Malta’s first catering school opened 50 years ago. One of its first students, Michael Scicluna, shares some memories with Stephanie Fsadni.

When Malta became independent in 1964, a slew of foreign journalists came over to our shores to cover the historical event.

They were offered accommodation at a temporary hotel set up at St Michael’s Training College in Msida. Here they were served by 25 young men and women who were being trained in the catering trade by a certain Charles John Watkins from the UK.

One of these students was Michael Scicluna, who had decided to take the course to be better able to help his father who was about to open a hotel. He had left school at the age of 14 to help in the family business.

A young Michael Scicluna at the roadside inn.

“My father was about to open the Roadside Inn at St Andrew’s, lately known as the Forum Hotel, and I was lured to take up this catering course, which was the only one available at the time,” Scicluna says.

He proudly keeps newspaper cuttings of stories in which the course was mentioned.

Leafing through them, one finds that Watkins was a member of the UK’s Hotel and Catering Institute and one of the first members of the UK Bartenders Guild. He had been in Malta for some months in 1964 as a catering instructor with the Department of Education and his wife Lucille helped him in the job.

His Maltese students undertook a varied programme including knowledge of cooking, meal planning, appearance, buffet layout and also silver service, besides banqueting.

The ‘hotel’ at St Michael’s was opened within a fortnight and thanks to their involvement, the students also learnt a lot about hotel management.

This initial catering course was followed by a more intensive one.

After five months of training, 17 waiters and two chefs received certificates from what became known as the Msida Catering Centre in 1965.

All those working as waiters should be made to feel that they are doing a professional job by giving service to customers

The pass out of the new waiters was marked by a luncheon, which was attended by then prime minister George Borg Olivier and his wife, the director of education, Chev. J. P. Vassallo, and Malta’s Governor-General, Sir Maurice Dorman.

Scicluna was not present at the event as he had other matters to attend to.

“It happened on the same day that my father was having the official opening of the Roadside Inn and I was busy helping out as I was one of the staff.”

Scicluna continued working in the catering industry until 1995.

The new waiters attending to Malta’s Governor-General, Sir Maurice Dorman, during a luncheon at the end of the catering course.

“I had various experiences and still miss the trade,” he says, now that he’s retired.

As to the school, it kept running for some time under Watkins, and when he passed away, his wife took over.

Asked about his former schoolmates, Scicluna says some of them continued in the catering trade but some others also made it up to management level.

“One of them also owns a hotel,” he says, without elaborating.

Scicluna has some qualms about today’s waiting staff.

“I am sorry to say I do not call them waiters. In some places, the customer is the waiter, having to wait for this or the other and also having to serve oneself at buffets. The job of waiter is not appreciated anymore.

“There should be a dedicated training course for just that post and all those working as waiters should be made to feel that they are doing a professional job by giving service to customers.”