Charles Arrigo - a beacon to the blind

The Malta Wireless and Talking Books for the Blind Foundation was established way back in 1964 when the need of providing, through broadcasting, means for the education, information and entertainment of the blind were realised.

A meeting of the heads of broadcasting in Malta was held at the then Centre for Blind that the Department of Education had established in Sta Venera.

Those attending were the late Commander Edward Hamilton Hill, general manager of the then Rediffusion Company, John Manduca, chief executive officer of the Broadcasting Authority and J. Russel, station controller of the then British Forces Broadcasting Station. I was appointed chairman of this committee.

At that time the majority of Maltese families had a Rediffusion receiver in their homes. At this meeting Cdr Hamilton Hill announced that, as from that day, the rent for the hiring of a Rediffusion set, where a blind person lived, was to be brought down from 10 shillings (50c) a month to six shillings (30c) irrespective of the means of the family.

In order to raise funds, Cdr Hamilton Hill gave permission to our committee to start the then well-known and supported appeal, "The Ring Us Up Appeal", held on the Rediffusion system on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This was the very first ever appeal for funds made through broadcasting.

Charles Arrigo, right from the start, showed his interest in the welfare of the blind by giving his wholehearted support to this appeal both as one of the organisers and especially as broadcaster. He was present continually on both days when the appeal was broadcast.

The generous Maltese public gave its wholehearted support to the appeal. The money collected was deposited in Government Bonds and, through the interests derived, the rent of the hire of the Rediffusion sets was eventually brought down to 5c a month, thus saving thousands of pounds to the blind.

The money thus collected is still intact in the our fund. Mr Arrigo is always present today in the homes of the blind as his well-known and special voice is still heard on many radio stations and especially by many of the circa 800 blind persons in the Maltese islands that make use of the services of books and music recorded on cassettes.

This service was first available from the Centre for the Blind and is now available from the Floriana Public Library where the government provided the extra space needed by our foundation. In this library our foundation has thousands of recorded books on cassettes.

Quite a number of these books were read by Mr Arrigo, so his voice still rings in the ears of the blind, who, I am sure, say an extra prayer for the repose of his soul.