines to encourage young people involve themselves in associations which provided them with team building and project management skills, among others.

Dr Azzopardi called on the government and the opposition to draw up policy based on strategy to see what such associations needed to keep providing young people with opportunities.

PN youth spokesman Robert Cutajar said the project showed that young people wanted to be protagonists, not spectators, and the authorities had to help them be so.

He noted that when he was a local councillor he realised there was a lower crime rate in villages and towns which had active band clubs and associations.