• A blood donation session will be held at Gozo General Hospital’s Outpatients Department today from 8am to 1pm.

• Carnival in Gozo kicks off today at 3pm with a defilé along Republic Street, Victoria, of grotesque masks, grand carnival floats and musical bands, and performances by various dance companies in Fortunato Mizzi Street. Festivities will also take place in other villages, including the Nadur spontaneous carnival. There will be extra bus trips from Victoria to Nadur and from Nadur to various villages around Gozo. A bus shuttle service will operate between Mġarr harbour and Nadur, syncronised with the Malta-Gozo ferry service.

• The Oasi Foundation bazaar is open in St Francis Square, Victoria, until Saturday. Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 12.30pm and 4.30 to 7pm, and on Saturday from 8.30am to 12.30pm.

• An event for children aged six to 11 entitled History of Carnival and Mask Making will be held by Heritage Malta on Tuesday from 9.30am to noon at Ta’ Kola Windmill, Xagħra. Tickets at €5 are available from the windmill and Ggantija Temples, Xagħra. Places are limited. For details call 2155 3194.

• Il-Fergha Ewkaristika (Għaw­dex) will hold an hour of adoration on Thursday from 9 to 10am at Our Lady of Pompeii Church, Victoria, preceded by the reciting of the rosary at 8.45am.

• To commemorate the apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes, Masses will be celebrated at Lourdes Church, Għajnsielem, on Thursday at 5.15 and 9am, and at 1 and 3.30pm. Bishop Mario Grech will concelebrate a final Mass at 5pm. The sanctuary will be open for visits by devotees until 8pm.

• The diocesan Eucharistic Move­ment will hold a prayer evening at Good Shepherd Church, Victoria, on Saturday at 8pm, followed by Mass at midnight.

• A public lecture in Maltese entitled Id-Djaletti u l-Wirt Lingwistiku Malti will be delivered by Ruben Farrugia, Joe Galea and Michael Spagnol to mark International Mother Language Day. It will be held on February 20 at 10am by Unesco’s Education, Science and Culture Centre at its hall in Lunzjata Valley, Victoria. The public is invited to attend.

charles.spiteri@timesofmalta.com

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