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Dear Friends,
As we mentioned at the get-together, thanks to a lead passed on to us by an FAA subscriber, Astrid Vella and Karen Zammit Manduca were invited to attend the Empower Conference, a European Union Citizens’ Forum which was held in Bergamo on the 9th and 10th November. The forum examined communication between the EU and NGOs in all member states, however, more importantly, it gave us the opportunity to make contact with people who could possibly help us in our cause by showing us the right paths to take and the right doors to knock on within the European Union framework.
Bo Ekstrom of the Tallberg Foundation in Sweden and Tony Venables of ICAS in Belgium were the two most important of these contacts. They were shocked to learn of the (NGO) situation in Malta, so much so that they used Malta as an example during their workshops. We quickly became known as “the two ladies from Malta” and everyone was astonished at what FAA has managed to achieve in such a short time.
The conference has created a lot of follow-up work, in order to reap the benefit of these contacts, so it is even more important to get FAA organised as regards volunteers, as we mentioned at the get-together.
First of all, we appreciate that most of you are very busy people and therefore volunteers would not be expected to spend hours each week tackling the various tasks assigned to them. They will not be asked to sign their names on correspondence or letters of protest unless they themselves wish to, as all such correspondence will go through the FAA website.
This is a short list and specification of each section where we require volunteers:
1. Regional sub-committees
It is impossible for the committee to be aware of everything that is happening in every town and village in Malta. We therefore need small committees in as many areas as possible to monitor building applications and abuses, bringing these to our attention. We will give immediate basic training to provide familiarity with the MEPA website since it will have to be used for much of this monitoring.
2. Conservation information
Gathering information and photographs of buildings that merit preservation. Members of sub-committees or individuals can do this.
3. Tourism website
FAA should not be just a watchdog organisation; we need to contribute something to our nation's social and economic life. Our first initiative will be a website, featuring buildings and enterprises that put Malta’s heritage to good use. This would include old buildings converted to museums, art galleries, hotels, restaurants, offices, and salons, restaurants serving traditional Maltese cuisine, initiatives like agritourism, local crafts etc. We need people to simply contact these outlets to obtain information and photos to be used on our website. This should not be difficult, since we will be providing them with free publicity, while at the same time promoting the idea that heritage properties are worth saving.
4. Preservation grants for heritage buildings
We need to prepare a paper to submit to Government regarding a scheme to provide funding or grants to help owners of heritage properties to maintain their houses. This would entail some research on how the issue is handled in other European countries, which could be obtained by contacting heritage trusts overseas.
What we now need is for anyone who has a little time to spare, to inform us what area he can help in so that we can plan an introductory meeting for each group of people.
Other than the different tasks mentioned above, may we remind you that our most powerful tool is the press. Please do write letters to the papers about environmental issues that affect us all. These letters are not only noted by Ministries here in Malta, but also noticed abroad. For ease of transmission, letters may be sent to:
- Il-Gens
- Il-Mument mument@media.link.com.mt
- Kullhadd saviour@kullhadd.com
- L-Orizzont victorvella2002@yahoo.com
- Malta Independent on Sunday ngrima@independent.com.mt
- Malta Independent Daily scalleja@independent.com.mt
- Malta Today kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
- The Sunday Times sunday@timesofmalta.com
- The Times daily@timesofmalta.com
Please do not forget to register your volunteering preferences – just press ‘reply’ and list one of the sections:
1. Regional sub-committees
2. Conservation information
3. Tourism website
4. Preservation grants for heritage buildings
Best regards and many thanks,
The Committee
Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar
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