Victory Day celebrations

Victory Day celebrations start in earnest this morning with a wreath-laying ceremony by the National Festivities Committee at Fort St Angelo in Vittoriosa, in Senglea and at the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery.

Tonight at 6.30 the celebrations will continue with a march by the band of the Armed Forces of Malta at Great Siege Square, Valletta, followed by a musico-literary evening attended by Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami.

The evening will include a ballroom dance performed by the students of SkolaSajf, as well as a performance by Aphrodite Productions who will interpret a piece written by Oreste Calleja called Tabula Rasa.

There will be a commemorative speech by Prof. Victor Mallia Milanes after which Dr Fenech Adami, the Speaker, the Opposition Leader, distinguished guests and constituted bodies will lay wreaths.

Tomorrow, the actual feast day, celebrations will start at 9 a.m. with the AFM band and Guard of Honour at the Monument of Christ the King, Floriana followed by a pontifical Mass at St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta.

President Guido de Marco will then lay a wreath at the foot of the Great Siege Monument at 10.40 a.m.

The celebrations will climax with the much-awaited regatta at the Grand Harbour which starts at 2 p.m.

The National Festivities Committee said that in this year's edition there will be 10 races which will include the participation of the clubs of Vittoriosa, Cospicua, Kalkara, Marsa, Marsamxett and Senglea.