Malta holds a special place in the heart of the woman who co-wrote Tom Jones’s chart topper Delilah. Sarah Carabott spoke to Sylvan Mason after a chance restaurant visit reacquainted her with friends she had not seen for many years.

I only have €6 – Hermann Schiavone and Sylvan Mason.

“Malta is my second home. I spent many summers here and made many good friends, but unfortunately, I lost touch with them before mobile phones became a commodity and international calls were expensive,” says Sylvan Mason, as she settles down on a sofa at the hotel’s reception.

Ms Mason, 71, has just finished writing fresh lyrics to Delilah – with her old friend Les Reed, who wrote the music for the original song – in protest at a proposal to ban the Tom Jones hit at rugby matches because its lyrics are deemed to trivialise domestic violence.

Her link with Malta goes back to 1965, when her parents, Margot and Jack Whittingham, the author of the first James Bond movie Thunderball, bought a home in Mosta when they retired.

Eventually they moved to Delimara Point, from where her father could keep an eye on his beloved 40-foot ketch called Domani.

Sylvan with Dom Mintoff and Mary Gafa. Photo: Kelly Fenech

It was as she was travelling back and forth between her parent’s home and London that she co-wrote, with Barry Mason, Engelbert Humperdinck’s My Marie, Tom Jones’ Delilah and Demis Roussos’s Your Song of Love, among others.

But her strong connection to Malta was broken when her mother died 32 years ago. During that time, she has only managed to make one visit to the island she loved.

However, last year she managed to attend the 50th anniversary celebrations of Ta’ Maria Restaurant in Mosta, run by two old friends, and decided to wander down to Marsaxlokk to reacquaint herself with the village that was home to her father’s yacht all those years ago.

She was unprepared for the scene that met her eyes as she descended the slope to the waterfront: the once sleepy bay was now bustling with tourists and Maltese at the popular Sunday market.

He froze and just stared at me, with his eyes welling up. He finally mouthed, ‘Whittingham?’

After snapping a few photos, she reached for her purse to buy a bag for her granddaughter but her heart sank when she realised she had left it behind at the hotel. All she had was €6 in change.

Feeling hungry, she decided to spend the money on some lunch instead and went off in search of a good deal. After walking along the seafront she stopped at the place she had known as Tony’s Bar which appeared to be serving pizza Margarita for €5.99.

Tom Jones. Right: Sylvan and her father Jack.

Relieved, she sat down, only to be told pizzas were not served at lunchtime. “I had no option but to come clean about my €6 and, when the waiter summoned the owner, I asked if I could have some bread and cheese. To my surprise he told the waiter to bring me some fish and a glass of wine.”

As she waited, she approached the owner, busy at the till.

“I asked if the place used to be Tony’s Bar, which he confirmed, and then asked him if he knew a certain Mary Gafa, who had been her mother’s maid.

“He froze and just stared at me, with his eyes welling up. He finally mouthed, ‘Whittingham?’ I told him that that was my parents’ name and I was their daughter. I was suddenly engulfed in a huge hug as he exclaimed: ‘My father was Joe Schiavone’.”

Sylvan’s parents Jack and Margot Whittingham relaxing on their boat Domani.

The man in front of her was the little boy who 40 years ago used to accompany the “gentle man” who took care of her parents’ garden.

Hermann Schiavone explain-ed that when her parents went to live in the village, his parents were struggling to support their family and the Whittingham family helped them get back on their feet.

Suddenly, Ms Mason was taken back in time, as Hermann’s sister Vivian and Ross, the young boy who used to help her dad with his boat, joined the conversation. She eventually got in touch with Ms Gafa and another old friend, Kelly Fenech.

“I couldn’t believe it! Apart from a couple of new roads, Malta hasn’t changed much – the people are the same kind hearted and nice ones I remember 40 years ago. ”