Stephanie Fsadni meets a British couple who returned to Malta to renew their wedding vows, 50 years to the date when they got married here while serving in the navy.

Malta has definitely changed in the past 50 years but it was and remains a special place full of happy memories for British couple Hugh and Jackie Neall who married on the island while serving in the British navy.

“It was all countryside here,” says Jackie, 73, at the lobby of the Fortina Hotel in Tigné, Sliema. “We used to go for lovely walks in this area.”

“Where have all the seagulls gone,” asks Hugh, 75.

The couple, who now reside in Canada, returned to the island last week to renew their wedding vows, 50 years to the date when they got married here: on April 22, 1966.

Jackie, who is from Yorkshire, was a Wren, an acronym for the Women’s Royal Naval Service. She was posted in Malta between 1965 and 1967 and like her fellow Wrens, resided at the Whitehall Mansions in Ta’ Xbiex.

“There were all sorts of Wrens, some involved in communications, others were secretaries while others worked on radar. We were placed in different parts of the island, like Ħal Far and Lascaris, but I was a pay writer at Fort St Angelo,” she says.

That is in fact where she met her future husband Hugh, who was on his second visit to Malta. The mechanical engineer from Farnham, Surrey, first came on board the cruiser ship HMS Blake in 1962 and then returned in 1965, when he was posted on the coastal minesweeper HMS Stubbington which was stationed at Fort St Angelo.

He reminisces that there were five minesweepers at Vittoriosa. These small naval ships used various mechanisms to counter the threat posed by naval mines and to maintain waterways clear for safe shipping.

Hugh, however, admits he has never had a close encounter with a mine: “I never exploded a real mine and never saw one.”

The two met at the Fort St Angelo canteen. She was 22 and he was 24. They first used to go out in a group and most often went dancing.

“We did our jobs and then we partied,” says Jackie. “We used to go to a dance hall in Manoel Island where we all mingled together.”

She also has fond memories of barbecue nights and camping weekends at Golden Bay, Paradise Bay and Gozo.

“It was a lovely time to be in Malta,” she exclaims.

I recall having a wonderful time in The Gut [as Strait Street was popularly known] before I met you

She mentions the trips on the traditional Maltese dgħajsa from Vittoriosa to Valletta and taking the lift to the Upper Barrakka Gardens – a place she still loves.

“I recall having a wonderful time in The Gut [as Strait Street was popularly known] before I met you,” Hugh says jokingly.

After courting for a while, the couple decided to get married the following year.

Jackie’s sister Jean and her mother Lilian flew in from England and joined several friends at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Valletta on April 22, 1966, where the bride, dressed in the traditional whitegown, promised her eternal love to Hugh, who donned his sailor suit.

The wedding service was followed by a reception at the Sergeants Mess in Corradino and a honeymoon in Gozo.

The newly-weds got a small apartment in Paola, to be close to Vittoriosa. However, he had to leave his young wife alone several times as the HMS Stubbington toured the Mediterranean on its minesweeping mission. They travelled to Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia, among other countries.

“I still partied while he was away,” Jackie says, almost teasingly.

Hugh, however, does not remember being worried or envious at the time.

“I was too busy visiting places,” he rebuts.

In March 1967, Jackie left Malta for her maternal home as she was pregnant with their first son John. Hugh joined her for their son’s birth in June. He finished his service in September of that year and then worked in welding mechanics.

They bought their own house and had two other children: Clive in 1968 and Sara in 1970.

In 1975 they decided to move to Ontario, Canada, after he received a job offer. She studied there to become an elementary teacher.

The couple returned to Malta 25 years ago, also for their wedding anniversary, but they did not renew their vows then.

“We weren’t sure yet,” says Jackie laughingly. “This time we know it will stick.”

The couple has one qualm about this visit to the island they love so much. Hugh was pickpocketed while they were on a crowded bus and he lost money and all his credit cards.

“It was a bit of a downer. It never happened to me before,” he laments.

However, they did not let this episode spoil their celebrations on Friday, which was attended by family and friends from Canada, the US and the UK.

Jackie was particularly eager to meet three fellow Wrens, two of whom she had not seen since she left Malta and the other one who was her first cabin mate 53 years ago.

Hugh would have liked to meet an old Maltese friend of his, who was a trainee on board the HMS Stubbington and with whom he had lost contact.

“His name was Joe Chant,” says Hugh, appealing to anyone who might know him or has news of him.