In the 1950s, there were only two Boy Scout groups in Gozo: one in Xagħra and another one which formed part of the Don Bosco Oratory (founded by Dun Pawl Micallef) ‘active groups’, in Victoria − that of the Salesian Boy Scouts with charismatic Scout Master and spiritual director Fr Joseph Borg, SDB. 

These active groups also included the altar boys’ group, which was under the guidance of Fr Joseph Mangion SDB, and the drama group, which was managed by Dun Alwiġ (Fr Louis) Mizzi, a Gozitan from Għarb, who was also the director of the oratory. 

Both the altar boys and the drama group were very active. The former took part in all the religious activities and celebrations of the oratory and sometimes even in a procession held on Corpus Christi in Għasri. The drama people rehearsed regularly for plays which were presented to the public on Saturday and Sunday evenings, besides the popular Passion play, Il-Passjoni. The Scout Group, however, held meetings more regularly. 

Three brothers, three Scouts 

I was enrolled as a Scout in this group when I was 10. My two brothers, Anton and Giovanni, joined as Cubs later on (Anton and I were also altar boys). 

We had routine meetings every week, on Fridays, after playing football, or ‘rounders’ [sort of cricket], or on the swings in the ground and following a lesson in religion and listening to a short story on the life of either Dominic Savio or Don Bosco and receiving Holy Benediction in the chapel on the third floor of the oratory.

“The first thing we learned was the Scout Promise by heart”

We used to meet in the old [pre-1441] chapel dedicated to St Michael Archangel [Sancti Michaelis delo Cimiterio] in what was once a cemetery, at the back of the building. Our meetings were held in small groups. The first thing we learned was the Scout Promise by heart. Then we would spend time exercising different knots; learning how to build with branches; practising for some proficiency badge; learning how to observe different trees and birds; map-reading; forecasting the weather; playing Kim’s Game; applying elementary First Aid; and carrying out activities which helped us grow disciplined, observant, helpful to others, doing our duty to God and the country. 

Skipper Joe Grech 

We fondly called him Skipp. He was a very dedicated teacher and leader, who was and died a bachelor and had devoted almost all his life to scouting. He was lovingly supported by his mother, Georgia, a widower, who once ran a grocery in Palm Street, Victoria.

A visit by Field Commissioner and Travelling Commonwealth Commissioner 

The group was respected by one and all and families were proud to have their sons in the Salesian Scout Group. When Frederick Harold James Dahl, Field Commissioner and Travelling Commonwealth Commissioner, came to Malta in April 1953, he paid an official visit to the Salesian Scouts too, while Dun Alwiġ and Fr Borg proudly looked on. 

The group’s success 

Little by little, the group I formed part of in 1952 grew into quite a numerous group and, about six years later, counted more than 50 Scouts and Cubs. 

Along those years, we proudly wore the Scout uniform regularly; went camping for a few days in the Christmas, Easter and summer holidays; bought bugles and drums which we played in parades; participated in sing-song and bonfire evenings; smartly marched in the St George’s Day Parade held every year in Valletta; took part in the Santa Marija Agricultural Show at Villa Rundle where we proudly put up guards of honour to visiting governors of Malta; and participated in the September 8 festivities. We regularly organised Christmas parties, where once I entertained with ‘magic’ – tricks I had learnt from the Popular Mechanics magazine which my father regularly received at home. 

Naturally, we celebrated investitures of new entrants or upgrades from Cubs to Scouts and from Scouts to Senior Scouts, with a little bit of pomp and pride. 

Queen Elizabeth II visits Gozo 

One special occasion was when the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II visited Gozo on May 7, 1954. 

All members of the group were assigned a duty during the visit: there were those who put up the guard of honour at It-Tokk, where the queen placed a wreath at the foot of the War Memorial, while others were assigned to open the queen’s car door wherever she stopped or lined up the steps leading to the Bishop’s Palace in Race Course street, today named Republic Street. During her visit, the queen paid a visit to Mgr Joseph Pace, Bishop of Gozo. 

I was among the latter group and, incidentally, was caught in a photo looking up at the queen as she was leaving the Bishop’s Palace; I was 12. 

A visit by a Chief Scout of the Commonwealth 

To the surprise of all, a helicopter landed with Lord Rowallan Thomas Corbett, Chief Scout of the Commonwealth, in the playing ground of the Salesian Oratory. The pilot could not find the Silver Jubilee where he had to land and instead landed in a large open space in Victoria. Lord Rowallan paid a visit to the Salesian Boy Scouts – in the presence of the oratory director, Scout Master Fr Joseph Borg, and District Commissioner Anton Tabone on May 23, 1954. 

