It was a red-letter day for old Alumni of St Aloysius College to have the yearly meeting at the college on December 8.

About 25 Old Boys, whose ages vary from about 50 to 80 – a pity no ladies and always the same  loyal faces – focused on the centre of the corridor where, in my days in the 50s, students gathered on the main stairs in front of the  beautiful statue of Our Lady, perpetually lit, to pray fervently and sing hymns of praise.

Some of us studied the large frames of former students, starting from about the 20s and into the 80s, trying to pinpoint photos of our former colleagues who may still be with us and others who have unfortunately departed.

On that day we were honoured with the presence of three Jesuit fathers – Fr rector Jimmy Bartolo, SJ, Fr Robert Wirth, SJ, and Fr John Scicluna, SJ. I remember the latter leaving the college in 1956 to carry out missionary work in India for a period of 30 years. Fr Wirth is  the younger brother of Fr Franz Wirth, SJ, who had escaped from occupied Italy into neutral Switzerland during the war.

Our chaplain, Fr Sicluna, celebrated Mass, assisted by Fr Rector and Fr Wirth. We then had coffee, followed by the AGM where it was decided to have a new name for the association, namely Jesuit Alumni/ae (Malta). We later had a mouth-watering lunch at the college gym.

It was a very enjoyable day, reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ and looking forward to our next meeting on December 8, 2017.