Edward Tortell 

Joe Grech ‘Skipp’ had befriended Scout leaders in Malta. One of these was Scout Master Edward Tortell, ‘Wings’, who led the Sliema Scout Group, with their headquarters beneath the Sliema Primary School. 

Once, in April, most of the Salesian Scouts were hosted and slept in these quarters in order to be able to attend St George’s Scouts Parade in Valletta the following day. I was cared for by Ronald Bowman, a future colleague at St Michael’s Teachers Training College in the 1962-64 group. 

Tortell used to cross over to Gozo, with some other Scout from his group, and pay a visit to our group. Tortell  rganized courses in First Aid run by the St John’s Ambulance Brigade. I had followed such a course and gained a certificate in First Aid proficiency, later on as a Rover Scout. 

A photo 

A few weeks ago, I received a message on my WhatsApp, together with a photo of a Scout group, from a friend of mine, Tony Gatt. Beneath it there was a typewritten caption: ‘Oratory Don Bosco, Gozo – Boy Scouts’ and ‘Circa 1943’ written down in pencil. 

I had never seen this photo before. It does not date to 1943 and I would say it is a photo of the Salesian Scout Group taken some time in 1959.

I was 17 and am the third one on the right of the back row; on my left are Tarcisio Gauci and Michael Grech, both departed, as are several others, among them Tortell, Skipp, Fr Debono and others I would not know. It is a photo that had been taken when Tortell paid a visit to the group. Tortell is sitting next to Skipp, fourth from right, in the middle row. 

It was sometime after Fr Borg, Fr Mangion and Fr Mizzi had been replaced by Fr Carmel Mifsud SDB and Fr Vincent Debono SDB [next to Mr Tortell, in the middle row], who was then the director of the oratory. Fr Mizzi had been sent to help with pastoral work in Catania, Sicily, where he used to teach English in an oratory built on the slopes of Mount Etna. [I visited this oratory during my honeymoon week in Catania, in December 1967.] 

A record of a past 

The photo is a record of a glorious past of the Salesian Scout Group in Gozo. Scouts helped in many ways in the running of the oratory. The chapel where we used to meet had been brought down to make more space for the playing grounds which were given a surface layer of cement. Fr Mifsud had been replaced first by Fr Anthony Camilleri SDB and then by Fr Joe Fenech SDB who, in Sliema, had been in charge of the Salesian Boys Brigade and was not happy to be in charge of the Scout group. 

Orders were issued from St John Bosco Oratory in Sliema that we could no longer hold camps and even if a single Scout, for any reason, went to spend a night by himself as part of the process to gain a badge he had to be accompanied by the spiritual director. What is scouting without camping? 

Skipp, Scouter Carmel Farrugia and I started planning to leave the Salesian Scout Group and create a new one... the Victoria Scout Group. We had a lot of moral support from Tortell and the Scout Association in Floriana. 

On July 13, 1963, the new group was officially inaugurated with headquarters – a large house, lent by Skipp’s mother – in Għajn Qatet Street, Victoria. 

One of my last achievements in the group was when I gained the Baden Powell Award with a badge which was placed on the left-hand shoulder lap of my uniform by Sir Charles Maclean, who paid a visit to the Victoria Scout Group, in February 1964. I relinquished my scouting participation with the group when I married Irma and started a family in Santa Luċija, Malta. 

The group lives on in new headquarters in Triq Santa Dminka, in Victoria. 

I had worked hard at every Scout grade and I tried to live a full Scout’s life in the groups I formed part of. I continued to live the spirit of Baden Powell throughout my life, which helped me a lot as a family man, as a teacher and in society. Today, I firmly believe that scouting has made me the honest, principled citizen I am. 

The last years 

Some years later, the Salesian Scout Group was dismantled. And, in November 1965, with a great loss for Victoria and Gozo, the last Salesian Fathers left Gozo, too.

They left behind an empty large building, large playing grounds, which were sometimes used as a parking lot, but, above all, a sorrowful void in the educational set-up for the young children of Victoria. 

L-Oratorju today 

Fortunately, the Diocese of Gozo made sure that the building does not remain empty. After some years, the Bishop of Gozo decided to appoint a priest as director of L-Oratorju to help run the institution on the lines of the Salesian Fathers and it is today run enthusiastically by Fr Effie Masini. 

Acknowledgements: the author would like to thank Tony Gatt, John Zammit and, especially, John Cremona for the information and photos he passed on to illustrate this article.